Lord Barrane

There have been at least two men named Lord Barrane who have served as Chairman of the Culdee Fell Railway.

Lord Peter Barrane

Lord Peter Barrane was the first Chairman of the Culdee Fell Railway, and a major landowner in the area surrounding Culdee Fell.

Biography

Lord Peter was a landowner whose property would have been most severely affected by the construction of the railway and he, while in favour of railways in general, was nevertheless reluctant to allow a railway to be built up his mountainside in view of possible disfigurement to its natural beauty. Thus it was that for some years the project hung fire. However, after the Skarloey Railway began organising tours up the mountain and stealing tourism from Kirk Machan, the people sent a deputation to Lord Peter, which successfully changed his mind.

Thus it was that in February 1897 the first sod of the Culdee Fell Railway was cut by the Lady Elaine, Lord Peter’s eldest daughter, at Kirk Machan. The sponsors were The Culdee Fell Tramroad and Hotel Company Ltd., which had been formed a year before under Lord Peter‘s chairmanship. He was therefore in a position to ensure that the lower section of the line made a detour skirting the edges of his property instead of cutting straight through it and up the hillside as had originally been proposed. He was no longer Chairman by 1963, and had been succeeded by a descendant, Lord Harry.

Appearances

Trivia

• Lord Peter Barrane is based on George William Duff-Assheton-Smith, a Welsh landowner who originally opposed the construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

Lord Harry Barrane

Lord Harry Barrane was the Chairman of the Culdee Fell Railway in 1963.

Biography

Lord Harry was a descendant of Lord Peter. In May 1962, the first of the railway's new superheated engines was named after him, though he was renamed Patrick in 1963.

In 1965 he, along with his Manager, Walter Richards, and the management of the Skarloey Railway, was approached by Sir Charles Topham Hatt about joining a consortium to build a railway in the Arlesdale Valley to exploit a source of ballast for their railways. The proposal was carried unanimously and the Arlesdale Railway was formed, with Lord Harry as acting Chairman. The Thin Clergyman placed him in contact with the management of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, who assisted with the acquisition of rolling stock. When the railway opened in March 1967, Colonel Ranald Drixon took over as Chairman.

A few years prior to 1987, he presented Poll-ny-Chrink to the Sodor Nature Conservancy Trust as a Wildlife Sanctuary. He was still Chairman of the CFR in 1992.

Appearances