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Jaywick Miniature Railway

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Calthrop

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A fairly "small-time" thing; but, my interest has lately been piqued / tantalised by references -- rather meagre -- to this line. It was short in distance (2 / 3 miles) and short-lived (1936 to 1939: essentially, a victim of World War II -- ephemeral post-war return to life; see below).

All that I've been able to find out about the line, via search engines, is as follows. It ran from Clacton-on-Sea ("Crossways" terminus, not the national rail system's station) to Jaywick Sands; it was of 18-inch gauge, not the more common miniature 15 inches; its locomotives seem to have been -- I presume, deliberately on an archaic pattern, to attract interest -- 4-2-2 tender locos, reminiscent of Stirling's "Singles". As above, it ran in its original form, for three years: cut short permanently, by outbreak of WWII. A brief reopening took place in summer 1949, involving only a short intermediate section of the route. After this, the end: three coaches were acquired by the then New Brighton Miniature Railway; after the closure of which in 1965, they were in turn passed on to the Ravenglass & Eskdale, where they are still active today. (Wikipedia here, in its fairly minimal coverage of the line, perpetrates a splendid howler: tells of the coaches being, after the war, "sold to the New Brighton branch of the Wirral Line" -- i.e. present-day Merseyrail's sections running under the river to serve its western side.)

Wiki does mention a book or booklet on the line, published by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society; seeking to acquire which, is envisaged -- in meantime, I would be grateful for any additional information re this line, which anyone might have and be willing to furnish.
 
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Calthrop

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Per Amazon, I find: both "Single-Seashore" as mentioned (publ. 2003), for £5; and "another by another", "Rails to Jaywick Sands" (publ. 1988), £8.97. Get one, or the other, or both? (or neither?) -- pondering is indicated.
 

John Webb

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Interestingly this map https://maps.nls.uk/view/104192967 shows a line around three sides of an 'amusement park' next to the holiday camp between Clacton and Jaywick; this is the only miniature railway I can see on 6inch and 25inch to the mile maps of the period.

I wonder if the 18 inch gauge was actually 600mm track ex-WW1 use being reused?
 

Calthrop

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@John Webb: your link gives (for me -- I'm an idiot with any of this stuff) a map-type-thing very briefly, which then morphs into a bureaucratic-looking "wall of text", including the words "restricted by contract"...

Ex-WWI 600mm hypothesis: anything's possible; but, 17 years-odd after -- with respect, one does wonder, rather...
 

Llanigraham

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@John Webb: your link gives (for me -- I'm an idiot with any of this stuff) a map-type-thing very briefly, which then morphs into a bureaucratic-looking "wall of text", including the words "restricted by contract"...

Ex-WWI 600mm hypothesis: anything's possible; but, 17 years-odd after -- with respect, one does wonder, rather...

If you agree to all that it will give you a copy of the OS map showing the railway.
(It is an official site from the national Library of Scotland and is trustworthy)
 

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AM9

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If you agree to all that it will give you a copy of the OS map showing the railway.
(It is an official site from the national Library of Scotland and is trustworthy)
Looking at Google Maps in satellite image mode, the path of the track can still be seen:
The northern end starts in the field behind the houses at the junction of Crossways and Meadow Way, it then traverses the field to travel down the wavy path between the wheat stubble fields.
The path then goes eastwards behind the houses in Gorse Way, turning sharp south to pass behind the houses in Sea Way to terminate by the three-way roundabout (Jaywick Broadway/Brooklands/Lotus Way).
The disturbed ground is still visible from the air.
 

John Webb

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@John Webb: your link gives (for me -- I'm an idiot with any of this stuff) a map-type-thing very briefly, which then morphs into a bureaucratic-looking "wall of text", including the words "restricted by contract"...

Ex-WWI 600mm hypothesis: anything's possible; but, 17 years-odd after -- with respect, one does wonder, rather...
The map attached to Llanigraham's post #6 shows the railway to be further west than the map I linked to covers, so ignore my link above!

The northen part of the railway is shown as "Tramway" on https://maps.nls.uk/view/104192961 and the southern part on https://maps.nls.uk/view/104193345.
 
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Taunton

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There were a series of these lines in the 1930s-70s, when most faded away. The all-time Dean of them all was the RH&D, but many resorts seemed to have them. The ones I remember were at Weymouth and Severn Beach. i get the impression they were mostly driven, summer season only, by retired railway locomen as a bit of a supplement to their pension.

I believe the Ian Allan organisation managed quite a few of them in the 1950s.
 

Calthrop

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Thank you, folks, for map material -- very interesting, and shows the actual course of the line: in fact running, sinuously and tortuously, kind-of north-to-south, and starting quite a way westward out of Clacton proper. The brief Wiki article just shows the route diagrammatically, with no attempt to relate it to the actual map of the area. The line also appears, "sort-of", in Tony Dewick's Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names; which work I tend to harp on rather, and am tempted (erroneously, I'm aware) to regard as "Holy Writ". In this Atlas, Mr. Dewick is very industrious about trying to show all the public or quasi-public railways which there ever were in the British Isles -- but occasionally, seems to indulge in his own idiosyncratic "facts". He shows what is clearly meant to be the Jaywick Miniature Railway; but with a route unlike that of the maps which have been furnished in this thread -- Dewick's version of things has the line starting from an eastern terminus called "Tudor Village" -- not adjacent to but not far from, the standard-gauge station -- and running westward quite closely parallel to the coast, to Jaywick Sands. (It was initially looking at this in Dewick's atlas, which brought the JMR to the forefront of my mind.)

There were a series of these lines in the 1930s-70s, when most faded away. The all-time Dean of them all was the RH&D, but many resorts seemed to have them. The ones I remember were at Weymouth and Severn Beach. i get the impression they were mostly driven, summer season only, by retired railway locomen as a bit of a supplement to their pension.

I believe the Ian Allan organisation managed quite a few of them in the 1950s.

This calls to mind for me, the first miniature railway I ever saw: that which existed at Hunstanton in the early 1950s. It was a very modest effort indeed, though with a genuine steam loco: just ran the length of the pier, dead straight, one line of track only -- loco hauled the coaches "seawards", then propelled them back again. Extremely-young I was of course highly eager for a ride on this miniature train; kind parents obliged.
 

mailbyrail

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If you haven't come across the website railmaponline.com
then check it out. It shows pretty much anything and everything that is or was- including the Jaywick line.
There are several different views. You can see Jaywick by clicking the 'Miniature & Fun' layer.
It shows the route of just about every line in the British Isles. Most of the lesser lines have website links for further information if you click on the route itself.
 

Calthrop

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@mailbyrail -- thank you: this site (hitherto unknown to me) looks utterly fascinating; and for a lot more than Jaywick's miniature line. Will take a good deal of exploring and figuring-out -- especially if you're like me about these matters -- but, plainly, full of interest.
 

robvulpes

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.... three coaches were acquired by the then New Brighton Miniature Railway; after the closure of which in 1965, they were in turn passed on to the Ravenglass & Eskdale, where they are still active today.

No, they left the Ravenglass and Eskdale a very long time ago. I found this [link] via Google which provides some subsequent history, but dates back to 2008.
 

Calthrop

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No, they left the Ravenglass and Eskdale a very long time ago. I found this [link] via Google which provides some subsequent history, but dates back to 2008.

Thanks: one of the (sparse) info sources which I managed to find via Google, took these vehicles' story no further than the RER. To use a favourite slogan of mine, from another message board -- one which deals with anything-and-everything: "Ignorance fought !"
 
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