Keith Halton

Sorry, my mistake, the MRN article does say 6 axles were powered. Thanks for correcting this. You must be one of very few enthusiasts who were able to inspect the train. I have a two page article from Railways about the rebuild, I'll post this later.

I think the LMS design was actually too complicated and I don't think the idea of bogie frame extensions to shift the pivot point to be under the coaches was used anywhere else. The new Stadler trains on Greater Anglia use Jacobs bogies, in which the adjacent coaches (or power module) share a common pivot point in the middle of the bogie. It does compromise the kinematic envelope of the train more than the LMS system but it has been widely used. If you want to know what a Stadler Jacobs bogie looks like, see https://bahnbilder.ch/picture/9850. Another interesting feature of the LMS train was that the engines were mounted under the body but powered the axles of the articulating bogies. The bogies at the ends of the train were not powered. By comparison, only the end bogies of the Stadler trains are powered; the Jacobs bogies are not.

I've just seen this thread. There was a good description of the articulated DMU in Model Railway News in 1938. I've attached a PDF of it. There is a diagram showing how the articulation coped with curves, but no elevation drawings. There is a good photo of the train and several dimensions are quoted in the text. There's also some information about it in the RCTS LMS Locos book on the diesels. I recently wrote an article for a local transport society magazine comparing it with the modern Stadler FLIRT bi-mode units now working for Greater Anglia, it made an interesting comparison. LMS_DMU_MRN_article_May_1938.pdf

Chris, I think the tramway to the breakwater was relaid, probably to standard gauge. A long time ago, I had a look at the 25" maps in the Suffolk Records Office and traced the tramway, so that I could compare different dates. I can't put my hand on the drawings at the moment, but I'm sure the maps showed a difference between 1881 and 1906. As I said, I think the timbers on the breakwater look more likely to have carried standard gauge track. I'm sure the track in the postcard of the lighthouse is 2 foot gauge or close to that. Keith,

A bit late to the party, perhaps. but I've only just seen this thread (January 2021)! Johann Marsbar mentions my book on Ransomes and Rapier. When I was researching this book, about 20 years ago, I did delve into the tramways on Landguard Common and came to broadly the same conclusions as the various contributors to this thread. The earliest line was that laid by Colonel Tomline from a point close to Beach Station Road, mostly alongside Carr Road, to a point near the Pier Hotel (and the pier on to which the standard gauge line from Westerfield ran). It was 2 foot gauge and I am satisfied that Ransomes and Rapier's first loco, PIONEER, was indeed tested there. This is supported by paperwork in the R&R archives. I have always been intrigued by the track plan for that tramway. Bearing in mind that this was laid in about 1877, 2 foot gauge locos were still in their infancy, so did Tomline really plan to use a loco? The map suggests that there were run-round loops at each end, but no engine shed, suggesting that it was either never completed or was to be horse-worked. I've never seen a horse use a run-round loop, so what was the purpose of the loops? Also, I've never found any account of the tramway being used, other than the one reference to PIONEER running on it. My conclusion is that it had little or no other use. It would seem quite plausible that it was lifted to provide materials for the tramway that ran from the lighthouse to the jetty on Landguard Point, shown in the postcard of the lighthouse. Looking at the photo of the lighthouse, I am pretty sure that the track is 2 foot gauge, so could easily have been re-used from the earlier tramway. I think the purpose of this tramway was always to take materials to repair the breakwater and I suspect it was always hand-worked or perhaps horse worked, as pushing a truck full of ballast is hard work! The 25” OS map (source: National Library of Scotland) 1903 revision shows this tramway running for a distance of 650m from the tip of the breakwater to the Harwich Conservancy jetty. This jetty is at the location of the surviving jetty in Chris’s photos but the map suggests a different structure (the outline is different). I think this tramway may have been completely rebuilt at some stage, as the structure of the breakwater looks as if it carried standard gauge track. I have no evidence to support this, but I have always wondered if there may have been a railway crane in use here, to handle ballast. The 1886 6” map shows the tramway, but stopping near the lighthouse, and the map does not show the Conservancy jetty. There may have been a better road to the lighthouse by that date. 200m further north, we come to the jetty outside the fort and the mines research establishment. As has been noted, you can still see some track in the cutting that led from the mines research establishment to the jetty, and you can see the remains of the piles that supported this jetty. The tramway at the mines research establishment was 18" gauge, and if you go inside the Landguard Fort Museum, and go into the mines establishment, you will find a wagon turntable with three tracks radiating from it. One of these fed out into the cutting and ran on to the jetty (now gone) where the mines were loaded onto ships. Using the overlay feature on the NLS maps website, you can see the proximity of all the Landguard jetties and the modern landscape. This reveals that there was another jetty directly in line with the end of the modern Viewpoint Road. I’m not sure what this was used for and I have so far not seen any map that shows track on this jetty, which was quite a large structure. From later maps, it seems to have gone by 1937. Landguard Barracks once stood in the area now enclosed by the port, used for container storage. The OS map shows another pier with a tramway on it, 285m to the north of the one mentioned above. The 25” map (1881 I think) shows a boat house at the barracks end of this line, so it may have been more of a launching ramp than a pier. All trace of this jetty, and the barracks, has been obliterated by the development of the port. Much of Landguard Common to the north of Landguard Fort was used as a rifle range (can anyone put any dates on this?), and had a narrow gauge target trolley line, which is shown on the 1904 and 1928 maps. You can still see traces of this just north of the gap between the two ridges, where there are a couple of wooden sleepers still embedded in the ground. I measured these many years ago and they suggest a gauge of 2’ 10”. I would guess that, in later years, the target trolley(s) might have been petrol-engined, but it would be interesting to know if there were moving targets in earlier times, and if so, how were they operated? So, Landguard Common has an interesting history of minor tramways, with a few traces to be found by the observant visitor. I would welcome any further information about any of them. A little further afield, there was the 3 foot gauge 3rd rail electric tramway along the 800m long pier on the seafront (opened in 1905). In much more modern times (c1972), there was a lengthy 2 foot gauge line along the bank of the River Orwell at Trimley, worked by a Motor Rail Simplex diesel loco, in conjunction with strengthening the river wall, but that’s another story…. Keith Halton, Woodbridge, Suffolk.