Launceston Steam Railway

Launceston Steam Railway
Locomotive covertcoat of the Launceston Steam Railway at the terminus in Newmills
Route length:	4 km
Gauge :	597 mm ( narrow gauge )
Legend North Cornwall Railway to Halwill Junction Launceston Mill leat River Kensey Farm crossing Hunt's Crossing Farm crossing Canna Park Newmills North Cornwall Railway to Padstow

The train station in Launceston. The track on the covered platform is used to park wagons in winter.

The Launceston Steam Railway is a privately operated heritage railway based in Launceston in Cornwall , England. The narrow-gauge railway is operated with steam locomotives on a gauge of 597 mm. The approximately 4 km long route runs on part of the route of the former North Cornwall Railway , which was later taken over by the London and South Western Railway and shut down by British Railways in the 1960s .

history

The railway was founded by Nigel Bowman, who bought the Lilian locomotive in the 1960s and restored it on his own. After driving them now and then on a friend's property, he decided to give up his teaching career and start his own railroad. After a lengthy search for a suitable route, he found support from the Launceston City Council in 1971 and the purchase of land began - a complicated undertaking that took twelve years to complete.

The first 800 m route was opened on December 26, 1983. Since then, the route has been expanded several times and in 1995 reached its current length of 4 km. The station's canopy comes from a former station in Tavistock (Devon) and was built in 1986/87.

In 2010 it was planned to extend the route by around 3 km to Egloscarry . However, the necessary purchase of the land has not yet been completed (as of 2018).

Location and course

Typical section of the route

The starting point of the route is near the former station of the London and South Western Railway in Launceston. Almost nothing is left of the original station; Today, the car park of the Launceston Steam Railway is located on its site. The current train station is a little further to the west on the site of a former gas works, from which the workshop and a museum building come, in which old motorcycles and other vehicles are exhibited.

Starting from Launceston, the route runs in a westerly direction, passing under a road and then the cast iron aqueduct of a mill moat. The river Kensey is crossed on a two-arched stone bridge. The railway runs almost the entire route between meadows and fields, and about halfway there is a demand stop, which is mainly used by hikers. In the immediate vicinity of the terminus is the Newmills Farm Park , an adventure farm .

vehicles

Lilian , the railway's first locomotive and the reason for its creation

Passenger cars

The railway currently has three steam locomotives , Lilian , Covertcoat and Velinheli , the latter of which is privately owned. A fourth locomotive, Dorothea , has been back in service since 2012 after an extensive restoration. All four locomotives are Quarry Hunslets , which were originally built to operate in Welsh slate quarries . Covertcoat and Lilian were retrofitted with small tenders.

There is also a small diesel locomotive for shunting work as well as a battery-operated and a diesel-electric draisine .

The passenger trains are currently pulled exclusively by steam locomotives, but a diesel-electric railcar is under construction, the drive bogie of which consists of parts of a railcar of the former London Post Office Railway (No. 42, class 1930 ). A second Post Office railcar (No. 38) is also owned by the railway and is to be exhibited in the museum.

In addition to some freight wagons, there are two open and two closed passenger wagons available, most of which were self-made, e.g. However, some are based on historical models.

Others

The uncovered ruins of the former monastery of Launceston lie on an adjacent property, which can be viewed from one of the engine sheds, which also has information boards.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ News page of the Launceston Steam Railway ( Memento of the original from August 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Commons : Launceston Steam Railway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Launceston Steam Railway website

Coordinates: 50 ° 38 '26 "  N , 4 ° 21' 54"  W.