109-783: The Henley branch line is a branch railway line between Twyford in Berkshire and Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire . It was built by the Great Western Railway in 1857. Train services are provided by the present day Great Western Railway train operating company . The railway provides access to the River Thames and the Thames Path and is heavily used during the Henley Royal Regatta . It
218-685: A 1,664 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge of five Portuguese feet – close enough to allow interoperability in practice. The new high-speed network in Spain and Portugal uses standard gauge. The dual-gauge high-speed train RENFE Class 130 can change gauge at low speed without stopping. The 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) gauge was first used in Great Britain in Scotland for two short, isolated lines,
327-656: A " slip " at Twyford) on Wednesday nights only, by the 12.10 midnight. The 8.50 a.m. up branch train from Henley, which meets a direct fast to Paddington at Twyford, also works through vehicles to London. In the opposite direction there is a through train from Reading at 10.13 a.m., in connection with expresses from Wolverhampton (slip at 9.43) and Cheltenham (slip at 9.56), returning from Henley at 5.55 p.m., "reversing", of course, at Twyford. From 1900 there were further new direct expresses non-stop to and from Paddington in 50 minutes; by 1902 there were five through trains from Paddington, one of them slipped at Twyford. About 20 trains
436-509: A Bill for the branch line was passed on 22 July 1847. It is likely that the Great Western Railway proposed the branch line as a tactical measure to exclude proposed railways from what was their intended exclusive area of influence. The financial situation became very difficult in the following years with money difficult to raise, lessening GWR's desire to build the line. In 1852 the possibility of incursion by competing companies
545-707: A century about the practicability of third rail operation, and numerous devices have been promoted to overcome the problem, especially at turnouts, including the "Brennan Switch". This gauge was once used by the United Railways and Electric Company and the MTA Maryland and is now used only by the Baltimore Streetcar Museum . As finally established, the Iberian gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in )
654-510: A common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of the greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads
763-542: A day ran each way on the branch for most of the twentieth century. A new station at Wargrave opened on 1 October 1900 with two 500-foot (150 m) platforms; a new road from the station site to the village had to be built. The old 45-foot (14 m) turntable at Henley was proving inadequate as engine dimensions increased, and a new 55-foot (17 m) turntable was brought into use in 1903. The station canopies at Henley had been 100 feet (30 m) in length, but in 1904 another 200 feet (61 m) were added to those on
872-627: A gauge of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) but Luas , the Dublin light rail system, is built to standard gauge. Russia and the other former Soviet Republics use a 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in ) (originally 5 ft ( 1,524 mm )) gauge while Finland continues to use the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge inherited from the Russian Empire (the two standards are close enough to allow full interoperability between Finland and Russia). Portugal and
981-410: A kind of roar which developed into, "Now, all together, over," with a grunt like a miner's, when he brings his sledge down on the drill. Directly the train had passed, every one was alive. Each inspector had four gangs of five and twenty men in his mile. Two of the twenty five went ahead knocking out the fastening, two pairs followed cutting the transoms which had already been marked, and two more followed
1090-467: A law stating "The width of the track or gauge of all roads under this act, shall be four feet ten inches between the rails." When American railroads' track extended to the point that they began to interconnect, it became clear that a single nationwide gauge was desirable. Six-foot-gauge railroads ( 6 ft [ 1,829 mm ]) had developed a large regional following in New York State in
1199-464: A mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around the world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were
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#17327726151901308-533: A modified Siemens Velaro High Speed Train on its flagship St Petersburg to Moscow service at 250 km/h (160 mph) and can run at 350 km/h (220 mph) on dedicated track. The country is planning to build its portion of the Beijing to Moscow high speed railway in broad gauge. Finland uses a modified Alstom pendolino on the Allegro service to Helsinki at 220 km/h (140 mph). Uzbekistan uses
1417-642: A modified Talgo 250 on the Tashkent–Bukhara high-speed rail line at 250 km/h (160 mph). South Asia primarily uses the broad gauge for its passenger rail services and the fastest broad gauge train presently in the region is the Indian Railways' Vande Bharat Express (a.k.a. Train 18) . During one of the trial runs, the Vande Bharat Express achieved a peak speed of 180 km/h (110 mph). The sustained speeds of this train
1526-522: A more important through route, usually a main line . A very short branch line may be called a spur line . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on
1635-578: A period of 36 hours, tens of thousands of workers pulled the spikes from the west rail of all the broad-gauge lines in the South, moved them 3 in (76 mm) east and spiked them back in place. The new gauge was close enough that standard-gauge equipment could run on it without difficulty. By June 1886, all major railroads in North America were using approximately the same gauge. The final conversion to true standard gauge took place gradually as track
1744-823: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
1853-406: A single-line branch, seems almost to be on a short main line of its own, since no less than seven down trains from London (all fast or semi-fast) now make it their terminal point, with no shunting or delay at Twyford; four up trains, all fast, start from Henley for Paddington. The best of these in each direction is, of course, the new direct express, with no intermediate stop, which now runs seven days
1962-531: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
2071-433: A switch at the entrance point of the route and a pushbutton at its exit. Track, signal, point, and other miscellaneous indications are also shown on the panel in the usual way. For reasons of economy, all points and facing point locks are worked manually from the existing lever frame, from which all the mechanical interlocking has been removed. Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off
2180-489: A temporary wooden terminus at Twyford on 1 July 1839, extending to Reading on 30 March 1840. Twyford was the nearest station to Henley, but customary transport routes using the River Thames continued in use for the time being. Meanwhile a number of railway schemes to connect the town were put forward, but the most realistic was from the Great Western Railway itself, and after a rejection in the 1846 session of Parliament,
2289-457: A week. There was a down non-stop train leaving Paddington at 10:00 am weekdays, 10:05 am on Sundays, and making the journey in 50 minutes; in the up direction it left Henley at 9:15 pm weekdays, 9:00 pm on Sundays, and with a stop at Westbourne Park made the journey in 52 minutes. Besides this excellent express and the through trains above-named, through coaches are worked from Paddington on two other trains daily, and also (by
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#17327726151902398-466: A year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from the Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that
2507-418: Is a compromise between the similar, but slightly different, gauges first adopted as respective national standards in Spain and Portugal in the mid-19th century. The main railway networks of Spain were initially constructed to a 1,672 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 13 ⁄ 16 in ) gauge of six Castilian feet. Those of Portugal were initially built in standard gauge, but by 1864 were all converted to
2616-592: Is at 06:05 and the last train back at 00:18. The Saturday service is also half-hourly until around 20:15, after which a largely hourly service is operated. This is also the case with the Sunday service, with half-hourly services until 19:15. Additional services are provided during Henley Regatta at the beginning of July, with longer trains. All services are operated by Great Western Railway (GWR), using Class 165 and 166 Turbo diesel multiple units. Upon completion of electrification, Class 387 trains will be used, while
2725-455: Is considerably lower, with a peak operational speed of 160 km/h and an average speed of 95 km/h, due to track limitations. Indian Railways has plans to introduce a higher speed Vande Bharat sleeper train that is capable of 200 km/h, but the project has encountered delays stemming from bids for rolling-stocks with poor local sourcing. A number of semi high speed railway projects using broad gauge tracks are being planned or built in
2834-489: Is done by means of computor [sic] techniques using arrangements of plug-in electronic "bogie" units, in which transistors and magnetic cores perform "logical" switching operations. There are no magnetic relays of conventional type... The installation at Henley is operated from a mosaic-type signalling panel, of the pattern already standard on the Western Region, controlling 36 routes on the "entrance-exit" principle with
2943-630: Is mainly used in Finland . Broad gauge of 1,600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ), commonly known as Irish gauge , is the dominant track gauge in Ireland , the Australian state of Victoria and Adelaide in South Australia and passenger trains of Brazil . Broad gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ), commonly known as Iberian gauge , is
3052-651: Is sometimes referred to as the Regatta Line , and was branded as such by First Great Western and Oxfordshire County Council in 2006. At periods other than the Regatta, many of the line's users are commuters to London, and students attending the nearby Henley College . From a junction with the Great Western Main Line at Twyford railway station , the line turns north and goes under the A4 main road ;
3161-567: Is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on a single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout
3270-783: Is still used on the streetcars in New Orleans , and the Pittsburgh Light Rail system. This gauge was also used for the now defunct Pittsburgh Railways , West Penn Railways , and trams in Cincinnati . Similar 5 ft 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 1,581 mm ) gauge is used in Philadelphia on SEPTA routes, 15 , the Media–Sharon Hill Line , the Subway–Surface Trolleys and
3379-501: Is the second most widely used gauge in the world, and spans the whole of the former Soviet Union/ CIS bloc including the Baltic states and Mongolia. Finland uses 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ). The difference is clearly lower than the tolerance margin, so through running is feasible. Care must be taken when servicing international trains because the wear profile of the wheels differs from that of trains that run on domestic tracks only. When
Henley branch line - Misplaced Pages Continue
3488-656: The Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum (Dutch Railway Museum) in Utrecht. These replicas were built for the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Railways in 1938–39. The erstwhile Great Indian Peninsula Railway introduced a broad gauge of 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) for the first passenger railway line in India, between Bori Bunder and Thane . This was later adopted as the standard throughout
3597-533: The 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge was officially adopted as the standard gauge for the Province of Canada , becoming known as the Provincial gauge and government subsidies were unavailable for railways that chose other gauges. This caused problems in interchanging freight cars with northern United States railroads, most of which were built to standard gauge or a gauge similar to it. In
3706-532: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
3815-582: The Dundee and Arbroath Railway (1836-1847) and the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (1838- ). Both the lines were subsequently converted to standard gauge and connected to the Scottish rail network. Later this gauge was adopted as a standard for many British colonies such as Province of Canada and British India . In 1851, the 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge was officially adopted as
3924-753: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
4033-1048: The Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with the short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
4142-537: The Market–Frankford Line . Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in the San Francisco Bay Area was opened in 1972 with 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) gauge. The system has been extended multiple times since then, using new railcars custom built with this non-standard gauge. The use of a non-standard gauge precludes interoperability of rolling stock on railway networks. On
4251-788: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
4360-704: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
4469-608: The list of New Zealand railway lines . Broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) used by standard-gauge railways . Broad gauge of 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in ), more known as Russian gauge , is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ( CIS states , Baltic states , Georgia , Ukraine ) and Mongolia . Broad gauge of 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ), commonly known as Five foot gauge ,
Henley branch line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-463: The regatta . In fact the double track consisted of a new single line and the old single line. After the regatta, the original single line was taken out of use and the operation on the branch reverted temporarily to single-line working on the new track, while the old single line was modernised. The work was finally completed on 11 July 1898. In 1898 a writer described the new train services at Henley: Since May 1st of this year, Henley, until lately on
4687-466: The 1870s (mainly between 1872 and 1874), Canadian broad-gauge lines were changed to standard gauge to facilitate interchange and the exchange of rolling stock with American railroads. Today, almost all Canadian railways are standard-gauge. In the early days of rail transport in the US, railways tended to be built out from coastal cities into the hinterland , and systems did not initially connect. Each builder
4796-606: The 1960s. Finland retained the original gauge with no re-standardisation. As part of the railway gauge standardisation considered by the United Kingdom Parliamentary Gauge Commission, Ireland was allocated its own gauge, Irish gauge. Ireland then had three gauges, and the new standard would be a fourth. The Irish gauge of 1,600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ) is used in Ireland and parts of Australia and Brazil. A problem with
4905-585: The British Great Western Railway the 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) gauge was supposed to allow high speed, but the company had difficulty with locomotive design in the early years, losing much of the advantage, and rapid advances in railway track and suspension technology allowed standard-gauge speeds to approach broad-gauge speeds within a decade or two. On the 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) and 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) gauges,
5014-674: The Dutch state, but soon by the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij (NRS), for its Amsterdam–Utrecht–Arnhem line. But the neighbouring countries Prussia and Belgium already used standard gauge, so the two companies had to regauge their first lines. In 1855, NRS regauged its line and shortly afterwards connected to the Prussian railways. The HSM followed in 1866. There are replicas of one broad-gauge 2-2-2 locomotive ( De Arend ) and three carriages in
5123-933: The Erie. These included the Walkill Valley, the Albany and Susquehanna (later part of the Delaware and Hudson); the Elmira, Jefferson & Canandaigua (later the Northern Central, becoming part of the Pennsylvania Railroad); the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western mainline (which also had a significant amount of trackage in Pennsylvania); predecessor lines of the New York and Oswego Midland (later
5232-460: The Finnish rail network was founded in 1862, Finland was the Grand Duchy of Finland , an autonomic state ruled by the Imperial Russia . The first border crossing railway to Russia was opened in 1870, while the first to Sweden was not until 1919, so railways were built to the broad Russian track gauge of 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ). In Russia, this gauge was re-standardized to 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in ) during
5341-416: The Irish Gauge in Australia is that it is only 165 mm ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) wider than the standard gauge used in other parts of Australia, principally New South Wales . Therefore, it is not considered advisable to use a third rail to allow dual-gauge operation on mainline sections of track, because of the danger of material lodging between the two rails. There has been argument for well over
5450-567: The New York and Erie would operate passenger cars up to 11 feet (3.4 m) wide. Building westward from the Hudson River, it eventually reached Lake Erie, establishing a mainline longer than 400 miles (640 km) providing a shortcut to the American Midwest region from the New York City vicinity, and helping spawn a regional network of six-foot-gauge railroads almost exclusively within New York State. Many early New York railways were Erie railroad-built branch lines, while others were independent railroads that wanted to partner and interchange with
5559-429: The New York, Ontario, and Western); and the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls (later becoming part of the New York Central railroad's Peanut Route along the shoreline of Lake Ontario). However, by the late 1870s, the trend was inevitable, and conversion to standard gauge began, some lines first becoming "dual gauged" with the addition of a third running rail. Between 1876 and 1880, most of the remaining six-foot gauge trackage
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#17327726151905668-435: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
5777-525: The Spanish Renfe system use a gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ) called Ancho Ibérico in Spanish or Bitola Ibérica in Portuguese (see Iberian gauge ); though there are plans to convert to standard gauge . In Toronto , Canada, the gauge for TTC subways and streetcars was chosen in 1861. Toronto adopted a unique Toronto gauge of 4 ft 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 in ( 1,495 mm ), an "overgauge" originally stated to "allow horse-drawn wagons to use
5886-417: The Turbos will be displaced to other parts of the GWR network. Henley had long flourished due to its location on the River Thames , and the road bridge there which formed a focus of road traffic. By the seventeenth century it was an established coaching stop, and it was only in the railway age that the dominance of the town was brought into question. The Great Western Railway opened its main line as far as
5995-421: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
6104-469: The United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve a certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as
6213-426: The Up platform. The Great Western Railway developed a system referred to as Automatic train control (ATC). In its developed form it gave drivers an audible and visual indication in the cab of the aspect of a distant signal as it was approached or passed. If a warning was given and not acknowledged by the driver, the train brakes would be applied. Track equipment near the distant signals operated detection equipment on
6322-408: The additional costs of train procurement, due to the essential modifications of the rolling-stock for the broad gauge, from European rolling-stock manufacturers such as Alstom or Siemens would be softened through a large minimum order size of at least thirty train sets. A considerable debate has continued about the suitability of the high speed rail on standard gauge for the Indian travel demands and
6431-481: The adoption of one engine in steam working, There was a separate bay platform for branch trains at Twyford, approached by a sharp curve; there was one intermediate station at Shiplake . The line opened to the public on Monday 1 June 1857. It had cost £79,000 to build (a considerable overspend), and the local people had only subscribed £9,575. The first train was hauled by a 2-4-0T engine named Virgo . The initial timetable allowed for five return trains daily. By 1858
6540-426: The approach to Twyford, which is 25 mph (40 km/h). This line is 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (7.2 km) long and is not currently electrified . Electrification of the branch was announced in July 2012 and was started in April 2015; as of that time, markings have been placed next to the track where the overhead wire masts are to go and a significant number of trees have been trimmed or removed; re-signalling
6649-446: The clearance beneath the truss is maximised. There were 16 approach spans between 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m) and 32 ft (9.8 m) span. It was replaced by a masonry and iron structure between 1895 and 1898. Lashbrook Viaduct was 270 feet (82 m) in length; it was replaced at the same time as the Thames bridge. Wargrave flood arches consisted of seven 10 ft (3 m) spans; also replaced between 1895 and 1898; it
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#17327726151906758-492: The cost of construction led to the adoption of 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) gauge and then 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ) and 2 ft ( 610 mm ) narrow gauges for many secondary and branch lines. In the later part of the 20th century, due to interchangeability and maintenance issue, the railways in each of the countries in the Indian Subcontinent began to convert all metre-gauge and narrow-gauge lines to this gauge. Today,
6867-436: The country, as it was thought to be safer in areas prone to cyclones and flooding. The 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) gauge is now commonly referred to as Indian gauge . While some initial freight railway lines in India were built using standard gauge , most of the standard and narrow gauge railways have since been dismantled and relaid in broad gauge. Ireland and some states in Australia and Brazil have
6976-508: The dominant track gauge in Spain and Portugal . Broad gauge of 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ), commonly known as Indian gauge , is the dominant track gauge in India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka , Argentina , Chile , and on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in the San Francisco Bay Area . This is the widest gauge in common use anywhere in the world. It is possible for trains on both Iberian gauge and Indian gauge to travel on each other's tracks with no modifications in
7085-438: The electric pump. The boom in railway use at Henley declined after World War II , and the line was reduced to single track in two stages on 11 and 20 June 1961. In 1962 a pioneering solid state interlocking was installed on the branch. The Railway Magazine carried a description of the new signalling equipment: A new signalling installation, believed to be the first in the world to include electronic interlocking equipment,
7194-457: The extra width allowed bigger inside cylinders and greater power, a problem solvable by using outside cylinders and higher steam pressure on standard gauge. In the end, the most powerful engines on standard gauge in North America and Scandinavia far exceeded the power of any early broad-gauge locomotive, but then met limits set by other factors such as the capacity of manual stoking, the axle (and total) locomotive weight that would trigger upgrades to
7303-444: The first part of the 19th century, due to the influence of the New York and Erie , one of the early pioneering railroads in America, chartered in 1832, with its first section opening in 1841. The builders and promoters decided that a six-foot track gauge would be needed for locomotives to be larger and more powerful than were in general use at the time, for pulling very large trains. Also the six-foot gauge provided greater stability, and
7412-432: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
7521-461: The first station is at Wargrave . From there, the line crosses the River Thames into Oxfordshire and proceeds to Shiplake , the second stop on the line. Finally it continues to the town of Henley-on-Thames , where the line terminates. The speed limit is 50 mph (80 km/h) along most of line, except for the Shiplake bridge , which is 30 mph (48 km/h) for multiple units (10 mph (16 km/h) for any other type of train), and
7630-400: The former GWR lines were now part of British Railways . There was a water tower at Henley to provide steam engine water, and for many years it had been powered by steam from a locomotive given that duty. In 1950 an electric pump system was installed, but on regatta days a steam engine was stationed there to pump water as the many visiting engines all requiring water overwhelmed the capacity of
7739-405: The gauge conversion wrote about it: I found myself at nine o'clock one evening in the company of two permanent way inspectors in a packer's hut midway between Twyford and Henley. The slopes of the railway were covered with men, but all one could hear was the distant sound of an engine shunting in Henley station yard. At length there came a whistle and we could hear the approaching train, followed by
7848-629: The gauge with the greatest mileage. Railways which had already received their enabling Act would continue at the 7 ft gauge. Ireland, using the same criteria, was allocated a different standard gauge, the Irish gauge , of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) which is also used in the Australian states of South Australia and Victoria. Broad-gauge lines in Britain were gradually converted to dual gauge or standard gauge from 1864 and finally
7957-703: The high speed rail on the standard gauge over the broad gauge, for cost sensitive rail markets in South Asia, especially in India. This gauge is used by the Toronto streetcar system and the Toronto subway This gauge was first used in the United Kingdom and the United States before it became the standard gauge for most railways in the former Soviet Union. Russian gauge or CIS gauge 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in )
8066-573: The last of Brunel's broad gauge was converted over a weekend in 1892. In 1839, the Netherlands started its railway system with two broad-gauge railways. The chosen gauge of 1,945 mm ( 6 ft 4 + 9 ⁄ 16 in ) was applied between 1839 and 1866 by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) for its Amsterdam–The Hague–Rotterdam line and between 1842 and 1855, firstly by
8175-546: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
8284-468: The line ended some distance south of that place.) The Bill for time extension was presented to Parliament and it received the Royal Assent on 4 August 1853; it included powers to raise additional capital. The line was to be a single line, although bridges and earthworks were to be constructed for later doubling. (This was not actually done.) The track gauge was to be the broad gauge , consistent with
8393-429: The line was curved and the rails had to be cut in many places. At 4 a.m. we were about again, but there was not sufficient light for an hour to lift and pack the rails, though we managed to get a train through by eight o' clock. In this period Henley was gaining increasing ascendancy as a favourite leisure resort, and also as a residential area. This brought considerable traffic, and began to pose operating difficulties for
8502-436: The locomotive wore out in 1913. The gauge initially proposed by Brunel was 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ) exactly but this was soon increased by 1 ⁄ 4 in (6 mm) to 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) to accommodate clearance problems identified during early testing. George Stephenson was to add an extra half inch to his original 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge for
8611-532: The locomotive. The prototype system was trialled on the Henley branch at the end of 1905. The system was found to be successful, and in due course it was implemented all over the GWR system. In 1910 there had been twenty passenger trains each way every weekday on the line, and seven on Sundays. By 1922 this had been increased to 34 down and 30 up with 14 and 15 respectively on Sundays. A railmotor service from Reading
8720-488: The main gang refixing the bolts and straps. By midnight the line on our two miles had been slewed in from 7 feet 0 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches to the 4 feet 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches gauge, and we retired to our hut to feed and, as we hoped, to sleep. But not so; one of the inspectors, being of the opinion that if we did not keep awake we should catch cold, threw a fog signal into the fire and we promptly moved out. I then walked towards Twyford, where progress had been slower, as
8829-457: The main line at Twyford. Colonel Yolland of the Board of Trade carried out the necessary inspection for approval for opening, on 25 May 1857. The condition of the line was good, except that the station buildings were incomplete and a turntable was still to be finished, and Yolland recommended that approval for opening be given, subject to the use of tank engines in the absence of the turntable, and
8938-455: The matter with the Chairman of the GWR, and the outcome of that meeting was that the GWR agreed to build the line if the townspeople themselves contributed £15,000; if they did so the line would be built and 3% on their subscriptions would be guaranteed by the GWR. A subscription list was opened and about half the required subscription was taken; but the local people also requested a change in
9047-527: The nationwide rail network in Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Nepal is entirely on this gauge, whereas India , under Project Unigauge , and Bangladesh are still undergoing gauge conversion. This gauge is the widest gauge in regular passenger use in the world. Some railways in the United States were laid with a gauge of 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ). The Gualala River Railroad operated 5 feet 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (1,740 mm) tracks for
9156-481: The planned course of the line to run on a more westerly alignment, to enable a direct approach to the Market Place. This risked delay while the line was resurveyed, and time was already tight to achieve deposition of a Bill in the 1853 session. Accordingly it was agreed that the originally intended route should be held to. (The deposited plans showed the termination of the line as being at Friday Street, but in fact
9265-475: The platforms, responding to the very considerable increase in patronage as Henley town developed as a Thames resort In July 1896 the decision was taken to double the line, at an estimated cost of £21,275; as part of the work Shiplake station was provided with an island platform. The works were inspected by Colonel York of the Board of Trade on 12 July 1897 and opened as a double line on 14 July 1897, just in time for
9374-523: The possible exclusion of the existing rail network in India. The recent discussions around the Kerala semi-high speed rail has highlighted the limitations of high speed rail on broad gauge. Since most of the global high speed rail infrastructure is built using the standard gauge, the cost benefits of using off-the-shelf rolling-stocks with minimal customizations and the availability of extensive, well proven technical know-how, are significant factors in favor of
9483-481: The public timetable showed seven weekday and three Sunday passenger trains each way, and by 1868 the service timetable showed seven passenger trains and a goods trains every weekday, and on Sundays four passenger trains each way. There were three timber viaducts on the line: the most important was the Thames crossing between Wargrave and Shiplake; it was constructed of three main spans of 40 feet using A-frames by which
9592-600: The rails and bridges, the maximum wheelbase and/or boiler length compatible with an individual route's curves. In the 1930s German engineering studies focused on a Breitspurbahn system of railways of 3 meter gauge to serve Hitler's future German Empire. Spain uses standard gauge track for its high speed railways in order to provide cross-border services with France and the rest of Western Europe, but runs high speed trains on its legacy broad gauge network at 200 km/h (120 mph) and are developing trains to travel at speeds in excess of 250 km/h (160 mph). Russia uses
9701-445: The rails" on the horse-drawn streetcar lines of the day but with the practical effect of precluding the use of standard-gauge equipment in the street. The Toronto Transit Commission still operates the Toronto streetcar system and three heavy-rail subway lines using this unique gauge. The light metro Scarborough RT and two light rail lines under construction ( Eglinton Crosstown line and Finch West ) use standard gauge. In 1851,
9810-632: The railway. In 1881 the platforms at Henley were extended in length, and additional siding accommodation was provided. The timber buildings of Shiplake station were destroyed in a disastrous fire on 26 August 1891. The main line in the area had become seriously congested, and an additional two tracks were installed, on the south side of the line. This "quadrupling" was opened for goods trains in November 1892 and for passenger trains on 30 April 1893. In 1894 Henley-in-Arden station (in Warwickshire )
9919-572: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
10028-509: The region, with sustained speeds of 200 km/h with future-proofing for 250 km/h. India's current high speed railway project is being built on the standard gauge due to limitations imposed by the Japanese consortium funding the project, however the feasibility reports by both the French and German consultants preferred a broad gauge high speed railway. These European reports stated that
10137-507: The requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to a larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than
10246-602: The same reason. While the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was initially prepared to authorise lines built to the broad gauge of 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ), it was eventually rejected by the Gauge Commission in favour of all new railways in England, Wales and Scotland being built to standard gauge of 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ), this being
10355-427: The standard gauge for the Province of Canada , becoming known as the Provincial gauge , and government subsidies were unavailable for railways that chose other gauges. In the 1870s, mainly between 1872 and 1874, Canadian broad-gauge lines were changed to standard gauge to facilitate interchange and the exchange of rolling stock with American railways. Today, all Canadian railways are standard-gauge. In US, this gauge
10464-430: The vast majority of cases. In Great Britain , broad gauge was first used in Scotland for the Dundee and Arbroath Railway (1836–1847) and the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (1838–1848). Both short and isolated lines, they were built in 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ). The lines were subsequently converted to standard gauge and connected to the emerging Scottish rail network. The Great Western Railway
10573-430: Was adopted for many lines, but soon fell out in favour of standard gauge. Today, only California's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) uses this gauge. In British India , some standard gauge freight railways were built in initial period, though they were dismantled later. Later, in the 1850s, the gauge of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) was adopted as standard for the nationwide network. Attempts to economize on
10682-504: Was again in evidence and the powers for construction were due to expire in 1854, so the GWR made application for an extension of time. Interested parties in Henley were growing impatient at the lack of progress toward connecting their town to the railway network, and a meeting was held on 28 October 1852, chaired by the Mayor of Henley, at which it was urged that the railway should be built without delay. A deputation went to Paddington to press
10791-401: Was also carried out during this time. This is in conjunction with the electrification of the Great Western Main Line . It was announced on 8 November 2016 that the electrification of the branch was being delayed, without a revised forecast date. The current (2022) passenger train service pattern on the line provides trains at about 30 minute intervals off peak. The first train out from Henley
10900-492: Was brought into use recently at Henley-on Thames... The branch was reduced to single track, with a passing loop at Shiplake in 1961. The line is continuously track circuited, and there are acceptance switches or levers at Twyford, Shiplake, and Henley. The equipment is designed to perform the basic functions of railway signalling apparatus by controlling the interlocking of signals, so that correct distances are maintained between trains that follow or cross or approach each other. This
11009-554: Was converted. In 1886, the railways in the Southern United States agreed to coordinate changing gauge on all their tracks. After considerable debate and planning, most of the southern rail network was converted from 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge to 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) gauge, nearly the standard of the Pennsylvania Railroad , over two days beginning on 31 May 1886. Over
11118-443: Was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1838 with a gauge of 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ), and retained this gauge until 1892. Some harbours also used railways of this gauge for construction and maintenance. These included Portland Harbour and Holyhead Breakwater, which used a locomotive for working sidings . As it was not connected to the national network, this broad-gauge operation continued until
11227-617: Was free to choose its own gauge, although the availability of British-built locomotives encouraged some railways to be built to standard gauge. As a general rule, southern railways were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), while northern railroads that were not standard gauge tended to be narrow gauge. Most of the original track in Ohio was built in 4 ft 10 in ( 1,473 mm ) Ohio gauge , and special "compromise cars" were able to run on both this track and standard gauge track. In 1848, Ohio passed
11336-504: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
11445-450: Was introduced in 1914, and later this was changed to an auto-trailer with an 0-4-2T locomotive. The through trains to London were generally worked by main line tender engines, in later years of the Hall or Castle class. The first AEC diesel railcar of the GWR operated some trips on the line on or after 5 February 1934. The railways of Great Britain were taken into national ownership in 1948;
11554-410: Was maintained. Some North American tram (streetcar) lines intentionally deviated from standard gauge. This may have been to make the tram companies less tempting targets for takeovers by the steam railways (or competing tram companies), which would be unable to run their trains over the tram tracks. Pennsylvania trolley gauge of 5 ft 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,588 mm ),
11663-406: Was opened, and to avoid confusion, Henley station was renamed Henley-on-Thames from 1 January 1895. There had been some difficulties with the undulating gradient on the line as originally constructed, and in 1895 works were carried out between Twyford and Shiplake to improve matters. In the same year further work was carried out at Henley-on-Thames providing further siding accommodation and extending
11772-502: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
11881-411: Was then constructed with three brick spans and from that time became known as Wargrave viaduct. There was also a timber overbridge on the line at Wargrave Lane, rebuilt in 1894. It was becoming plain that the broad gauge was to be changed to the use of narrow gauge, later called standard gauge . The gauge conversion was carried out in a single night, on 24 and 25 March 1876. An engineer involved in
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