CR: Dumfries - Lockerbie Branch

[Banger Blue]

I was born in Dumfries in 71 but moved to England in 82. My interest in railways didn’t start until after I had moved and a good mate introduced me to ‘spotting’. I was aware that Dumfries had a Railway Station but that was about it.

 

Fast forward to the present and I started to look at the railways around Dumfries using the excellent NLS website. It seems that ‘The Port Road’ to Stranraer is well known (I’ve just bought the excellent book by Andrew Swan) but looking at the maps I realised there was a railway that ran from Dumfries to Lockerbie which used to run straight past my old Primary School at Locharbriggs! It obviously never occurred to me that the footpath we always crossed on the way home was an old railway.

 

The South West of Scotland does seem to be the poor relation when it comes to Scottish railways but when it comes to the railways of South West Scotland, the Caledonian Railway Dumfries - Lockerbie Branch seems to be the poorest relation of them all when it comes to ‘media’ coverage.

 

I’ve got the recent edition of ‘Steam Days’ which donates a good few pages to Dumfries and has a short summary of the Branch and indeed one picture of Locharbriggs Station.

 

Does anybody know of any other resources that cover this particular branch and in particular Locharbriggs Stn?

 

On the railway model side of things, as a what if I were to base a model on the area, what would be available RTR (OO)?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Regards

[caradoc]

The book 'Scottish Branch Lines 1955-65' (C.J.Gammell, OPC 1978) has one picture of the route, Caledonian 0-6-0 57661 shunting 3 conflats at Dumfries (Caledonian) on 15th April 1963. Rails of Sheffield/Bachmann are making a model of the similar Caley 812 Class.

[Ian Smeeton]

Have you had a look at the https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/search.php?search_id=newposts&sid=1523e6d9a4bfdef024ee4326e164265e.

 

You don't have to be  a member for most of the  forum to be visible.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[pH]

You're right – there doesn't seem to be a lot written on this line, and even fewer photographs taken.

 

The Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway was an independent project, taken over after completion by the Caledonian as their entry into Dumfries, and as a step to expansion further west. They managed that by taking over operation of the Portpatrick Railway to Portpatrick and Stranraer, using running powers over the Glasgow and South Western from Dumfries to Castle Douglas.

 

While the Caledonian was an independent company, it ran services from Stranraer to Edinburgh and Glasgow, reversing at Dumfries and, on through trains, at Lockerbie as well. For a time from 1881, the Caledonian ran a boat express over the Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie line, attaching through coaches for London to a WCML train at Lockerbie. That stopped in 1886, with the formation of the Portpatrick and Wigtonshire Joint Railway (CR, G&SWR, MR and L&NWR), when London traffic went back to the G&SWR route from Dumfries to Carlisle, which it had used before 1881. So for a time, it was an important Caledonian route, carrying long-distance traffic.

 

Once the Grouping happened in 1923, most (if not all) long-distance traffic over the line stopped, and it became a local branch line. Passenger service ended in 1952, and the line was closed in 1966.

 

There were engine sheds at both Lockerbie and Dumfries St. Mary's (separate from the much larger G&SWR shed). The Dumfries shed closed at the Grouping, Lockerbie closed in 1931, with the ex-G&SWR shed at Dumfries taking over the workings on the Lockerbie-Dumfries line.

 

When through trains were being run to Stranraer, Lockerbie had some 4-4-0s for the work. There were push-pull services run on the line during and after WW2 (up to 1949), using L&NWR 2-4-2Ts. That's all I can definitely find about engines used after Grouping. There is a reference to a railmotor being trialled on the line by the LMS, without being put into regular service. There's also an assumption that, after the push-pull trains were withdrawn, the service was run using Caley Jumbos, but no evidence is given.

 

There were railtours run over the line in its last days.

No. 49 “Gordon Highlander took the “SLS Jubilee Special” from Lockerbie to Dumfries on 13 June 1959.

Jubilee 45588 of Kingmooor ran from Lockerbie to Dumfries with the 'Scottish Rambler #2' on 15 April 1963.

4472(!) ran from Dumfries to Lockerbie with a Gainsborough Model Railway Society special on 15 May 1965. The 'Six Bells Junction' website questions if this tour actually ran, but there are pictures of it leaving Dumfries, and I saw it between Gretna Junction and Carlisle on that day.

 

I've used Wikipedia for information about the various railway companies. The Railscot website has some information and a few photos, but I assume you've seen that. In addition, I've referred to the following books, though none of them has very much about the Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway itself.

 

“The Little Railways of South-West Scotland” by David L. Smith, 1969.

“Tales of the Glasgow & South Western Railway” by David L. Smith, 1961.

“Legends of the Glasgow & South Western Railway in LMS Days” by David L. Smith, 1980.

“LMS Engine Sheds, Volume 5 – The Caledonian Railway” by Hawkins and Reeve, 1987.

“LMS Engine Sheds Volume 7 – The Glasgow & South Western Railway” by Hawkins, Reeve and Stevenson, 1990.

“Steam Days, June 1998 – Recollections of the 1960s in and around Dumfries, by David Cross”

 

Also, “Dumfries and Galloway's Lost Railways” by Stansfield, 1998, appears to have some information on the line, but I've not seen the book.

 

As far as RTR 00 models are concerned, there wouldn't appear to be very much. Perhaps some LMS coaches and wagons, but no locos I can think of, other than the forthcoming Bachmann 812 class that Caradoc has mentioned. It depends how prototypical you want to be. Dumfries had quite a few LMS 2Ps – it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine those could have been used to Lockerbie.

 

(Edit: Apologies for the length - I got a bit carried away.)

Edited March 5, 2019 by pH

[caradoc]

There are photos of two the special trains mentioned by pH in the book 'Scottish Urban and Rural Branch Lines' (Geo. C.O'Hara, Eroxop 1986): 49 at Shieldhill (tender first with an observation car the first vehicle !) and 45588 at Locharbriggs.

[Banger Blue]

Thanks to all for the replies.

 

No need to apologise for the length of the post, PH, most excellent!