Non standard track gauges that were and currently used in the UK

[High Dyke]

• Eastwell quarries 3'0"
• Waltham. 1000mm
• Thistleton. 3'6" overhead electric powered.

 

[Western 52]

Saundersfoot railway was 4ft gauge.

 

[nwales58]

Someone mentioned plateways so we have to go back to rutways, of which a few have been found in Britain.

Although folklore says that gave us 4'8 surely each had a unique gauge as there was no need for interoperability.

 

[Western 52]

On the Isle of Man, the Laxey Mines railway is an unusual 19 inch gauge.

 

[edwin_m]

Another 3'6" gauge tramway was the Burton and Ashby Light Railway, unusual in being operated by a railway company (the Midland then the LMS) but also sharing street sections with the Burton tramway. There is (or at least I assume there still is) a short piece of track surviving in the forecourt of the closed Ashby station.

 

[Rescars]

I've mentioned elsewhere on these forums that in the mid 1970s I worked on construction of a new dam for a water supply reservoir. The dam included a tunnel as part of the draw-off system, and the pipework and other equipment in the tunnel was moved into place using a narrow gauge railway operated with battery electric locos. The track was prefabricated panels known as Jubilee track, and I think was either 2' or 1' 11.5" gauge. The track panels were laid on timbers trimmed to the curvature of the tunnel invert (approximately!). The railway equipment belonged to the company and had been used on several previous dams, but that was the last time I knew of it being used.

Speaking of prefabricated narrow gauge, there must have been a lot of equipment manufactured and/or assembled and tested in the UK for the War Department Light Railway trench systems used on the Western Front in WW1. Most of these were 600 mm (1' 11 5/8") gauge.

 

[midland1]

Another 3'6" gauge tramway was the Burton and Ashby Light Railway, unusual in being operated by a railway company (the Midland then the LMS) but also sharing street sections with the Burton tramway. There is (or at least I assume there still is) a short piece of track surviving in the forecourt of the closed Ashby station.

Just had a quick look on Google Maps, yes they are.

 

[Lemmy282]

"I noticed when in Hong Kong that the old tramway there, 3'6" gauge, had stamped on points covers the name of a onetime manufacturer in Sheffield!"

Two Sheffield manufacturers, Hadfields and Edgar Allen supplied track to the world in a variety of gauges

 

[Class45]

The Southwold Railway in Suffolk was 3ft gauge, as was the Isle of Man railway.

 

[Calthrop]

The Southwold Railway in Suffolk was 3ft gauge, as was the Isle of Man railway.

Also the Rye & Camber Tramway (1895 -- effectively, 1939): this -- steam, then internal-combustion -- in fact with the characteristics of a bona fide railway, rather than a steam tramway. The picture is got, that this poor little line is very often forgotten about in intended coverage of public narrow-gauge railways in Great Britain.

 

[Western 52]

There was a huge narrow gauge system in the Pembrey ROF. I think it was 2ft gauge. Some sections of track survive where embedded in paved areas, and the narrow gauge was interlaced with standard gauge in some places. The area is open to the public these days as Pembrey Country Park. The ROF closed in the mid 1960s.

 

[Bryson]

The Sheffield corporation railway (1896-1912) had 3 rails so that stock of standard gauge and 3 foot gauge could run on the same track.

 

[matchmaker]

An internal system of 18inch gauge was in use at Crewe railway works - its success brought about a very large installation to the same gauge at Woolwich Arsenal for internal transport as well as an extensive network of standard gauge lines connected to the SE Railway's line at Plumstead.

Similar system in Horwich works.

 

[Rescars]

Also the Rye & Camber Tramway (1895 -- effectively, 1939): this -- steam, then internal-combustion -- in fact with the characteristics of a bona fide railway, rather than a steam tramway. The picture is got, that this poor little line is very often forgotten about in intended coverage of public narrow-gauge railways in Great Britain.

IIRC the first line engineered by Col Stephens.

 

[Lemmy282]

The Sheffield corporation railway (1896-1912) had 3 rails so that stock of standard gauge and 3 foot gauge could run on the same track.

Have you a reference to that railway, I've never heard of it before and a quick Google search doesn't throw anything up.

 

[Western 52]

The water treatment works at Stoke Bardolph near Nottingham had a narrow gauge railway system with a rather unpleasant cargo! I think it was around 2ft gauge. Drivers walked alongside the engine in case of derailment and a fall into a lagoon!

 

[32475]

This has all got me wondering about traversers such as at Felixstowe, Derby or the LT one which I think is at Neasden

 

[Merle Haggard]

It's worth looking at the report on the accident between South Wingfield and Ambergate on 18th September 1840 which is available on the Railways Archive website. It was. a derailment, and one of the factors was that the North Midland Railway was built to a gauge of 4' 9": and some of the coaches were London & Birmingham ones, built to standard (4' 8-1/2") gauge.
So much for standard gauge! Interesting too that the L&B were running through coaches to Sheffield and presumably York so early in railway history - there was of course no 'East Coast' railway then..

 

[Bryson]

Have you a reference to that railway, I've never heard of it before and a quick Google search doesn't throw anything up.

It ran from Stocksbridge to Langsett during the building of Underbank and Langsett reservoirs. It transported materials and labour to the sites.

 

[Lemmy282]

It ran from Stocksbridge to Langsett during the building of Underbank and Langsett reservoirs. It transported materials and labour to the sites.

Thanks, will look it up

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The Sheffield corporation railway (1896-1912) had 3 rails so that stock of standard gauge and 3 foot gauge could run on the same track.

Have you a reference to that railway, I've never heard of it before and a quick Google search doesn't throw anything up.

It ran from Stocksbridge to Langsett during the building of Underbank and Langsett reservoirs. It transported materials and labour to the sites.

Thanks, will look it up

The dual gauge railway / tramroad is certainly mentioned in "Reservoir Railways of Manchester and the Peak" 1977 book (Oakwood Press ) by Harold D. Bowtell.

 

[Pigeon]

I've heard it suggested that the Lynton & Barnstaple was based on the established Ffestiniog.

Not really "based on", in the sense of "clone the spec"; more "inspired by", in the sense of someone observing that the Ffestiniog displayed certain advantages in getting a railway through difficult terrain when other circumstances suited, and going "hey, we could do that here".

Thing is that seems to be said of pretty well every narrow gauge railway that opened after the Ffestiniog had become successful, ie, most of them. I suspect its specific importance as a consideration goes in inverse proportion to both geographical and temporal separation, though. By the 1890s there were a lot more examples than just the Ffestiniog to observe.

I definitely don't think it was a deliberate decision to make the track gauge close enough to the Ffestiniog that one could run the other's stock, it just came out that way, it being established by then that most proper narrow narrow gauges were round about that size anyway.

It's worth looking at the report on the accident between South Wingfield and Ambergate on 18th September 1840 which is available on the Railways Archive website. It was. a derailment, and one of the factors was that the North Midland Railway was built to a gauge of 4' 9": and some of the coaches were London & Birmingham ones, built to standard (4' 8-1/2") gauge.
So much for standard gauge! Interesting too that the L&B were running through coaches to Sheffield and presumably York so early in railway history - there was of course no 'East Coast' railway then..

Oh, that was the way from London to York back then. L&B then Midland then Y&NMR... old Hudson making strategic moves to grab control over as much of any eventual route from London to Scotland as possible. Given how long it took for the GN to get it together to get their route from London (a) going and then (b) half decent, we could have ended up with a very different idea of what's the "default" route from London to the north if only he hadn't got busted.

 

[341o2]

Snaefell Mountain Railway 3'6"
Perhaps the most unusual was the Brighton & Rottingdean Electric Railway ("Daddy Long Legs"), which had two parallel tracks of 2' 8 1/2", also from one outer rail to the other was 18ft

 

[Bryson]

Have you a reference to that railway, I've never heard of it before and a quick Google search doesn't throw anything up.

I've finally got around to finding a map of it. This one from 1906 shows it best. It shows the section that ran past Midhopestones. I can't find one that shows the full alignment but the route is easy to see when walking in the area.


It joined the Stocksbridge railway within the Samuel Fox Steel Works site. From there it passed beneath Underbank lane and then a bridge (still existing) took the line over the Little Don river. From there is continued to run along the North side of the Manchester Road (Now the A616) for about 3.5 miles. Once reaching Langsett the line curves southwards and passed under the Manchester road to terminate at the Dam site. A short spur at Underbank served the Underback dam site. A number of bridges and other structure still survive.



The second picture shows the alignment (now converted to the Little Don Trail) between Midhopestones and Underbank.

 

[Lemmy282]

Thank you for the information on the corporation railway. I have info on the railway used to construct the Derwent dams, but didn't know about this one.

Thanks very much

 

[Llanigraham]

There were several narrow gauge railways, mostly 2' gauge, built for the construction of dams in South Wales. "Railmaps on Line" is worth an hour or two's perusal to find them and various other "oddities".