Royal Arsenal Railway

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The Royal Arsenal Railway was a private military railway. It ran inside the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, south east London.

The earliest parts of this railway system was constructed as 18 in (457 mm) narrow gauge and it comprised of some 50 to 60 miles of track.[1] It ran from 10 January 1873 until much of it was abandoned in the 1920s and various locomotives were then advertised for sale.[1] The dual gauge track was removed at the same time.[1] However five new narrow gauge locomotives were bought in World War II, between 1934 and 1941; and a final one from Hunslet Engine Company in 1954.[1] The remaining narrow gauge lines finally closed in 1966.[2]

Parts of the narrow gauge track were built as dual gauge track, with the outer rails gauged to standard gauge; other parts of the site were only served by standard gauge track.[1][2] Some 120 miles of mixed or purely standard gauge track existed by 1918.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] The 18 inch gauge railway

[edit] History and use

Due to the needs of moving ammunition during the Crimean War and the development of steam locomotion, the construction of an 18 in (457 mm) gauge railway was approved in 1866.[3] It was based on the Crewe Works Railway operating since 1862 inside the London and North Western Railway's Crewe Works.[2][3]

The Royal Arsenal's 18 in (457 mm) gauge railway opened on 10 January 1873.[1] It was designed to replace an ad hoc arrangement of individual plateways constructed within the Royal Arsenal.[1][3] Laying of plateways had started in 1824 and was completed by 1854-5; they then came under the control of the Corps of Royal Engineers.[3]

The 18 in (457 mm) gauge railway provided for the movement of both goods and passengers within the Royal Arsenal.[3]

[edit] Locomotives

Name Type Builder Works number Date Notes
Lord Raglan 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 353 1871 Scrapped at Chatham, 1915
Busy Bee 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 424 1872 To Chatham, before 1900
Boxer / Victoria 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 477 1873 Sold November 1916
Albert Edward 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 482 1873 Sold 1919
Rocket 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 555 1875 Scrapped June 1914
Norman Ramsey 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 605 1876 Scrapped June 1914
Trumpeter 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 612 1876 Scrapped August 1915
Shrapnel 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 613 1876 Sold November 1916
Vauban 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 685 1877 Sold November 1916
Coehorn 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 696 1878 Sold November 1916
0-4-0 Beaumont Compressed air locomotive; out of use by 1881
Fusee 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 939 1884 Sold to Swainswick Colliery
Gordon 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 986 1886 Sold 1919
Torpedo 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 1043 1888 Sold February 1918
Arquebus 0-4-0ST Manning Wardle 1130 1889 Sold November 1916
0-4-0T Fox Walker 386 1878 Sold or scrapped before 1923
Iron Duke 0-4-0ST Vulcan Foundry 838 1878 Scrapped 1914

Locomotive data from [1].

[edit] Rolling stock

  • A former explosive wagon, previously on display at North Woolwich Old Station Museum,[3] is now back on the Royal Arsenal site near the Heritage Centre, standing on some ex Chatham cast track plates.

[edit] The standard gauge railway

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This railway was initially linked into the national railway system, to the London Chatham and Dover Railway, near Plumstead railway station.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Clarke, B.R. and Veitch, C.C (1986). The Eighteen Inch Gauge Royal Arsenal Railway at Wooolwich. privately published by B.R. Clarke. ISBN 0-948951-00-1. 
  2. ^ a b c d Middlemass, David (1991). Encyclopaedia of Narrow Gauge Railways of Great Britain and Ireland. Patrick Stephens Limited. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f Masters, Roy (1995). Britain in old photographs: The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-0894-7. 

[edit] See also

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