Poole Park Railway

As another expat I would certainly pony up a few pounds to see a former SMR l.oco operating in Poole Park.

 

9n a WIBN theme a display or operation of former Poole Industrial locos floats through my mind. Bonny Prince Charlie (New Quay) Henry Cort doubling George Jennings(South Western Pottery) an Adams B4 and a couple of the Ex Poole Gasworks IC locos
could it be done???

 

My two oldest sons & I visited Poole Park yesterday & walked round the track.

There is a carriage body by the Carriage Shed

Not much else to report, but the notices from The Council about reopening seem encouraging

 

The Council BCP, has recently put out to tender the erection of the new shed and upgrading the track plus supply of the rolling stock.

 

The shed has been cleared today, lots of employees standing around an emptying shed. The shed is going to be demolished I guess either today or tomorrow. Spoke with one of five Council officers who are involved with the Phoenix rising.the officer I spoke with today admitted that none of the five have any experience in running any kind of railway. Relied totally on one consultant. The locomotive is going to be electric. I have a lot of question to email said council officer. Looking forward to the answers!

 

More info Friday: from FB 10.5 gauge page. Need to use my PC to publish links.

 

It was 10.5" - looks possible it will be relaid to 12.25". A strange choice to my mind, but "Out with the old, in with the new"!

 

A lot of info here to read.......


https://procontract.due-north.com/A...pBRmc20_pJT61aEl8NhMp_TLnB1NjrdHK1HBon_6kY6dc

 

Battery, I assume?

 

'electric' steam out line locomotive and three coaches.

 

It does look to be a slightly obscure Gauge. This site https://www.bglr.org/find-a-railway/ only lists 4 in the whole UK. I can only imagine that it was chosen for compatibility with a couple of local nearby miniatures such as Exbury Gardens and to be as big as possible without crossing over to 15" where I think more regulations kick in. Fairbourne is probably the most notable 12.25" so there is some scope for 'guest locos'.

Most other local railways are 7.25 which I guess was perceived to be to small. Eastleigh is 10.25 and from my very limited knowledge of miniatures, this is more common than 12.25.

Specifying Consultant is Track Systems UK. Their website news section https://track-systems-uk.co.uk/2018/12/03/cefn-mably-farm-park-3/ showes them working on another 12.25" system being built Cefn Mably Farm Park so this does seem to be a favorite gauge for them at least.

 

Had a quick look at the tender documents this afternoon. The railway has been re-routed on several corners with new, much sharper curves. As one of the curves was already very sharp on 10.25" gauge, surely increasing the gauge and size of stock whilst sharpening the bends is a bad idea??

12.25" gauge is quite rare, I can't really see the justification for increasing the gauge.

Interesting to see from the post above that Track Systems UK are building another 12.25" railway elsewhere, funnily enough with a steam outline electric locomotive and coaches to the specification they have drawn up for Poole Park. Surely there's a massive conflict of interest here, it looks like they have written the spec so they have a huge headstart on the competition and perhaps so only they can win the tender!!!

 

Does seem a highly unusual for a public procurement project if they are expressing an interest in bidding (are they?) & they have been involved in producing the specification. Unusual but not unheard of in the private sector.

 

Not much of a site. It doesn't, for instance, list the Ruislip Lido Railway https://www.ruisliplidorailway.org/ which is a substantial 12" gauge line. I don't know how many other lines are missing.

 

In the BGLR's defence, they only list railways that are members. Clearly Ruislip aren't members

 

Miniature Railway World was always a good point of referance for a general guide to all things miniature - http://www.miniaturerailwayworld.co.uk/indexofminiaturerailways.html

Will

 

Tender period now up so we will see what happens! February announcement from what I read if all goes to plan.

However, I have heard a few of the established players decided against bidding as not everything added up.

 

I lived in Poole for a time. I fed the swans, geese and their goslings that live there on countless occasions and frequently shepherded 20-odd geese out of the road that runs through the park. I was often surprised how patient the drivers were and frequently got beeps of thanks as I got the stragglers out of dodge given what I've come to know of the average denizen of Poole.

On one occasion, I was feeding a lame, hobbling goose when that bloody train came along and gave the obviously injured animal precisely zero time to get out of the way and nearly killed it. I was barely convinced not to overtake the train and punch the driver out! Could have just as easily been a kid. I hope if the railway stays they train the drivers and perhaps instill some compassion in them that even an oik in a polo can muster! Oh, for the armchair experts, NO it was NOT too dangerous to slow.

I'm no enviro-warrior but have a bloody care!

 

Surely the question is why are cars allowed along that stretch of roadway? It merely acts as a through road; Why are we giving over parks and recreation areas to cars? The PP train lives long in the memory of a lot of Poole residents and visitors: the numbers of birds struck by the train vs those struck by cars would not be proportionate

 

More delays for this miniature railway. Has been handed to the Councillor who looks after the Environment. From what I can deduce for our local paper, the company who won the tender for constructions the railway are saying the monies involved are not enough to rebuild the shed/ tracks/bridge/ new loco and coaches. I will try and find the link later today and post it.