The Sudrians: Railways and Locations

NWR: Harwick Branch Line

For the branch lines, we will go similarly to the mainline with going across west to the east side of the island. Since the Harwick branch line is ran by another set of engines, it is considered a separate branch line to the Little Western.

Harwick

Originally meant to be reached by the railway when the NWR was originally conceived, Harwick used to be a busy harbour which was closed due to lack of goods and more modern harbours emerging on Sodor. However, it is strong in tourism with sunny seasides and the old harbour becoming a popular tourist destination. North of the town is the beginning of the recently restored Cregwir Tramway and yards next to the Hawin Ooyre River with facilities for the railway like engine and carriage sheds with several sidings to hold rolling stock.

Leaving Harwick, the line climbs a little, being one of the challenging parts of the line, engines must be experienced in getting up this hill. Afterwards, a tunnel a mile along is seen, thankfully it has been designed to deal with the exhaust the engines create when going up the hill so the crew can breath and the ground is levelled out by then so crews don't have to suffocate from the steam.

Claugh Ooyre

This part of the line is mainly where hikers go and walk up the steep mountain of Claugh Ooyre and if they like to, reach the lake of Corloey. This is only a recent residence and only has a single siding for stock that might be needed for the area. Two platforms are here for engines either going up or down the line but the line merges back into one when leaving the station.

The Stretch

This is a part of the branch line which is commonly called The Stretch where there is nothing but hills, grasslands and woodlands. The winds are incredibly harsh here making it difficult for engines to see. The cliff side is also close by making engines have to be extra careful, eventually you'll arrive at a flat plane of a land which is only used for cattle, it is easy to see a train go across here and is seen as a popular area for trainspotters. The road meets the railway here and a crossing was put in place. The hill is also tricky, less steep then the one at Harwick but is longer in length. Engines must be careful going down it otherwise could lose control of their trains whilst entering the next station.

This part of the line is considered to be the most tricky parts on all branch lines on Sodor.

Hangshead

This station is only a hault with only being staffed by the stationmaster and at least one porter with a few buildings. It is used to access the beach in the area, it hugs the cliff side hence the name. There are no sidings for any trains since it is not deemed necessary with goods trains either having their goods unloaded at the station itself or lorries bring the goods up themselves from Arlesburgh. The station is never closed due to the rough seas in the area being popular to surfers and kayakers. However, sometimes passenger services don't stop here during the winter weekdays.

Arlesburgh Harbour

This part of the branch line is not really a station but it's worth noting that trains coming to and from Harwick have to go through this area of the harbour. There's not much other than having to slowly go through with becoming two lines with the track becoming tramways with the rails being in the stone ground. There's a large stone pier on the northern side of the River Arles which has a lighthouse and two tracks allow engines to go view the scenery. It's rare engines go on it and only do it for special occasions, other than that the pier is largely used by the public to look out at the scenery. There is also a key that goes into the water which helps loads and unloads small boats, this is also where Skiff's Seaside Tours goes from rails to sea and how they get out as well.

The railway then has to go across the bridge constructed recently for the branch line thats tall for ships coming to port to be able go through it and then reaches the southern side of the harbour, it then goes slightly up hill and connects with a single track that goes up higher than the branch line which can be used to lead to the pier and also use to go to the old Sodor Research facility which is now defunct and is considered off limits, due to mainly being a graveyard for engines, no rails go there now. Further east of the town you'll get to see the display of the pirate ship discovered in 1994.

Continuing on down the line, it'll reach another junction which would lead to the harbour which would have keys and some sidings for the railway. Fishing ships are mostly around here as well as a few small cargo ships that can't go to Tidmouth Harbour.

Arlesburgh West

Once a single platform, has now been reconstructed to have another two platforms added. These serve for both the Harwick and Little Western branch line, both connect with each other with their passenger services and share shed facilities here.

More information on Arlesburgh West in NWR: Little Western.