LBSCR IN TRS19
Cheers, evilcrow
Excellent screenshots Ken! I'm glad to see you enjoying the C2x!
Another set of screenshots from Dearnby
[/IMG]
There is an old railway line just south of Frowhill Station that runs into the brambles and heads north. Although many passing drivers and firemen assume the line to be long abandoned, this is not actually the case.
The line was developed as a strategic cover route in the event of a artillery bombing from the German Air Raids during WW1 and ran all the way to Aylesbury on the GCR mainline. After the war, the War Department and Royal Engineer Corps used the line occasionally to transport trains of military equipment or personnel to and from the Casterford Air Base. However in 1936, a certain railway acquired running rights to operate trains to and from London during peak market seasons.
It's no secret that the LNER had little to no presence in Dearnby during most of its history. Situated on the opposite side of the country, the famous northeastern railway was cut off from a central route that didn't require them to make agreements for running rights with the LMS or SR. However, upon discovering the former WD route, plans were quickly made to accommodate market and begin running goods trains to Dearnby Central. The eventual arrangement with Dearnby Central was a single goods service to Woodford Halse comprised of market goods and other commodities. The trains ran twice a month and were usually headed by a B1, O4 or V2 but on rare occasions would be headed by a Robinson B4, Holden B12 or in one extreme case, a B17 that had wandered all the way down from Dairycoates!
Ex-GWR Driver Charlie Starkey recalled the line in his memoirs about a particular event in 1937...
I never gave any thought to the old line down south of Frowhill. It looked so much like a dirty siding that I thought whatever purpose it had was served long ago. However that day in 1937 I was assigned to work the rail gang near the junction. Nothing special, just an old Metro Tank and some shoddy equipment. We were just about done when a booming steam whistle came out as a huge van train rocketed around the bend! It was one of those 2-6-2s but I can't remember the name "Snap- something or other."
[/IMG]
No.60809 was one of two V2s that visited Dearnby and the only one to call its sheds home. The market trains were loaded with old antiquated vans as to not waste sending newer equipment further south. Here The Snapper rounds the bend at Frowhill Junction with a train of old LNER wagons being led by a trio of 6T Ex-Hull and Barnsley Vans.
[/IMG]