The Raji-Verse: Ballahoo & Kirk Ronan Railway (B&KR)

A History of the Ballahoo & Kirk Ronan Railway.

In 1857, the towns of Crovan's Gate and Ballahoo would come together in an agreement to form a railway company, with future plans of expanding to the mainland at Vickerstown (later Vicarstown) and to the port of Kirk Ronan. Construction of this new railway line would start in August of 1858 and last until March of 1860, with a double track mainline between Crovan's Gate and Ballahoo, while a single-track line was laid to Kirk Ronan, being single track in order to save on costs and to get the railway up and running almost immediately.

The first three engines on the line were two Neilson box tanks, and the third engine being a former Furness Railway Class A2 0-4-0 tender engine, which was acquired by a board member. The two box tanks were named Clive and Neil respectively, while the A2 was named Crovan. It was reported that both box tanks were friendly and hardworking, while the tender engine was known to be rather snobbish, but after an accident in 1863 involving running into an empty coach and nearly telescoping into it, he turned a new leaf.

In 1865, the Crovan's Gate Mining Company would be formed, later named the Skarloey Railway, and began contracting the Ballahoo & Kirk Ronan Railway in taking stone from Crovan's Gate to Killdane for export, which turned out to be a very profitable venture for both companies, as the B&KR would receive about 43% of the profits made from these frequent trains. As a result of this, the B&KR would buy an older, but very strong Sturrock 0-6-0 tender engine, a rather odd engine with powered tender wheels, but would prove to be a very good runner. While the Great Northern Railway had issues with this type of engine due to it being overpowered, the B&KR found the engine, named Ronan, would be able to traverse 40 car trains full of both slate and ore easy between Crovan's Gate and Kirk Ronan's harbor. This new addition to the railway would allow both Neilson box tanks to proceed onto the B&KR's next venture.

Ballahoo & Kirk Ronan Railway's next expansion would be linking Ballahoo with Vicarstown, and to the mainland beyond the Walney Channel, a waterway dividing Sodor from the mainland Great Britain. Starting in May 1869, it would take until August 1870 for this extension to be completed, while at the same time reinforcing and improving existence infrastructure and tracks to accommodate different ventures in future. It was at this time the B&KR acquired its fifth engine; an Andrew & Barclay 0-4-0 saddle tank named Samson. Information around this engine is really rare because it only had a 3 month stay on the railway before it exploded in Vicarstown yard, destroying the locomotive beyond recognition and killing both crew instantly. It was found out that the driver would keep a close eye on how much steam Samson was using, almost never using the safety valve or cylinder to release steam, thus resulting in a boiler explosion on June 15th, 1871. Following this devastating loss of a locomotive, a turn table would be built upon the crater where the locomotive exploded, as well as a memorial on site for the engine and its crew. Interestingly, there IS reports of sightings of Samson around the station and along the mainline on late nights weeks following the accident, though it's not sure if these reports are true.

Despite the Ballahoo & Kirk Ronan's effort, it seemed that every time the railway wanted to build a bridge over the Walney Channel to connect to the mainland, trouble would find its way into the project. The first happened in February 1873, when the foundations sank into the ground. This was followed by the spans breaking and falling into the water in May of the same year. And finally, when the bridge was set up, it was blown down in a gale the next month. However, despite all these failures, the B&KR persevered, and eventually got a swing bridge up and running, finally connecting the railway to the Furness Railway over in the town of Barrow-In-Furness. This greatly helped the railway's financial state, which was hampered severely by the numerous bridge failures, and the Furness Railway sought to get running rights on the railway. However, the B&KR denied this request, following protests by towns along the line, stating that if the Furness Railway had running rights, they might take the railway away from the island. While the FR never got the rights, they did however set up a contract with the now renamed Skarloey Railway to receive shipments of ore from them over the B&KR, while the slate would continue to ship out through Kirk Ronan. To compensate for this new service, the Furness Railway would sell an D1 0-6-0 tender engine named Burn to the B&KR in 1875 to use. Along with this purchase, in 1876, the railway would start talks with the town of Peel Godred north on the island to expand the railway to the town and form a long connection of the railway. However, these plans fell through when the B&KR realized that the venture would be near impossible with the current equipment and money they had at the time. This reportedly soured relationships with the two towns, and the railway the town had at the time, though this is a topic for another day.

In 1880, the B&KR would make another purchase from the Great Northern Railway, this time in an Class No.1 4-2-2 Stirling Single named Emily. This was to fill a demand for a express service between Crovan's Gate and Barrow-In-Furness, which the engine fulfilled well, hauling 10 coach rakes at speeds of 70 miles per hour daily, making 6 round trips throughout the day.

The Furness Railway would once again buy for track rights, this time with the proposition of a line to the coastal town of Norramby southeast of Ballahoo. The FR proposed to allocate funds to build the line to the coastal town themselves, while also providing their own holiday service trains run by their own engines. Eventually, the Ballahoo and Kirk Ronan Railway would give in and sign the contract for this endeavor, which would start construction in January 1885, and the line being completed 5 months later, with the first train arriving at Norramby in time for the summer season. With the monthly payment for the track rights as well as payment for the running of trains, the B&KR got an exponential boost in income, which would then lead into the biggest expansion of the railway's history.

After coming back to the Peel Godred, as well as talks with the town of Killdane, the B&KR would begin their biggest expansion project starting in 1886 to build a line to the towns of Killdane and Peel Godred, as well as linking up existing towns along the route. Starting at the town of Kellsthorpe, the station was turned into a junction station as the line now starts to run west towards Balladrine, and eventually Killdane. The extension to Killdane took until 1889 to complete, as well as the purchase of a Midland Railway 2-4-0 1400 class engine named Horwich to help run trains along the line. With this new extension, the express service was now extended to Killdane, the number of trains ran per day not changing. However, after surveyors surveyed and mapped around the terrain of the land between Peel Godred and Killdane, it was determined that trains would be insufficient at running the proposed line due to the steep gradients that would be required to traverse the line. It was said that mayor of Peel Godred called the manager of the railway, "A lying-backstabbing piece of _______ ___-___ for leaving me up ___-creek without a _____ paddle!" Needless to say, all talks with the town and the B&KR would end following that.

Despite all of the expansions and new terminus' being set up long after the railway's opening, the railway company's name never changed during its lifetime.

In 1896, the railway would see another tragedy in the form of a deadly collision between No. 7 Horwich and a visiting locomotive for the Norramby holiday train on May 7th. The resulting disaster would see both locomotives damaged beyond repair and the loss of life exceeding nearly 120. It was ruled that the Furness Railway train was running beyond the regulated speed limit following a delay at Barrow-In-Furness and had sped through a red signal, leading up to the disaster. Following a lawsuit from the B&KR to the FR, it was settled out of court with a 100k payout to the B&KR as well as a free engine from the Furness Railway, this being a brand-new K2 4-4-0 'Larger Seagull' named Edward.

The railway would continue to hold up well into the beginning of the 20th century, with the railway proving very profitable and vital to the east side of the island, with not many notable events happening. This would all come to a head in 1911 following the formation of the North Western Railway company, a government-sponsored amalgamation of the three standard gauge railways at the time, those being the Elsbridge, Tidmouth, and Knapford Railway, and the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway. By the beginning of 1914, the after a few years of building railway lines to connect all three, the island for the first time, was fully connected together by rail, and thus uniting the railway as one.

And that covers the history of the Ballahoo & Kirk Ronan Railway! All further info of events after the merger into the North Western Railway, such as the fates of the engines, equipment, and infrastructure will be continued when I write the history of the North Western Railway. Until then, see you next time!