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Developments on the Corris Railway

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by Corris Steam, May 22, 2016.

  1. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    You forgot the Fairbourne..... arguably already a 'preserved line' at the time. (Based on the likelihood of receipts producing lavish returns!).

    Methinks the way things actually panned out was probably the optimum solution, though there's not much reason to suppose, even had the Corris remained and the TR gone tits-up following the death of Sir H, that the latter line wouldn't have 'interested' a CRS splinter group (as happened .... only 'the other way round').

    In this scenario, providing developments at Tywyn - I'm thinking of the industrial estate at Pendre - happened no faster than they did, the TR route would likely have remained intact through at least the 1950's. With a rejuvenated Corris by, say, 1960, would a moribund TR have been an attractive restoration scheme? Assuming the locos and carriages survived the death of SirH, I'd suggest the challenge would have proved irresistable.

    Had part of my initial speculation - sale of both CR locos to the Talyllyn - taken place following the arrival of I/C traction in the 30's, perhaps prospects mightn't have been so gloomy for the TR after all. I recall that the state of Nos.3&4 by the end certainly put Sir Henry Haydn Jones off buying them at that point (I wonder .... who inspected the locos on his behalf when he rejected their purchase?), but before WWII, where my notion is set, they were certainly both operable. One of 'em wouldn't even have fallen between the TR's overgauge rails!

    Just think how the heaving fleshpots of Corris and Aberllefenni might have developed with tourist pasenger services from Machynlleth being reinstated. Did someone say "regauged Quarry Hunslets"? Who knows ..... the 'Slaters Arms' might've needed to open all week!

    ...... and when the Corris eventually makes it "Back to Mach" there's still the P&H to reopen*. Someone's going to have to work out just how the hell to turn the Slee monstrosity "Victoria" into a useful loco!

    *No? For the record, neither do I !!
     
  2. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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  3. Occasional

    Occasional New Member

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    Some more fax’n’info about what is going on with the revival of the Corris. The cylinders for the new steam locomotive, “Falcon” number 10, have now been machined and should be on their way, together with the cylinder covers, to Alan Keef’s. Having set a target of £53k to be raised this year in order to have a rolling chassis with pistons, valves, glands, crossheads, slidebars and brackets, inside motion etc. there is now £33k to hand. Individual components recently sponsored via the website www.corris.co.uk include the rear buffer beam (yet to be made), rivets and Binx locking nuts. There will be a fund-raising stand for the loco at the Colwyn Bay Model Railway Show in Llandudno on July 28th and 29th and at the Corris’ Model Railway Exhibition at Y Plas in Machynlleth on August 25th and 26th.

    Carriage construction at Maespoeth Jnc continues with fitting of interior panels on number 23 and seat frame assemblies being fitted at the north end of the vehicle. More volunteers with woodworking skills are always welcome (first contact enquiries@corris.co.uk) . The steelwork ofn carriage number 24 has reached the point of the extra work to assemble its clerestory roof, estimated by project leader Andy Cooper at 150 hours.

    During August the next stage of the improvements to Corris station should take place with the relocation of the adjacent school wall. Once this is done the station site wall can be moved in its turn and then the trackwork to create a run-round loop will be next on the list. Because of the space restrictions on site, which is now also used as a village car park, the run round loop will incorporate a traverser.
     
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  4. LesterBrown

    LesterBrown Member

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    I see on the Corris facebook page that work has started on the ground on the Corris station and track layout improvement.

    Excellent news as I think that this scheme will transform the perception of the railway, with the loco able to run round it's train instead of pushing it one way.
     
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  5. Occasional

    Occasional New Member

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    To expand a bit on this news. The first stage of the works which are now underway is the moving of the wall of the village school, which is sensibly being done during the holidays. Next up is moving the station wall to create the space for the run round and maintaining the right of way past the site. Funding is in place for those stages. The point at the station throat will need to be adapted for the new layout and we have track components for the run round line. Some ballast will need to be purchased.

    Then comes the crunchy bit. Anyone who has seen pictures of the original Corris station who then visit are always surprised to see how small the site actually is and today we have to share it with the village car park. Therefore in order to complete the run round loop we are going to have to install a traverser rather than another point and headshunt. This will be an unusual feature and no doubt will crop up in various pics when eventually in use but will cost somewhere around £40k. After that we can start fund raising for the station buildings, new toilets and overall roof. So all financial help will be welcome as always.

    Date for the diary. August 25th and 26th are the dates for this year's Corris Railway Society.Model Railway Exhibition at Y Plas in Machynlleth. And trains will be running from Corris
     
  6. JMJR1000

    JMJR1000 Member

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    Great to see this project finally entering the construction phase, as I'd agree this new station will really enhance this railway's overall image, and of course will no doubt prove useful as the railway continues to expand. I must say I was surprised to see the traverser being added to the plans, but given the limited space I can understand that. And as mentioned it will give the station quite a unique feature, in fact I can't recall any other railway actually that uses a traverser in this same fashion, as a means for the locomotive to run round it's train. I look forward to seeing it all completed in the future. I've not visited the Corris Railway as yet, but I think I'll have to change that soon.
     
  7. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Other than the odd raised miniature line (which don't really count) and the Lartigue recreation over in Ireland, neither can I, although on the Isle of Wight Railway, Bembridge certainly utilised a sector plate for running around, due to restricted space.
     
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2018
  8. paullad1984

    paullad1984 Member

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    Thought Ventnor was a small turntable later replaced with a Y point.
     
  9. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Hmmmm ... checking .... you may well be right. An early photo definitely shows what looks to be a turntable, though all photos I can find identifying trains as 'up' services show locos running bunker first. I'll peruse my records and come back on this one in a bit.

    Edit: Looks like you are right ...... I'm amending my OP accordingly.
     
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2018
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  10. huochemi

    huochemi Part of the furniture

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    There used to be one at Birmingham Moor Street, I think it appears in one of the Railway Roundabout programmes. I suspect the one at the Hung Hom terminus of the Kowloon Canton Railway in Kowloon (Hong Kong) is still in use, which is used to release the loco of a through train, the incoming Chinese/GuangShen loco being used to work the return journey.
     
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  11. philw2

    philw2 Member

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    I recall a traverser at Fairbourne abt 60 yrs ago!..

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
     
  12. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    Well there’s a traverser at Didcot, though for a totally different purpose. And one in Acton Works, if you must know.

    Sector tables are rarer I’d say, I’ve only seen three. Two at a museum near Turin (which also has a traverser, come to think of it) and one at a roundhouse in Germany. The only one (long gone) in the UK which springs to mind was at High Street Kensington, though no doubt there were others.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  13. Occasional

    Occasional New Member

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    And the hits just keep on coming (?):-

    Following the roof work carried out on the former stable block building at Corris, which currently houses the railway museum and shop, windows have now been replaced. Some of those replaced have proved salvageable and will be put to use in the future. Meanwhile inside the carriage workshop at Maespoeth Junction more panels for carriage number 23 have been delivered from members’ home workshops and are being fitted as part of the ongoing construction work. A heritage waggon has been stripped down for restoration and a van has been refurbished. Station fencing at Maespoeth Junction is being repaired and repainted, an ongoing task in the Mid Wales climate.

    Construction of the new steam locomotive, “Falcon” number 10, has taken another step forward with machining of the pony truck wheels and manufacture of the axle. As a guide to the costs of loco building these 12 inch diameter solid wheels are costing £350 each, the axle £540 and four bearings £52 each. The pony truck has already been manufactured in the workshops of two volunteers but main construction work is being carried out at Lea near Hay-on Wye in the workshops of Alan Keef Ltd.
     
  14. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I'd be interested to know more about this one (on the correct thread ... naturally :)) as I don't recall one by the time of my first visit back in 1972 .... which may well say more about my memory than owt else!

    @Occasional On the website, there's a recent photo of a tired wooden wagon frame at Maespoeth, being used as the pattern for it's replacement. Is this an original, or a life expired post-1966 reconstruction? ..... and ..... are any locations still yielding long forgotten wagonry (or ironwork from same)? BTW .... I'm not expecting to hear any specific locations mentioned .... after all, we wouldn't want dozens of hairy gricers descending on private property in the Dulas Valley (though, for sproggits, it might prove an interesting variation on the annual 'Easter Egg Hunt' theme!).
     
  15. meeee

    meeee Member

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    There is both a sector table and a treverser at Fairbourne. There is also a very crude sector table in Minffordd Yard. I think there is also one behind the workshop at New Romney.

    Tim
     
  16. MuzTrem

    MuzTrem Member

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    The original Fairbourne traverser was installed in 1958, due to limited space at the rear of the station for a headshunt. In the early '60s, additional land was acquired between the FMR station and the main line, which allowed the traverser to be removed and a conventional headshunt reinstated. Subsequently, John Ellerton installed a new traverser when he remodelled the Fairbourne station layout in 1984-5, which sat between the workshop and the loco sheds and gave access to both. However, in recent years the facilities have been rearranged again, with the locos now stabled at the other end of the workshop and the former loco shed converted into a carriage workshop, so the traverser now sees little use. There is also the sector table at the other end of the workshop, and a very unusual five-way point which was apparently built on the frames of the old petrol locomotive Dingo. The Ellertons travelled widely on business and apparently had seen many of these features in use in the US.
     
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  17. 759e

    759e Member

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  18. Forestpines

    Forestpines Well-Known Member

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    There was one used for loco release at Sheerness Dockyard station, back in the mists of time
     
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  19. Reading General

    Reading General Part of the furniture

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    View attachment 38409 View attachment 38410 View attachment 38411 Finally found it open, and well worth the wait. An excellent guided tour of the workshops and shed included made it great value for money. What other lines offer that? Third photo shows new boiler for the next replica, of Falcon N03. to the right of the picture, two more coaches are being built. The guide himself was excellent and didn't leave out the kids, the guided tour of the outside loo (world's first self-flushing loo) went down very well with them, after the spiders had been banished, of course. I've nothing but praise for this small Society.
     
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  20. Occasional

    Occasional New Member

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    Glad to learn that you got to visit and enjoyed your time in the Dulas Valley. Your guide for the day was Graeme Jolley, the Secretary.

    And if anyone is crying out for more news:-

    The Corris Railway Society held its Annual Model Railway Exhibition at Y Plas in Machynlleth over the August Bank Holiday weekend and was pleased to see a 33% increase in visitor numbers over the 2017 figure. The 520 members of the public who came to the exhibition meant that this was the largest attendance since 2014 (when it was a three day event). Encouragingly, in light of concerns that the age demographic of railway modellers is high and getting higher, 129 of the visitors were children. This may reflect the fact that the Corris event usually features one or two layouts aimed at appealing to younger visitors and sometimes give them an opportunity “to drive the trains”. Another established and popular feature is the stand selling hand crafted ornaments and jewellery made from recycled glass.

    Organiser Bill Newton commented:- “It was great to see the increased number of visitors coming through the doors of Y Plas and having an enjoyable time at the exhibition. Once all of the invoices are paid the proceeds from the two days will make a good contribution towards the revival of the railway. Thanks go to all the exhibitors and also to those who publicised the event, helped with setting up and breaking it all down, the volunteer caterers, the door staffers the sellers of goods and raffle tickets and the rest of the exhibition team. We are a small society – more volunteers are always welcome – and trains were running between Corris station and Maespoeth Junction while the exhibition was on.”

    The train services from Corris were also busy over the Bank Holiday period, making it a very satisfactory weekend for the Railway.
     
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