The Sudrians: Railways and Locations

NWR: Norramby Branch Line

Vicarstown and Henry's Tunnel

More information is provided for these two on NWR: The Mainline but will be simplified into one part for the branch line.

Vicarstown is the junction to the Norramby branch line, however, services can extend to Barrow-In-Furness, mainly for the rush hours. The line begins for passenger services at the station's branch line platforms which are situated on one side of the station. These platforms are also shared by the Great Waterton branch line when it was opened in 2003. However, once leaving, these tracks are independent and do not follow the up-and-down line system to the mainline. Starting in the yards, will lead you out and come to the junction which should send you onto the branch line, once that is done, the track will be on the far side, next to the Great Waterton line until Henry's Tunnel the single-track tunnel being expanded to allow two tracks in 2004, to 2005 to accommodate for the branch lines being separate. The Norramby branch verses off at a small junction, going past the signal box which situates itself to look over the tunnel.

Ballahoo

Ballahoo is a small village and use to not get traffic as much and is probably overshadowed by the popular tourist attraction of Norramby. So it was decided by the Sodor Council that they would have the village just have housing estates, which would make them expand in the 1970s and again in the 2000s. The newest housing estate went to the right side of the railway line so you could say the branch line goes straight through the village now. There are two level crossings, both of which are on different sides of the station, so people would joke and call Ballahoo: "the village that locks you up!" That saying is a bit pointless now which has made some residents a bit unhappy; strangely the elderly.

The station only has one siding that goes along the second platform which stores the trucks meant here and one building for the ticket office and waiting room which also serves as a small cafe too, it goes on for two tracks before exiting Ballahoo, where a set of points makes the lines merge once more.

Norramby

Unlike most towns and villages on Sodor, Norramby's history has not been talked about as in-depth in the IOS book, not to fault Rev. W. Awdry of course, so here we discuss it here.

Norramby was actually on top of a hill originally, but in the 17th century a heavy thunderstorm came to the island, and part of the hill gave way and the land slipped into the sea, twenty-five people died that night without even knowing what was to come. Afterward, the remaining citizens were ordered to go off the hill and live at the bottom of it, which would form the new Norramby (though new wasn't put into it because some of the houses of the original are still on the hill today).


After the landslide happened, an increase of fish came to Norramby and began to surround it finding it very attractive for being much healthier than England's coasts. Norramby felt its impacts and became a good place to fish. A small port was made in 1712, and when the industrial revolution came, fish soon became Norramby's main revenue with blacksmithing becoming a thing of the past. The port was made larger in 1791 and the last blacksmith shop closed the same year to become a tool station for fishermen.

So Norramby Fishing Port was built and Norramby had a massive economic boost, making it expand to a decently-sized town. There were plans for the Sodor and Mainland to have their railway extend to the town but plans were scrapped just to shortages of money and staff. But during the First World War, Sir Bertram Topham Hatt saw Norramby as an opportunity and made the decision on extending the now Crovan's Gate branch line to Norramby to take trains of fish to Vicarstown where they can export the goods across the island and Mainland Britain.

The line was finished in 1916, but there was a problem, the port was at a very difficult spot to reach, and to get to the port, the rails had to go through the town. Inspired by the Waymouth Harbour Tramway, Sir Bertram Hatt then got the idea of having a tramway go through the town to reach the port. It was agreed upon by the railway board and Sodor Council and the harbour tramway was completed in 1919. Later in 1922, a bridge was built to reach Ban Nor' and so did rails and a station with a passenger service coming to and from it daily.

Ex-W&S No.3 George ran the line until 1925 when the LMS agreement came and the line was given to the LMS. When goods traffic was given back to the North Western in 1974, No.41209 Arthur (also known as NWR No.15) was purchased and put on the line the next year and serviced the Norramby tramway by himself, the other engines on the line were DMUs, it wasn't until 1983 when No.41303 Barry (also known as NWR No.19) was put back into service that he helped with on the harbour tramway.

During the 1990s, fish began to dry a little with bigger ships now wanting the seas of Sodor. But with public and railway support, the Sodor council manage to create a ban on any big dominant fishing companies coming to their island's seas and taking their fish and leaving it for the local fishermen. This has luckily, not affected the fish anymore and it returned to normal in the 2010s.

However, during those slight, trying times, Norramby decided to go for tourism and expand its hotels and shops to attract tourists. It worked, and with extra goods coming in, Norramby Fishing Port has become extremely busy with goods being sent there by rail and road, for one-half of Norramby, whilst the rest stay at the sidings at Norramby station before the tramway.

As for the station, it is before the tramway, with the track becoming two lines once again, with two platforms on either side with one main building on platform 1. A single-engine shed is located here that used to be held by Arthur, but he later moved to Vicarstown in 1983 and its maintenance has lessened. There are also sidings here for trucks as well as fuelling points for the engines as well.

Ban Nor'

When the landslide happened, part of the land stayed, split off, and became its own island. It was called Ban Nor'. Ban means little in Sudric and Nor' is just a short version of Norramby. There are only a few infrastructures on that island with a popular hotel, restaurant, and a few shops and resident houses. It was only connected to Sodor by boat for a time. It wasn't long until when the NWR extended through the town, that it was also decided to have a station on the island as well, with a bridge being built from the port, over to the island, with a small track leading to the end with a station and a run-around loop.

However, during the Great Depression, the LMS decided to close Ban Nor' station to cut costs on the line and the rails were ripped up with only the railway bridge and station remaining, the bridge has now become a road bridge for vehicles to travel across to reach the small island and there have never been any proposals to extend the line back to Ban Nor' again since road traffic has managed fine to Ban Nor's services. The old station has also remained, becoming a cafe and having a little board about the history of the railway and the small island.

Crovan's Gate

Just after Ballahoo, a set of points leads right heading to Crovan's Gate, this line is used only a couple of times between goods and passenger services, being the old route to Crovan's Gate by the Sodor and Mainland Railway. The line only goes past another set of points which leads to the manor where the Earl of Norramby usually resides, with a small line for his private engine which contains a small station and shed at the end of it. Returning the line, it continues to a tunnel that goes for a short distance and exits and goes along an embankment that passes a farm just below the line. Heading further down the line will lead you back to the mainline that you run along beside it again, but for a short distance, this time compared to the start.

This leads you to Crovan's Gate Station where there will be two platforms for trains on the Norramby branch line, the station expanding in 1981 after the demolishment of the old Crovan's Gate Works. After that, the line goes to a junction, merging onto the mainline before going through Crovan's Gate itself. They do have a water tower and coal bunker just in case though, so the engines don't need to rush themselves to other areas of Crovan's Gate. This station is usually used during rush hours, to lessen the business of the area.