Cronk and Harwick Railway

Cronk and Harwick Railway
Overview
Locale	Island of Sodor
Terminus	Cregwir
Stations	3
Commercial Operations
Built by	The Cronk and Harwick Railway Company (1855-1885)
Gauge	1'11" (585 mm; narrow gauge) 4'8½" (1,435 mm; standard gauge) (formerly)
Commercial History
Year opened	1855
Year closed	1947

The Cronk and Harwick Railway (abbreviated as C&H) was a 1'11" narrow gauge (formerly 4'8½" standard gauge) railway that ran from Harwick to a quarry near Cregwir. It operated between 1855 and 1947. Little is known about the railway, but it appears on some Island of Sodor maps.

History

Prior to the 1850's, Harwick had been a smuggler's haunt. They posed as fisherman as did those in nearby Tidmouth, and the many caves dotted along the Hawin Ooyre valley made the ideal place for them to hide and trade their goods in secret. With the final suppression of the "Trade" by authorities, Harwick fell into an economic slump and poverty was rampant. It was hoped a railway could provide a solution to this problem and provide honest work for the people in the valley. The Cronk & Harwick Railway was formed in 1855 with an Act of Parliament. The intent was to build a standard-gauge line to connect with the Sodor and Mainland Railway at Peel Godred. The S&M then had intents of building a branchline to Peel Godred via Cronk, a connection with them would've provided loads of traffic for the C&H.

A stone pier was first erected at Harwick, the materials were provided from a nearby quarry at Droghan-y-Claghan (Bridge of Rocks). 6 miles of track was laid between the pier and the quarry. It was not very steep at all, and the line was worked by horses. The railway went no further east, hoping the Sodor and Mainland would fulfill their promise of building to Peel Godred, and save the C&H most of the heavy work tunneling through the Garfwyr (Grey Ravine) ridge.

But by 1870, the S&M was falling into bankruptcy, and the hopes for a grand rail corridor to Peel Godred were dashed. The C&H had no funds to expand any further. However, a new stone quarry opened up at Cregwir, providing new prospects for the fledgling railway. The Cregwir Quarry company objected to paying the expense for a standard-gauge extension up such a steep incline, and so the line to the quarry was built to 1' 11" narrow gauge as a mineral tramway. The rest of the railway was relaid to match and worked by horses and gravity-balanced inclines.

The C&H's scheme to build a rail corridor to Peel Godred may have died right there, but this opened the way for the Mid Sodor Railway to be built and fulfill the C&H's ambitions. The narrow-gauge railway was completed in 1880. There was talk of possibly connecting the Cronk & Harwick with the MSR at Peel Godred, but nothing came to fruition. In the end the plan was deemed too expensive, as not only did it involve regauging the C&H again to 2'3" gauge to match the MSR, but also either climbing over or tunneling through the Garfwyr hills was too cost prohibitive. The C&H remained as it was, and the few people in the valley paid their way, but only very just.

The North Western Railway finally provided the residents of Peel Godred with a standard gauge railway connection by 1923, but by this point, it was already too late for the Cronk and Harwick Railway to change gauge and connect with it. By 1935, the quarry companies were finding motor lorries more convenient than narrow gauge wagons, and the railway was quietly abandoned, except for the very short bit east of Cregwir, which lead for about two miles beyond the quarry to a village where most of the quarrymen lived (this village is shown on mid 70s map and afterwards, the rail connection is depicted in the 1971 map, the 1896 map, and another 70s map). This was used by them for going and coming back from work. They would ride downhill by gravity in wagons, and hauled up home at night by horses.

But at last the track got out of repair and became unsafe, and ever since about 1947 the quarrymen all used bicycles and cars instead. Much of the track from the railway remains in place, although heavily overgrown and in a state of disrepair. In many places farmers have extended their fields over it, pulling up the rails, sleepers and chairs, to plough the land. Much of the salvaged material was reused to make fences and gate posts, and some residents have even used the chairs for doorstops for their cottages, as well as several other uses. The quarries themselves remained in production until sometime in the 1950's.

Trivia

• The Cronk and Harwick Railway, along with the Ballaswein Tramway, are the only lines on the Island of Sodor to have no connection to the North Western Railway following its opening.
• The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways slightly contradicts what Wilbert wrote in his notes about the C&H. In which he states the railway had already reached Cregwir in the 1850's, building 12 miles of track before funds ran out. The railway was also stated to have been pulled up for scrap during World War II, despite his notes saying the rails remained in place well past 1945. Despite this, the line is still shown as "abandoned" on the 1973 map.
• The Cronk and Harwick Railway is the only known 1' 11" railway on the entire Island. It is also the only railway on the island not to have been run by locomotives.
• At some point after 1896, the Ballaswein Tramway was built between Harwick and Ballaswein, in close proximity to the Cronk and Harwick Railway. It is unknown if they ever interchanged or even interconnected, as the gauge of the Ballaswein Tramway was never recorded.
• Given Harwick's status as a getaway for Sudrian residents away from foreign tourists, it's unlikely they wish to see the railway resurrected anytime soon. Despite proposals for the North Western Railway to build a connection to Harwick, Sodor Roadways have already proved to provide adequate transport for Harwick residents without the help of a railway.

Reference

Other Sudrian railways

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* RWS only | ** T&F only