WantSomeSyrup

Kudos to PoT and 36c for such good history on the island's railways and resources. Now we will shift over to another lesser developed part of Tumm, modeled and storied by me. Nestled approximately halfway between Jutham and the Mostad Peninsula is the Sollop River Valley on the south coast. The Valley runs north by northwest from the mouth of the river at Codsollop. History of the Sollop Valley The first known settlement in the Valley was at the Bridge of Hadrian, where the Southern Coast Road built in 70 AD crossed the river. It created a small hamlet around the toll gate to provide for travellers. For the next 900 years the valley would be relatively undisturbed, seen only as a backwater to the Jutes, and as a good safe harbour for Norse longships traversing the coast. This all changed with Hadrada's invasion of Tumm to use as a forward base, with part of his forces landing at Postgate and traversing west. However due to heavily autumnal rains the marshlands south of the Southern Road flooded over forcing Harald and Torsig's forces north by 10 miles, reaching the Codsollop River slightly north of where the western fork joins the main river. Here they crossed on rafts to continue west, leaving the place with Hadrada's name. During the Norman rule the first known Sollops settled in the valley at Hadrian's Bridge, taking over the town pub. At this time the river was still unnamed, only known as The River to locals, as little as they were. During the Norman era the Valley was grouped into the rest of Torrishire, and the first known settlement at Codsollop would come into existence. It was a small town 10 miles north of the current one, first settled by Henry Swollop as a bog iron mining operation, which would be shipped out by boat to Jutham and other points in Europe. During the Hundred Year's War a fortress was built on Yoke Island, so named for how it sits in the mouth of the River Swollop. Due to this, the town of Codsollop was moved to it's current location on the east bank of the bay. The town's first official mayoral elections were built, and Charles Swollop was named Mayor. To commerate this, they named the river after him, thus giving it the name it holds today. It is unknown why the W was dropped, but we can attribute it to a misspelling taken on as tradition. The next major development in the Valley was when Benjamin B Codswollop found the tar pits east of where Welton sits today,using horses to haul tar from the pits into a barge loading point at Welton, however due to the marshy terrain between the two it was later abandoned. Due to the Enclosure Act, the Swollops were granted land and a baronship, thereby making them the domiant family in the Valley. Another notable Swollop was George Harald, who was Rear Admiral of the Tummian Home Fleet during the 4th Dutch-Anglo War, helping drive the Dutch fleet back. For this the land grants were expanded up the Valley to the site of Lesser Codswollop, and using these he built a turnpike along the bank of the river all the way north to Welton, using horses and boats to move tar down and goods up. The Swollop's had been granted rights to all roads in the area with the Enclosure Act, and was given control of the toll bridge at Hadrian's Bridge as well as the road stretching 20 miles east and west. Bog Iron mining, which had been stalled by the 100 Year's War and layed dormant since, was also restarted to supply the large barrel making operation at Welton. The GCT By the 1790s, George Harald replaced the turnpike with a horse hauled tramway, owing to developments in England and river levels running too low for boats during dry spells. It continued working with only occasional interruptions from flooding in the boggish section between Codsollop and Welton, with the tramway being put on pilings. As the Industrial Revolution kicked into gear, Codsollop experienced a boom in industry, mainly fishing and the continued export to Jutham of tar, as well as a nail factory and foundry. John Henry Swollop was the main proponent of industry, and followed steam developments in England, traveling to see the L&M open. He decided to enact his own steam policy on the GCT as the tramway was now known, using stationary engines and rope haulage to haul more Tar from the pits to Welton. He also searched for locomotives to trial, but due to the gauge of the GCT no satisfactory results were found. However, by the 1860s better steam power was available, and John's son James oversaw it's implementation in 1878, buying a Lewin named Minnow and using it to relay the railway with proper rails, and extending to meet the turnpike at Hadrian's Bridge. A thrice weekly mixed train to the Bridge was insituted, and a need for a second locomotive was apparanent, and James instructed the foundry at Codsollop to fill that need. What they produced can only be described as a sin to Stephenson himself, and it was soon sent to Jutham to be redone. What came out was the GCT's #2 Wollop, named after the family, a Fowler boiler sitting atop a custom 0-4-0 chassis. In the early 1880s news was abundant about another railway reaching Codsollop, as it was building westerly from Postgate along the coast. When it was completed in 1883, a great celebration was held, only interrupted by a very drunk James hijacking the standard gauge locomotive that had brought officials in and taking it for a joyride through the yard. The railway grew well into the 20th century, by 1895 they had reached Trout's Beck in the north for it's mineral deposits and natural springs. By insistence of the Postgate-Codswollop Quarries Co, layed tracks into Hadrian's Bridge to access their copper mines at Skir Beck. As the railway grew so did it's locomotive fleet, which I will cover in another post. One notable order is the two "Trammymacks" ordered to help run trains from Trout's Beck, No.6 "Flotsam" and 7 "Jetsam". During WW1, the port at Codswollop grew busier, and the fort on Yoke Island was given a garrison after 200 years of decay. A new improved harbour facility was needed, and by 1925 the first sod was broken on the outer harbour. However this drew official's eyes from the UK with the new railway act, and the GCT was forced to register, even if most of it had been built 30 years before the act came into effect. Propsects looked bright for the GCT heading into the 30s even with the Depression. However in 1931 all of Tumm was rocked by a 6.1 magnitude quake, which decimated the GCT. It collapsed the middle span of Hadrian's Bridge, took #7 to it's end when the railway's trestle crossing the marsh buckled and fell in, caused two of the PCQ's shafts at Skirs Beck to cave in, as well as damaging Codsollop heavily, collapsing half of Yoke Island's Fortress and the old inner harbour. The GCT rebuilt as well as it could, but this was the start of the downwards spiral. As WW2 started, Codsollop was targeted for it's copper and oil exports, and bombed. The oil afomentioned was product of the Blue Shale Oil Co, which had been spun off GCT in 1915 by Edward Swallop to take possession of the tar fields, and as oil was discovered, those deposits. I'll cover it more in a later post. Thanks to the war the copper deposits at Skir's Beck were worked out, leading to the line becoming only used as needed during harvest for the sugar beets grown on the west bank. In addition most of the fleet had been over extended, and with a road built from Jutham around the southwest coast in the late 40s, the railway had competition and worn engines. The railway made the decision in 1950 to cut services back to as they were in the 1870s, thrice weekly mixed picking up traffic wherever it was needed, as well as weekly shipments of goods to Welton for the new refinery and a train of petroleum products back down. Most of the locomotives were sold on, with Wollop, Flotsam, #4 and #11 being kept on. The line saw more decline, and by 1960 it was decided to shutter passenger services entirely, shelving Flotsam and selling Wollop on to the refinery for work. By 1962 the line had become almost devoid of traffic, with the beets and occasional machinery runs being the only trains left, all others were lost to road trucking or the IoTCR meeting with the new Blue Shale extension. In an effort to preserve his family's history, Tom Henry Swollop made the decision to turn the line running between Codswollop and the old townsite as a heritage railway, while shuttering the rest of the GCT. #11, the last engine built for the GCT and the only one succesfully built by themselves, was kept on to run trains. #4 was purchased by a group who had purchased the line running west from Hadrian's Bridge, and the bridge itself was deemed a historic landmark, even with the new steel superstructure composing the middle span. Eventually in 1983 the line to Welton had been re-opened, with Wollop purchased back from the refinery in the mid 70s to help support the extended venture, and Flotsam who had been sold to the hamlet of Trout Beck, was reclaimed in 1990 and shipped down by boat to Welton. As such, the GCT still exists, but the line will never see it's height as it did before the Earthquake, and the echo of a steam locomotive will never be heard in the upper Swollop valley again.

Absolutely Smashing. What is that small black engine with an rank of opens in tow?