Re:Bure Valley Railway (was where did they all go to school?)


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Posted by Jock on June 23, 2006 at 14:45:09 from 81.76.86.2 user Jock.

In Reply to: Re:Bure Valley Railway (was where did they all go to school?) posted by RichardG on June 23, 2006 at 13:36:02:

In my book railways that run scaled-down locomotives based on full-size practice are minature railways, regardless of gauge or length of railway.

The RHDR, which used to bill itself as "the world's smallest public railway", operates an engine which used to run on Count Louis Zbrowski's garden railway. (It kept coming off the track so he persuaded his friend Captain Howey to build the RHDR so that he could go really fast.) Sadly Count Louis was killed in a racing accident before the RHDR was finished. The Fairbourne Railway in North Wales used to have 15" gauge Atlantic steam locomotive named after him. Few people today realise that the tourist railway movement in Britain was started by an eccentric Polish count.

The Bure Valley Railway locomotives are scaled down version of Indian Railways, Vale of Rheidol Railway and Leek and Manifold Railway prototypes. Hence the BVR is a minature railway.

Railways that run engines that are as designed solely to be as effective as possible motive power units with no pretensions to be scaled down version of anything are narrow gauge railways. The classic example of a minimum gauge, narrow gauge railway was Sir Arthur Heywood's Eaton Hall railway. Interestingly enough when Basset Lowke was testing his pacific locomotive at Eaton Hall it derailed. (The curves, which were no trouble at all for Heywood's flexible wheelbase narrow gauge 0-8-0, were too sharp for the scaled down minature 4-6-2!)

Basset Lowke's pacific went to work on the in Cumbria. And for those brave souls who have perserved to the end and are wondering what AR connection could there possibly be in this post. It's easy, the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway runs through a lovely place called Beckfoot!

'River Esk' passes Beckfoot Halt on its way to Dalegarth
(Photo by David Briggs)


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