1387

eft is 66502 with loaded wagons ready for departure on the Monday.

BELOW: 66105 prepares to lead out (the train is stationary). (All taken by

y our member Jon Morgan with full permission and PTS. 11 Sep 2021.)

X.218] BELOW: 66719 inside D1015 ('Western Champion') near Cam & Dursle
D1015 ran light from/to the SVR and hauled from Avonmouth to Gloucester

ey on 09.20 Avonmouth Hansons Sidings to Penyffordd cement 'empties'.
r New Yard as a main line test and load run. (Dave Gommersall, 17 Sep 2021.)

2777] West Midlands Metro: ❶Relaying of Birmingham City Centre rail (originally installed upside
down) is due to be completed by the end of Oct. The new double track delta junction is also in place
for the Eastside extension. Bull Street to Library can then reopen before the last stage of the Westside
extension opens to Edgbaston by the end of the year, note regular use of Library scissors crossover
will be 'cut out'. As part of the work on 16, 17, 26 & 27 Oct the previously ultra-rare St Chads trailing
crossover was/is in use at times for trams to turnback from Wolverhampton. Members were advised
via our website Forum and 'Gensheet'. On 26 Oct it is booked after 21.30 and before 07.30 on 27th.

❷Dudley Council has been awarded a £96k Arts Council England grant to enable the design of art
projects across the Metro track and at stops in Dudley Borough, clearly absolutely vital to the success
of the extension. No doubt the local graffiti artists would have happily done the work free of charge.

1387 IRELAND (Martin Baumann) [email protected]
2778] Cork: (BLN 1386.2674) From Wed 27 Oct, the Cork Resignalling Project will be commissioned on
all lines in Cork station area from milepost (MP) 163, north of Cork Tunnel, to MP 167, east of the
station. As part of the project Cork Signal Cabin closes, its functions transfer to Cork East PC-Electronic
Control Point (ECP). This will be in a new room next to the Coaching Yard siding at the station. All track
circuits between MP 163 and 167 will be decommissioned and replaced by Axle Counters.

2779] Kildare: (BLN 1386.1676) The first recent Ballina to Waterford container service on 30 Sep was
fully loaded. The trains are charted by XPO Logistics so Irish Rail has no financial risk, and usually run
round at Kildare for the reversal, but there can be a loco change (light engines to and from Inchicore).

2780] Showing some Enterprise: The latest National Development Plan in Ireland foresees an hourly
Belfast to Dublin service with new rolling stock by 2027.

1387 ISLE OF MAN (Graeme Jolley) [email protected]
2781] Knockaloe Branch: (BLN 1386.2678) With thanks to our members Richard Maund and Graeme
Easton, the conclusion is that this 1m 06ch branch was used for goods traffic only. It also opened
earlier than previously thought, on 26 or 27 Aug 1915 and closed from 14 Oct 1920 as recorded.

Although not all terminal facilities at the camp were complete, first traffic was recorded by Isle of Man
Weekly Times of 28 Aug 1915, p6 as passing 'yesterday morning' (Fri 27 Aug), but Isle of Man Examiner
4 Sep 1915, p8, gives 'Thursday morning of last week (Thur 26 Aug). The branch was government
owned but worked by the Isle of Man Railway (IoMR). The only 'evidence' seen to support claims of
use by passenger trains is vaguely worded press reports - such as at the early influx of aliens in 1915.

Boyd's only claim of such use from his research in IoMR company records is very oblique indeed, about
ticketing (Boyd Vol 3 p285). The government/IoMR terms for operating the branch (Boyd Vol 2 p48)
made no mention of passenger use. Curvature and condition of track were clearly inappropriate
(Henry Allott's report - Boyd Vol 2 p48). The gradient (1:20 in places) was such that wagons had to be
propelled up the line from the Neb River bridge after the train had run round. Of various website
references about the Camp, https://bit.ly/3lRZmWH & https://bit.ly/3mY9OuM seem to be the most
researched, confirming that internees were marched from Peel or St John's stations and not conveyed
over the camp railway. Clearly there was no regular passenger use and likely no such use at all.

The last 25 aliens left on 10 Oct 1919 (Isle of Man Examiner 11 Oct 1919, p5), but some British military
remained. The railway was nominally open until the official date of 14 Oct 1920 (Boyd Vol 2 p59 & Vol
3 p73), possibly the date lifting began. This was reported 'virtually complete' by Nov 1920 (Isle of Man
Weekly Times 20 Nov 1920, p5, so Boyd Vol 3 p73 & p103 appear to be wrong about the lifting date).

1387 SCOTLAND (Mike McCabe) [email protected]
2782] Altnabreac: A loading bay is to be established at this remote station (133m 76ch on the Far
North Line) to haul 10,000 tonnes of timber as a trial. Caledonia Forest Land Investment Ltd, which has
plantations in the area, is working on this with HiTrans (Highlands & Islands Transport Partnership) and
Scottish Woodlands. It has appointed Dornoch-based Arvikaconsult to design the facility.

X.219] BELOW: MER token exchange for Single Line Working at Lewaigue. (Jenny Williamson, 22 Oct 2021.)

X.220] BELOW/NEXT: A giant game of IOM Hangman? Bases for the new D

Derby Castle MER sign, but what will it say? (John Williamson, 20 Oct 2021.)





X.221] BELOW/TO FOLLOW: Douglas Bay Horse Tramway the re-relaid sect

tion (defective rail) where the line slews across and single line will start.

BELOW: Of course, what the Manx Orange Army should have been doing

was looking for the pot of gold to pay for the Sea Terminal extension.

?BELOW: To be continued (BLN 1383.2223) The tramway has not run in 2021

1. (Photos: Graeme Easton, Tue 12 Oct 2021, all looking towards Derby Castle.)

BELOW: Continuing the rainbow theme at Laxey, the far left track is the Snaef

fell Mountain Railway, bottom right is Station Siding. (Graeme Easton, 12 Oct.)

X.222] BELOW: A lightly loaded Snaefell car at Laxey and, of course, a rainbow! (Graeme Easton. 12 Oct.)

X.223] BELOW: IOM Railway and 'Omnibus' route map on the Tickethall (one word) restaurant wall at
Douglas station. It pretends the MER does not exist! Unfortunately, it is ever so slightly out of date.
Question: What is the station between St John's and Foxdale called? However there definitely should
be an apostrophe in St John's so the map can't be seen as definitive. (Graeme Easton, 12 Oct 2021.)

2782] Altnabreac (cont.): Specialist haulage vehicles exerting low pressure on the ground will move
timber from the forest to the loading bay for stacking before transfer to suitable rail wagons. A freight
operator is being lined up to run three trains a week to Inverness from early next year. It is expected
that a contribution will be sought from the Scottish Government's fund earmarked to promote rail
freight. The scheme would involve 25 rail trips instead of the 400 lorry loads by the established road
route. In autumn 2020 there was a six week trial when 6,000 tonnes of timber from the Brawlbin
plantation, near Loch Calder, was hauled from Georgemas Junction to Inverness (BLN 1359.2506).

2783] <Neilston>: (BLN 1387. 1540) The 'less than' mathematical symbol before and the 'more than'
symbol after this station name on passenger information systems is to help quickly 'differentiate' it at
a glance from 'Newton'. They look alike and both are 'South Electrics' termini from Glasgow Central
served by similar units, usually from the same platforms so it is very easy to confuse them even with
perfect eyesight. Even more so with a Covid mask and steamed up varifocals spotted with Glaswegian
rain! ScotRail did try just capital letters for NEILSTON but found that < > worked best (more or less).

2784] An Interlude in Scotland: By Maurice Dart. On 27 Aug 1984 I travelled from Glasgow Queen
Street to Fort William, found a B&B for the night near the station and had supper in a pub at the top
of the town where a Ceilidh took place. Next day I boarded the pre-booked 'Jacobite' steam train
(often fully booked even then) hauled by Black 5 '44767' to Mallaig, found some lunch and caught the
return working. I rode in the buffet car each way chatting to the lady serving over a few drinks.

Returning to Fort William I went to the B&B to retrieve my bags and found it locked up. I had intended
to return to Glasgow and proceed to Balloch for a couple of nights. After tea in the station buffet I
tried again with no luck or on a third visit. On the fourth attempt they were at home but I had missed
the Glasgow train. They explained that they had been summoned to Glasgow to attend a court case,
apologised and offered a free night's stay which I accepted. They also phoned the guest house at
Balloch where I was due to stay and my visit was postponed for a day. The only thing to do was to ride
to Mallaig again. I boarded the 16.05 from Fort William, hauled by 37184, and rode in the buffet car
again with the same lady serving as the day before. I told her that I would like to try somewhere else
other than Mallaig to eat for a change. I asked her about Arisaig with a pub opposite the station but
she advised me to go to the hotel at Morar where they served high tea. I detrained at Morar, went
over the level crossing and descended the steep hill to the hotel. I read the menu posted by the door
and went to reception. Eventually a rather curt lady appeared and I enquired about high tea.
She responded that they only served dinner from 7pm. I explained what I had been told and she gave
me the same response. I told her that 7pm would be too late for me to catch the last Fort William
train but to no avail. A man in a suit then appeared behind the lady and asked if there was a problem.

I explained what had occurred and he asked who had sent me there - I told him the buffet car lady's
name to which he replied: If 'X' has sent you here for high tea then you will have high tea, sir. Please
take a seat here in the lounge, have a drink on us, and I will bring you the menus. I replied that I had
already read the menus and would like a venison casserole, please. He smiled and said Right Sir, You
will have it. I explained that I had to catch the return train. The food arrived in good time and I started
to devour it with some wine. As I was dining a coach party from Cornwall, my home county, arrived
back and some of them knew me. Comments were made such as: What are you doing here? And How
is it that you are eating this early? I quickly paid my bill and set off up the hill as fast as possible but
the train had arrived and I was on the wrong side of the crossing which the train was blocking. To my
great surprise the guard opened the front coach front door, told me to climb over the gate and helped
me board the train from track level (remember it was 1984!). I went to the buffet car and had a few
drinks with the lady serving who had kindly and fortunately had told the guard I was catching the train.
After a second night in Fort William, I reached Balloch Central next evening. The day after I caught a
train to Balloch Pier, an electrified continuation of the branch, with two trains a day each way.
This was for a Loch Lomond cruise on 'Countess Fiona', before returning to Balloch Central by train.
This part of the branch closed a couple of years later on 29 Sep 1986 (last train Sun 28 Sep that year).

2785] All Our Yesterdays: From BLN 541 of 10 Jul 1986.

Your BLN Editor did Balloch Pier on an All Line Rover in the 1970s at the second attempt. On the first
the train only went to Balloch Central as the boat had failed. The second time a very scenic cruise in

bright sunshine was enjoyed; Rovers were valid
as the boat services were run by the Caledonian
Steam Packet Co, a British Rail subsidiary.
It gave a rather different view of West Highland
line trains. On return the guard closed the train
doors without warning and prepared to depart -
five minutes early - while your Editor was still
taking photos of the EMU at Balloch Pier station
(Ballochs!). Fortunately he was spotted running
back to the train and the doors were reopened.
It turned out that it was common practice to
leave Pier station as soon as passengers from
the boat had joined the train and wait time at
Balloch Central. LEFT: 1955 map. With closure
of the Pier line Balloch Central was resited
south of the level crossing from 24 Apr 1988 and
from 15 May 1989, renamed just 'Balloch'.
2786] Reston: (BLN 1385.2534) Over the 25/26 Sep weekend the massive lift towers towering above
the embankment were connected by the footbridge. Opening is deferred from 12 Dec to 'early 2022'.
2787] East Kilbride - Busby: Plans to double the (always) nearly 4 mile single track section of the
branch (Busby to East Kilbride) have been singled out for cancellation - leading to a furious backlash.
Transport Scotland has confirmed electrification to Barrhead, about 5¾ miles of double track from
existing electrification at a cost of £63M. Work is due to start in Apr for Dec 2023 completion.
East Kilbride has been approved for 'single track electrification' but further development work is
required to support this (Transport Scotland). Presumably referring to the existing single track and not
implying singling of Busby Jn to Busby (3m 54ch), or does it?? The saving is said to allow electrification
elsewhere with the Tweedbank branch was given as an example (it might cost a bit more than that!).
2788] Rannoch: (BLN 1386.2680) The siding OOU since 28 Sep and protected with plastic is to store ballast.

(Items 2784 & 2785) Three rather faded pictures taken by Paul Stewart on Fri 27 Aug 1976.
ABOVE: Approaching Balloch Pier from Loch Lomond on 'Maid of the Loch'; quite a crowd awaits.
BELOW: An EMU approaches Balloch Pier from Balloch Central. The other platform (right) was trackless.

ABOVE: Balloch Pier; the yellow funnel of 'Maid of the Loch' is just seen centre left - 'Countess Fiona'
had a red funnel and was much smaller. In 1976 you could take pictures like this at quiet locations!

BELOW: Looking towards end of line, an EMU for Bridgeton via Yoker. (Ian Mortimer, 5 Sep 1977.)





PREVIOUS & BELOW: (Item 2788) Through a train window, Rannoch siding

g, west of the line, covered over to stockpile ballast. (Nick Jones, 8 Oct 2021.)

BELOW & NEXT: A Class 153 DMU 'Scotland Highland Explor

rer Carriage' on an Oban service. (Nick Jones 8 Oct 2021.)





BELOW & NEXT: (Item 2789) The new 'Bowline' Caledonian Railway (double t

track) trackbed path; the nicely restored A 814 Dumbarton Road underbridge.





BELOW: A bit further on towards Glasgow is the west end of

Bowling Viaduct. (All photos Greg Beecroft, 29 Sep 2021.)

BELOW: The viaduct west of the Forth & Clyde Canal and the North Br

ritish line (which runs to Helensburgh). NEXT: The canal swing bridge.





BELOW: The Forth & Clyde Canal (left) swing bridge - note the 'raised' sectio

on right (and in previous photo) to appreciate the view over the parapets.

BELOW: An old picture of the swing bridge a

and its signal box, alongside the tracked path.

BELOW: The Forth & Clyde Canal, swing bridge (with people on the 'raised' s

section) and the Custom House, left is to Helensburgh and right to Glasgow.

BELOW: The repainted canal bridge with the Custom House. Helensburgh le