The Bermuda Railway... Neat little railroad with unique equipment.

[JCitron]

I discovered this today while looking for things... I saw what was marked as a railroad trail on a map of Bermuda, (I only wish I was going to vacation there...) and decided to investigate the route. This is an interesting railway that existed briefly between 1922 and 1948. Today what's left is now a trail. The line its self was only about 22 miles and was standard gauge from what I can tell by the photographs. In the US this line would have been considered similar to an interurban, and used proprietary gasoline-powered multiple-unit trains built to carry mostly passengers. Any freight, other than a bit around the docks, was carried in what would be considered an LTL freight/baggage coach.

http://bermudarailway.net/index.html

After reading a bit about it and looking at the geography, I "so had to build this in Trainz!". After a bit of fussing and fiddling, I figured out how to download the 1 Arc-second GEOTiff files from the USGS Earth Explorer, which I highly recommend. www.earthexplorer.usgs.gov because you can get maps for many places around the world. I then downloaded the surface texture-images via TransDEM and imported the route ready for building soon(tm).

At this point, I'm not sure if I should build this as a modern - one that survived and is still in use today, or turn it into a narrow gauge tourist line. The modern route could use Class 156 DMUs for passengers and maybe some small diesel switchers for freight around the docks.

Though the line never ran steam, I was thinking that a narrow gauge steam route would be interesting. Small Mason Bogey and Farley steam locomotives could haul trains along a 2-foot gauge track. In retrospect, I may do this as I've never built a narrow gauge route before.

This will be a cool project, which will take time to build.

John

 

[itareus]

I would vote for the re-opened narrow gauge line John.

This sounds like a prototype route that could easily have reopened given the right sponsor(s), and on an island that relies on tourism steam operation would have been a must.

Plus you can run exactly what locos and stock you like on the route and nobody can tell you it's wrong !

First things first though, think of a name and a livery and get re-skinning .

Chris

 

[MeowRailroad]

That is really cool! Thank you for finding this.

 

[JCitron]

I would vote for the re-opened narrow gauge line John.

This sounds like a prototype route that could easily have reopened given the right sponsor(s), and on an island that relies on tourism steam operation would have been a must.

Plus you can run exactly what locos and stock you like on the route and nobody can tell you it's wrong !

First things first though, think of a name and a livery and get re-skinning .

Chris

I like your justification for running a narrow gauge steam route.

Now to come up with a name...


John

 

[clam1952]

Goes without saying............ Narrow Gauge Steam ;o)

 

[MeowRailroad]

Just like the train car you have to be quiet in for it to move! It goes without saying!

 

[jordon412]

Don't have a bridge that takes the track out over the ocean. We don't want to lose this route to the Bermuda Triangle.

 

[JCitron]

Don't have a bridge that takes the track out over the ocean. We don't want to lose this route to the Bermuda Triangle.

I was going to use a tunnel and tube network.

John

 

[Roy3b3]

I just had a look on Google Earth and Bermuda has a lot of character going for it. The landscape changes every few miles, dockside, township, wooded area, cuttings through stone, bridge after bridge, and around every bend another panoramic view of a beach or another township, and even an airport. All together, it would be a pretty package. It looks like railmotors were used with either a goods carriage or passenger cars. There is a little bit of footage on Youtube which gives you an idea what life was like in Bermuda before 1948, but the film is poor quality. It would be interesting to see how it turns out. Cheers,
Roy3b3

 

[Vern]

I have previously made a couple of starts on this, but didn't get very far so go for it John!

The biggest issue I found is that while the route can be fairly easily established on OSM there's little published information regarding track layouts. I also found the DEM didn't quite work in a few places, particularly where the tunnel was before running up the street towards the Bermudiania (sp) Hotel.

Another interesting island route, part of which is still operational as a tourist railway, is the one on St Kitts... http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/ another one tucked away on my "to do" list.

 

[itareus]

If you get fed up with it John you could always pass the DEMS on to me, would love to play with something like that !

 

[JCitron]

If you get fed up with it John you could always pass the DEMS on to me, would love to play with something like that !

I'll do this anyway... I'll upload the files to my OneDrive. I have the original Transdem files as well as my route as I trimmed down the extra water area around the island.
I used an orthographic photo though still poor quality for the terrain map. Sadly, I tried numerous times to get a decent image then settled with this. It shows roads and house placements which is important when route building. The Open Maps shows a marked trail on the maps as the railroad trail, however, there is a problem with those because the graphics are so horsy which makes working with them very difficult. Having a route information circle with a 2 square mile radius, makes finding where houses are located difficult.

Have a go at it. It would be interesting to see what you come out with as well. I'm doing this in fun anyway, and not staying very close to the prototype, except where I can follow the ROW.

I have previously made a couple of starts on this, but didn't get very far so go for it John!

The biggest issue I found is that while the route can be fairly easily established on OSM there's little published information regarding track layouts. I also found the DEM didn't quite work in a few places, particularly where the tunnel was before running up the street towards the Bermudiania (sp) Hotel.

Another interesting island route, part of which is still operational as a tourist railway, is the one on St Kitts... http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/ another one tucked away on my "to do" list.

Don't scare me with your multiple attempts! I've run into this issue before with other routes I've investigated. The railway is shown as a line, but there's no detail on sidings, yards, stations, etc. Then to add insult to injury, finding actual plans anywhere turns up nothing as it seems as though the route was erased from history with only a glimpse at it here and there. Since my plan was to turn this into a fictional line, I might have better luck as I'll wing it where I can. I'll check out the St. Kits railway as that one sounds interesting too. I think you can see a theme here...I'm trying to escape the -8C (18F) temps with snow again today to boot!

I just had a look on Google Earth and Bermuda has a lot of character going for it. The landscape changes every few miles, dockside, township, wooded area, cuttings through stone, bridge after bridge, and around every bend another panoramic view of a beach or another township, and even an airport. All together, it would be a pretty package. It looks like railmotors were used with either a goods carriage or passenger cars. There is a little bit of footage on Youtube which gives you an idea what life was like in Bermuda before 1948, but the film is poor quality. It would be interesting to see how it turns out. Cheers,
Roy3b3

This is what caught my attention. I love coastal routes and the shore anyway as I've lived in Massachusetts up on the North Shore with its rocky points and sandy coves my whole life. The tropical region, I thought would be something different and a lot warmer...

They did use some kind of rail motors which ran in with trailers. I would say a modern replacement would be a Class 156 Sprinter or similar consist, though the length might be an issue because some of the curves look very sharp. I saw that video, but you're right it was very poor quality. In those days, there were so many fewer houses and buildings. Since I'm doing this as a modern route, this isn't so much of an issue and I'll use a bit more artistic license with it besides I'm really considering a narrow gauge steam route, which of course was never run there but this would look cool!

John

 

[JCitron]

Bermuda Route Share:

http://1drv.ms/1M1HFaY

Here is the route if anyone wants to have a go at it.

Remember this is from TransDEM and the TransDEM file use license applies. Please don't use this for payware.

About the files/folders:

Bermuda - Base data = The original, pre export from TransDEM. Included is the original GEOTiff and a Base Map image along with the image files used to create the texture, as well as a slightly trimmed Bermuda.trf. You can delete the image files if you don't want to use them and keep the base image if you want to use that for downloading new ones via TransDEM.

The Bermuda - Raw Route Export. = The route as I exported it to TS12. Unzip and import into Content Manager using the File import on the menu. This is the route as I imported before trimming.

The CDP file = The route after it's been trimmed - same as above.

Have fun. I'm curious what you all will do with this as well.

John

 

[edh6]

A narrow gauge line in the colonies, sounds great to me! Perhaps these locos would feel at home there?

 

[JCitron]

A narrow gauge line in the colonies, sounds great to me! Perhaps these locos would feel at home there?

That's what I was thinking.

John

 

[Vern]

All this talk has made me think about dusting off my version - perhaps I should do mine tramway/LRT style (the prototype had some street running by the harbour and past the hotel)!

 

[JCitron]

All this talk has made me think about dusting off my version - perhaps I should do mine tramway/LRT style (the prototype had some street running by the harbour and past the hotel)!

Go for it!

That would be more suitable, I think for a modern route, especially with the street running in Hamilton. You could then expand service out to Spanish Point along the North Shore into other parts of Hamilton.

I did a bit of track laying last night. I spent quite a few hours following Google Maps, Google Earth, and Bing Maps, laying track and figuring out where they ran. I traveled from St. Georges, down by the ferry terminal which looks like the tracks ended, over to the entrance into Hamilton.

The track is in place, long the grade, but needs to be smoothed and leveled. This line which I'm doing as a narrow gauge line, will be single track mostly with some passing loops along the longer straight sections. There are a few places which look like they could have had a yard or storage siding here and there, and even a wye up in St. Georges.

I agree though. This is one tough route to work on, and probably the most difficult project I've done so far.

John

 

[JCitron]

I contacted the museum regarding the coaching stock and Simon Horn, the webmaster and site owner contact me with some plans. I have posted these up on my OneDrive for those interested in making some equipment for us. The same link as above is still active.

Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

He is very interested in the project and hopefully I can give him something out of it all, perhaps a video ride on the Virtual Bermuda Railway soon(tm).

John

 

[itareus]

Thanks for sharing the DEMS John, very kind of you.

It's been years since I used TransDEM (not even loaded on this PC), could you please tell me how I get the textures to show in Trainz ? They appear to be 'there' but are only visible from a zoomed out position.

Cheers

Chris

 

[Vern]

Got my version up and running this morning, laying the first section of track at St Georges. A climb of @2.4% straight up the hill then almost immediately the same back down again the other side. This was one switchback route! Currently going with the notion of "Sprinterisation" - 150's, 156's and for the off peak a single 153. I think a Class 40 and Mark Ones might have been imported to the island for railtours, though!