Matt Ditch Photography Blog

  Bideford, Westward Ho! And Appledore Railway One of the 3 Hunslet 2-4-2's at Bideford quay, Devon in 1905 . Author Mr Dicker This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. History & Route A map of the line dated 1919 . Detail from en:Ordnance Survey "New Popular Edition" Sheet 118. Colour highlighting by uploader The Bideford, Westward Ho! And Appledore Railway was a 7½-mile standard gauge (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)  tramway located in the south-west of England. Although standard gauge the railway was not connected to the national network. The nearest mainline station was Bideford located on the other side of the River Torridge from the railways Bideford Quay terminus. The mainline station at Bideford survives to this day as a heritage centre. Planning permission to build the railway was granted in May 1896. But, this wasn't the first scheme to bring a...

  From Owd to La'al Ratty "Bonnie Dundee" in tank form on the turntable at Dalegarth. © Copyright Malcolm Neal and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.  In two previous post I detailed the history of the “Owd Ratty”. The orignal 3 foot gauge Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway which operated between 1875 & 1913. You can find these posts Part 1 & Part 2 In 1915 model makers Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke & Robert Proctor-Mitchell were looking for somewhere to test their own locomotives. They came across the disused “Owd Ratty” and quickly set about regauging the line. The section between Ravenglass and Muncaster was the first to reopen in late August of 1915. Most of the line was converted in sections from 1917. But it wasn’t till the mid-1920s that the present-day terminus at Dalegarth was reached. For a time the line did run into the old station at Boot. But the gradients on that section of the line were too much for the scale engines. The curr...

Cawfields Quarry Railway   Kerr Stuart "Sirdar" class 0-4-0T "Vyrnwy" crossing high Mill bridge. The engine shed can be seen behind the wagons. The above picture can be seen on an information board for the burn neat the start of the walk. The orignal picture was taken by J.Keen. History & the route Many in the narrow gauge community will be familiar with the town of Haltwhistle as the planned terminus for the South Tynedale railway from Alston, who hope to return to the town within the next several years. But the South Tynedale won’t be the first narrow gauge railway within the town. By Roger Cornfoot © Creative Commons In 1905 a narrow gauge railway was constructed to link the Newcastle & Carlisle railway with the Whinstone quarry at Cawfields, near Hadrian’s wall. Part of the line was built on a pre-existing Tub way that linked South Tyne Colliery with the South Tyne Colliery screens at  Townsfoot. A number of bridges on the route and embankments had to be...