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Brockham Railway Museum
The Brockham Railway Museum was a narrow gauge railway based at the site of the Brockham Limeworks, near Dorking, Surrey. When it closed in 1982, the majority of the collection was moved to the Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre where it formed the nucleus of the Amberley Museum Railway. History In 1960, the Dorking Greystone Lime Co. of Betchworth, Surrey, was disposing of its railway stock. The company's general manager, Major Taylerson, was keen to see the locomotives preserved. The London Area Group of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society (NGRS) purchased one of the pair of gauge Fletcher Jennings tank locos, ''Townsend Hook''. This was placed on display at Sheffield Park on the embryonic Bluebell Railway. However this was not a particularly satisfactory arrangement, and efforts were made to find an alternative home. In October 1961, members of the NGRS visited the disused chalk pit of Brockham Lime & Hearthstone Co. Ltd. The site was deemed suitable, and arrangements ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrow Gauge Railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structure gauges, and lighter rails, they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge. In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Aust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groudle Glen Railway
The Groudle Glen Railway ( Manx: ''Raad Yiarn Glion Ghroudal'') is a narrow gauge railway near Onchan in the Isle of Man, on the boundary of Onchan and Lonan, which is owned and operated by a small group of enthusiastic volunteers and operates on summer Sundays; May to September and Wednesday evenings in July and August along with a number of annual special events. History ; 1896 – 1939 The line was built in the late Victorian era to cater for a new demand for transport down Groudle Glen after the opening of the Manx Electric Railway. A zoo was built, and the Groudle Glen Railway connected to it. The narrow gauge line ran from the upper part of the glen, Lhen Coan, to the zoo at Sea Lion Rocks. The line opened on 23 May 1896 and initially operated with a single locomotive, called ''Sea Lion'', and three coaches. The locomotive was built by W.G. Bagnall Ltd. of Castle Engine Works, Stafford. The line became so popular that a second locomotive, ''Polar Bear'' and addit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruston & Hornsby
Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow gauge railway, narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included automobile, cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. It is now a subsidiary of Siemens. Background Proctor & Burton was established in 1840, operating as millwrights and engineers. It became Ruston, Proctor and Company in 1857 when Joseph Ruston joined them, acquiring limited liability status in 1899. From 1866 it built a number of four and six-coupled tank locomotives, one of which was sent to the Exposition Universelle (1867), Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1868 it built five 0-6-0 tank engines for the Great Eastern Railway to the design of Samuel Waite Johnson. Three of these were converted to crane tanks, two of which lasted until 1952, aged eighty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moseley Railway Trust
The Moseley Railway Trust is a major British collection of industrial narrow gauge locomotives and other equipment. It originally had its base in south Manchester, but has relocated to the Apedale Community Country Park near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, where the Apedale Valley Light Railway and an important museum are being established next to the Apedale Heritage Centre. Phase 1 of the narrow gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway opened to the public in during August 2010. Plans for the large new museum building have been approved by the local council and it was intended that construction will commence during 2011. It is planned that there will eventually be an industrial demonstration railway line running around the perimeter of the MRT/Apedale Heritage Centre site, connecting with a recreation of an adit called No 7 Drift, from which coal was extracted by the previous occupiers of the site, the Aurora Mining Company, until around 1998. Overview From summer 1998 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Department Light Railways
The War Department Light Railways were a system of narrow gauge trench railways run by the British War Department in World War I. Light railways made an important contribution to the Allied war effort in the First World War, and were used for the supply of ammunition and stores, the transport of troops and the evacuation of the wounded. Track gauges Different track gauges were used in different parts of the world including 600mm, , and . The military light railways in France were of gauge and used a variety of steam and petrol locomotives from French, British and American builders. The Germans installed their gauge Feldbahn system early in the war. Trench railways of the World War I western front produced the greatest concentration of minimum-gauge railway locomotives observed to date. Development Britain came to the belated realisation that it needed a flexible and reliable method of supplying the front lines, bringing shells, timber, and fodder from the rear areas an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Bear (locomotive)
''Polar Bear'' is a narrow-gauge steam locomotive built in 1905 by W. G. Bagnall for the Groudle Glen Railway. It is now preserved and runs on the Amberley Museum Railway. Groudle Glen Railway The Groudle Glen Railway on the Isle of Man is a gauge tourist railway opened in 1896. It was originally worked by a single locomotive supplied by W.G. Bagnall, called '' Sea Lion''. The railway proved popular, and in 1905 a second, slightly larger version of the same design was ordered from Bagnall. This locomotive was named ''Polar Bear''. From 1905 onwards, Sea Lion and Polar Bear worked all the trains on the railway. The railway was closed between 1915 and 1918. The two Bagnalls were taken out of service in the 1920s, when they were replaced by a pair of battery locomotives. The electric locomotives quickly wore out, and ''Polar Bear'' and ''Sea Lion'' were returned to traffic. The railway was closed for the duration of World War II and, when the line reopened in the late 1940s, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motor Rail
Motor Rail was a British locomotive-building company, originally based in Lewes, Sussex, they moved in 1916 to Bedford. In 1987 loco manufacture ceased, and the business line sold to Alan Keef Ltd of Ross-on-Wye, who continue to provide spares and have built several locomotives to Motor Rail designs. History The origins of the Motor Rail company can be traced back to the patenting of a gearbox by John Dixon Abbott of Eastbourne in 1909 ("Change speed and reversing gearbox suitable for use in motor-trams", UK Patent 18314). In March 1911, he formed The Motor Rail & Tramcar Co Ltd, with his father John Abbott and brother Tom Dixon Abbott. The stated aim of the business was developing the gearbox and incorporating it in tramcars and railcars. At about the same time operations moved to Lewes, Sussex and rented space in the Phoenix Foundry of John Every, where they developed a narrow-gauge rail vehicle around the Dixon-Abbott gearbox using a twin cylinder water-cooled Dorman engin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwold Railway
The Southwold Railway was a narrow gauge railway line between Halesworth and Southwold in the English county of Suffolk. long, it was narrow gauge. It opened in 1879 and closed in 1929. Intermediate stations were at Wenhaston, Blythburgh and Walberswick. Route The route closely followed the River Blyth, with Halesworth and Southwold both on the north side, but the longest section, including the intermediate stations, was on the south side. Although the line closed in 1929, its track was still marked and identified on a 1933 Ordnance Survey map. The line was lifted and the equipment was scrapped in 1941 to help with war efforts. Some track can still be found on the harbour branch and a surviving van is at the East Anglia Transport Museum. There is also a surviving (but derelict) coal shed at Blythburgh. Parts of the route from Southwold to Blythburgh are walkable, particularly through woodland known as the Heronry on the south shore of the Blyth estuary. The original bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scaldwell Tramway
Scaldwell is a village and civil parish in the West, Northamptonshire, England. The village's name means 'spring/stream which is shallow'. Scaldwell is tiny and has neither shops nor pubs; at the time of the 2001 census the parish had a population of 271 living in 113 households, increasing to 302 in 2011 and 304 in 2020. It has an ageing population. The nearest place for school, shop or pub is Brixworth. Scaldwell has a church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. It has a Norman tower and some 13th century-features and was restored in 1863. The village has a traditional green and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Ironstone quarrying and the Scaldwell Tramway The Staveley Coal and Iron Company operated a number of ironstone quarries around the villages of Brixworth, Hanging Houghton and Scaldwell from 1912 until 1963. The first pits lay to the east of the Scaldwell to Brixworth Road close to Scaldwell, and began producing ore in April 1913. Two separate gauge tramway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peckett & Sons
Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Locomotive Works on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and St. George, Bristol, England. Fox, Walker and Company The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, Bristol, as Fox, Walker and Company, building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use. They also built stationary engines and pioneered steam tramcars, the first being tested in Bristol in 1877. Much of their output was exported, mostly , with some , and . In 1878 they produced six gauge trench engines for the Royal Engineers at Chatham using Henry Handyside's steep gradient apparatus. They also produced nine s for the Somerset and Dorset Railway. Peckett and Sons They were taken over by Thomas Peckett in 1880, becoming Peckett and Sons, Atlas Engine Works, Bristol. The company acquired limited liability some years later. By 1900 the two companies had built over 400 locomotives. The company continued producing a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fletcher Jennings
Fletcher, Jennings & Co. was an engineering company at Lowca near Whitehaven, Cumberland, England. Overview Fletcher and Jennings took over the business of Tulk and Ley in 1857. From then, until 1884, the company concentrated on four and six-coupled industrial tank locomotives, although other goods such as bridge girders, and blast-furnace shells for the burgeoning local iron industry, were also produced. By then nearly two hundred locomotives had been built and the company acquired limited liability as Lowca Engineering Company Ltd. In 1905, the name changed again to the New Lowca Engineering Company Ltd., but the company was receiving fewer orders. After a disastrous fire in 1912, all production ceased and the company being finally wound up in 1927. Surviving locomotives Preserved locomotives manufactured by the company include: Other locomotives Other locomotives manufactured by the company include: *Brigham Hall/Rothersyke of the Cleator & Workington junction rail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Townsend Hook (locomotive)
''Townsend Hook'' is a gauge Fletcher, Jennings & Co. steam locomotive built in 1880 for the Dorking Greystone Lime Co. as works no. 172L. ''Townsend Hook'' is cosmetically restored and based at Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre, West Sussex. Industrial Service In the late 1870s the Dorking Greystone Lime Co. of Betchworth, Surrey, decided there was a need for steam locomotives to work the horse drawn narrow gauge lines in their quarry. Following on from the success of their 1877 standard gauge Fletcher Jennings 0-4-0T No. 3 (later named ''Captain Baxter'', now preserved at the Bluebell Railway, they decided on Fletcher Jennings products again. Two new engines, works nos. 172L and 173L (later becoming ''Townsend Hook'' and ''William Finlay'' respectively) were built in early 1880 at Fletcher Jennings' Lowca Works and dispatched to Betchworth by rail. The locos had some issues, such as the wooden brake blocks catching fire due to the friction caused by braking the heavy l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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