So below is an outline diagram of the lines in the area including my modifications to history. This should help plan goods and passenger traffic, which in turn will affect the design of Grogley Junction's track plan. I will probably need to add distances and finally decided station locations on the extension to Mawgan Porth to create a new timetable.
The lines in red indicate my alterations/additions to history
The building of the line from Ruthernbridge to join the Newquay line reduces the number of reversals required to transport clay from Wenfordbridge to Fowey. It would also take this traffic away from the GWR man line.
The inclusion of two stations on the Mawgan Porth extension are only speculation at the moment. Thought St Columb Major was mentioned in a proposed Wadebridge to Truro line.
I admire the effort you've put into all this "alt-hist" for Grogley. I know how much effort it takes having worked on the Saltfleet Haven scheme for 25 years. Iron ore mine in Cornwall? I thought it was all China Clay and Tin...
ReplyDeleteAll this planning does smack a little of procrastination ..... I seem to keep putting off actually building something.
ReplyDeleteThe Withiel mine did exist and can be seen on Google earth but to keep it open until the 1960's might be pushing things a little too far. BUT there may have been provision at Grogley Junction for handling the traffic. In the 1960s you might have seen an overground siding or even the remnants of a lifted siding or two.
Only thoughts at the moment ..... after all it is my universe so the mine might even be still open !!!!!!
An interesting project!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a modeler but a retired train driver and admire your work.
Looking at the Railway Gazetteer I see the distance between the two lines is not great. Was there ever proposals to built the route suggested? LSWR & GWR were always at war!
The terrain looks fairly even on Google Earth.
Good luck.
Thanks for the comments Jim
ReplyDeleteThere was a proposal in 1873 to connect the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway with the Cornwall Mineral Railway. In 1873 the CMR was a standard gauge line which incorporated many lines built by the industrialist J.T Treffry to transport Granite, Clay and Iron Ore to Newquay and Fowey. This line was being improved in 1873 and the CMR was still an independent company at that time. The GWR was supporting the Broad Gauge line built by the Cornwall Railway from Plymouth to Truro. I think this line was not fully converted to Standard Gauge until 1892. I just think that the proposal to connect the B&WR to the CMR to give access to Fowey without the need to run over Broad Gauge lines and reducing the number of reversals for clay and stone traffic makes sense.
Unfortunately the terrain is not that flat and I think there would be gradients of 1:40 on the line from Ruthernbridge to the junction on the CMR. But this is no worse than the gradients between Boscarne Junction and Bodmin Road (Parkway).
An interesting piece of history that didn’t come to fruition is that after a meeting in 1874 the CMR proposed ‘to convert Par into another Middlesbrough’. Blast furnaces were proposed for both Par and Fowey to exploit the Iron Ore deposits in the area.