clachnaharry

I used to keep an eye on the Aberdeen to Inverness line (from my office window in Dyce) in the period 1980 to 1985. At that period, there were active yards at all of the intermediate stations (except Insch) and also at Port Elphinstone paper mill, Kennethmont and on the Dufftown and Burghead goods only branches. These yards were served by a morning partially fitted or unfitted goods from Aberdeen to which was usually double headed, shunting each intermediate yard as required.At Keith, it met an Inverness to Keith goods and wagons were exchanged. The Aberdeen and Inverness goods then returned to their points of origin, but one of the ex Aberdeen locos shunted Keith yard - ran to Dufftown if required, and then ran to Elgin light engine to shunt the yard there. A train crew was still based at Keith to operate this diagram. An Air Braked working ran in the afternoon to Elgin returning in the early evening. Port Elphinstone was served by an Aberdeen to Inverurie trip around lunchtime. The non air braked traffic finished in 1984 when coal traffic from the intermediate station yards was finally withdrawn.

Great photo, but it isn't a mixed train as there is no passenger accommodation. BGs were common on freights at the time north of Aberdeen and even appeared occasionally on the Fraserburgh branch which was freight only, The Aberdeen/Inverness route was in the hands of Swindon Cross Country DMUs at the time, so presumably this was to supplement their limited parcel carrying space.

Barnaby Brown, an employee of Booger and Bogit coal merchants of Chuffnel Regis, was badly injured on Friday 6th November, when he was struck by a cattle wagon being shunted at the local goods yard whilst conveying a barrowload of coal across the tracks. Before he lost consciousness, he was heard to complain that he didn't know why that Mr Booger didn't let him just pile the excess coal next to the unloading siding , until Harry took the cart came back form his rounds to reload...

I call them rocking horse poo staithes. Best place for them is alongside the bay platform - in the fiddle yard.

I think the Fort William one came from Marylebone about 20 years ago. I think there was an intention at the time to also put one in at Mallaig, but that fell by the wayside. I am not sure if the Fort William one has ever been used., but if so, it would remove the requirement to run tender first across Rannoch Moor at the start of the season.

How does a train travelling from right to left gain access to the branch? Do you intend the signalling to allow "wrong road" running through the top main line platform thus allowing direct access, or does the train travel "right road" through the main line platforms, then set back into the top main line platform and gain access that way? Alternatively, would it not be better to move the branch access point to the other side of the loop point. The branch access point would need a facing point lock if it is to be traversed by passenger trains joining the branch anyway.

Yes - but that doesn't explain how the provision of traps speeds up the crossing process.

How does that work? Does the trap remove a requirement to bring the train to a standstill at the home signal before allowing it to proceed the loop?

Your furthest away buffer stops seem to be a bit truncated...

Three end loading docks, with 2 of the sidings really only usable for that purpose looks like a very generous provision. What sort of traffic flow was that for?

Damn, that's a bit boring. I had visions of them trundling through Banbury behind a 66. Did they have to be air piped just to cross the main line at Didcot to get from the fuelling point to the sidings, or were they already converted?

You could just sell all your stock and buy a blue bubblecar - 1970's rationalisation, with the loop retained for weekend excursions, or go the whole hog and rip that up as well? Stationmaster would approve

Does anyone know what was going on here - where are they from and where are they going? Did they travel on the network and does anyone have pictures of them out on the main line? Picture from the Railscot website.

The St Combs light railway appears to have escaped a mention. Opened around 1906 by the GNSR and surviving until 1965 it was a 6 mile branch from Fraserburgh. It was unfenced, so locomotives required a cowcatcher. It was operated by F4 tanks in LNER days and these were superseded by Ivatt 2MTs in BR days - I think these were unique in that they were the only tender engines fitted with cowcachers, including on the tender, in the UK. The 2MTs were superseded by Cravens DMUs in the late 50's and goods traffic ceased then. The DMU's were not fitted with cowcatchers, so I'm not sure how they got around that regulation. Perhaps it was in the definition of locomotive?

My then girlfriend rented one of these cottages in 1984. I have never been so cold inside a house in my life!

After the Enterprise network started, containerised coal was handled at Aberdeen Craiginches Yard, Elgin East Yard, Inverness Harbour branch and Thurso. I'm not sure if Georgemas was used for offloading containers. From memory, they ran for about 5 years from mid 90's to early 2000's

That looks good to me. Do you have an end loading dock already? If not - it would be a good use for the end of that siding.

..and it runs the full length of the siding, so in effect the siding is dedicated to livestock traffic.

I think it was pretty rare for cattle docks to be at the end of sidings, unless that siding was dedicated for livestock traffic. I believe the reason was that that cattle trucks tended to be turned around quickly, so other vehicles stabled there would essentially be in the way.

Sure. It's a much more interesting line than the Farringdon branch from a modellers perspective. Slightly unusual track layouts, not restricted to one engine in steam, signalling, military traffic, railcars - with and without tail traffic. What's not to like?

The layout begs the question why did the goods yard have a direct connection to the single line, which requires a FPL when it looks like it could have had a trailing connection from the loop which would have considerably simplified the signalling and locking arrangements.

Which comedy program had had the pink HST and a tunnel?

I think losing the branch line is the right thing to do. I can't think of any prototype where a branch has only a single connection to the rest of the network via a kickback from a passenger bay platform at a terminal station. I know I'm revisiting old ground here, but it looks like the ideal location for the shed and turntable. Alternatively some sort of rail connected industry - a dairy would be the usual cliche! You could even do both.

The odd arrangement of the cattle dock/loading bank adjacent to the run round point adds to the operational interest. The loco of any arriving train would have to propel any vehicle stabled there for unloading there further up the headshunt towards the buffer stop in order to clear the points. It would then have to run around its train and couple this to the displaced wagon to bring it back along side the dock. There was a trap point situated on the "main" line adjacent to the run round point to protect a passenger train standing at the platform from goods vehicles stabled at the dock, a feature which I believe to be unique in such a situation. The steep gradient on the line approaching Highworth also presented shunting challenges. Smith and Heathcliffe's book states that two guards were required on the Highworth goods trains. The brake van would be detached on the gradient 50 yards from the station, and the junior guard would remain on the van with the handbrake firmly applied to prevent any loose wagons running away down the hill. Once shunting was complete, the long headshunt would have allowed the loco to place the guards van at the rear of the outgoing train standing at the platform, so in effect each goods train would have required the locomotive to run round twice. Lots of play value for 4 points and 2 traps, and with working signals as an added bonus. Its just a shame the layout is so long, thin and curved which makes it less than ideal for modelling. It would require an area of about 10 feet x 8 feet excluding the fiddle yard in 4mm.

I'm thinking a big gazebo over the terrace.