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The Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway was one of the original standard-gauge railways on the Island, being horse-worked originally from its opening in 1885. It extended to Tidmouth which would later become the North Western Railway's headquarters from 1925.

History[]

The origins of the line date back to when the Ulfstead Mining Company expressed interest in the materials to be found near Toryreck, but the fenlands and the instable condition of the River Els presented prohibtions in getting it down to Knapford. The drainage firm A. W. Dry came over and engineered embankments across the flatlands. A lightly-built line was laid from a wharf just outside Elsbridge, taking the course of the embankments to reach the harbour at Knapford. Dredging detail at Knapford ended up proving a nightmare, and so in 1905 the extension to Tidmouth was built around the coastline.

With the longer run, A. W. Dry-employed Topham Hatt was drafted in to oversee construction of two light locomotives. These were produced with vertical boilers and thus became known as "Coffee Pots". Their chasses were constructed by a firm in Tidmouth to Topham Hatt's design, and at least one was said to have reused a donkey-engine taken from an old sea-vessel.

In 1908, a storm swept away the coastal trackbed, which put a hammerblow to operations. A. W. Dry assisted the Ulfstead Mining Co. in putting up the cost and manual labour to build a replacement tunnel, once again overseen by Topham Hatt. The new line to Tidmouth was inaugurated in July 1910, along with a roadside extension into Elsbridge.

In 1912, the railway amalgamated with the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway to become the Tidmouth, Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, with Topham Hatt keeping his position. The amalgamation arrangements ended up being the first stage of the merging into the North Western Railway just two years later. The "Coffee Pots" lingered as power for the original Knapford-Elsbridge section, while the line into Tidmouth became part of The Main Line.

When the Elsbridge branch was extended into the hills in 1925, the "Coffee Pots" found employment on the Quarry Tramroad, but there were stories of runaway trains due to their insufficient braking power, and a terrible accident involving one of them. They were purportedly both still around at the time Toby arrived to take over.

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