Breadth of Way

[What About The Bee]

I was reading "Railway Magazine and the Annals of Science". The periodical from those early days is quite dreadful. Overly forced prose. Focus on railway financial returns and reports. Debates over junk science. Tests mired in lack of understanding the fundamentals of the science.  

Yet Issue XXXI, September 1838 has a pearl on page 208. The author discusses the "breadth of way" for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which is defined as the maximum width of a loaded carriage and the space allowance on either side! This is stated to be 9' 10" and is compared to other railways, considering the LMR to be quite narrow¹.

The author further states for double track, the bridges and viaducts were twice this, and explicitly states 19' 8". 

Today, I would refer to this as the dynamic envelope. That is, the 3 dimensional envelope that the carriages occupy when in motion, to include swept path on curves and carriage wobble.

The gauge on the LMR was 4' 8", which permits a diagram to be constructed, using a scale mechanical drawing of Planet's backplate and a drafting tool to set dimensions.

The "breadth of way" is the green arrow, establishing 9' 10"

Placing the rails dead center, red arrows, we have 2' 7", 4' 8" and 2' 7".

The yellow arrow represents the double track figure of 19' 8"

The Planet image was made larger and smaller, in proportion, until Planet's wheels were aligned with my "rails". And then the same for another Planet image.

We now have a to scale image of LMR double track mainline!

From this, I can also derive a center to center distance for the two tracks. ½ of 4' 8" (track 1 gauge) + ½ of 4' 8" (track 2 gauge) + 2' 7" (inside clearance track 1) + 2' 7" (inside clearance track 2) = 9' 10" 

9' 10" therefore is centerline to centerline track separation.

Divide through by 76.2, for OO. I get 1.549" (39.34 mm). I've carefully placed the centerlines 39.25 mm apart, with Lion and Tiger in position

Now before you lads tell me about long coaches and overhang, permit me to emphasize that the vast, overwhelming bulk of Hornby LMR stock is 3" long. The carriages are tiny! In fact, there are only two carriages which would be longer.

The first is the log wagon

Not shown are the bolsters which rotate and support the logs, turning the flat beds into bogies. Most importantly, since the "logs" will be hand selected, the length and diameter are strictly a function of my personal choice. So not really an issue.

The second is the Duke of Wellington carriage The Duke was Prime Minister at the time. The carriage was constructed for him for the opening day ceremonies and we do have some imagery of it.  

It was a 4 axle, 8 wheeled delight, on the left. During the procession to Manchester, there was a stop over at Parkside, for water.  MP Huskisson, instrumental in Parliament getting approval for the LMR, was speaking with the Duke of Wellington. In the event, Huskisson was run over by Rocket and killed². The carriage went on to Manchester, celebrations muted. The carriage returned to Liverpool where it was placed on a siding. It never was used again. It ran a total of 62 miles and was retired.

I feel confident in Hornby eventually producing this carriage, due to the excellent images and its notoriety. The other carriages it appeared with will make for a beautiful rake. We do have this enigmatic image of the carriage on the mainline

Bee 

(1)Reference: today 3.5 meters (11' 6") would be minimum centerline to centerline, with higher values for higher speed lines

(2)Huskisson did have a cenotaph erected on the way side, and it is still there, to this very day. I do not believe there is public access. 

Further, the LMR named a 1st class carriage for him. Hornby have confirmed, in writing, that it will appear in R30090. It is also the title carriage in R40371.

[Rallymatt]

That is excellent detailed research and very thoughtful to share it. It’s not an era I am modelling or even scale but the early era really seems to be gathering much more interest thanks to some lovely models coming out. 😁

[What About The Bee]

Hi RallyMatt 👋

A big part of the hobby for me is research. I want to run models, yet I want to run them correctly!

For me, this is a gem of detail. The period drawings show a double track mainline, and now I know the proper spacing.

I do agree, the models coming out are wonderful. I'd still be researching, due to my great curiosity about the LMR, but running no models without Hornby and Accurascale.

Bee