roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,275
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Post by roythebus on Mar 17, 2011 9:06:37 GMT
A bit off-topic i hear you say for an underground forum, but an interesting article in our local free newspaper "The Looker", available online too, is about the Lydd military Railway, no.6 in a series of the history of the railways of Romney Marsh by John Wimble.
In this article he mentions the LMR had 2 passenger coaches, one being ex Metropolitan Railway. Presumably this may have been a 4 wheeler, fitted with safety chains, no brakes. Anyone got any ideas what it may have been?
There may be a chance the body might still be in the area disguised as someone's prized holiday home; there's a couple of hundred grounded bodies in the area used as such!
Food for thought.
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Post by phillw48 on Mar 17, 2011 10:00:41 GMT
The two coaches used by the railway were not from the Metropolitan but from somewhere a bit more exotic, the Suakin Railway of Sudan. The confusion has arisen because they were rigid eights like the Metropolitan. One of these coaches has survived and became known as the 'Kitchener coach' and is now preserved at Chatham. www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1093 |
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,275
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Post by roythebus on Mar 17, 2011 10:15:46 GMT
According to the article, there were originally 2 coaches, 1 ex Met and one new from Metropolitan RCW Birmingham which appeared in 1890.
There were 2 locos built for the Suakin Railway in Sudan, which tallies with what you say about the coaches, possibly. These were bought back from Sudan to work on the LMR.
The locos were Manning Wardle, built 1885, shipped to Sudan that year.
The thlot pickens as they say!
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Post by phillw48 on Mar 17, 2011 11:35:38 GMT
The Oakwood press publication 'Carriage Stock of the minor standard gauge railways' states that the Sudan carriages returned to Woolwich in 1886 and that two went to Lydd with the locomotives. The coaches were subsequently transfered to Shoeburyness in 1898 were one was scrapped about 1918.
The Longmoor Military Railway only opened as the Woolmer Instructional Railway in 1903 after the carriages had been transfered to Shoeburyness.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,275
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Post by roythebus on Mar 17, 2011 14:42:18 GMT
thanks, I'll let John Wimble know so he can update his records, unless, of course, he's right and Oakwood are wrong!
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Post by phillw48 on Mar 17, 2011 16:52:37 GMT
No Metropolitan steam hauled stock went to the military as far as it is known. The stock used at Lydd had been sent elsewhere before the withdrawal of the Metropolitan stock began in earnest. There are several bodies from Metropolitan rigid 8 wheelers on the Isle of Wight still in use as bathing huts IIRC one of the preserved lines is actively seeking to obtain one of these bodies and place it on a modern chassis.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 13:58:59 GMT
A large number of Metropolitan Electric Saloon stock vehicles went to the MOD during WW2. Some then ended up being purchased for use on farms as outbuildings. Who knows what survives......  |
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Post by phillw48 on Mar 18, 2011 14:58:05 GMT
The Vintage Carriages Trust website lists 21 ex-Metropolitan survivors. These vary from immaculately restored coaches used in passenger service to a few pieces of rotting wood.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,275
|
Post by roythebus on Apr 14, 2011 8:03:12 GMT
The current edition of The looker has the article about the narrow gauge system of the Lydd Military Railway, available online at www.thelooker.co.uk |
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Post by phillw48 on Apr 14, 2011 8:50:18 GMT
The current edition of The looker has the article about the narrow gauge system of the Lydd Military Railway, available online at www.thelooker.co.ukAll I get is the home page, not the article. |
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Post by peterc on Apr 20, 2011 15:35:23 GMT
I can read the whole paper but it seems to be an old edition from last year. Certainly no article.
Rather a pity, I visited Dungeness recently and apart from the RH&DR was fascinated by the obvious incorporation of old railway carriages into some of the buildings and the fragment of narrow guage track in the old Trinity House testing station. Nothing is visible of the track in the ranges from the highway of course.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,275
|
Post by roythebus on Apr 22, 2011 0:03:01 GMT
The last Looker had an article about the narrow gauge system at Lydd Camp; the current issue an article of the Littlestone Miniature Railway (yes, there was one).
I'll chase the editor to try and find the linkys.
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