Roger Farnworth Railways

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Micklehurst Loop again. ...
The third length of the Micklehurst Loop takes us from Micklehurst Passenger Station House to Chew Valley Road Bridge in Greenfield. ......

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/02/22/th...oop-part-3

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Micklehurst Loop again. ...
Since publishing the first three articles about the Micklehurst Loop. I have had a trickle feed of comments, particularly about the Staley and Millbrook Goods Yard. This short addendum to the first article seeks to bring those items together in one place. It is the fourth addendum to that first post.

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/03/07/th...goods-yard

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Micklehurst Loop again. ...
An addendum to the post about the third length of the Micklehurst Loop which covers a 1963 image contributed by Keith Norgrove and some further information about Mossley Gas Works and its sidings. .....

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/03/09/th...op-part-3a

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Uganda Railway again. ....
The Sugar Factory Branches off the Kisumu Line

An on-line acquaintance has recently pointed out that the tenth article in this series about the Uganda Railway is incomplete in that it omits to cover two branch-lines which serve Sugar Cane Mills/Factories. I have returned to the trip along the Uganda Railway to complete the omitted part of the story - that of the Chemelil and Miwani Sugar Factory Branches. ........

On the final approaches to Kisumu the line passed through a significant sugar cane growing region. Sugar processing factories were set up in two locations along the line - Chemelil and Miwani. Both these locations were provided with short branch-line connections to the main Nakuru to Kisumu line.

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/03/24/ug...-to-kisumu

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Uganda Railway again. ....
This is the last post based around the book by M.F. Hill which was published in 1949 just as the Tanganyika and Kenya/Uganda networks became one organisation. It cover the Second World War and the few years immediately after. .....

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/03/29/th...-and-after

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: Uganda again
The Kampala to Bombo Railway - a Stronach- Dutton Roadrail Narrow Gauge System

At the insistence of the Governor of Uganda an independent novel rail system was tried out in the early 1920s. The trial resulted in the building of a line between Kampala and Bombo which operated during the middle years of that decade. Ultimately, the system failed and it was closed well before the end of the decade.

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/04/03/th...bo-railway

This was a project run by the Direct Works department of the protectorate/colony and was not part of the much wider network of "The Uganda Railway" which stretched from Mombasa on the coast of Kenya to Kampala and eventually on the Kasese in the West of the Country. A series of articles about the much larger network can be found in the posts above. 

I discovered this line when I came across it in an article by Henry Lubega. I have discovered quite a bit more about the design philosophy since then. The system used for the line, the Stronagh-Dutton Roadrail System, is referred to elsewhere – particularly in “Narrow Gauge Steam … and other railway curiosities, Volume 1,” a ‘bookazene’ published by Kelsey Publishing and in a relatively short publication by the Narrow Gauge Society.

At first look, it seems quite an ingenious idea – removing the weight of the locomotive from the rails enabled much lighter rails to be used. In practice, however a whole series of factors rendered the idea impracticable.

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Micklehurst Loop again. ...
This last post on the Micklehurst Loop completes the journey to Diggle and takes us to the mouths of the Standedge tunnels and Diggle Station.

We completed our walk in January but returned in April to take a few pictures at the site of what was once Diggle Station. ....

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/04/16/th...oop-part-4

[rogerfarnworth]

The Railways of Jamaica again. ....
Another visit to the railways of Jamaica, courtesy, this time, of H.G. Forsythe in the September 1963 edition of the Railway Magazine. .....

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/05/28/th...aica-again

I have been reading historic copies of the Railway Magazine again. This time it was a bound copy of the magazines from 1963. ........ I came across an article about the Railways of Jamaica in the September 1963 edition which was written by H. G. Forsythe.

[rogerfarnworth]

A 3ft 6in Gauge Steam Tramway in Heywood, Greater Manchester.
Until I read the February 1963 edition of 'The Railway Magazine', I had no idea that steam trams served boroughs in the Manchester conurbation. .........

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/05/29/a-...chester-uk

John R. Prentice says that "the Manchester, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham Steam Tramways Co. Ltd. (MBRO, founded c.1883) became the second largest steam tramway operator in Britain with over 90 tram engines, 80 double-deck passenger trailers and 30 miles of routes. Of all these, two-thirds of stock and track were narrow gauge (3ft 6ins), including the section between Bury and Rochdale, through Heywood.

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: Co. Donegal Railways again. ...
This next post about the railways of Co. Donegal. It focusses on one viaduct on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR) - the Owencarrow Viaduct - and specifically on an accident which occurred there in 1925

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/05/30/th...nt-in-1925

In the February 1963 edition of The Railway Magazine there was a letter from L. Hudlass which said: "The accident on the Owencarrow Viaduct, on the Letterkenny & Burtonport line, Ireland, of January 30, 1925, involved a westbound train running from Londonderry to Burtonport, on the Burtonport extension of the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. The 380 yd.-long viaduct, sited between Kilmacrenan and Creeslough in County Tirconaill is in wild and open country and, on the day in question, a gale of 100mph caught the train broadside on and one carriage plunged through the parapet, pulling another with it. The couplings held and neither of the vehicles fell into the valley, but roof destruction caused several passengers to be thrown out, three people being killed outright.