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  • RMweb Gold

One thing that might fit the developmentally-conservative nature of eWN is a horse tramway, from the station to the 'prom', and to its extremities, straggling off as a sort of branch-line at one end, to a terminus in the dunes (Summer Sundays and Bank Holidays only; cars will terminate at the Hotel Splendide in inclement weather.

 

It could be very simple and low-key from a modelling point of view: a scene in the station forecourt consisting of one car, a horse chomping in a nose-bag, two members of staff loafing, and a tiny, but ornate, hut by the fence for the inspector to lurk in.

 

 

 

A small horse tram, from station to promenade at Birchoveham Next the Sea had crossed my mind, so it is good that you have thought along similar lines.

 

For some reason I just don't see anything in expanded West Norfolk as of the character that would suit a steam or electric tram, much as I would enjoy modelling/trying to model them.   

 

I was side-tracked recently by Darlington's tramways.  These were run, from the 1880s, by the Stockton & Darlington Steam Tramway Company.  What is wonderful about this is that the trams were exclusively horse-drawn!

 

The Corporation bought them out at the turn of the Century, but leased to another operated to 1903 when the service was withdrawn for reconstruction to provide for electric trams. Sixteen very lovely, to my eyes, G F Milnes & Co single-deck trams were acquired for the opening in 1904 of the Darlington Corporation Light Railways.  The fleet was supplemented by double-deckers around 1913.

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Yes, I can see considerable traffic generated for the railway, not just moving troops but also supplies. All those people would eat a lot and so would their horses. Would local sources of straw etc be sufficient or would it have to be imported? And uniforms, ammunition etc etc. 

All of course passing through CA.

Jonathan

Special traffic notices for troop trains of the period (e.g. for yeomanry units going on manoeuvres) used to refer to Other Ranks' horses and Officers' chargers - the latter often in horseboxes and the former in cattle trucks.

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  • RMweb Premium

Moving forward into the Grouping era, here's a good view of Britannia Barracks in 1931, from which it can be seen that the Norfolk Regiment was on the Norwich tram route!

 

Don't worry, I won't get all Craig & Mertonford and introduce electric trams.  It is just possible that the burgeoning seaside resort of Birchoverham Next the Sea could have developed a modest tram line - there were trams in Yarmouth and Gorleston, as well as Norwich - but I somehow think this is not quite right for the character of expanded West Norfolk, which might lose something from attempts to over-develop it.  

What a surprise to see Officer Crabtree driving the tram.

 

R. Artois

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Horse, steam, electricity in multiple flavours, compressed air, gas, ropes ..... the list of tram-propellants is very long, but almost all of them used a similar car design, and they were universally , very pretty indeed ..... dainty compared with most railway coaches.

 

If you get a chance to crawl over a small horse-car in a museum, look at the sizes, cross-sections, of the timbers used. The components are very small, and its all like a combination of cart and boat building; cabinet-making on wheels.

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  • RMweb Gold

The only reason to use horse trams is if the tramway is cheaper than improving the roads.

 

Hmm. I think they may well be due for a revival then.

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Why muck about with all that hypothetical passenger stock list stuff. Just use the Port Carlisle railway as your model. Standard gauge, 11 miles, proper goods service with a port and turntable at the end, but the passenger service was like this  until 1914. So you can run horse drawn trams instead.

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Edited by webbcompound
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Why muck about with all that hypothetical passenger stock list stuff. Just use the Port Carlisle railway as your model. Standard gauge, 11 miles, proper goods service with a port and turntable at the end, but the passenger service was like this  until 1914. So you can run horse drawn trams instead.

attachicon.gifport_carlisle5.jpg

There was also the Inchture Tramway .

 

Inchture_Tram.jpg

 

On the other hand, the Ertswhiles might have copied their friends the Montieths of Carstairs House who had a tramway built to convey themselves, their guest and goods between Carstairs Junction Station and the house.

 

Jim

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Now, Carstairs was electric, a cross between a ‘demonstrator’ and a hobby, and there was another of the same ilk in Sussex, also built by an ‘electrical magnate’ (pun intended). Anyone daft enough to have read the O’Doolite adventure will have come across a fictionalised version of it.

Edited by Nearholmer
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  • RMweb Gold

Horse, steam, electricity in multiple flavours, compressed air, gas, ropes ..... the list of tram-propellants is very long, but almost all of them used a similar car design, and they were universally , very pretty indeed ..... dainty compared with most railway coaches.

 

 

 

Which is why I love these .....

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  • RMweb Gold

The Pwllheli & Llanbedrog horse-drawn tramway was opened in 1894 by a developer, initially to carry stone for the sea wall ahead of a proper road network and then for passengers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwllheli_and_Llanbedrog_Tramway

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I do like the covered Pwllheli & Llanbedrog tramcar on the left of the picture.

 

Fill-in some 12mm gauge track and you're away.  Now I am sure there has been something posted about making horse move in 4mm scale.

 

 

And, I’ve just remembered this bit of obscuranta, which is definitely of the right kind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmouth_Junction_and_Arthog_Tramway

 

Brilliant.  A successful version might be found at Birchoverham Next the Sea.

 

An Athog inspired failure might have been attempted at Wolfringham.  Services were withdrawn at the end of the first season in 1899, and never resumed, as the starving driver and conductor were obliged to eat the horse to sustain themselves over the winter.

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In France it would be a 'Decauville', with baladeuse coaches and a tiny tank engine

Well if it was good enough for Edwardian Saigon...

http://www.historicvietnam.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/8-CFTI-Low-Road-tramway-grand-opening.jpg

 

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I quite like the Beira tramway model - no road surface, but multiple lines of 60cm track for hand powered trolleys:

http://ehgarde.planetaclix.pt/mocambique/images/beira1a.jpg

 

beira1a.jpg

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