Steve Sykes Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 In the period before 1914, if a railway company operated workmens' trains over what would otherwise have been a goods-only branch, would the regulations required for full passenger operation have been applied, or would it have been more on an at-your-own-risk approach? I am considering a small layout of a Furness Railway goods-only branch serving slate quarries. If I was to run a workers' train, would this then require full signalling, facing point locks and so on? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted May 1, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 1, 2014 I suspect the answer would depend upon which railway company and whether the "workmen" were its own staff, were employees of a firm who contracted the train or were "normal" paying passengers albeit perhaps on Workman's tickets and on trains not always advertised in the public timetables. I'm certainly no expert on the Furness Railway but I'm sure we have one among us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted May 1, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 1, 2014 Workmen's trains are not specifically mentioned in either the 1885 issue or 1902 amendment of the Requirements. i suspect it was very much a case of hear or see no evil - speak no evil. So no full signalling etc but only carrying company employees. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Workmen's trains are not specifically mentioned in either the 1885 issue or 1902 amendment of the Requirements. i suspect it was very much a case of hear or see no evil - speak no evil. So no full signalling etc but only carrying company employees. This is what appears to have happened on both the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr and the Burry Port and Gwendreath Valley. Initially, both operated passenger services solely for workmen (miners, mainly); however the Board of Trade inspectors turned up unannounced, and discovered that a lot of 'miners' seemed to be wearing dresses and carrying commodious baskets.. The BP&GV agreed to install signalling and proper platforms to allow the general public to travel; the L&MMR agreed to run services just for miners. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coniston branch Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Hi Steve The only mineral only lines owned by the Furness Railway Company were the quarry branch line to Stainton, and one to the mines at Stank. I've never read anywhere that they ran workmans trains on either line, probably not enough workforce to justify the expense. They ran workmans trains to and from the shipyard and if memory serves they had a workmans halt at salthouse junction and one at Cark to serve the proposed airship factory. Hope this helps Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sykes Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 Thanks for your replies, gentlemen. As Phil says, probably there wouldn't have been enough slate workers to justify a train. I just fancied having a few of the Joseph Wright outside-framed carriages, the survivors of which in reality were in departmental use by this time but which might have been employed for workmens' trains. I think rule 1 may be applied! Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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