Cowlairs

[52D]

This pic was posted to my fb site asking for help to identify it. its Cowlairs bank with the train being assisted over the top by a haulage engine. has anyone got any more on the haulage engine length of pull etc. Anyway if you cant help its still a grand old pic to look at.

[John Palmer]

There are some details of the Incline's working at p.101 in Vol 2 of John Thomas' 'The North British Railway'. The steel cable by which the incline was worked was a continuous loop, given as being 3 miles in a caption to a couple of pictures of cable maintenance in Maclean's 'North British Album'. The implication is that cable working was over half that distance i.e. 1.5 miles. However, the distance from Cowlairs to Queen Street seems closer to 1.25 miles, which suggests either that the cable length was actually only 2.5 miles or that cable working extended for a significant distance beyond the top of the Incline.

Apparently a form of bridle was used to attach the train engine to the endless Incline cable, and the winding engine was set in motion upon receipt of a starting signal from Queen Street. When the train reached the top of the Incline, the winding engine would be slowed until the train was overtaking it under the power of its own locomotive. At this point, the bridle would drop away from the inverted coupling hook by which it was attached to the train engine, enabling the latter to proceed on its way without stopping to detach from the cable.

I recall having previously seen the photograph, as the top hatted gent brought it to mind, but afraid I can't assist with any details of the locomotives or stock.

[Mickey]

I recall having previously seen the photograph, as the top hatted gent brought it to mind, but afraid I can't assist with any details of the locomotives or stock.

The same with me John I recall seeing the photograph before many years ago back in the early 1970s in a long forgotten book.

Mickey