Lost Railways and Last Days of Steam

3848 Views 18 Replies 7 Participants Last post by neil_s_wood, Jan 10, 2007

neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · Dec 30, 2006

Stenlake Publishing do an extensive series of nostalgia books. I discovered these when at home four years ago while researching our towns old railway station. Most of the books are collections of old photographs of towns in days gone by but there is a large series which covers the last days of steam in the 50's and 60's, and also lost railways which charts various railway lines before they fell under the axe. More than half of the range is about places in Scotland but there are plenty of places covered in England, Ireland and Wales too. They provide good photographs of many stations, trains and railway lines of which there is no trace today.

I have bought quite a lot of these books and intend to buy more. I suppose because I am living overseas at the moment I tend to be more nostalgic than most but of you are trying to model a branch line which no longer exists then these are certainly worth a shot. They have other series which cover canals and shipping, mining, aviation and road transport, football and golf. They can be bought from many high street shops, Amazon or direct from the publisher (which I would recommend as they give you your fourth book for four quid).

If you are wondering what the strange Zeppelin thing is on the cover of the Glasgow book, it was a precursor to the monorail.

Here's one for you Ozzie.

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Brian Considine

· #2 · Dec 30, 2006

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 30 Dec 2006, 04:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>If you are wondering what the strange Zeppelin thing is on the cover of the Glasgow book, it was a precursor to the monorail.

Now that would be an excellent tourist attraction if it still existed !

Thanks for that info' Neil.

dwb

· #3 · Dec 30, 2006

>the strange Zeppelin thing is on the cover of the Glasgow book
This day last week I would have been wondering, but a different photo of it appeared in a book I was given for Christmas. There was a lot of "invention" going into railed transport way back then!

David

John Webb

· #4 · Dec 30, 2006

The passenger car was suspended from the overhead rail by two 'bogies' one each end of the car. Wheels were deep double flanged. The rail underneath served as a guide only to prevent the car swinging excessively in strong cross-winds or when going round bends. Drive was purely by the propellers and not through the wheels; brakes took effect on the both the upper carrying rail and the lower guiderail - the propellers could also be put in reverse to assist in stopping.
Advantages claimed included:
Little ground space needed except at stations
Quick acceleration as drive did not go through wheels
Speeds of up to 200mph
(The above information comes from "Railway Wonders of the World" published in the mid-1930s.)
I believe WW2 stopped development and the line was scrapped during that war.
Regards,
John Webb

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neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 31, 2006

QUOTE I believe WW2 stopped development and the line was scrapped during that war. This period seems to have had a great deal of innovative transport ideas. Many of which were cut short by the war. Reading up on UK, German and US engineering round about this period is facinating. It really does make you wonder why there are so few radical ideas these days? Are people less inclined to take risks nowadays or do they just know better?

John Webb

· #6 · Dec 31, 2006

The Accountants did not rule so strongly then, I understand. Companies were willing to look at the more innoventive ideas and take decisions to try novel things out. Nowadays this only seems to happen in micro-electronics. Civil engineering works don't bring much return on any investment, so they are not popular.

Trav

· #7 · Jan 1, 2007

Tasmania has a few 'lost railroads', like theres a old tramway and it is all over grown by rain forest, I believe they found a loco hidden in part of the rain forrest.

neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 1, 2007

QUOTE (Trav @ 1 Jan 2007, 23:19) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Tasmania has a few 'lost railroads', like theres a old tramway and it is all over grown by rain forest, I believe they found a loco hidden in part of the rain forrest.
There's probably a few over here in Victoria too. I found a steam loco sitting in a kids play park yesterday in Bayswater. It had been decommisioned and all the holes welded up so kids couldn't get stuck in the bioler or tender. Apparently the tracks used to run through the park so the loco was run there and just left there after all the track had been lifted around it. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the time but I shall go back at some point.

Trav

· #9 · Jan 2, 2007

theres a few locos in parks around tasmania, unfortionatly on some they removed the tenders and i dont know what happened to those.

Here is a web site you may be interested in neil
Rail Tasmania

heres a list of trains in parks around Tasmania. (that i could find)
Class: Where:
E (No 1) 4-6-0 Deloraine
H (No 5) 4-8-2 Hillwood Strawberry Farm
H (No 6) 4-8-2 Perth (Tasmania not WA)
MA (No 3) 4-6-2 Margate

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neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 2, 2007

Thanks for that Trav. We hope to get over there on holiday at some point so I would like to check some of these out.

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Trav

· #11 · Jan 3, 2007

no prob

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John Webb

· #12 · Jan 3, 2007

Further to my previous postings, I just caught a repeat of one of Pete Waterman's 'Train' programmes this morning in which he mentions the monorail above. It seems that the system was put forward as a potential Victoria-Gatwick high-speed express route.
It never 'got off the ground' as it was expensive to build, and the designer was not an engineer and there were some serious technical problems. The designer (Blennie? - I didn't quite catch the name) died bankrupt in the early 1950s
Regards,
John Webb

neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 3, 2007

QUOTE (John Webb @ 3 Jan 2007, 21:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Further to my previous postings, I just caught a repeat of one of Pete Waterman's 'Train' programmes this morning in which he mentions the monorail above. It seems that the system was put forward as a potential Victoria-Gatwick high-speed express route.
It never 'got off the ground' as it was expensive to build, and the designer was not an engineer and there were some serious technical problems. The designer (Blennie? - I didn't quite catch the name) died bankrupt in the early 1950s
Regards,
John Webb
Theres a bit about it in the Railways of Scotland DVD Glasgow part 2. It ran to Milngavie, which is an upmarket suburb of Glasgow, for a short period. I'll have another look and report back if I findf anything worth mentioning.

7113

· #14 · Jan 4, 2007 (Edited by Moderator)

QUOTE (Trav @ 2 Jan 2007, 10:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>theres a
MA (No 3) 4-6-2 Margate

Not Margate Kent then!!

Just for a historical footnote a direputable member of my family was apparently one of the original settlers in Margate. (and no, I don't know for what heinous crime they committed to get transported.)

Regards

John

neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jan 4, 2007

QUOTE (BRITHO @ 5 Jan 2007, 03:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Not Margate Kent then!!

Just for a historical footnote a direputable member of my family was apparently one of the original settlers in Margate. (and no, I don't know for what heinous crime they committed to get transported.)

Regards

John
It didn't take much in those days, stealing a loaf of bread was enough.

Ozzie21

· #16 · Jan 9, 2007

Thanks Neil. I did get a couple of DVD's from Cinerail covering Glasgow and southwest Scotland wich took me places I'd never been to. Also got one on the Somerset and Dorset and on the Scottish A4's when the worked the fast expresses between Edinburgh and Glasgow which has really clear film footage. The S&D one was a bit of a disappointment as most of it was concerned with Great Western side of Bath but still an excellent watch.

Ozzie21

Here's one for you Ozzie.

neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jan 9, 2007

No worries Ozzie.

I recently got the Railways of Scotland DVD's for Glasgow. Theres two and I found them really good. Some of the footage is taken from a time (1960's) when I lived in Glasgow as a kid and it was really good to see how things were back then. I'd recommend them. Theres one for Ayrshire too I believe.

QUOTE (Ozzie21 @ 10 Jan 2007, 09:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks Neil. I did get a couple of DVD's from Cinerail covering Glasgow and southwest Scotland wich took me places I'd never been to. Also got one on the Somerset and Dorset and on the Scottish A4's when the worked the fast expresses between Edinburgh and Glasgow which has really clear film footage. The S&D one was a bit of a disappointment as most of it was concerned with Great Western side of Bath but still an excellent watch.

Ozzie21
Here's one for you Ozzie.

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Ozzie21

· #18 · Jan 10, 2007

Neil, I got Vol9 Scottish Byways of the archive series and Railways of Scotland Volume 12 The South West. I have enjoyed them so much I can see that it's going to be expensive but worth it.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 10 Jan 2007, 08:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>No worries Ozzie.

I recently got the Railways of Scotland DVD's for Glasgow. Theres two and I found them really good. Some of the footage is taken from a time (1960's) when I lived in Glasgow as a kid and it was really good to see how things were back then. I'd recommend them. Theres one for Ayrshire too I believe.

neil_s_wood

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jan 10, 2007

QUOTE Neil, I got Vol9 Scottish Byways of the archive series and Railways of Scotland Volume 12 The South West. I have enjoyed them so much I can see that it's going to be expensive but worth it.

Ozzie21

Same here. I have four of these now and I will definitely be getting more. I've been very impressed with them.

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