Good prototype for small terminus - Westport Quay

[jhb171achill]

This may be of interest to someone designing a small terminus or a large scale one which can't have too much in it for reasons of space.

 

[GSR 800]

Like the look of Westport Quay, John. What era are you planning on? Knowing your style I would say late 50s early 60s Maybe add a headshunt for better shunting?

[jhb171achill]

I'm not sure if I'd go exactly for W Quay, 800, as it certainly wouldn't warrant a visit from "Meaedb"!

 

Personally my favourite period is early fifties to late sixties. Depending on space, something like Westport Quay might do, though Castleisland, Foynes and Fenit interest me too.

[GSR 800]

The Kenmare branch?

[jhb171achill]

Maybe..... prefer somewhere to suit steam and diesel. Diesels never got to kenmare; it was steam right to the end, one of the last 100% steam strongholds with faithful old J15s.

[GSR 800]

Maybe..... prefer somewhere to suit steam and diesel. Diesels never got to kenmare; it was steam right to the end, one of the last 100% steam strongholds with faithful old J15s.

 

Poetic license? That's how Kedleston is a large city somewhere in Wicklow or Waterford, which connects up to the mainline. Kenmare could last until 1966:)

[jhb171achill]

Maybe.....

[GSR 800]

What sort of space do you have John?

[GSR 800]

Ok.. How bout.. Ballaghadereen?

[Mayner]

Iain Rice did a scheme for a layout based on Westport Quay in one of his railway planning books and also incorporated the basic track layout into a freelance Scottish harbour setting.

 

The station layout was on a curve and a down grade towards the buffers, with the harbour siding dropping steeply to cross the road. The siding appears to have ended at a loading bank shown on JHWs diagram, but could be extended to curve around to run along the quay with a G or small industrial to take over from the main line locos

 

In latter years the line seems to have been used mainly for stores and oil traffic to the CIE bus depot beside the station and was lifted in the late 70s, before that it would have served a similar function to Fenit serving as a port for Coastal Shipping to County Mayo & Rocommon imported corn, coal, timber, exporting cattle

 

IRRS Journals has a fine colour photo of a 001 in Supertrain livery shunting a 4w flat with an Orange CIE 20' container and a tank wagon with Croagh Patrick in the background.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Mayner

[jhb171achill]

What sort of space do you have John?

 

Negotiations are not yet complete!

 

Half a dozen pics of the place in a certain publication "Rails to Achill".... including 001 itself there.

Edited January 21, 2016 by jhb171achill

[Maitland]

Where's the turntable?

 

Or more to the point; why did everywhere except England, Scotland and Wales (and perhaps the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry) turn tank engines? In France, even tiny tortillards with Corpet Louvet 030T's had turntables. The few times you see a loco running backwards in most of the world is when they've had to stop short for some reason. Despite the fact that most tank locos have better track visibility running in reverse- some French 0-6-2T's were actually cab- forward 2-6-0T's- and it seems to have taken British diesel designers a while to realise that the cab should be at the front, even on single cab locos. Several of the designs managed to have no view in either direction.

[Junctionmad]

and it seems to have taken British diesel designers a while to realise that the cab should be at the front, even on single cab locos. Several of the designs managed to have no view in either direction.

 

 

because engineering is an iterative process, no more then modern tractors are essentially laid out on the lines of steam traction engines, early single cab diesels , essentially followed steam engine practice where the cab was at the end of the engine.

 

I read also that two considerations also bore on the designer mind, one was the psychological effect of rails disappearing immediately under the driver ( and early diesels with a small front bonnet to counteract this concern ) and the other was that signals were sighted for steam , quite high as they were often viewed looking up above the engine bonnet ( or boiler) . This was borne out as cab first diesels predominated, signals were lowered

 

 

as for tender first tank engines , I believe the primary reason any steam engine was turned was the reluctance of the crew to operate at any speed in reverse, whereupon, coal and dust flew into their faces, never mind the weather with the cab providing no protection at all.

 

Tender engines had no such protection issues and were regular worked in reverse, turntables being slow and labour intensive

[Mayner]

 

Looks like a perfect next 7mm project for David complete with MGWR locos and coaches. Probably no turntable and minimal loco facilities because of the short distance from the facilities at Westport station.

 

The harbour siding does not appear to have extended to serve the warehouses and grain elevator on the quay.

 

Crew protection in the case of a collision was one of the main factors in favour of long hood forward running of diesel locos on some American Railroads and the retention of short hoods on the majority of American diesels.

 

One of the oddities in recent years was that crews began turning newly introduced double cabbed locos at the terminus of a central North Island line in preference to changing ends and driving in a cold icy cab until the heating kicked in.

Edited January 22, 2016 by Mayner

[Maitland]

driving in a cold icy cab until the heating kicked in.

 

That's about as daft as you can get if they really did that. Heating is free on a Diesel - over half the energy in the fuel is pushed out through the radiators. You may as well warm both cabs all the time. As for the psychological problems of front cabs, by the fifties electrics had been running on ground level, underground, and overhead railways for half a century. And for tank engines in reverse, if it was a matter of coal and dust, why did British drivers not object? BTW I think the BCDR ran tank engines in reverse at least sometimes, but I haven't got that book.

[jhb171achill]

Further sidings were added on the quays over the years, plus another in the station.

[Irishswissernie]

 

I thought I had uploaded a couple of photos of Westport Quay a few years ago when I transfered everything on the demise old Fotopic site. Somehow Flickr at the time failed (or I cocked it up more likely!) to upload 7 images of Westport and Westport Quay. 2 links above.

Ernie

[David Holman]

The Rice plan is certainly one I've looked at in the past, along with several derivations he did over the years. Very tempting...

A MGW branch is certainly a possibility some time in the future, though for me the Belmullet/Blacksod Bay proposals offer most promise. A joint line with the Sligo Leitrim would enable me to use much of my current stock, while the idea of a 4-4-0 called Wolf Dog is somehow very tempting.

Still think Courtmacsherry offers the perfect branch terminus track plan, with harbour spur, the street behind the station providing the ideal back scene, plus the loco shed hiding exit to fiddle yard. Alphagraphix catalogue offers pretty much all the locos and carriages you need and am surprised nobody has had a go yet. Or maybe they have??

[jhb171achill]

Yes, Courtmacsherry is an ideal small terminus. In the Achill book, I have a diagram of where the original Belmullet station was supposed to have been situated. My understanding is that the original one planned as late as 1909 would have been not at all unlike your "Arigna Road" terminus in layout, albeit somewhat larger. Others I have considered over the years were Draperstown, Co Derry, Dungiven, Fenit, Castleisland, Courtmac or even a scaled-down Youghal. As well as Westport Quay, Sligo Quay would make an interesting small terminus layout if the emphasis was on goods traffic.

[David Holman]

I have the said book JB & a very fine piece of work it is too, including all the juicy 'might have beens' west of Sligo.

Overall, I would say Irish track plans are a much neglected aspect of the hobby & have spent many a happy hour on the Irish Ordanance Survey Website, where 25" maps are very useful for track plans. Probably where Mayner got the Westport one from perhaps?

[jhb171achill]

Yes - perusal of these is fascinating! I'm mulling over the OS maps for the entire Clifden line at the moment, which isn't doing my eyesight any good!