New 2ft gauge line for Scotland?

Track and rolling stock are assembled for Tweeddale Heritage Railway in the Borders region.

MOVES to build a new 2ft gauge railway in Scotland are gathering pace, with hopes of announcing a permanent location – with trackbed – in Upper Tweeddale in the near future. To help develop the project, the group, which has adopted the name Tweeddale Heritage Railway, has appealed for volunteers to assist, regardless of skill levels. The minimum requirements are quoted as being enthusiasm and the ability to make a good cup of tea! The project originated about five years ago when members of the group started collecting narrow gauge locos, rolling stock and track with the intention of one day building a heritage railway. The group currently has a workshop and yard situated between Biggar and Broughton, four internal combustion locomotives, and track materials including five ex-Broughton Moor points and a number of sleepers. Although the present yard has mains electricity, a Ruston & Hornsby generator set has been acquired to provide three-phase electricity for machines at the planned new location. The collection started with the acquisition of locos when Messrs William Sinclair (which went into liquidation in 2015) ceased using railways for peat harvesting on its sites in southern Scotland, all its railway equipment being sold in 2016. The first loco to arrive was a Simplex U class (MR14315416 rebuilt by Byers of Carlisle in 1998) Christine. Hunslet 50hp 0-4-0DM 2017/1939, which arrived in December 2021, originally worked at RNAD Broughton Moor as Yard No. 24 until the site closed in 1991. Now known as Bertha, the engine has been found to require extensive attention and will be lifted from the frames. The most recent arrival, in January 2022, was Andrew Barclay 4wDH 562/1971 (rebuilt by Byers in 1998 when the loco, originally built for ICI at Ardeer, Ayrshire, was acquired by Sinclair’s) Rachel, which has been receiving extensive restoration.