Ilkley Cara-Cars and the Miniature Railway
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buffaloskinner
- Posts: 1448
- Joined: Sun 01 Apr, 2007 6:02 pm
- Location: Nova Scotia
Found this picture from the early 50’s, now I know where Cara-Cars in Ilkley was but where was Wharfedale Railway? I have never heard of it.
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Is this the end of the story ...or the beginning of a legend?
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Patexpat
- Posts: 130
- Joined: Fri 06 Jun, 2008 7:34 am
buffaloskinner wrote: Found this picture from the early 50’s, now I know where Cara-Cars in Ilkley was but where was Wharfedale Railway? I have never heard of it. Especially as in the 1950's everything was nationalised. There was - and still is - a railway in Wharfedale - currently the Bolton Abbey-Embsay steam railway. Way back in railway madness days there was a proposal for a Wharfedale railway (1846?) that was the forerunner of the now Embsay and Bolton Abbey steam railway ...Would be really interested if there was a private railway in Wharfedale in the 1950's! A quarry railway perhaps?
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jim
- Posts: 1898
- Joined: Sun 17 May, 2009 10:09 am
In the 1940s and 1950s I remember Caracars had a passeger carrying miniature railway to the left/west of the then main building. Within the building was displayed a 5" or 7 1/4" gauge L1 with a plaque saying it held the record for continuous running for a small scale live steam model. I believe that "visiting" locomotives also appeared. The running track was an oval, and I was always impressed by the track which led from the building to the oval as it ran across the upper section of a five barred gate. Round the track were a selection of appropriately small sized trees which outlived the railway by many years.I last rode on it in 1948 or 1949, and my memory may be faulty in the detail, but I think I've got most of it right.