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Railway General Knowledge.

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Calthrop

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It seems that the Royals' 1903 tour prominently featured the north of Ireland -- was the Royal Train provider, the Co. Donegal Joint; borrowing the gear from the Londonderry & Lough Swilly?
 

DerekC

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It seems that the Royals' 1903 tour prominently featured the north of Ireland -- was the Royal Train provider, the Co. Donegal Joint; borrowing the gear from the Londonderry & Lough Swilly?
You are getting very warm in terms of the location of the journey, but the provider of the gear (actually I think only a directors' saloon poshed up for the occasion) was a good few miles to the east.
 

Spamcan81

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You are getting very warm in terms of the location of the journey, but the provider of the gear (actually I think only a directors' saloon poshed up for the occasion) was a good few miles to the east.
Ballymena & Larne s source of the gear used?
 

Calthrop

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That's correct. And the railway it was lent to for the occasion has been mentioned, but not as the operator of the train. Who can put the two together?

"Per elimination", seems that operator of the train will have been the "Swilly". (I'd never heard of this royal visit and attendant doings -- Googled it out of curiosity; but found only a tiny amount about it, with nothing re narrow gauge involvement -- felt it legitimate to "stretch a point" and go on playing. Even if right about train operator: I've been purely guessing and "following pointers" -- I don't deserve to set the next question; @DerekC, please act accordingly !)
 

DerekC

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Indeed the operator of the train was the Londonderry and Lough Swilly, with a "royal saloon" (at least for the day) borrowed from the Ballymena & Larne. According to "Royal Trains" by Patrick Kingston the King and Queen travelled from Buncrana to Londonderry. This visit seems to have been mostly a cruise by royal yacht (presumably RMY "Alexandra"), putting in at various places round the coast. So my guess is that they were dropped off (in suitably royal style) at Buncrana pier, went by train to Londonderry and presumably were picked up there by the Alexandra. Why the narrow gauge ride was included, I have no idea. It would need a search of royal archives and newspapers to find out. Interestingly the L&LSR's Burtonport Extension was completed the same year with lots of government funding so you might have thought that they would have opened that, but maybe the 2.5 hour journey was thought too much for royal comfort, even if not on wooden seats!

Since @Calthrop is out of the running for next stage in the cruise, @Spamcan81 - do you want to set the course? Otherwise open seas.
 

McRhu

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Lanark
Well - without wishing to hog the floor, and seeing as a vacancy for an aspiring young questioner seems to have come up...

Which railway route is this?
 

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D6130

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D6130 correctly identifies the MK 2 ole, unique to this line. It was a follow on to MK 1 that was immediately superseded by MK 3, and never used anywhere else. Over to you old friend.
Thanks @McRhu !

Next question - still on the subject of catenary design on the line in question: - What special feature can be found over an approximately half mile section between Paisley St James and Bishopton?
 

Rutland23

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Would it be to do with the 'Trip Wire' at the end of Glasgow Airport runway, which I believe cuts power to the OLE as well as setting signals to Red in the event of an aircraft running off the end of the runnway?

Regards

Ian
 

D6130

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Would it be to do with the 'Trip Wire' at the end of Glasgow Airport runway, which I believe cuts power to the OLE as well as setting signals to Red in the event of an aircraft running off the end of the runnway?
Correct! There is about half a mile of minimum height catenary either side of the end of the runway, with trip wires operating in the manner which stated. You're clear for take off with the next question.
 

Rutland23

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Sticking with that neck of the woods, the class 303/AM3 original 'Blue Trains' fleet was added to with the almost identical class 311 when electrification was extended South of the Clyde.

Who built the 311s, and why did the original builders of the class 303s not build them.

Regards

Ian
 

Peter Mugridge

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I'm pretty sure it was because the original manufacturer ( The Pressed Steel Company??? ) was no longer in business but I can't remember who built the second batch - I'll take a wild guess at Cravens.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Close enough... and thank you. :)

Sticking with a similar theme... and I hope I haven't asked this before...

Until when, and on which route, in the mainland UK, was the last Cravens stock used in normal daily passenger service?
 

Rutland23

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Well, I would have said the Glasgow Suburban system with the 311s as a first guess, bur weren't the recently retired Isle of Wight units built by Cravens?

Regards

Ian
 

Peter Mugridge

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Well, I would have said the Glasgow Suburban system with the 311s as a first guess, bur weren't the recently retired Isle of Wight units built by Cravens?

Regards

Ian

Afraid not; the 1938 Stock DMs were all built by Metro-Cammell ( and the trailers by BRCW, although none of those made it to the IoW )

Southend Pier? 2015?
The 1986 built trains were made by Severn Lamb ( and the earlier ones used up to the 1970s by AC Cars of Thames Ditton ) - so afraid not, again.
 

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