The History of the Merrytwit Light Railway
as told to Mr Ian Thomas
Before the Railway
Lord Twit of the Staffordshire Twits, liked to take a long Sunday walk into the countryside after a heavy Sunday lunch. This gave him time to think and also to pay some attention to a very pretty Shepherdess who lived a mile away from Twit Hall.
It was during one of these 'walks' that he found some curious rock, uncovered by a landslip caused by a typical English Summer. The rock was translucent with a pleasing golden glow and Lord Twit decided to investigate further, after he had paid his 'respects' to the young shepherdess.
Duty performed he returned to the rock with a borrowed hammer and a basket into which he proceeded to put a few chunks of broken rock into. He had no idea what he had found so he took the, now full, basket to his close friend Colonel Merry in the hope that the old soldier might have an idea what it was.
Merry Acres, the home of the Colonel, was a modest pile, and it was to here that Lord Twit was seen travelling by Lady Twit. She had wondered about her husbands whereabouts as he had failed to return home at his usual time. Curious as to what was in the basket that he carried she also beat a path to the Colonels humble abode.
She got there and was seen in by Mr Roberts, the Colonels batman, who directed her to the library (actually one of the bedrooms but the colonel liked to keep up the image of respectability). Upon entering she was greeted by the sight of her Husband and the Colonel licking pieces of strange looking stone, not a normal pastime for her husband it has to be said.
She inquired as to why they were doing this and she was offered a piece of the rock to try. She licked the rock with some trepidation to find it sweet and sticky.
'It's toffee' she said
'We know' said her husband 'I found a natural vein of it up on the Colonels land.'
Discussions now took place about what needed to be done.
'We need to mine it' said the Colonel
'Where will we take it?' Lord Twit asked
'Down to Port Twitmouth' said the Colonel 'and then by boat to the refinery'
'How do we get it out?' As Lady Twit.
'I had a couple of miners in my squad, I will contact them and see what they think'
And so the Merrytwit Treacle Ore Company was born.
The Lord and the Colonel quickly established the Associated Treacle Mine Tramway and, once contractors were found, work began building the line.
6 months later and the line was complete and worked for several years without too many problems,
Unfortunately the second world war intervened and the mining had to stop as the railway equipment was taken by the Army for use in the war effort.
Once hostilities had ceased the mining got underway again and the railway found itself some new locos and stock supplied by the MOD and included one of their original locos.
Unfortunately the war had seen the demise of Port Twitmouth as a couple of bombs and a serious case of silting up saw it unusable and so an alternative was sought.
The refinery that they used had also gone out of business as the owning family had been killed in the blitz. The refining equipment had come on the market as the estate was disposed of and the Merrytwit Company purchased it along with a load of narrow gauge railway equipment as used in their internal system. This track was then laid between the old Twitmouth terminus of the original Tramway into Twitington town where the new refinery was established next to the standard gauge line of the LMS.
The railway also received a new name becoming the Merrytwit Light Railway although the line from the mine to Twitmouth is still refered to as the Ore Tramway by the men who opperate it.
Passeneger services were quickly established from Twitington to Twitmouth and all stations between although the tramway did not warrant a passenger service as it only served the mines although a miners train does run to move the men from the mine to their homes.
It is about here that the model line is based in time.
It was during one of these 'walks' that he found some curious rock, uncovered by a landslip caused by a typical English Summer. The rock was translucent with a pleasing golden glow and Lord Twit decided to investigate further, after he had paid his 'respects' to the young shepherdess.
Duty performed he returned to the rock with a borrowed hammer and a basket into which he proceeded to put a few chunks of broken rock into. He had no idea what he had found so he took the, now full, basket to his close friend Colonel Merry in the hope that the old soldier might have an idea what it was.
Merry Acres, the home of the Colonel, was a modest pile, and it was to here that Lord Twit was seen travelling by Lady Twit. She had wondered about her husbands whereabouts as he had failed to return home at his usual time. Curious as to what was in the basket that he carried she also beat a path to the Colonels humble abode.
She got there and was seen in by Mr Roberts, the Colonels batman, who directed her to the library (actually one of the bedrooms but the colonel liked to keep up the image of respectability). Upon entering she was greeted by the sight of her Husband and the Colonel licking pieces of strange looking stone, not a normal pastime for her husband it has to be said.
She inquired as to why they were doing this and she was offered a piece of the rock to try. She licked the rock with some trepidation to find it sweet and sticky.
'It's toffee' she said
'We know' said her husband 'I found a natural vein of it up on the Colonels land.'
Discussions now took place about what needed to be done.
'We need to mine it' said the Colonel
'Where will we take it?' Lord Twit asked
'Down to Port Twitmouth' said the Colonel 'and then by boat to the refinery'
'How do we get it out?' As Lady Twit.
'I had a couple of miners in my squad, I will contact them and see what they think'
And so the Merrytwit Treacle Ore Company was born.
The Railway Begins
The mine was rapidly built and the first of the treacle ore came to the surface with the good news that the vein appeared to be substantial. Now there was the problem of getting the ore down to the docks. Lady Twit came to the rescue when she mentioned that her friend Lady Simpleton's husband had a Lard Quarry and that he moved the fat with a tramway operated by gravity to the docks and then using horse's to bring the empties back up the line.The Lord and the Colonel quickly established the Associated Treacle Mine Tramway and, once contractors were found, work began building the line.
6 months later and the line was complete and worked for several years without too many problems,
Unfortunately the second world war intervened and the mining had to stop as the railway equipment was taken by the Army for use in the war effort.
Once hostilities had ceased the mining got underway again and the railway found itself some new locos and stock supplied by the MOD and included one of their original locos.
Unfortunately the war had seen the demise of Port Twitmouth as a couple of bombs and a serious case of silting up saw it unusable and so an alternative was sought.
The refinery that they used had also gone out of business as the owning family had been killed in the blitz. The refining equipment had come on the market as the estate was disposed of and the Merrytwit Company purchased it along with a load of narrow gauge railway equipment as used in their internal system. This track was then laid between the old Twitmouth terminus of the original Tramway into Twitington town where the new refinery was established next to the standard gauge line of the LMS.
The railway also received a new name becoming the Merrytwit Light Railway although the line from the mine to Twitmouth is still refered to as the Ore Tramway by the men who opperate it.
Passeneger services were quickly established from Twitington to Twitmouth and all stations between although the tramway did not warrant a passenger service as it only served the mines although a miners train does run to move the men from the mine to their homes.
It is about here that the model line is based in time.
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