Railway General Knowledge.

[Gloster]

Midland - ran a Hereford to Swansea service I think.

Open floor if correct

Correct. The Midland and later the LMS ran the whole service at the north end from 1877 to 1930, except for three weeks in 1889, not just the through services from Hereford.

Therefore open floor.

 

[DerekC]

The Northern & Southern Connecting Railway was proposed during the railway mania in 1845. Which routes was it planned to connect and approximately where?

 

[xotGD]

On a bridge between New Zealand North Island and South Island.

 

[DerekC]

On a bridge between New Zealand North Island and South Island.

Now I hadn't thought of that! A bit of research unearths the idea of a railway tunnel across the Cook Strait from the early 20th Century, but it would have been a bit much for the 1840s! No - the N&SCR proposal was for a railway within the UK.

 

[341o2]

Would it have provided a direct link between London terminii, such as Waterloo to Kings Cross or Euston?

 

[DerekC]

Would it have provided a direct link between London terminii, such as Waterloo to Kings Cross or Euston?

Right idea - but much further out and more wide ranging in the routes it aimed to connect.

 

[Snow1964]

Right idea - but much further out and more wide ranging in the routes it aimed to connect.

OK, back in 1845 would only really have been London Bridge, Nine Elms, Bishops Bridge (Paddington), Euston, and Bishopsgate or minories

No Kings Cross or Waterloo then, So I am guessing a link from Nine Elms to London Bridge with spurs to near Camden, and a central station near Holborn, in the then relatively empty Fleet valley

 

[xotGD]

Essex to Kent?

 

[DerekC]

OK, back in 1845 would only really have been London Bridge, Nine Elms, Bishops Bridge (Paddington), Euston, and Bishopsgate or minories

No Kings Cross or Waterloo then, So I am guessing a link from Nine Elms to London Bridge with spurs to near Camden, and a central station near Holborn, in the then relatively empty Fleet valley

You have the right idea and touch on most of the right routes - remember that some schemes that were completed after 1845 were already being submitted to parliament- for example the London and York (predecessor of the GNR). However much further out.

Essex to Kent?

Would have needed a bridge or tunnel across the lower Thames - which might have been proposed in the heady days of the mania - but as far as I know wasn't.

 

[341o2]

Would Watford to Woking be part of the proposed route, basically bypassing London

 

[DerekC]

Would Watford to Woking be part of the proposed route, basically bypassing London

Very good! A major part of the proposal was to link the London & Birmingham at Watford with the London & Southampton at Weybridge (just up the road from Woking). It would have crossed the GWR somewhere in the West Drayton area, but that doesn't get a mention - maybe because of the gauge difference.

It also aimed to go much further east at both ends - any thoughts there?

 

[341o2]

Beginning to sound like the proposal approximately would follow the present route of the M25, would it be the GNR in the vicinity of Hatfield and the LB&SCR in the vicinity of Redhill?

 

[DerekC]

Beginning to sound like the proposal approximately would follow the present route of the M25, would it be the GNR in the vicinity of Hatfield and the LB&SCR in the vicinity of Redhill?

Spot on except that it was stated as a connection to the SER at Redhill (presumably a direct connection into the Dover route). There was also a proposed extension from Hatfield to Hertford to link up with the Northern & Eastern Railway branch from Broxbourne. (The Northern and Eastern planned an alternative route to York via Cambridge, but only got as far as Bishops Stortford before running out of money).

Altogether a great pity it didn't get built. It would have run across or very close to Heathrow and solved a lot of problems!!

Your floor.

 

[341o2]

Japan once had a network of narrow (usually 2'6", 762mm) gauge railways, a few sections have survived as tourist railways. What were they used for?

 

[Calthrop]

Chiefly timber haulage, I believe.

 

[341o2]

Yes, they were/are Japan's Forest Railways.
During the early part of the 20th century, Japan invested in several hydroelectric schemes, meaning formerly navigable rivers were no longer navigable, so a network of narrow gauge railways was constructed, primarily for timber haulage, although they did have other uses. As Japan recovered from the Second World War, so road traffic began to take over from the railways, and diesel replaced steam. the last Forest railway closed in 1975, but ten years later was revived for transportation of timber for the Isa shrine, which is rebuilt every 20 years. The railway caught media attention, and two years later, a section was reopened as a tourist line.
One survivor (plus two more of the class in the USA), is of a batch of ten Baldwin steam locomotives, the other seven of the class were scrapped during WW2 to provide metal for Japan's war effort.

Your floor

 

[Calthrop]

I knew of the Japanese Forest Railways, from C.S. Small's book Far Wheels, publ. 1959 -- Small was a great one for Japan, in the course of his doing widely far-flung travelling, and encountering of railways in assorted odd places.

Finding further inspiration from the same book: there are in one of the world's great oceans, three islands; varying in size. Each has had public railways: at the time of Small's travels in the 1950s -- which included his visiting two out of the three -- all had operational rail. At the present day, one of the islands still has properly functioning railways; one has, I believe, a very tiny amount of intermittent rail action; the third is totally railway-less (pace perhaps modern "Metro" stuff, which isn't my scene).

Please identify the islands concerned: any further rail-related material about them would be "welcome but not obligatory".

 

[341o2]

One would be Madagascar (I once read the book, but don't remember the Forest railways)

 

[Snow1964]

Would one be Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

 

[Calthrop]

One would be Madagascar (I once read the book, but don't remember the Forest railways)

One is indeed Madagascar. (Small's Japan chapter is an eclectic mix of state railways / private / steam/ electric / some 2ft 6in among the prevailing 3ft 6. He has considerable fun with a quirky private electric line with the marvellous name of the Kinki Nippon Railway.)

Would one be Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

Not that one, I'm afraid.

 

[Spamcan81]

Mauritius?

 

[Calthrop]

Mauritius?

Correct -- indeed another of the islands (the one which Small happened not to visit) -- being a British possession, was served by a delectable 4ft. 8-and-a-half in. gauge system -- British practice, with a varied fleet of British-built locos; sadly, the last surviving bits of this system were abandoned in 1964.

One more island to get.

 

[Calthrop]

Hint: the third island is a kind of "twin" of one of the others -- geographically quite close to it; and the two exhibit cultural similarities (though also differences).

 

[Calthrop]

It feels that the end of the (sea)-road has been reached on this one. Island (3) is Reunion (French territory -- some 150 miles east of Mauritius). Has had an extensive metre-gauge line -- very small part of same maybe still, sporadically, active under preservation.

@341o2 has got one island; @Spamcan81 a second. To decide who gets next go -- fancy a tie-breaker? or...?

 

[Spamcan81]

The Seychelles?

 

[341o2]

I don't know, so I'll pass

 

[Calthrop]

The Seychelles?

I don't know, so I'll pass

?? -- I thought I'd already given the answer... as the local Francophones might say, "qu'est-ce que se passe?"

 

[Calthrop]

Is it possible to sort this out, to enable things to move on? Per the last half-dozen or so posts: @341o2 had got one island, @Spamcan81 another -- there was no further response for the better part of two days, so I concluded that nobody would come up with the third island; I thus opined (post #13,584), that a dead-end had been reached; and gave Island No. 3 (Reunion) -- then said in effect, "one island correctly named, by each of two participants; what would those two participants now wish to do?" Subsequently, @Spamcan81 submitted the Seychelles -- incorrect, and I had already given the name of the final island. And @341o2, I'm afraid your drift in post #13,586 eludes me. So, guys: what if anything, do you wish to do next, with view to reaching some conclusion?

 

[341o2]

"Pass" is a term in card betting games, to decline to bet, I will be busy for the next few days, so offer the floor to Spamcan81

 

[Calthrop]

"Pass" is a term in card betting games, to decline to bet, I will be busy for the next few days, so offer the floor to Spamcan81

Fine -- I just wasn't sure what you "didn't know"; I having (as above) already given the answer vis-a-vis my "no. 3". Feeling is that communication and comprehension have been, re all of us, maybe a bit sub-optimal ! So -- @Spamcon81 to set the next question.