Obviously something to do with water but I couldn’t figure what. It’s located beside, and in line with, the rail at the parapet of a bridge over a large stream.
After a bit of Googling I determined it to be a Double Air Valve with Screw-down Valve Combined.
I’m guessing that there’s a pipe running uphill to draw water from a stream (quite possibly the same one as runs under the bridge). This Valve then purges any air in the feed before the flow continues down to the next station about 1km away and at a 50m lower elevation.
You’ll get an idea of the scale of the narrow-gauge tracks from the ever present Zhukov.
At another spot we encountered this, a very well defined circle. It really is in the backside of no-where though at a junction with a path crossing the line.
Could be. Obviously it was too small for a full engine turntable. Can’t imagine why they’d have such a thing out there on a single line. I feel some more exploration coming on.
I wonder if the footpath follows the route of a small branch line, perhaps to a nearby quarry, sawmill or factory. Small turntables were sometimes used to hitch a few wagons onto a passing train.
That would seem the logical conclusion. Just can’t figure what they’d be loading/unloading at that point.
Have purchased a second hand book on the route. Never can have enough books on such things as narrow gauge railways. Indeed was a little surprised that I didn’t inherit that one from my dad.
Is the unknown crossing anywhere near Cashelnagor station? I notice that a good shed is mentioned and wonder if a hand turntable for waggons was nearby?
No it’s a few miles away. It really is in the middle of nowhere and the path shown crossing the rail at the location goes just beyond the rail on one side and down to a couple of buildings on the other. In total less than 50m.
I can’t think why there’d by a wagon t/t on the running line itself. I’d expect that to be on a siding so there is neither risk to a loaded train nor the t/t mechanism.
What it might be is just a level crossing where the path and railway intersect that has been mowed/maintained over the years and resulted in a gravel area of that shape.
The map shows a track leading to some buildings, and from the buildings to the river nearby, which has changed course since then, so it’s not inconceivable that this was used to transport something from the river - maybe salmon, gravel, or even water.
Not aware of there having been anything on a scale that would justify the investment in rail infrastructure. Also any “siding” at this point would be too short to be viable for commercial turf extraction.
Still a bloody mystery. The book I’ve ordered (now out of print) runs to over three hundred pages so hopefully will contains some clue as to what was happening here.
