Arlesdale Tramway Engines

Arlesdale Tramway Engines
Background Information
First appearance	The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (RWS)
Last appearance	The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (RWS)
Creator(s)	Rev. W. Awdry George Awdry
Overview
Country	Island of Sodor
Technical Details
Gauge	2'3" (686 mm, narrow gauge)
Power type	Steam
Vehicle	Locomotives
Fuel type	Coal
Year built	Sometime in circa 1866
Railway	Arlesdale Tramway

The Arlesdale Tramway had several steam engines that used to work on its line.

Biography

The Railway Series

The Arlesdale Tramway, a 2ft. 3in. gauge mineral tramway, connected the mines at Cas-ny-Hawin to the port at Arlesburgh. At first the line was horse-worked but after seeing the success of the steam-powered Skarloey Railway in 1866, acquired an uncertain number of steam engines of its own.

After the tramway was bought by the committee of Peel Godred, they upgraded it to standards provided by the Board of Trade to allow regular passenger-transporting services, and eventually the tramway became part of the Mid Sodor Railway, and then the Arlesdale Railway.

No descriptions were given about these engines, about how many of them there were or what eventually happened to them.

Appearances

• Railway Series

The Railway Series

Companion volumes

• 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (mentioned)

Trivia

• It has been theorised that Tim may have originated from the Arlesdale Tramway, as the route of the old tramway eventually became part of the Mid Sodor Railway. Jennings may also be a possible contender as he could have been built around 1866, when the tramway purchased its first engines.
• Falcon is said to have replaced an engine that was scrapped prior to his arrival in 1904, and Stanley and Stuart didn’t arrive until 1920. Since Duke, Stuart and Falcon themselves were all that was needed to keep the MSR going in its twilight years, it’s possible there were originally three locomotives from the original tramway, which covered the same distance between Arlesburgh and Cas-ny-Hawin, and these three tramway engines in turn were replaced by Falcon, Stuart and Stanley respectively.

References

Mid Sodor Railway

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* RWS only | ** T&F only

Other Sudrian railways

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* RWS only | ** T&F only