Don’t Fence Me In - By Ben Yates

THERE IS a wonder in having a simulator in which you can import (reasonably) accurate terrain data and satellite imagery that allows you to create the past, and get some sense of what it must have been like to travel on a long closed line in the past. Stainmore as a railway was documented in wonderful detail by the late Peter Walton in his book, and along with other authors and the archive of the NER Association we have little excuse for getting the details wrong.

Naturally, you’d thing that was the hard part of route building – but you’d be wrong. The greatest compliment to a route is that it “feels right” or “has the right atmosphere” – code I think for not looking like every other route out there, and having little details that you notice and that’s what we’ve been trying to achieve here. Grand custom buildings are all well and good, but they are unlikely to feature more than a few times in a route. Phil has gone for signal boxes and stations as the main eye candy, but to me what makes this look like a railway is how it relates to the landscape. This has always been at best a compromise ever since Kuju Rail Sim given the crude 6 m terrain mesh, but with some thought and scenic assets, cuttings and bridges can be accurately put in place.

An example of an accommodation bridge, this one being at Stainmore Summit

Stainmore’s engineer, Thomas Bouch, was known for his “economical” approach to railway navigation (read “slow and twisty”) and like his later work CKPR, Stainmore seems to have more bridges per mile than any other railway I have found. The majority of these are “accommodation” bridges – allowing access over or under the line between land that the railway severs.  We’ve used the NER Engineer’s line diagrams, old OS maps, satellite images and good old boot leather to get them all, and whilst driving you probably have at least 1 in sight at any one time.

Looking towards Bowes, fencing lining the railway boundary can be seen on the cutting sides

The other issue there is that the railway was required to be fenced off – I’d expect this was to ensure livestock didn’t stray onto the line, though some landowners may have viewed this as preventing rail staff from accessing their land!  The Rail Regulation Act 1842 section required that “All railway companies shall be under the same liability of obligation to erect, and to maintain and repair, good and sufficient fences throughout the whole of their respective lines… ” which survives in a close form to this day in the Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1997.

Extensive stone walling in the Bowes area

That’s a lot of fencing, but we now have all the lineside fencing in place, including linking in to all the accommodation bridges. A similar task is the miles and miles of dry stone walls and field boundaries either side of the line. I wanted this route to be one you could see the trains in the landscape from a distance, and not just one that looked right from the cab. Having terrain rising from the railway means this can be visible for quite a distance.

Walled boundaries and painted terrain really set the right tone for this scene with Belah in the background

If the next route is on a coast, you’ll understand why!

The scene at Belah is complete thanks to those finer details having been put in place