Whittonstall Railway diorama

[Dunalastair]

For today's 'diorama-a-day' (and another obscure railway for @marc smith) here is a simplified representation of the Whittonstall Railway. This was a narrow gauge electric railway in the north east, near Chopwell. It linked drift mines to the west with the main colliery complex. German shareholding favoured electric traction, as with the SG Harton electric railway whose locomotives were similar (but bigger). The Harton system lasted into NCB days, but the Whittonstall system was later converted to cable haulage, more typical of the NG colliery lines in the area. The line was buried in a wooded valley, and very few photographs were taken, but IRS Spectrum 33 featured the railway back in October 1970. Matt Ditch recently posted photographs of the trackbed. A wooden trestle was an interesting feature.

 

 

Bridge, mine tubs and loco were 3D printed at about 1:76. Track was proprietary N gauge. I rather like the conjunction of large locos and long trains of small tubs.

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Dunalastair

[Dunalastair]

There was a short piece about the line in The Times on 9/9/1908.

 

"The Consett Iron Company (Limited) have lately inaugurated and electrically-worked surface railway for the purpose of hauling coal from the Whittonstall drift to the Chopwell colliery, county Durham, where the coal is cleaned and loaded into railway wagons. The line is about two miles in length. The gradients are somewhat severe, reaching at some locations as much as 5 per cent., the total rise being 250ft. The gauge is 2ft. 2in., and at present the equipment comprises one locomotive, capable of drawing a load of 25 tons. This locomotive is operated by two 56-h.p. motors, and accomplishes the complete journey with the full load in 12min. The locomotive collects the current from an overhead line by means of "bow" collectors. The overhead wire is carried on poles of lattice channel type, fitted with bracket arms to support it above the railway, whilst the poles are fixed in concrete. The line is fed at the Chopwell colliery end by underground cables from a central power station. The ordinary loads consist of 36 tubs, each weighing 5cwt. and carrying 8cwt. of coal. The railway and locomotive equipment was supplied by Messrs. Siemens Brothers, and an order for a duplicate locomotive has lately been placed by the Consett Iron Company with the same firm"

 

http://www.dmm.org.uk/news19/9080909.htm

 

36 tubs on 2' 2" gauge must have made an interesting sight. Some similar tubs from Victoria Garsfield (down the valley from Chopwell) have been restored and can be seen nearby. Imagine 36 of these behind an electric loco ... 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/77063039@N08/32263492294

 

[Dunalastair]

I have looked out my copy of the Industrial Railway Record special issue on the Whittonstall Railway. It was priced at 3/- in 1970 (!) but I paid a little more for it as a back issue. There are various maps, photographs of No1 pit Chopwell, various images of the line under construction including one of the trestle viaducts (later replaced by embankments), a photograph of one of the curved overhead columns and trains of tubs, details of rope working arrangements, images of the drift entrances, a gradient profile, photos of loco No 1 in a loco-shaped crate(!), loco No 3 with a posed train of workers, plans of the rail arrangements at either end of the line, a drawing of an NCB tub, loco No 1 (or 2) in service, No 3 in about 1909 (a good side view from a modelling perspective), and an image of the winding house which replaced the locos. 

 

The electric railway was steep - up to 1 in 20 with sections at 1 in 12. The first loco arrived in 1907 from Siemens. The wire was double. A second similar design loco soon arrived, but a third was different, more powerful, with a jackshaft between the bogie wheels and different brake arrangements. Braking provided an issue, with overheating causing bearings to melt. From 1913, rope haulage took over the further part of the line, and the whole from 1923. During WW1 the line was used mainly for timber extraction (for pit props) with various branches built into the woods. The locos were then used mainly for shunting the screens until about 1929 when they were scrapped. So not altogether a successful innovation, sadly. Overall, much of the 32 pages are concerned with the mine history, but the booklet provided a useful basis for my diorama.

 

To conclude, an aerial photo of the Drift in 1934 (after electric haulage had ceased) to give an idea of the nature of the countryside - a steep wooded valley. The WW1 felling seems to have left its mark in this image.

 

 

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw043831

[Sweet pea]

Hi @Dunalastair this is another lovely diorama you have modelled. The attention to detail is very good.👍

[Dunalastair]

34 minutes ago, Kevin Johnson said:

Hi @Dunalastair this is another lovely diorama you have modelled. The attention to detail is very good.👍

 

Thankyou for the kind words. At the risk of being seen as negative about some of the layouts on this forum (which I do not intend) I do prefer to model relatively obscure prototypes and build rolling stock which is less likely to be seen on other models. Sometimes it works better than other times ... 

 

And to show that I do not always 'do obscure', my main layout is an N gauge representation of Fort William and Banavie in BR green days. However, even then I could not resist including a much simplified and shrunken 2mm scale version of the BA 3' gauge pier railway as it might have looked if it had been electrified. The pier ends rather enigmatically at the edge of the board.

 

 

Oh yes - and there is also a completely fictional narrow gauge Ben Nevis Mountain Railway operating from a bay in the old Fort William station. I wonder where that came from?

[Dunalastair]

Looking again today at the October 1970 IRR special on the Whittingstall Railway reminds me that coal extraction from the drift mines was suspended during WW1 - and again during WW2. During WW1 and for some years after, rope worked timber extraction tramways were used instead to harvest the woods in the valley - the longest extending an additional 2.5 miles to Greymare Hill. The last of these, in 1920-21, was in Milkwell Burn Wood, from the old electric car shed a half mile down into the wood. Instead of an electric hauler, as used elsewhere, there was a pulley on the corner of the shed and the tubs were pulled up and lowered down by a SG colliery shunter running on the colliery lines. So if you are looking for an excuse to run a NG tramway on a SG layout, but you only have the likes of a Hornby Peckett, then perhaps this example of multi-gauge rope working provides the excuse you need.