Your fantasy heritage railway

I've no idea if this has been done before but it might be interesting if people shared their 'fantasy' preserved railway - which British line you'd choose to reinstate if you had the power, money or support. It could be one which is disused or was lifted decades ago, or perhaps one which now operated by National Rail. Would you be fairly faithful and use locomotives from the company who used to run the railway in question, or would you be a bit more eclectic? What would set it apart from the many other preserved lines out there etc? I'll answer all that when I've had a bit of time to think about it but I'm quite intrigued to see what other people would do!

 

Ruabon - Morfa Mawddach, with a branch into Bala. Don't know about dual gauge along Bala Lake though !

Bob.

 

The Mid - Wales Railway from Moat Lane Junction to Talyllyn Junction with the branch to Hereford from Three Cocks Junction.

 

Settle - Carlise or Welsh Marches

 

Anywhere, but you just had to sign to say that you were competent in common sense so that H&S took very much a back seat!

Paul

 

Nice to see plenty of proposals for the Prinicipality which I naturally wholeheartedly support! To complete the Welsh reopenings how about Aberystwyth to Camarthen and Caernarfon to Bangor?
And to show that i'm not totally turning into a Welsh nationalist (but ignoring my English roots for the moment) the Callander line to Crianlarich, that should never have been closed in the first place..
And finally, the Keswick branch would surely be a success second time around given it's location in The Lakes.

 

The Kingsbridge branch,with 3 Prairie tanks.One in GWR green,BR green and BR black.

 

Barnstaple - Ilfracombe, with Spam Cans pulling a full Pullman rake with the Swanage Observation Car on the back ...

What would make it different to any other line? Well, to pull any kind of sizeable train over about 5 carriages, you'd genuinely need banking support in both directions, even with light pacifics - nearly 3 miles of sharply curved 1:36 straight off the platform end in the up direction (from Ilfracombe); more than 3 miles of 1 in 40 coming the other way. What else? Well, a narrow guage connection in Barnstaple once the L&B get that far (this is fantasy preserved line we're playing after all!) Oh, and once open, a nice complicated "extension project" by re-instating the bridge over the river to join up to Barnstaple Junction so mainline trains can come in. I wonder if Network Rail would re-instate that connection for £1?

Tom

 

My fantasy heritage railway would be to visit any of them which had an evening wine and dine special and Myleene Klass was accompanying me. It wouldn't really bother me whether the loco was in GWR green, BR Green or BR black but the lady's lingerie would be good in black lace. I take it that this is what you mean by a fantasy heritage railway, or am I alone in having a mind which wanders down sidings?

 

The idea of medium gauge could be explored a bit further with metre gauge.
It would be possible to operate East African locos like the Tribal 2-8-2 & 2-8-4 tender locos and Garratts for some of the time then change over to East German or Portugese locos and stock.

No ideas which route this fantasy operation should use, but the Somerset & Dorset would be a good start with steep gradients and good scenery. Failing that the "Port Road" from Stranraer to Dumfries plus branches.

Cheers, Neil

PS Myleene Klass wouldn't do my blood pressure any good and I don't suppose it would go down too well with my missus!

 

I don't know about location, but a reasonable length of 3rd rail electrified line, perhaps supplimenting an existing heritage operation, would fill a major gap in the preservation scene for me. I suppose the Ardingly branch is the nearest we have to this particular fantasy?!

 

Wow more power to you with that one !!!

 

My fantasy railway would be one preserved as it was in the early 1950s - the East Coast main line would do very nicely or any one of the more rustic branches - no gricers or grockles, just the occasional local with real passenger or freight trains. Or the Welsh Highland in its heyday, Scarborough station on a summer Saturday in the 50s, or the Cheddar branch in broad gauge days.... I could keep going all night - point is that nothing we "recreate" as preservationists is really remotely like as interesting as the working railway of old.

 

Good topic - am I allowed a top 5? If so:

1. Meon Valley. Unquestionably the numero uno.
2. Lynton to Pilton Yard, Barnstaple. Might actually happen one day.
3. Chichester to Midhurst. Enormous stations, scenery and 3 tunnels - plenty of "wow" factor.
4. Alresford to Winchester Chesil. Might require a little extra engineering work.
5. West Bay to Maiden Newton. An opportunity missed in a major holiday area.

 

I'd go for the entire S&D system. Or, if I may extend the geographical scope to all the British Isles, it would be just amazing to rebuild the Tralee & Dingle Railway (see www.tdlr.org.uk) in County Kerry, roadside running, ungated level crossings, the lot!

Steve
(WSW)

 

Dartmoor Princetown to Yelverton Branch, with 2ft guage NG16 Garratts. That would liven things up on Dartmoor, also be a good all year round tourist attraction being in a national park. What with the gradiants and the horseshoe around King Tor, Unlimited vantage points for photographers. I could not see this ever happening , due to the investment costs and also i think there would be a lot of objections being in a National Park.

 

Meon Valley as an LSWR/early Southern line, all the way to Alton and a junction with the Mid-Hants...what a heritage experience that would be!!
Lynton and Barnstaple (might happen)
Somerset and Dorset (why not)

 

My fantasy heritage railway would have to be something different from what we presently have. I'd love to have a preserved industrial railway, doing the job that it was intended to do, and actually transporting goods from A to B. It would, of course, be the Middleton Railway, Leeds, and the pit would still be in production, as would the staithes at Great Wilson street and on Hunslet Moor so it would still be at its original length. A 'main line of 2½ miles with branches off to BR and all the firms that it once served still being in existence and using the railway. These included foundries, a wagon repair business, a scrapyard, an engineering works and a Council depot. No passenger trains and no complaining grockles, but plenty of goods wagons of all sorts with three-links to knock about. No need for any shops or buffets or other ancillary things, just stick to the operation, engineering and maintenance because that's what we're virtually all interested in. We could even have the rope worked incline up to Town Street operating for even more variety. For those visitors that did come and want a ride, the Middleton Light Railway, which was actually a tramway, would still be operating with its Middleton Bogies and Feltham cars running up through Middleton Woods.

 

Barnard castle-Tebay/Penrith, network rail line from darlington-barnard castle with steam from there across stainmore.