Geography
The Island of Sodor lies between the Isle of Man and Cumbria on the mainland of England. It is much larger than the Isle of Man. Roughly diamond-shaped, 62 miles wide east to west and 51 miles long north to south. Its north-west coast is separated from the Isle of Man by a sea strait called the Sudrian Sea, four miles wide.
The place names on Sodor are mostly a mixture of Manx and Norse. Its highest mountain is Culdee Fell. The summit is reached by the Culdee Fell Railway.
The ancient capital of Sodor is the 'city' of Suddery but Tidmouth has grown to be the largest town on the island.
Language
The historical language of Sodor is "Sudric", a language similar to Manx and, like Manx, is falling out of use. The differences between Manx and Sudric are not enough to prevent the two communities understanding one another.
A lot of the place names on Sodor are based on Manx forms, but often the nouns are inverted to match English word order. Some of the locations have quasi-Manx names, e.g. Killdane, which comes from "Keeill-y-Deighan" (Church of the Devil), hills are called Knock and Cronk, while "Nagh Beurla", means "I speak no English", a distortion of the Manx.
Railways
Most of the known history concerning the railways on the Island of Sodor has been determined through research conducted by the Rev. W Awdry.
The first railway on the island, dating from 1806, was a horse-worked plateway from Cros-ny-Cuirn to Balladwail, a port south-east of Crovan's Gate, which is no longer rail-connected. Pack horses were used to bring copper ore from a mine in the mountains down to Cros-ny-Cuirn, where it was loaded into wagons for the journey to the port. In 1820, the Crovan's Gate Mining Company extended the line up the valley to the mine by building a series of five inclined planes. At the same time, the rest of the 1806 line was rebuilt with fish-belly edge rail. The line continued in use until the Skarloey Railway was built, after which it was abandoned, although the overgrown remains can still be seen to this day. A government-sponsored amalgamation of the standard gauge railways in the Island occurred in 1914 to build a strategic railway for coastal defence called the North Western Railway. The railways concerned were:
-
The Sodor & Mainland Railway (1853–1901) which ran from Ballahoo to Kirk Ronan.
-
The Tidmouth, Knapford & Elsbridge Railway (1883–1914) from Tidmouth to Elsbridge (the railway was known as the Knapford & Elsbridge Railway until 1908 when line extended to Tidmouth)
-
The Wellsworth & Suddery Railway (1870–1914), which ran from Crosby to Brendam, with an extension from Crosby to Knapford in 1912 to amalgamate with the Tidmouth, Knapford & Elsbridge Railway.
The North Western Railway has had running rights into Barrow Central Station since the agreement with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1925. There is a Scherzer rolling lift bridge of 120ft span and double track over the Walney Channel, designed by Topham Hatt and erected in 1915. The NWR built its headquarters at Vicarstown in 1915, but the administrative offices were relocated to Tidmouth in 1926. Until the construction of the Jubilee Road Bridge in 1977, the NWR had rights for a car-ferry and worked an intensive and profitable service. British Rail had running powers over the Bridge to operate the joint NWR/BR suburban service from Barrow to Norramby.
On through or express trains, engines from the NWR are detached at Barrow and "Other Railway" engines take over. Since 1925 the NWR has also had its own loco shed, turntable and servicing facility here. There is also a joint goods yard for exchange traffic.
When the railways in the United Kingdom were nationalised the North Western Railway became the North Western Region of British Railways. It was allowed to keep a large degree of independence from the rest of the network, which is why steam traction was preserved. The other railways on the island were not affected by the nationalisation. Since privatisation, the railway has again become the North Western Railway Company and, unlike most post-privatisation train companies, is responsible not just for the running of the freight and passenger operations, but also for the maintenance of the track and infrastructure of the railway.
Current system
-
The North Western Railway is the main railway company . It controls the mainline railway and many of the branch lines on the island.
-
The main line trains are pulled by Henry, Duck which is a Great Western Engine and Gordon's express which has to safely navigate Gordon's Hill.
-
Ffarquhar Branch Line runs from Knapford to Ffarquhar
-
Brendam Branch Line goes from Brendam to Wellsworth. It links the china clay works at Brendam to the mainline.
-
The Little Western also known as the Arlesburgh branch runs along the coast from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh.
-
The Peel Godred Branch runs from Kildane to Peel Godred and connects with the Culdee Fell Railway.
-
There are three other North Western Railway branch lines. They run from:
-
Vicarstown to Norramby, via Ballahoo
-
Ballahoo to Crovan's Gate
-
Kellsthorpe Road to Kirk Ronan
-
The Arlesdale Railway or Small Railway is a miniature railway taking waste from the mines in the hills to Arlesburgh where it could be distributed to the rest of the Island. It also carries tourists.
-
The Culdee Fell Railway is a rack-and-pinion mountain railway that runs from the summit of Culdee Fell down to Kirk Machan where it joins the standard gauge line from Kildane to Peel Godred .
-
The Mid Sodor Railway was a narrow gauge railway that closed in 1947. It started at Arlesburgh to King 'Orry's Bridge. Part of its route is now on the Arlesdale Railway on which some of its engines still work.
-
The Other Railway refers to the nationalised British Railways company that ran the Railway System in the United Kingdom until 1997.
-
The Skarloey railway runs from Crovan's Gate up to the slate works at Skarloey. The narrow gauge engine Peter Sam (Named after the Railway's Controller) pulls a passenger train made up with coaches Jemima and Agnes.
The cache is a small clip lock in a camo bag, with plenty of room for Travel bugs and Geocion's.
N 52° 17.??? W 001° 10.???
