Submarine transported by train

[Ian Morgan]

On 06/03/2020 at 09:31, Robin Verth said:

... how were torpedoes transported by rail in the UK.

 

I was told, a while ago, that during WW2, torpedoes were sent out by rail from RNPF Caerwent on wagons with a framework covered with hessian or tarpauline painted to represent passenger carriages, complete with passengers painted in the windows.

 

No idea if that is true, or how effective they looked to an attacking aeroplane.

 

[PatB]

18 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I knew my pedantry would cause trouble!

 

The case I had in mind was Fenny Stratford on the Grand Union, which is an ordinary lock, in an ordinary canal, with a rise of c12”, allegedly to compensate for accumulated surveying errors, although I’ve never quite believed that.

That sounds like rather a lot. I've always been given to understand (largely by my father, who had an interest in such things) that even 18th and 19th Century surveyors were somewhat better than that.

[Fat Controller]

On 06/03/2020 at 09:31, Robin Verth said:

One of the continental manufacturers make or made a submarine on a railway wagon, they also made to accompany it a wagon with a load of torpedoes, it set me thinking how were torpedoes transported by rail in the UK.

In ordinary open wagons, presumably. properly secured, and with detonating mechanism removed.  They, and other naval ordnance, were still being carried by rail in the early 1980s, at least; have a Google for 'Bedenham Bomber'. Bedenham, near Gosport, was where ammunition was transferred to and from ships that had been at Portsmouth Dockyard. There was a similar establishment at Ernesettle, just west of Plymouth.

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

There was a similar establishment at Ernesettle, just west of Plymouth.

 

Ernesettle is still there, just north of the Royal Albert Bridge, on the Devon side. With its own railway sidings, and a long pier to load barges.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.4125578,-4.197346,1218m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

 

[Fat Controller]

37 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Ernesettle is still there, just north of the Royal Albert Bridge, on the Devon side. With its own railway sidings, and a long pier to load barges.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.4125578,-4.197346,1218m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

 

There used to be a narrow-gauge internal railway that ran out on to the jetty. One leg ran to the transhipment shed, others to the individual storage bunkers. I always thought it would make an interesting model.

[KeithMacdonald]

In related Submarine news:

 

Quote

 

Sky Sports has sensationally scrapped its coverage of the Submarine Racing Championships after viewers switched off. Critics said there was very little to see apart from some water. The SRC is a major event played out in the North Sea off Suffolk ever year. The United States has won the previous three seasons, with Britain and Russia usually fighting for second place. Germany has not been a force since 1945. But despite some interesting racing, where submarines begin off Felixstowe and race north to Lowestoft, television viewers found it all rather boring. TV critic Lorraine Fisher, 34, said: “Sky Sports tried to jazz it up a bit, with panel experts chatting about the skills on show. But no-one could see anything. “And don’t mention the VAR – Germany was furious when one of their submarines was ruled to have fouled before a victory.”

 

https://www.suffolkgazette.com/sport/sky-sports-axes-submarine-racing-coverage/