Narrow Gauge Railway Society issues

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

I'm a little in the dark about this.

Is there a special interest group who is willing to install and maintain such an attraction?

It's an exciting prospect no matter how it comes to fruition.

This photo seems to imply "Billie" was soon scrapped, but the locomotive in The smaller loco' in the photo further above looks strikingly similar to the one in the 1974 era photo.

[John Humphrey]

Strictly speaking, the posting from "Vince, Charlie and Sam" is not quite relevant as the locos at New Romney are one-third of full-size despite the 15" gauge. True miniature 15" locos like "Billie" are one-quarter of full-size. I take the point that it's difficult to eliminate sharp curves as the revived Dreamland is less than the original area. I suspect, though, that the company intending to build flats on the rest of Dreamland will realise that, from Margate, HS1 does not provide a much faster service into London (50 min from departing Margate to departing Ashford having travelled via Ramsgate and Canterbury, and therefore a time from Margate to St Pancras virtually the same as the time by conventional train from Margate to Victoria) and so they are not going to make their expected mega-bucks from redeveloping the rest of Dreamland; hence I suspect that the revived Dreamland will eventually take up the whole of its original area. If that happens, then the miniature railway would be able to revert to its original position, in which it would be possible to redesign it with curves of larger radius which would permit larger locomotives.

[1234567890]

If you don't get the extra land, will you be putting the trains on the sea front, say from old town to dreamland??

If so you can put dreamland advertising on the trains to attract vistors.

[vince69619]

A few years ago, at the Preston Steam fair we saw Billie. She was in need of a good bit of restoration, but mainly in one piece. She should still be there.

On the subject of curves, I notice that Billie is a 4-4-2 wheel arrangement, so she can go round tighter curves.

The New Romney locos are 4-6-2 or 4-6-0 and won't be so versatile and being of larger scale are also going to need a more sturdy rail than one quarter scale locomotives.

As a railway enthusiast myself, I can see the attraction of allowing visiting locos, and it would open another avenue of event that could be staged, but there are going to limits to the locos that can be accommodated realistically.

Vince.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Perhaps a full circle track could be designed with half of it's course curves of a bigger radius, and switched pullouts located past those to accommodate larger locos. That way, visiting larger locos could run a good portion of the track and then simply run in reverse when they got to the ends of the sections they can negotiate.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

A few years ago, at the Preston Steam fair we saw Billie. She was in need of a good bit of restoration, but mainly in one piece. She should still be there.

Billie used to be listed on Preston Steam Services website as being for sale, but doesn't seem to be there any more. I heard she was for sale for £40,000.

I found some pics of the Dreamland Miniature Railway that I hadn't seen before.


Dreamland Park Station.



The traverser at Dreamland Park station.



Red Dragon on the Sutton Miniature Railway with a new paint job but completely spoiled by the vinyl graphics on the tender.



Dusty Bin as she was in 2009, awaiting restoration on the Evesham Vale Light Railway.




And on the DMR in 1960



Billie at Preston Steam Fair a few years ago.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

So Billie ran at Dreamland? She needs to run there again.
She looks well built.

I bet the children or people of Margate could donate or raise enough for her acquisition and restoration,
and maybe some peripheral expenses like track, etc. if you could get the local media involved.
Maybe we could get people to have a flea market and donate items.

If half the school kids on the Isle of Thanet could raise just 5 pounds each...
Kids love trains. The class that raises the most money gets a pizza party (get the pizza donated, too).

Watch the money pour in.

Who can take this challenge on?

It would require some phone calls to media and some flyers to be sent to the schools.

I can write up the letters, I just need someone local to do the legwork.

First, someone needs to see if they'd be willing to sell or loan Billie out. They may be willing to loan her back in exchange for
restoration and a promise to keep her maintained.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

I found some good British Pathe footage from 1931 on YouTube which shows the Dreamland Miniature Railway, here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeQaL41MSE8

I'm not sure if this is Billie, there have been at least three steam locomotives operating on the DMR.

Incidentally, look at the Scenic Railway footage which starts at 0:18 and see if you can spot the deliberate mistake!

[1234567890]

fantastic

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

What I learned from this fine educational footage:
Girls can't drive boats.

[AJ]

I found some good British Pathe footage from 1931 on YouTube which shows the Dreamland Miniature Railway, here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeQaL41MSE8

I'm not sure if this is Billie, there have been at least three steam locomotives operating on the DMR.

Incidentally, look at the Scenic Railway footage which starts at 0:18 and see if you can spot the deliberate mistake!

They are on the wrong loop to the lift hill then go back round on the first loop rather than the second?

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

At first I couldn't work out why there were four dips rather than the three I remembered and wondered if the Scenic Railway had been re-built at some point, but when I looked more closely it's apparent that the film has been spliced at 0:35, it's not one continuous piece of footage.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

A few years ago, at the Preston Steam fair we saw Billie. She was in need of a good bit of restoration, but mainly in one piece. She should still be there.

She was a few hours ago

[Nick Evans]

Yes, I can verify that too. Not in quite such good conditiion as a few years ago, I thought? Deteriorating slowly in other words.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

Billie is inevitably slowly deteriorating but still restorable... when my lottery numbers come up I'll be off down to Preston Steam Services in a shot with a cheque in my greasy mitt but until then it will have to remain a dream.

I did hear that the price tag was £40,000 which seems a tad optimistic to me but hopefully one day Billie will return to Dreamland even if only as a static exhibit at first.