Alan Sewell’s 1960s Marland memories…
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
29 August 1966
Clay is brought from the mines near Petrockstowe station by a long three foot gauge tramway. Trains comprise around six old (archaic) four wheel wagons painted grey or blue. In the drying shed on the outskirts of the works was a 4w Ruston & Hornsby (RH) frame, EFFECIENCY 4wD John Fowler (JF) 39300048 of 1951, and the cab and frame of ADVANCE JF 39300097 of 1949. In another drying shed were some rusty and unused Hudson side tippers.
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
Working the line were 4wD RHs, works number 518187 of 1965 ( type LF) and 435398 of 1959 ( type DL). Trains were pulled over the weighbridge and reversed into a drying shed.
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
At the back of the two road loco shed (which had space for four locos) were 4wD RH 442607 ( type DL) and FORWARD JF 390012 of 1947. Outside was a tank wagon which was originally part of the “Jersey” 0-4-0 locos used on the line.
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
On the old Torrington & Marland Light Railway line towards Dunsbear Halt were three workman’s coaches converted from wagons and painted dark green. Workmen also are taken to the mines in the empty wagon attached to the working locos.
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
The working standard gauge loco was PROGRESS a lovely 0-4-0DM JF 4000001 of 1943 immaculate condition complete with copper capped chimney. This was standing near the BR limit of shunt board awaiting a train from BR.
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
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| Alan Sewell photo. |
In the standard gauge shed was found PETER 0-4-0D JF 22923 of 1940 in a rather dusty condition.
30 August 1968
EFFECIENCY and ADVANCE had been pushed out of the shed into the long grass with no sign of the RH frame. The drying shed contained tons of “putrid” smelling clay a string of wagons and a Hoffman compressor on a flat wagon.
RH 442607 and FORWARD were in the shed with others working at the mines although an LF was seen with three wagons leaving for the mines.
On the standard gauge PETER was the working loco parked on the siding near the narrow gauge tipping shed.
New management based in Newton Abbot had taken over and there had been a number of local disputes and walk outs.
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| Alan Sewell sketch. |
Thank you Alan, for sharing these with me and the permission to share them more widely. If Alan’s photos tell me anything, it is that there is a massive opportunity for this prototype in a larger scale than my originally planned N… a cropped cameo with both OO/EM and 009 would work well and be a well considered alternative to the myriad of North Slate slate that tends to pervade the world of 009 in the UK. If you have enjoyed this post I will speak with Alan about putting together a further series of similar examples to broaden all of our awareness of lost industrial sites. Until next time, more soon…
Hello James !
ReplyDelete"If you have enjoyed this post ..."
Oh yes, I did.
"... I will speak with Alan about putting together a further series of similar examples to broaden all of our awareness of lost industrial sites."
Yes, please.
I do look forward to that.
Best wishes
Dirk
Hi James
ReplyDeletePleased these photos and my old notes ( had to retype them as the paper was a bit discoloured) were of interest and would be happy to share more if we can find a way to do it.
The narrow gauge at Marland was three foot but doing something in 009 would give more scope sourcing equipment etc and you could incorporate some inspiration from Meeth ( which unfortunately I never visited)
One thing I remember from my visits but is not in my notes was the age of the drivers who seemed in their late teens and not many years older than I was then. They certainly drove the locos "boy racer" style - or at least as fast as the track would allow!!. The only time they slowed down was coming over the weighbridge and back into the drying shed but then an older "gaffer" was around to oversee the operation.
Best regards
Alan
Thanks both, Alan, I’m sure we can work something out!
ReplyDelete009 was mentioned yes, just for ‘ease of accessibility’ to adding some narrow gauge. I’m more of an artist than engineer when it comes to these things, the impression can be altered by the stroke of the brush rather than the finest of detail.
The narrow gauge was on its last legs by the late 1960s, abandoned altogether I think in 1970? Presumably by EEC when they took over, as you mention ib your notes, causing some unrest amongst the workers.
Thank you James and Alan for sharing such interesting photos and information on the Marland operation. Growing up, Nottingham Library had a decent railway section and Torrington and Marland Light Railway by Rod Garner was frequently borrowed by me.
ReplyDeleteAttracted by the quirky steam fleet, the book was my first introduction to industrial diesels, the publicity shot of Marland’s standard and narrow gauge fleet lined up looked remarkably modern to my youthful eyes.
Have sometimes wondered about a layout based on North Devon Clay, in O gauge the Ixion Fowler loco is not dissimilar to the Marland locos and there are kits for Ruston and Planet locos that wouldn’t look out of place. In my stash of kits I have a Wrightlines 7mm narrow gauge kit for the Fowler Marshall type that Marland had on their narrow gauge. I’ve also got some resin castings for a Ruston LFT that a friend once produced that would also fit in.
Suspect that some more pondering and doodling will occur following your recent Marland proposal.
Andrew
I think being able to include even a 'non operational' standard gauge element to your scheme would really lift it, and show just how diminutive even these 3ft gauge locomotives are - if you can get your hands on an Ixion Fowler, even better! Be sure to share photos, you can get in touch to get my email using the contact form. Best of luck!
DeleteThanks James. Funny you should mention the Ixion Fowler, there is one in my cupboard already.
DeleteI’d always struggled on how to condense the works into a manageable size whilst maintaining operational interest. Your Marland plan does this nicely with the standard gauge.
For me, if I were to do this then I’d want both standard and narrow gauges to be operational. But having both wouldn’t mean that either had to be complicated. Both being simple to operate would still enable short bursts of operation to be fun.
For the narrow gauge, Alan’s description of operation of the real line struck a chord. “Trains were pulled over the weighbridge and reversed into a drying shed”. The narrow gauge could be a simple affair with one point in it. Trains being drawn onto the scene, reversed into the shed. Before drawing forward and being propelled off scene again.
Suspect that this layout could end up being quite deep. Think I need to get some track and stock out to see just how much space would be needed in 7mm scale to do this. If I do proceed, will be sure to let you know. Thank you both for the inspiration, please keep the silly ideas coming!
Best wishes,
Andrew