A slightly different gauge.

[steam for ever]

Narrow gauge- a subject that is not always for everyone, but certainly has a more relaxed quality.

Well I have had another idea. Please hear me out on this one, I've been thinking about it for four days now.

In England, we know that 2 foot gauge was not king as it was Wales, as space was less restricted. Instead, 4 foot gauge was used on quite a large scale in many parts of the country. Some private systems and light railways had this gauge. Although 2 foot gauge is the outright king in Wales, the Padarn railway (on which the Llanberis lake railway runs on the trackbed of part of the line) was one.

Despite the widescale use of the gauge, there is no steam line running with gauge in the Uk today.
The Penryn castle museum has the only exhibit of a 4ft gauge loco and train.

Is it time that one of these lines was rebuilt to provide something unique?
Standard gauge enthusiasts can relate to this , with it being to close to standard.

Here are a few examples of the lost lines:

The saundersfoot railway
The Redruth and Chasewater railway
The Padarn railway
The Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr railway

The last to survive was the Padarn railway, which closed in 1963.
The Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr railway was converted to standard gauge when it became part of the GWR.

Any thoughts on this one chaps?

[j0hn0]

yep, bloody expensive :-)

Seriously though it does sound interesting but sourcing stock or converting stock would be a massive undertaking to provide something which is just a little smaller than standard gauge.

Personally i am not interested in anything in between, I like narrow gauge 2ft - 2.5ft and standard gauge, anything else is just trying too hard to be different :-)

[Tony]

Hi SFE,

Have you got access to Gringotts Bank ? All your wild schemes seem to cost the Earth. Have you ever thought that 4' gauge died out because it was non standard, the same as Brunels' 7' gauge ?
No, SFE, DON'T TRY TO REBUILD THE ORIGINAL GWR.

[steam for ever]

If Dinorwic quarry had not closed the Padarn would have carried on working.
In fact, all but one of the 4 stated were closed only because their work ran out and not becuase of gauge issues.
The one that did have the gauge changed to standard became GWR, so it was rebuilt to make things easier.

It would be incredibly expensive I agree, but the wierd and wonderful usually pay their way.
The southwold railway is being rebuilt to a similar style to this sort of thing, so it can work. Now a rebuilt GWR 7ft 1/4 inch gauge line would be nice, but that isn't narrow gauge.

[Midland Compound]

Originally Posted by steam for ever

If Dinorwic quarry had not closed the Padarn would have carried on working.
In fact, all but one of the 4 stated were closed only because their work ran out and not becuase of gauge issues.
The one that did have the gauge changed to standard became GWR, so it was rebuilt to make things easier.

It would be incredibly expensive I agree, but the wierd and wonderful usually pay their way.
The southwold railway is being rebuilt to a similar style to this sort of thing, so it can work. Now a rebuilt GWR 7ft 1/4 inch gauge line would be nice, but that isn't narrow gauge.

The Lee Moor tramway in Devon (closed 1950s) was 4ft 6in gauge. One of their locos is at the China CLay Museum in St Austell

[Midland Compound]

Originally Posted by steam for ever

In England, we know that 2 foot gauge was not king as it was Wales, as space was less restricted. Instead, 4 foot gauge was used on quite a large scale in many parts of the country. Some private systems and light railways had this gauge. Although 2 foot gauge is the outright king in Wales, the Padarn railway (on which the Llanberis lake railway runs on the trackbed of part of the line) was one.

Despite the widescale use of the gauge, there is no steam line running with gauge in the Uk today.
The Penryn castle museum has the only exhibit of a 4ft gauge loco and train.

There may not be any steam 4ft gauge lines in the UK today, but there is an electric (and passenger) one !

[62440]

That'll be the "Clockwork Orange" no doubt!

Regards, 62440.

[klordger1900]

Now thats an interesting film, with lots of claggy music!!

[Midland Compound]

Originally Posted by 62440

That'll be the "Clockwork Orange" no doubt!

Regards, 62440.

Yep. Narrow gauge underground / metro lines are fairly unusual, are they not ?

[Eccles71B]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway