Light Railway/Main Line Goods Interchange

[PAL]

I fancy incorporating one of these in a layout I'm building, but I've never seen one. The light line would have no passenger traffic.  I imagine a goods shed with loading banks, with a light railway siding on one side and a main line siding on the other, probably with some separate provision for cattle, sheep etc.  Does anyone know of  photos I could use?

 

A further question:  were these interchanges always situated in station goods yards as was the case with Cleobury Mortimer, the only one I know about? It would suit my track plan very handily if I could put one in the middle of nowhere; but did such setups exist?

 

Any steers towards pictorial or printed material, and info the general topic of light/main junctions would be gratefully received. Were light lines always gated?  

[Neil]

Most light railways started life with high hopes of maximising their profits by carrying both passengers and freight. Though many lapsed into a freight only operation in their latter years there was usually some visual clue as to their former dual role. The other factor to bear in mind is that the typical light railway would serve places that hadn't titillated the commercial interests of the major railway companies linking them to the nearest big town which invariably would have. The scenario you describe of a middle of nowhere connection without passenger facilities sounds more like the set up for an industrial rather than light railway junction, though they usually just consisted of exchange sidings.

[Friar Tuck]

The Derwent Valley Light Railway is described here

 

http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/51/Derwent.htm

 

In York, the connection to BR was just a short single line spur off a BR goods line.

[John B]

Funny you should mention the Derwent Valley (Light) Railway.

 

I recently took delivery of a new book, "Rails along the Derwent" which is a fabulous, thorough, superbly illustrated history of the line. The interchanges at either end (York Layerthorpe, and Cliffe Common) would make fabulous models. Definitely worth seeking out...

[Gordon A]

The question is are you talking about a standard gauge light railway, like say the Wantage Tramway with its interchange in Wantage (GWR) station goods yard, where wagons would be transfered from one line to another bya linking line.

Or are you thinking of a narrow gauge light railway where the goods are usually transhipped  to and from the standard gauge line.

 

Gordon A

Bristol

[Classsix T]

leyte name="Neil" post="1361757" timestamp="1393433889"]

 

Most light railways started life with high hopes of maximising their profits by carrying both passengers and freight. Though many lapsed into a freight only operation in their latter years there was usually some visual clue as to their former dual role. The other factor to bear in mind is that the typical light railway would serve places that hadn't titillated the commercial interests of the major railway companies linking them to the nearest big town which invariably would have. The scenario you describe of a middle of nowhere connection without passenger facilities sounds more like the set up for an industrial rather than light railway junction, though they usually just consisted of exchange sidings.

 

Indeed, my local is the Mid Suffolk Light Railway, which managed independence from the GER until 1926. It branched off the GEML at Haughley. Ambitious plans had it going cross county to the East Suffolk but funds ran out at Laxfield. The branch lasted til 1952.

 

Hope this of some help/guidance,

C6T.

[DCB]

Standard gauge Light railway goods traffic was normally carried in private owner wagins and main line railway company wagons and interchanged with the main line company through exchange sidings. Quite oftenn this was by way of a headshunt, one railway pushed the wagins in and the other pulled them out to avoid any poissibility of accidental thriugh running while giving the checkers a chance to record the wagon numbers.   

Actually there were many interchanges between "heavy" railways where the only connection was by a dead end siding or platform road and direct through running was not possible, The Tetbury Branch at Kemble being one strange example as was the Teign Valley line junction with the Moretonhampstead branch at Heathfield (?) before the mid 1920s

The only places goods would be trans shipped between wagons as per your suggestion was at a break of gauge, such as the Tallylyn with their Wharf at Towyn and the Festiniog with extensive exchange arrangements at Minfordd.

There were of course internal user wagons on light railways for track maintenance or simply not registered with the RCH for mainline use, and of course brake vans etc which would remain on their own line and also parcels traffic carried in their own coaches again not registered for the main line, much of which would probably have to be interchanged across platforms just like any other branch line trains in fact.

The colliery railways blurr the distinction as some had internal passenger services, full signalling and used brake vans while being "Private" railways or "Private sidings."  

[Londontram]

The Southwold railway is a delightfull little railway which had an exchange with the standard guage line at Halesworth in suffolk which I believe was quite large which can be seen in the opening shots of the first video as the camera pans from the standard guage goods yard to the Southwolds narrow guage platforms, the second video shows the charm of this line with the last train to run on it

 

http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/153

 

[PAL]

My thanks to all contributors;   RMWeb Prototype Q's is a never-failing help in time of trouble.

London Tram: thanks so much for the wonderful Southwold footage.

Friar Tuck and John B:  I appreciate the steers to the Derwent Valley stuff.

 

As I understand it from your comments, three alternatives suggest themselves:

 

- an in-the-middle-of-nowhere set of industrial wagon exchange sidings eg stone or coal

- a narrow/standard gauge goods  transhipment setup eg Tallylyn

- light/main goods yard wagon exchange spur eg York or sidings eg Southwold

 

David Broad:  not knowing much about light railways, I always assumed that most of their stock was sub-standard by main-network criteria and hence verboten on its track. 

 

Further contributions on this thread would be most welcome.

[Friar Tuck]

From my limited knowledge of light railways, I would suggest that the single line spur arrangement was quite common. Other examples I can think of off the top of my head are the Selsey Tramway and the East Kent Railway - one for which traffic would have been very light and one with moderately heavy coal traffic.

 

The Great Eastern had several light railway interchanges that operated a bit like independent lines. Wisbech and Kelvedon, for example.

 

A different approach on the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire though - their line ran parallel with the main line for a bit and exchange sidings were provided in the middle of nowhere outside Shrewsbury.

[PinzaC55]

The Sand Hutton Light Railway did carry passengers but since it was narrow gauge it had transhipment facilities at Warthill station on the York - Market Weighton - Beverley line. As far as I remember there was an arrangement whereby SHLR wagons ran up onto a set of depots to tip produce into NER wagons. Warthill station is still mostly intact.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/warthill/index.shtml

[Neil]

The Derwent Valley Light Railway is described here

 

http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/51/Derwent.htm

 

In York, the connection to BR was just a short single line spur off a BR goods line.

 

 

Not quite, I'm afraid. The DVLR was my local light railway; and as a child of the sixties I've seen it in freight only days, the brief passenger revival, closure and preservation. The Layerthorpe terminus where the connection was made has always had the fixture and fittings of a passenger railway. Here's a rather terrific 1954 photo showing just what would be involved.