Time Travelling

Hello Folks,

Had an interesting discussion the other day and thought I'd follow up on here for some additional information.

Whilst most heritage railways tend to stick to a vague time period around the 1950s as their base, would it be possible to essentially "time travel" via different heritage railways from the birth of railways through to nationalization? If so, what railways would be your picks?

 

You could probably do a good chunk of history just on the bluebell railway!

 

You could do turn of the 20th century, but could they do any earlier?

 

I'd start at the Pockerley Waggonway, obviously. You'd have to leave the standard gauge for the mid- to late-Nineteenth Century: perhaps the Talyllyn or Corris plus a ride on the broad gauge at Didcot? You could as has been suggested fill in most of the first half of the Twentieth Century by riding from Sheffield Park to Kingscote, with an extra dose of the Thirties at Haven Street, after which there's the Mid-Hants for the later fifties, the Worth Valley for the early Sixties, the Keith and Dufftown for the late Sixties/early Seventies, and then the Mid-Norfolk to take you into the Eighties.

 

Hello,
Didcot could provide the 'Broad' Gauge period, 1845 to 1880s ......short run that is........5 - 6 miles would be better!!


Nick

 

thats a very interesting thought, there is no where that is geared up to show the early days, we have the S&D Replicas are any of them still in ticket, and how easy would it be to build replica coaches, as most are just converted open trucks, very easy, i would guess, ok you would need modern braking gear, now signalling, bat and post somersault signals would look good, has somewhere like blist hill got enough land for a short running line, of say 2 miles, you could even use heavy horse as a extra attraction, i crtainly would visit such an attraction, especially if it were part of a reconstruction small village type set up, ideal for school parties also

 

Isn't Blist Hill built alongside the old LNWR line from Coalport?

 

As I said, there's the Pockerley Waggonway: http://www.beamish.org.uk/pockerley-waggonway/

 

I read that as a hairy horse

 

Hello,
All horses hairy,heary or heavy are all very Horseable !


Nick

 

typo error, even spell checker didn’t flag it up should have read heavy Horse

 

As one of the drivers on the pockerley waggonway at beamish, we fit all of your criteria for early railways. The worlds oldest working railway signal, three replica locomotives (originals dating from 1813 - 1825) replica stockton and darlington locomotives, all running through a Georgian landscape, with a 1800's colliery, church, 1700's wooden waggonway and hairy horses

 

Plus Bowes railways rope worked inclines operated in the exact same way from 1826 til 1974 - cable worked railways are a hugely overlooked part of railway history. Infact you can time travel just in the north of england, Pockerley waggonway, bowes rope worked inclines, tanfields ner coaches and the thumper at eden valley, i think weve got it all...

 

When the Spa Valley is running its 207 DEMU 1317 then you are riding in in a 60s unit with original incandescent lighting and new Trojan moquette seating (the order to facelift the unit was somehow never implemented). Externally it is in the BR blue and Grey livery that it ran in over the very same line. It was also in the last BR operated passenger train over the line in the 80s so you cannot get a better time travel experience than that surely.
( 1317 is rostered for the Eridge/TWW service this coming Saturday and Sunday all being well)


Brian

 

Well if you had the Shipston on stour branch you could do anything between 1826 and the early 60s. Admittedly the stations were open on a different section, but certainly at least part of it hauled freight and passenger traffic over most of that period. There is also Darlington-Bishop Auckland which you could run nearly anything between 1837 and the British Rail DMUSs of the 1980s.

I agree though, Id love to see a broad gauge route of appreciable length. But the startup costs and the acquiring of rolling stock would be near prohibitive I would have thought. Its too bad there is hardly anywhere else in the world who used broad gauge of that measurement.

 

Bowes is a long, long way from working again, in my opinion, I know that is at odds with other opinions expressed here, but take it from one who knows, it is, I wish I wasn't.

More the pity is the fact that until 2002 it was (West Incline Excepted.) but since then its gone back to a worse state that it was in 1974/5.