Proof!

A couple of weeks ago I found a couple of videos on YouTube showing what looks like standard (if a little short) intermodal containers being hauled on wagons on the South African 2ft gauge lines. I've lost the link to the first video I found but here's the second one. I'm guessing that the containers are 10ft long ISO containers, it's difficult to tell exactly what they are from the video but I'd be surprised if they were much smaller. The wagons they are loaded onto don't appear to be specially designed for carrying them as the containers look slightly wider than the wagons but it shows that transporting ISO containers is possible on 2' gauge.

Narrow Gauge Intermodal wagons

Andy in Germany has built a 1:55 40' container and is planning on building a narrow gauge intermodal wagon for it to run on. A comment from TomC suggests using this RhB wagon as a basis for a model. Andy is planning on making a wagon with a 40' deck with the bogies under the deck to keep the length down. Whilst I think that a narrow gauge version of the FLA Lowliners would be ideal that is not something I am going to attempt in OO9. My plan has been to a wagon with similar dimensions to the RhB wagons but similar styling to the EWS FAA so I'm pleased to see that something like this does exist.

The only trouble I have is trying to find time to design and build an intermodal wagon when I'm struggling to find time to finish the pizza or anything on my workbench!

Narrow gauge diesel progress

I've made some progress with the Drewry bash diesel. I took the kit, chassis, some plasticard and some tools away with me at Christmas. However I forgot to take pack the glue so nothing got stuck together. I spent some time cutting and filing off moulded handrails and other details that I didn't want. I also had a bit more of a think about how the cab is going to look. My plan is to build a locomotive with two bonnets, as this will make the locomotive roughly the right length for the Bo-Bo chassis. The Drewry has only one bonnet and has larger windows at the back of the cab so I couldn't fit a second bonnet and keep use all parts of the cab. I considered cutting down the second bonnet so that it was lower than the windows, which would give the driver better visibility, however this wasn't the look I wanted and I couldn't see how I could do this with the Drewery bonnet sides. The only thing for it was to clone the cab front in plasicard. I started work but still haven't finished the windows yet. When I got back I glued the larger bonnet together and used some milliput on mounting hole for the horn and a couple of places where there are dents in the moulding. Next task is to finish the cab and then work out how to make the second bonnet end.

Basingstoke Canal Railway

Links:
The Basingstoke Canal Railway: Modern use of the Narrow Gauge by Nick Lewis

The Basingstoke Canal: The Basingstoke Canal Railway

Flickr: Tags: Basingstoke Canal


Dr Neil Clifton (CC-SA) from geograph

During the restoration on Basingstoke Canal a narrow gauge railway was used between 1975 and 1982. The railway was employed as road access to the canal was poor. It used small industrial locomotives and tippers and was initially used to remove silt. As the restoration of the canal progressed the track was lifted and moved and used for transporting bricks, sand and other building materials for renovation of locks. It was then moved again and used for transporting clay to re-puddle the water channel. At one point the railway ran along side the main line from London to Southampton.

A canal railway would make an interesting prototype for a model using Nigel Lawton skips and locomotives in OO9 or kbscale kits in O16.5 or O14. As far as I know none of the Basingstoke locomotives are available in either scale so an accurate model would require scratch building. However I'd be more inclined to use it as inspiration for a freelance canal railway with kit built locomotives. Another option would be to include an OO9 canal railway on a standard gauge layout as there are many places where main line railways lines run past canals.

Narrow Gauge Intermodal Operations

If narrow gauge lines in the UK had survived as freight carriers it seems likely that they would have either adopted intermodal operations or made wider use of piggybacking standard gauge wagons. Intermodal operations are going to be easier to model so I've been thinking about what advantages they have over piggy backing. One advantage (which will also be an advantage in model form) is that require a smaller loading gauge. I would expect them to be cheaper too as piggybacking wagons would be more complex than intermodal wagons.

The earliest use intermodal on narrow gauge which I've found is on the White Pass & Yukon. In 1955 they started using 8'x8'x7' containers and modified narrow gauge flat cars to carry them (3 per car). They switched to 25' containers in 1965.

Modern Intermodal containers are 8' wide x 8' 6" high and come in various lengths. In the UK 20', 40' and 45' are used. A 20' container in 4mm scale that is 80mm x 32mm x 34mm. The Lyd2 approximately 29mm wide and 43mm high in 4mm scale so I reckon intermodal operations with 20' containers should fit into a loading gauge similar to the modern WHR.

A number of modern narrow gauge railways do use intermodal containers. All these lines have two things in common. Firstly they are the standard gauge for the area they serve and secondly they are all medium gauge railways such as 3' or metre gauge lines. I've not found a single 2' gauge line which handles intermodal traffic. The question is whether this is because carrying intermodal containers becomes impractical at that gauge or whether it is because there are no 2' gauge lines where was a demand.

After doing a bit of my own research I realised that looking at Andy's intermodal category which was partly responsible for me thinking about morden narrow gauge in the first place. His postings confirmed my thoughts on the advantages of intermodal over piggybacking. They also provided a good video of piggybacking in operation on a Polish NG railway.

The Plan

I was inspired by the fictional history which John de Frayssinet created for County Gate and his railcar experiment to come up with a plan based on an alternative history. Though I'm thinking of Snowdonia rather than Austria, the Johannesdorf Tirolerbahnen, which featured in the November Continental Modeller, has something of the feel of what I'd like to achieve.

Pannned Lines

The North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways obtained an Act of Parliament 1872 to build lines running from Portmadoc to Bettws-y-Coed via Beddgelert and Capel Curig^[1]. They were also considering building lines from Bettws-y-Coed to Corwen and Penmachno and from Portmadoc to Porthdynlleyn via Pwllheli alongside the Cambrian Coast line^[1]. They did build a line from Dinas to Rhyd-Ddu and a branch to Bryngwyn^[2] (later to become part of the WHR).

The Welsh Highland Railway

The WHR originally ran from Dinas to Portmadoc. An extension to Caernarfon was planned but never built by the original company but was built by the WHR(C). There is a possibility that the WHR might get extended to Bangor at some point in the future (phase 5). In an alternative world both these extensions might have been built when the standard gauge lines over those routes closed.

The Plan

So how might these line look if they had been built? I'm thinking mostly about those parts which would be in the Snowdonia National Park. I've drawn a map rather than try further explanation. I might add further lines and stations as my ideas progress.

Passenger operations
The line now runs steam trains for the heritage railway market and diesel services for locals and tourists who just want to get from A to B. The diesel services will probably a mixture of DMU, railcar and loco hauled. There'd be lots of walkers, mountain bikers (using special bike trucks) travelling on the diesel hauled trains.

Freight
I'll assume that the government is encouraging freight off roads and onto rail in the national park and have stuff like freight to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel. I'm also thinking about a bike hire company that hires bikes at various stations on the network and the bikes can be brought back to any station. The bikes are the re-distributed by train. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some more reasons for freight trains too. Maybe timber?

1. ^ ^{a b} WHR(P): Forerunners to WHR
2. ^ Wikipedia: North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways

Diesel Plan

Here's a quick mockup of the Bo-Bo diesel Drewry kitbash that I'm planning. My version of the kit has an extra bonnet side piece in so I should be able to make this with only the parts in the kit, styrene sheet and some other bits. I want to give it Lyd2 style lights - hopefully working. One thing I've not worked out yet is how to fix it to the chassis.

Bo-Bo diesel

With the Life Like GP38 I recently bought and some bits from an Airfix/Dapol Drewry shunter I'm planning on building an Eastern European influenced loco. I'm planning on an off centre cab design.

To make sure I have a sensible loading gauge I'm planning on using using the height and width of the Lyd2 as a guide. Working from the measurements of the Lyd2 here gives me a maximum of 28.9mm wide and 42.7mm high.