The Fancott Flyer
Sunday 18th September 2016
'Britain's Last Pub Railway' https://goo.gl/HKsKxm the Fancott public house, Toddington, Beds was visited by our party of 19 at 11.30. First opened in 1975 at 10¼" gauge, it was closed from 1986 to 1996 reopening with 7¼" track. The current owner purchased it in 2000. In March 2015 a serious fire at the thatched roof pub destroyed the railway's shed, locos and stock. It ROP on 4 Jul 2015 with borrowed stock and the shed layout revised from three to four shed roads and some minor station layout changes. The shed roads lead into two platforms. At the other end of the station, a triangle and line through the middle joins to a single-track 1,000yd circuit, which has a short branch to the steaming bays. They are for occasional visitors as the railway has no steam loco itself. The third side of the triangle bypasses the station.
The fixture opened with two short formation runs for participants to cover all four shed roads to their limits. The train was then doubled up and covered the main line several times via all the station access roads. On one run, a propelling movement took place down the steaming bay road as far as possible. The visit was noteworthy for the organiser in that all resident locos (two) and all available rolling stock was used and all track was covered (perfection!); something he had not previously accomplished here.
Summerfields Special
Sunday 18th September 2016
At 14.00 a group of 20 visited Bedford Model Engineering Society's Summerfields Railway (MR p12) https://goo.gl/99NmZN near Haynes, Beds (BLN 1238.MR122). The Society, founded in its present form in 1968, can trace its origins back some 20 years earlier. The railway has had a somewhat peripatetic existence finally settling on its current site (its third) here in 1993. The layout (7¼" with sections of mixed 5½" track) has a four-platform Haynes End North terminal station near the car park and clubhouse which offers refreshments. The platform roads all end in a turntable accessing the steaming bays. In the opposite direction beyond the station, just past a signal box on the 'Down' side, is a five-road shed accessed via a headshunt and a traverser.
A double track 'main line' leads up hill to a complex layout at Hammer Hill Junction station with three concentric loops connected by a series of crossovers, some used by 'service' trains (at busy times 'normal' passengers have to change trains here and miss their overlap) and others considered 'rare'. There is a four-road shed, turntable and loading line. Within the main loop at Hammer Hill is an elevated 5¼/3½" gauge line, the Winterhill Railway. The society's members provide steam and petrol locos, at least one is owned by the society itself.
Control at Haynes End North is by the signal box with Hammer Hill Junction supervised by a local Operations Manager (MOMs next?). Once clear of Haynes End North, the drivers appeared to exercise considerable autonomy over route selection operating the crossovers by an electro-pneumatic system as they approach. This is not as scary as it sounds as speeds are limited and there are good lines of sight throughout the network. It enabled us to cover all the main lines and 'rare' crossovers.
All participants left Haynes End North on one special train (22 adults including driver and guard made a considerable load especially up the gradient). After several (different) circuits at Hammer Hill Junction, the train returned to Haynes End North where the headshunt and shed road were covered as far as the traverser. The train then returned to Hammer Hill Junction where participants were able to travel on the remaining track, sometimes by direct negotiation with the driver concerned. All track on the high level Winterhill Railway was also covered (three people at a time on the three available trains), including an inner loop accessed by moveable sections of track rather than conventional points. By the end of the day all available track was covered including Haynes End North's four platform lines.
Many thanks to our member Bill Davis for the excellent arrangements.
