parallel worlds - period change on your layout

[tedp]

You will find a coastal steamer would be very rare before 1900, except perhaps the Clyde Puffer which originally was an inland waters vessel. Most of the coastal trade at the time was done in sailing vessels. A good example is this photo of Port Dinorwic around 1880 (I estimate).



Source: National Library of Wales

My Puffer is 7cms (almost 3") wide and 26cms (slightly over 10") long.

[Ross Chapman]

Ahh might be a bit too big for my space then, maybe use a barge to haul the cargo out to larger ships in the bay then.

I love how the small stock and short trains make the layout look so much larger. Very colourful liveries as well. Once it's done Swaffham might have to get sent over to pay a visit to Craigcorrie for some running-in!

[tedp]

You're welcome to visit any time!

Back to the 1880s, the coal train has now descended the line to Dunalistair, and is seen rounding the headland, with the blue Atlantic beyond.





As the train is split up and pushed on to the loading pier, the road crossing is guarded.



Catriona's skipper is trying to make the best of the fluky wind under the pier as he tries to get out of harbour. Meanwhile, the coal wagons are pushed towards the chutes.





Faith is tied up at the steps of the Fisherman's Rest as the skipper has gone up for a dram. The boy is watching the boat.



The work done, the brake van is parked in the siding. The horse and cart are on their way and the crew of Craigcorrie are off to the ash pit to clean the fire, coal up and water the engine.

[Ross Chapman]

As usual lovely pictures! Nice to see the little Pug hard at work.

[tedp]

Thanks, Ross - even my pugbashes have a place in the tale. They are small engines, perhaps with their design defects but they aren't a bad choice for what is basically a small engine era. And I find they run fairly well despite having a Dock Tank chassis. Much of that is due to the KPC controllers.

Meanwhile the mixed train has been taken apart at Rae Bridge, and Inveraray is at work picking up a covered wagon from the distillery, as Philip Ramsay drives his team of horses around the corner of the cobbled yard. The horses are straining to turn the cart round, and in a while when that horrible snorting machine will have gone, the cart will be backed to the platform to unload the empty casks he has brought.



Since the mixed will be a heavy load through the Gorge, they fired up the big 0-6-0 Brutus to handle it on the gradients. The little 0-4-0 is now off to the ash pit as the 0-6-0 takes over.



And here the mixed emerges into the Gorge. Regrettably the loco has to run cab first, so the water level over the firebox crown has to be watched as it labours up the gradient. That traveller's caravan is still stuck in the same place - I wonder what they're doing there. And I notice one wheel is off the surface - I must tweak the whitemetal drawbars a little!  ;)

[tedp]

Having climbed to Glenclachan Road, and after a bit of shunting, the mixed now eases out on to Glenclachan viaduct.



Not very much later the train crosses the great expanse of Inverlochan Moor. I should have removed that marker ring off the roof of the van...



At Glenclachan siding, a little way back, there is this timeless scene of sheep being herded into the pens. The wagon of peat is waiting for the next train.



The coal train has been discharged and now is on its way back.



Here it is crossing the lower bridge in the Gorge. The little saddle tank is capable enough to handle the load of empties up the gradient.



End of the line at Inverlochan,

[tedp]

I guess it is now time for the final episodes of the Victorian age on the C&DR, since completing the timetable would lead to repeating many of the scenes.

Here the second branch service of the day is coming down the branch. Please ignore the tram overhead - this has no business in a Victorian scene, but taking that down would be too much. The branch train will back into the platform, continue to Dunalistair and return to Rae Bridge.



On its return, the branch train is seen on the river bridge. Note that these are overscale representations of Ffestiniog bug boxes - I guess about 5.5mm scale. Another thing to note is the lack of a passenger brake van, which even in pre-1889 days wouldn't have been tolerated by the BoT. But at the moment I don't have enough suitable Victorian style brake vans.



The branch loco fetches a covered wagon from the goods siding. Note the main line loop signal being 'off' to allow the shunting move to pass.



In order to reach the branch from the platform road, the train has to set back. This is due to the peculiar layout of Rae Bridge, where the branch passes behind the station and follows the road for a short distance. Setting back before departing from a station is by no means remarkable. The Schull & Skibbereen did so at the Schull terminus, and even today I have seen it done at Killarney on Irish Rail. Again, note the loop starter being 'off' - the track won't be energised if it isn't pulled.



And finally we see the branch train on its way, labouring up the 1:20 gradient from the main line.



Meanwhile, the down main line passenger service, which will later be called the 'Dunalistair Mail', crosses the Moor on its way down the main line.



Here it crosses the viaduct, being dwarfed by the landscape.

[tedp]

Arrival at Rae Bridge, where the new six-wheeler will be fetched from the carriage shed to cater for the passengers expected from the mail steamer from Fort William.





After attaching the carriage to the train, we continue to Dunalistair.



Next, the train is seen rounding the headland and descending into the harbour station.





Finally, we see the train in the terminus, where the steamer has just arrived at the pier.





I just saw the whitemetal figure of a fisherman repairing nets, which still hasn't been painted, has intruded into the last photo! 

This is the last photo of the Victorian age on the C&DR. My conclusions?

If I want to run a true Victorian railway service and improvise the setting for 1880, there is a lot to consider. We can pretend inappropriate objects aren't there - I did so all along, as you may have noticed.

rolling stock
The main challenge is motive power and rolling stock. I brought back some withdrawn items, such as one or two card-built vehicles of 1976, and an even older bogie wagon (1974, I think). A few more covered vehicles would be a good idea, but I don't need that many. The rolling stock is partly fitted with brake pipes which wouldn't have been there before 1889, since all narrow gauge railways were hand braked before the Regulation of Railways Act. I need more brake vans - the passenger vans have been pressed into service on the goods trains, so probably two goods brake vans of 1870s style would be a good idea.

locomotives
Six locomotives are adequate  - it could be done with five. I pressed into service two pugbashes, to which I'm rather attached despite their obvious deficiencies. They are based on 1886 standard gauge locomotives. A Ratty M/W or a Southwold Sharpie would be better. On the branch I use a tram locomotive very distantly based on the Glyn Valley ones. Skirted tram locomotives (bar one or two exceptions) didn't appear until the mid 1880s. I also need a heavy goods engine. At the moment the very freelance and more modern Jintybash 'Brutus' is used for that, but a good alternative could be based on the Ballymena & Larne 'Bruiser', a heavy 2-6-0 saddle tank built by Beyer Peacock in 1880. Such a loco has been long on my mind, as Mick knows - we have discussed the Bruiser often enough.

the timetable
Running the service with a much reduced locomotive and stock roster has proved a challenge, but it goes fairly well. I reduced the number of trains held in the return loops to two instead of six. I cancelled the goods and mixed services in the timetable (which is based on a full roster) and only ran one mixed service. The branch service (the branch which is supposed to have been built by the Army in 1916, and is only operated in this time frame since the track is there) is only a token two trains a day, both mixed, taking the place of a passenger and a goods. The third (mixed) service was dropped. So I reduced the timetable so it reflects early days on the railway - three main line trains every day, and two branch trains, apart from the coal trains 'run as required'.

[Ross Chapman]

As usual you have taken amazing pictures of your layout!