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There have been at least two men named Lord Barrane who have served as Chairman of the Culdee Fell Railway.
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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
The Railway Series
Companion Volumes
- 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (mentioned)
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
