Railways

Daveg4otu wrote:

Although perhaps stretching things just a little,the Army airstrip at Longmoor was within yards of the Army's own railway system - the Longmoor Railway.

For those who like such things there is a very readable account of the railway as it was in 1966 at the link below...

www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/9/longmoor.htm

A short Pathe film showing the Army at work

www.britishpathe.com/video/army-railway

The railway ssenes on the film "the great st trinians train robbery" were filmed at Longmooor.

Martin wrote:

canberra;45504 wrote:

You might think its a strange thread but bare with me.

How many RAF and indeed other military airfields had/have railay lines in to them or railway stations? Off the top of my head there is famously Ballykelly. Cosford has its own station, and Leuchars had a rail spur to bring fuel in to the station until approx 1989.

I know that some of the MUs had rail networks as well.

Firstly, the railway at Ballykelly only crossed a part of the airfield & runway; it didn't actually serve the station. Passengers for BK went to Limavady Jct a couple of miles away. Not sure about goods.

Martin

There was a station serving RAF Ballykelly in 1963. It was situated north or north east of the airfield roughly where Carse Road crossed the railway line.
I remember when we arrived on the train from Belfast for ATC Summer Camp, an RAF lorry met us and transported us miles round the perimeter of the airfield (you could always see the airfield but it never seemed to get any closer) to the camp area on the west side of the airfield. Returning home week later, we were transported across the airfield in an RAF bus and dumped at a crash gate from where we walked about 500yds along a dirt road which ran parallel with the railway line with our suitcases back to the same railway station. Looking back, we could see where the railway line crossed the runway.

There is talk of Doncaster airport getting a railway station. IIRC didnt BR (as was) open a temporary station one year for the airshow?

canberra wrote:

There is talk of Doncaster airport getting a railway station. IIRC didnt BR (as was) open a temporary station one year for the airshow?

Depends which Doncaster Airport that was; the original one was on the southern outskirts of the town between the railway line and the racecourse while at Finningley I think there is/was a station just north east of the airfield.

TerryClark wrote:

canberra wrote:

There is talk of Doncaster airport getting a railway station. IIRC didnt BR (as was) open a temporary station one year for the airshow?

Depends which Doncaster Airport that was; the original one was on the southern outskirts of the town between the railway line and the racecourse while at Finningley I think there is/was a station just north east of the airfield.

Finningley had a railway station until 1961 on what they called the old GN/GE line that I believe they opened for the airshows until the mid 1960's.

Best airport railway station I've seen is Pisa (Leonardo da Vinci).
You come out of the customs/baggage collection area, turn left and the platforms are about 100yds away! (But don't forget to get your ticket stamped in the machine before you board or the guard will fine you)

I do mean Doncaster airport aka Robin Hood international!

Fulford Barracks in York : narrow gauge tracks exposed by recent flooding

Story in the Yorkshire Post ;

The narrow-gauge tracks are still in place near the Millennium Bridge on the banks of the River Ouse but have been exposed by shifting silt in the aftermath the floods caused by Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis last month.
They form part of what was once a horsedrawn railway that led from the Ouse wharves to the army barracks in Fulford.
The tracks were just 18 inches apart and were used to deliver explosives and military supplies from Ordnance Wharf to the base.

Link here ; www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-ret...m_source=parsely-api .
The Millennium Bridge is south of the city centre , SatNav YO10 4NU .

The Wiki entry has a photograph of a section of track exposed prior to the floods:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imphal_Barracks

I can't see any wharf or jetty on old mapping and, since it was an infantry barracks at that time wonder what the need was for a load carrying light railway.

Always fascinating.