World exemplar

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The article Festiniog Railway asserts that this railway became a/main/the world exemplar of the narrow gauge system.

To support this claim, it would be necessary to show that information about the FR in say overseas newspapers was more common than mention of other narrow gauges railways, and also came earlier in a timeline, to suggest causality, whereby one railway influenced another in the choice of gauge. Other narrow gauge pioneers might include the Talyllyn Railway, Norwegian Railways, Indian Railways and the Leek and Manifold Light Railway.

Papers read in the relevant learned societies, such as the Institution of Civil Engineers, are important, and it is is noted that foreigners such as Carl Pihl were members of the UK ICE.

The influence of railway engineers, besides the FR's James Spooner, should also be considered; such as Pihl, Fitzgibbon, and Calthrop.

There appears to be a strong nexus between the Festiniog Railway and the Fairlie Locomotive. One should not ignore the break of gauge issue, which often looms its ugly head when heavy traffic need to cross the boundary between railways of different gauges.

A start can be made to provide evidence in the support of the asserted world exemplar by counting the number of citations in overseas presses, and gradually accumulate reasons in support. Idealy a citation in a high circulation newspaper should count more than a citation in a low circulation paper.

Gauge[edit]

The Mount Zeehan Tramway Company Limited, in Tasmania, while quoting the advantages of the Festiniog Railway in difficult terrain, nonetheless, modified the gauge from 1ft 11½in to a round 2ft 0in. [1] [2]

This gauge rounding also occurred in the extensive (N x 1000km) (and still active in 2015) sugar cane tramways in Queensland.

Narrow gauge lines in the colony/state of Victoria were going to be 2' 0" gauge, until G. L. Molesworth suggested the use of 2' 6" gauge for which he already had rolling stock designs already prepared.

Table 1 - Fame[edit]

Exemplar is expressed in many ways. Negative exemplars preceded by minus sign, thus "-Not Follow".

K1 Year Place News-
Paper 		Keyword Freq Text Reference K2
A 1875 AUS-TAS CC +Celebrated 001 as also the celebrated Festiniog Railway, are restricted to a speed of twelve miles per hour.

[3]

111
C 1888 AUS-NSW AT&CJ +Pioneer 001 Late Charles E. Spooner named as Pioneer of Narrow Gauge

[4]

222
C2 1888 AUS-TAS LA +Well known 001 Basis is same principle for NG line in Tasmania

[5]

C4 1871 AUS-TAS Merc +Of Future 001 R. Fairlie says narrow gauge are "Railways of the Future"

[6]

CCC
C7 1901 AUS-NSW SM&NSWA +Remarkable 001 One of the most remarkable miniature lines in the UK is the Festiniog Railway in the north Wales.

[7]

AAA
D1 1871 AUS-VIC HamSp +So Famous 001 A positive ("+") attribute, compared to, say, "-Pecular", a negative ("-") attribute.

[8]

VVV
D3 1872 AUS-SA SAC&WM +Everybody 001 Almost everybody has heard of the Festiniog Railway

[9]

TTT
D4 1870 AUS-VIC HamSp +Cheap 001 As in "value for money", not "cheap and nasty"

[10]

WWW
EEE 1870 AUS-NSW Sydney Mail +Wonderful 001 Speaks for itself.

[11]

FFF
D7 1870 AUS-TAS Mercury +Exemplar 001 Means what it says.

[12]

UU
D5 1873 AUS GH&C -Peculiar 001 Most railways will not benefit from, say, downhill traffic, like FR, which is peculiar.

[13]

EEE
D6 1872 AUS-TAS WeekEx -Not Follow 001 Festiniog railway built of special character, and does not follow that similar lines
would be equally successful under all conditions and for every description of traffic.

[14]

SSS
Z9 2017 AUS ZZ +XX 000 TX

[15]

MMM

Table 2 - Diminutive[edit]

Little railways are called many things.

K1 Year Place Paper Keyword Freq Text Reference K2
005 1871 AUS-VIC HamSp Tom Thumb 001 tom thumb railway [16] ZZ
015 1864 AUS-NSW GoulH Miniature 001 ?? [17] CC
995 2017 AUS 000 Ref YY

Table 3 - Reports, etc.[edit]

Many distinguished engineers, etc., wrote reports about the Festiniog Railway.

K1 Year Place Paper Author Freq Text Reference K2
005 1871 AUS-TAS MercH G. L. Molesworth 001 [18] ZZ
015 1873 AUS-NSW GH&C J. W. Grover 001 [19] MICE.
025 2001 AUS 000 Ref UU
995 2017 AUS 000 Ref YY

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Advertising". Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899). Tas.: National Library of Australia. 21 July 1888. p. 4. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Advertising". South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900). Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 28 July 1888. p. 2. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Tasmanian Main Line Railway Company (Limited) Engineers Office". The Cornwall Chronicle. Vol. XXXIX, , no. 4543. Tasmania, Australia. 3 September 1875. p. 4. Retrieved 7 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  4. ^ "OBITUARY". Australian Town And Country Journal. Vol. XL, , no. 1044. New South Wales, Australia. 18 January 1890. p. 10. Retrieved 21 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  5. ^ "Advertising". Launceston Examiner. Vol. XLVIII. Tasmania, Australia. 21 July 1888. p. 4. Retrieved 21 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "THE RAILWAYS OF THE FUTURE". The Mercury. Vol. XIX, , no. 3132. Tasmania, Australia. 5 January 1871. p. 3. Retrieved 21 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  7. ^ "Celebrated Pens". The Sydney Mail And New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. LXXI, , no. 2123. New South Wales, Australia. 16 March 1901. p. 670. Retrieved 22 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  8. ^ "THE TOM THUMB RAILWAY". Hamilton Spectator. No. 1003. Victoria, Australia. 4 November 1871. p. 1 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR). Retrieved 7 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "THE FESTINIOG RAILWAY". South Australian Chronicle And Weekly Mail. Vol. XIV, , no. 720. South Australia. 1 June 1872. p. 14. Retrieved 8 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  10. ^ "CHEAP RAILWAYS". Hamilton Spectator. No. 1061. Victoria, Australia. 25 May 1872. p. 4. Retrieved 21 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Narrow-Gauge Railways". Sydney Mail. Vol. XI, , no. 545. New South Wales, Australia. 10 December 1870. p. 6. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  12. ^ "THE RAILWAYS OF THE FUTURE". The Mercury. Vol. XIX, , no. 3132. Tasmania, Australia. 5 January 1871. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  13. ^ "TRAMWAYS AND RAILWAYS". The Goulburn Herald And Chronicle. New South Wales, Australia. 20 December 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 21 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "CHEAP RAILWAYS". Weekly Examiner. Vol. I, , no. 20. Tasmania, Australia. 18 May 1872. p. 10. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  15. ^ ZZZ
  16. ^ "THE TOM THUMB RAILWAY". Hamilton Spectator. No. 1003. Victoria, Australia. 4 November 1871. p. 1 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR). Retrieved 20 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "EUROPEAN EXTRACTS". Goulburn Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 30 March 1864. p. 4. Retrieved 20 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "THE FESTINIOG RAILWAY". The Mercury. Vol. XX, , no. 3330. Tasmania, Australia. 29 August 1871. p. 1 (The Mercury Supplement ). Retrieved 21 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  19. ^ "TRAMWAYS AND RAILWAYS". The Goulburn Herald And Chronicle. New South Wales, Australia. 20 December 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 21 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.

External links[edit]

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