britain's most obscure line?

This was the Horningsham and Mintsbury Light Railway, a 7¼" line that could be found in my old garden! In February 2008 I moved to Bristol and unfortunately the line had to be lifted. The garden here is much smaller but I have put in four panels, just for old time's sake!


Recovered track in the courtyard.

(All 18.2.2008)

transformation at woody bay

(25.6.1980)




26 years later! (30.7.2006)

The Lynton and Barnstaple was one of Britain's finest railways and should never have been closed.

It's taken decades but the line is at last reappearing, and what a fantastic job they're doing of it! Not only is the stretch around Woody Bay now operating again, but other sections of the route have been purchased for eventual rail use. The intention is to rebuild the whole line - anything less would be a disgrace - and even to extend the line further into Lynton to connect with the Lynton to Lynmouth Cliff Railway. In fact the L&D has been a huge influence on the drive to rebuild the Somerset and Dorset Railway, which now also has a group dedicated to restoring the entire route and not just silly little bits of it!

horsham 1977

73 001 passes through this Sussex station on an engineering train.

Rail blue EMUs (4 SUBs) wait in the sidings. These were used on the Dorking line.

Overall shot of this classic Southern station.

Exterior, nicely dated by the cars!

(All pics 3.8.1977 © Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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At the end of the classic Sussex film 'The Moon and the Sledgehammer' the final shot shows traction engine passing the exterior of Horsham station. This is the same scene as the final shot above, taken just a few years later.

Back on 3 August 1977 I had an hour or so at the station and took these four shots, capturing the station in everyday mood, though just by luck I did catch a class 73 come through. The station was fairly substantial reflecting its previous importance as a junction for three other lines, two of which closed in 1965 and 1966, the routes to Guildford and Shoreham.

More info (from Wikipedia)

Horsham railway station serves the town of Horsham in West Sussex, England. It is on the Arun Valley Line 38 miles (61 km) south of London Victoria and the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines, and train services are provided by Southern. Services on the Sutton & Mole Valley Line from London Victoria via Dorking terminate here, the others continue into the Arun Valley: a half hourly service from London Victoria to Southampton Central or Portsmouth Harbour (alternating) and Bognor Regis. These trains usually divide here with the front (Southampton/Portsmouth) portion travelling fast (next stop Barnham) and the rear (Bognor Regis) half providing stopping services.

History

Horsham would have been an important midway point in two of the original proposals for a London to Brighton railway via the Adur valley but in the event Sir John Rennie's proposed direct line through Three Bridges and Haywards Heath was given parliamentary approval. As a result, the original Horsham station was the terminus of a single track branch line from Three Bridges opened by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in February 1848.

The down line from Horsham railway station.

Between 1859 and 1867 the station was enlarged on several occasions to coincide with the doubling of the branch line from Three Bridges; the extension of the railway from Horsham along the Arun Valley Line; the opening of new lines from Horsham to Shoreham via Steyning and from Christ's Hospital to Guildford. Finally, in 1867 a new route to Dorking, Leatherhead and thence to London, was opened.^[1] The station was again partially rebuilt and resignalled, with three signal boxes, in 1875.^[2]

RCTS Sussex Rail Tour in 1962

The present station was built by the Southern Railway in the International Modern Style in 1938 to coincide with the electrification of the line. The building is grade II listed, see external links below. The lines to Guildford and Shoreham both fell victim to the Beeching Axe in the mid 1960s, the former being closed to passengers on 14 June 1965 and the latter on 7 March 1966.

In September 2011 the station frontage was closed to undergo extensive refurbishment work to the main ticket hall. It reopened late in 2012 with a new side entrance, internal lift access, relocated barriers and stairway, a new ticket office, and new information screens. The platforms received a rebuild of the roofing and refurbished waiting rooms. Previously, the building was shared with a business, who vacated in order to give the floor space needed to create the new features and new ceiling and lights and so completing a complete reconfiguration of the layout.

Accidents and incidents

• On 9 January 1972, an engineers train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with an electric multiple unit at the station. Fifteen people were injured. The crew of the engineers train had failed to check their brakes on departure from Three Bridges and thus failed to discover that the isolation cock between the two locomotives had not been opened.

Services

Off-peak frequencies on Mondays to Fridays: (As of Feb 2009)

• 2 trains per hour to London Victoria via Gatwick Airport
• 1 train per hour to London Victoria via Dorking, Epsom and Sutton.
• 2 trains per hour to London Bridge via Gatwick Airport
• 1 train per hour to Southampton Central, running fast to Barnham
• 1 train per hour to Portsmouth Harbour, running fast to Barnham
• 2 trains per hour to Bognor Regis, 1 stopping at all stations and 1 running semi-fast to Barnham.

From 10 December 2007, the service towards Portsmouth Harbour/Southampton Central and Bognor Regis now divides at this station and attaches here towards London Victoria via Gatwick Airport and East Croydon during off-peak hours, as part of the new West Coastway timetable.

Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	2.033 million
2005/06	2.067 million
2006/07	2.203 million
2007/08	2.382 million
2008/09	2.444 million
2009/10	2.361 million
2010/11	2.515 million
2011/12	2.579 million
2012/13	2.628 million

fairbourne railway

(5.6.1978 Copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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I've always quite liked the Fairbourne Railway. It has an interesting history and serves a genuine passenger need. It also has that rare feature in the UK - roadside running!

It's had a few changes since the above picture was taken, including (sadly) a change of gauge. I've always counted 15" as narrow gauge, rather than miniature. Anything under is miniature, and the Fairbourne is now 12¼" gauge, interestingly the same gauge as the Littlehampton Miniature Railway! However the original 15" is gradually being rebuilt out from Fairbourne, giving dual-gauge running along part of the route.

Since 2009 the line has been a charity so should now be secure, as it has been threatened at times in the past. It doesn't have the glamour (or length) of most of the other Great Little Trains of Wales, but it does have many other fascinating features, particularly the run through the dunes.

LINKS 

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Austrian town tramway

GMUNDEN TRAMWAY

(Both © Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing 16.2.1977)

In 1977 Britain was a tramway wilderness, with just Blackpool and Llandudno remaining. But on the continent they were everywhere, Austria being no exception.

These shots were taken on the excellent Gmunden Tramway which connected the main OBB station with the centre of town. This will no doubt become a common site even in Britain as the oil runs out! Of course the Gmunden Tramway is still going strong 38 years later and has in fact been re-extended back deeper into Gmunden town.

More info (from Wikipedia)

The Gmunden Tramway (Straßenbahn Gmunden or Gmundner Straßenbahn), located in Gmunden, Austria, is the shortest and oldest remaining tram system in Austria. It is operated by Stern & Hafferl, which was founded in 1893. The tramway was opened on 13 August 1894. It is 2.3 km long. The line's maximum gradient of 9.6% makes it one of the world's steepest surviving adhesion-only tram lines.

History

The works, directed by the engineers Josef Stern and Franz Hafferl, began on 25 February 1894. It took five months to build the entire tramway, one depot, one power plant and two buildings for employees. The original route ran from the railway station (named Rudolfsbahnhof at that time) to "Rathausplatz" (i.e. Town Hall Square). In 1975 the route was shortened to Franz-Josef-Platz.

There were several renovations in the late 90's and the following decade, including the renewal of "Keramik" station and of the Tennisplatz - Franz-Josef-Platz route. In February 2013, the municipal council of Gmunden decided to link the tram to the Traunseebahn at Gmunden Seebahnhof terminus station. The trams will in future also reach Vorchdorf as part of a project named StadtRegioTram.

Route

The tramway route runs entirely in the town, from the railway station to the central Franz-Josef-Platz on the Traunsee lake. It counts 8 stations, plus 2 closed and one substituted. A planned extension to the Seebahnhof, terminal station of the Traunsee Railway Gmunden-Vorchdorf has been partially built. It will count 3 stations and will use the route "Franz-Josef-Platz" - "Rathausplatz", closed in 1975. The reopening of Postgebäude is not planned.

Station	Km	Notes
Gmunden (Bahnhof)	0.00	Station on the Salzkammergut Railway, tram depot planned
Gmunden Grüner Wald	0.35	closed
Gmundner Keramik	0.60	Built in 2005 to substitute the nearby "Gmunden Kraftstation", passing loop, tram depot
Gmunden Rosenkranz	1.00
Gmunden Tennisplatz	1.36	passing loop
Gmunden Kuferzeile	1.60
Gmunden Parkstraße	1.77	closed
Gmunden Bezirkshauptmannschaft	2.05
Gmunden Korso	2.22	closed
Gmunden Franz-Josef-Platz	2.32	Terminal since 1975
Gmunden Postgebäude	2.42	closed in 1975
Gmunden Rathausplatz	2.54	closed in 1975, reactivation planned
Gmunden Klosterplatz	2.84	since 2014
Gmunden Seebahnhof	3.09	New terminal station on the Traunsee Railway, since 2014

rural gem

WATERGATE HALT

(Copyright 24.6.1980 Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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This little gem was Watergate Halt on the Torrington to Meeth line in Devon. In 1980 this line was still used by china clay trains and was the remaining section of the North Cornwall Junction Light Railway, opened as recently as 1925. The line originally ran from Torrington to Halwill Junction, and was never heavily used by passengers, one coach usually being sufficient to handle the traffic. It struggled on a few years after 1980 until closing completely. It's unlikely that this line will ever reopen, which is a shame as it was a classic country light railway, but who knows? It closed to passengers in 1965, lasting just 40 years.

lausanne chauderon

(All 10.6.1987)

On my first visit to Switzerland in about 1976 I was determined to see the Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher line, as I'd read somewhere that it was Switzerland's first narrow gauge railway and it had street running. I remember getting on a train for a trip up the line but bottling out at the last moment because with Switzerland's reputation for being extremely expensive, and my reputation (then) of being extremely poor, not helped by my (then) terrible French, I jumped off just before it left the terminus to avoid embarrassment!

I did eventually return in 1987 armed with a Swiss Holiday Card (1st class!) and finally 'did' the line. It wasn't anything special, running through pretty flat Swiss countryside, but it did have nice new trains and still had that run down station in Lausanne that I remembered from my first visit.