Yesterday, whilst holidaying in Yorkshire, I took the opportunity to ride on
Scarborough's lovely little miniature railway. I left Dani and the dogs at Scalby Mills, they headed for the beach and I boarded the train to Peasholm Park, with the intention of catching the next train back and meeting Dani at the station...
On reaching Peasholm I had a word with the gaurd, asking whether it was possible to have a closer look at the shed. He had a word with the operations manager, I was handed an orange vest, and the gaurd took me over and introduced me to the shed staff. In all honesty I was expecting a 'no,sorry', it is after all a working railway, albeit on a small scale. I was told the history of the locos, shown the Lister powered tank engine 'Robin Hood', not normally on display, and treated like a guest rather than a passenger by the friendly staff.
Of course this meant that I didn't take the next train back as planned, however the gaurd spotted Dani and explained that her husband was being shown around the shed. This came as no suprise to her, she just took the dogs back to the beach.
All of the locos used on the line are, and always have been, steam
outline diesel hydraulics, built in the 1930s by Hudswell Clarke.
Apparently some passengers talk of riding behind steam in their youth, and
will not be told different despite the fact that the line has never
seen a steam loco. However, a replica 'Sipat' class Bagnall is being
built in the line's workshop, which will be the railways first genuine steam loco.
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| Triton, a Hudswell Clarke diesel hydraulic. |
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| Triton's cab. The engine, in this case a Kubota (this loco is now on its third engine), sits just in front of the driver. |
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| On route to Peasholm. |
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| The replica Bagnall. |
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| Poseiden on shed. |
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| Pride! |
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| Neptune, one of the line's original two locos, the other being Triton. |
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| Pulling into Peasholm. |
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| Triton's worksplate. |
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| Heading back to Scalby Mills. Every railway should have a tunnel! |
Its nice to see a railway still doing the job that it was built for 83 years later! Long may it continue to do so.
My thanks to the staff for an enjoyable visit.
Paul.
I haven't been there since I was a small child, and even though I know that all the locos are diesels my memory says steam engine. I do, however, know my memory must be wrong. I think the problem is that I'd seen other miniature mainline engines and they were steam so I just made that assumption.
ReplyDeleteThey are rather convincing 'pretenders', helped by the fact that they are larger than most miniature locos and are semi-scale models of mainline locos. And the engines exhaust through the chimney, adding to the illusion.
DeleteI wonder if the fact that they are diesel powered, and therefore relatively cheap to run (no boiler inspections for example), has helped their long-term survival?
I'll bet that you are right about their longevity, Paul. Steam locos are just chemical reactions on wheels, hugely loveable though they are. I wonder if that Kubota engine is from one of the small tractors, I have often thought one of those would be handy for such a purpose! Oh, and thanks for introducing me to another line I knew nothing about...
ReplyDeleteThe two original locos were both fitted with Kubotos about 16 years ago I'm told, when new they were Dorman powered, then fitted with Rustons when the Dormans wore out.
DeleteShould you find yourself in that part of the world Iain I would suggest that you seek it out, if only for its timeless charm.
Back to engines - the North Bay locos, Neptune and Triton, were originally fitted with 2 cylinder 26h.p. Dormans, replaced in '59 with 30h.p. Dorman 2DLIIIs by Hudswell Clarke. 1967 saw them back at their makers again to be fitted with Perkins engines and new torque converters.
DeleteFrom The Narrow Gauge number 143, summer 1994.