PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Mar 1, 2011 18:10:09 GMT -5
A couple of historic pictures from 1906 of the Blakesley Hall 15 inch gauge miniature railway. It linked the main line of the East and West Junction Railway to Blakesley Hall about a mile away. Blakesley Hall was a country house in Northamptonshire built by a wealthy colliery owner and shareholder in the E&WJR. It carried coal supplies and other goods as well as passengers to the Hall, and was very popular on fete days when the first picture was probably taken. I believe the loco was a Cagney 4-4-0 made in the US. The second picture is of the terminus of the miniature railway at the small mainline station of Blakesley. The miniature railway was dismantled in 1940, and Blakesley station closed in 1962 The "soot and whitewash" short greyscale of the pictures is typical of "ordinary" (non-orthochromatic) plate emulsions of the time. PeterW
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Post by colray on Mar 1, 2011 18:44:01 GMT -5
Hi Peter ..very nice couple of images..and background history. Col
PS I think the watermark spoils the visual quality.
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Post by Randy on Mar 1, 2011 18:50:19 GMT -5
The Arborway Railway is 1/5 scale.
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Post by nikonbob on Mar 1, 2011 19:11:14 GMT -5
PeterW
Do you ever wonder what happened to the miniature rolling stock after 1940?
Bob
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Mar 1, 2011 19:13:07 GMT -5
Peter, thanks - interesting as always. I would like to add another railway photo, which would also have been taken around 1906. It is on the a BBC webpage at www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/history/pages/redwharf2.shtml?3The photo was taken by my grandfather, and shows his wife Lilian and the three oldest children. We're pretty sure he did a series and the other photos on the website might well have been taken by him. Ignore their dating of1910: it was before then. Wilfred was born in 1899, Winifred in 1900 and Alan in 1903. If they are 7,5 and 3 then it would be 1906. Wilfred died aged 12 and my father wasn't born till 1913. We do have our own miniature railway just a couple of miles away. It is operated by enthusiasts.. There seems now just to be the one gauge running, though the track is laid out for two different gauges. Dave.
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Mar 2, 2011 7:10:50 GMT -5
Col,
You're probably right, but I'm fed up with having my pictures, here and on my personal website, pirated.
Bob,
I believe that the whole of the the miniature railway, locos, rolling stock and track, was sold by the original owner's widow to a company in Yorkshire.
Randy,
Thanks for the link to some interesting videos.
PeterW
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photax
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Post by photax on Mar 2, 2011 12:29:24 GMT -5
Peter, Thanks for showing this pictures and the story behind them. I presume miniature railways are typical for England. We have only one here in Vienna, built in 1927 ( also 15 inch ). The two or three steam engines are still running. They are opening in april, maybe I`ll take a ride then My last visit there was almost 40 years ago. MIK
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Post by Randy on Mar 2, 2011 19:56:34 GMT -5
I could see us riding the footplates Peter.
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Mar 3, 2011 3:33:00 GMT -5
MIK,
There was a time when it seemed just about every seaside resort in Britain had a miniature railway. Many of those I knew in the 1950s seem to have gone. I'm not sure how many are really left.
Dave.
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Post by Rachel on Mar 3, 2011 5:21:06 GMT -5
I'm sure that this subject has cropped up before. Our local park has a miniature railway which operates on summer weekends.
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