I love how Lawrie goes from "this is stupid" to "i'm genuinely enjoying this!" in less than 5 minutes.. Thanks for showing us another unique piece of history!
Thanks Lawrie! Near a family member they had two gravity railway lines for coal, now long gone, but you can see where they were, only had 1 accident! Glad you survived your run down the hill! 🙏🙏
My Grandaddy had a similar ride in about 1936 when he was 15 as he and a couple friends rode an empty clay cart (without the mine's permission) down a long gradient in West Tennessee. He said the cart probably wasn't going 20 mph but that it felt like they were flying and they all jumped out, getting a bit bruised up but otherwise fine as the cart continued downgrade derailing itself on a curve. Almost no trace of the tracks exist today with the exception of some earthen grade built up in a section of woods where part of it was torn out to put a gravel road through it.
I used to live in South Australia. There was a gravity tramway used for transporting grain from Hoyleton to Port Wakefield, then the third biggest port in the colony. Wagonloads of grain , with a few wagons of horses to pull the empty train 43 km back.
I love the minor terror in matt's voice as he imagined all different runaway scenarios that could happen.... would make great highspeed footage though!
Brilliant video..absolutely love it..I visit the corris as often as I can and always visit the model railway exhibition to support them..keep up the great work 😀
I don't know how I missed this one! What a lovely railway the Corris is it has to be one of my favourites. Loved the ride down in the wagons quite a hair-raising thing to do especially when you think it's only a block of wood on one wheel that scrubs off the speed.
Thank you for taking us on this little adventure... that is some lovely country side too. Now I wonder how he would handle riding a Marine Railway down it's incline? Only it's a 80 by 30 foot deck with towers to keep the boat in place as it's being hauled out of the water.
there was one here at Amlwch to bring copper ore from the mine to the harbour , two tracks the one with laden trucks pulled the empty ones up through a system of pullys and ropes. By all accounts it worked well at least compared to the mule trains it replaced
@@andrewreynolds4949 not quite, cable hauled inclines as opposed to funiculars generally having locomotives (though noted they can be on a balance method too)
And on a similar vein, Fortescue Mining has announced that their iron ore mine trains to the coast will use self recharging locomotives with the energy being used to haul the empty cars to the mine being generated by the loaded cars rolling down the rail line to the coast. All 400km of it.
I learned of gravity railroads at a young age due to growing up near Carbondale, Pennsylvania, USA, which was where the cars were Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad cars were loaded with anthracite coal then hauled up and coasted down the Moosic Mountains to get to Honesdale and the end of the Delaware and Hudson Canal which would haul it 100+ miles into New York State to the Hudson River and on to New York City. My first wife grew up in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, a block from the uphill end of the Switchback Gravity Railroad which, likewise, hauled coal a few miles to Mauch Chunk (today Jim Thorpe) for transfer to Lehigh Canal barges.
Interesting how that Matt I presume was considered about the situation and when I worked for the railroad we would have to do this for some customers with full size cars 😁👍
On the main line there used to be hump shunting where the wagons were pushed uncoupled over a hump and the loose wagons would roll into the specially controlled yards with a brake man on hand to stop the wagons. Also slip coaches used that were technically be carriage that was released from the train and stopped in the station without the Express train stopping.
Hunp yards are still used in Canada. I grew up near MacMillan yard which is an enormous facility. The braking is done automatically nowadays, no risky jumping on and off moving freight wagons.
i live in northern minnesota and we are known for iron mines and logging! from virginia mn to duluth mn there is a railway about 60 miles. this was set to be all down hill. it was said you could get on a hand cart. pump for not too long and then just sit back and ride it all the way to lake superior! the ore would be loaded on 1000foot great lake ships and iron shipped all over the world! also look up Mallet locomotive #229 in two harbors minnesota. might like seeing that big boy!
Imagine what it was like in the early days of Talyllyn preservation when you could just do this as a random picnicking party. If the lawyers could swing the wavers needed, that would be a blast to bring back.
Hello Lorry. Finally another loco video! I've seen some video about gravity railway few years ago. Long train, in first wagon was signalist, who was giving signals how many breaks should be applied. Trickiest part was to come down in such speed, that you can stop at the end of platform. But don't remember name of video, even railway. Was it this one?
7m 16s If my high school physics teacher was correct, even 100 tons of slate would make no difference to the speed. Gravity accelerates the mass, regardless of the mass. Now 100 tons of slate would increase your momentum ( m * v) but not your speed. Of course, minor inefficiencies come into play, but you can test this out with a 36" length of PECO OO-scale track and a single wagon on a 10-degree incline. Time it without a load of wet clay, and with a load of wet clay. Time it at different inclines (up to about 70 degrees). Repeat with two wagons, ten wagons (OK you'd need TWO yards of track!). Cheers, Chris
@@lmm It’s just you, running along the trackbed of a heritage railway, making general growling or chuffing noises, while you complain about how the ride is rough and that the vibrations are making your legs ache.
@@lmm Well the Loco would bring the train back, but how do you bring back gravity (will have to check your script as to how the words actually came out)
Missed opportunity to call it "Lawrie Goes Loco-less"... but still brilliant as always! EDIT: Never mind, it _was_ called that. Disregard this comment.
Anyone know what that signal is for? It's at 90 degrees to the track! Does it rotate into position? Is it meant to signal people at the top of the hill somehow?
Started of as Gravity down and horse hauled back up for the empties. Loco operation came later and even at the end of the railways life several of the quarries operated exclusively gravity working down to meet the railway still.
At 7:07 you suggest the gravity train would run faster if full of slate, but is that really the case? Gravity acts on objects of different mass, all else being equal, the same such that they fall at the same speed. Also, if the bearings are a bit tired, the extra weight of loaded wagons on the axles could act as a form of brake. I don’t think the speeds reached mean air resistance is a relevant factor.
There has been the fatal problem of the unintentional gravity trains - the runaways, the Croydon Tramlink one , where there was no system of automatically applied braking being totally dependent on manual driving, and the unbraked engineering unit on the London Underground, which suffered an engine failure which mean no compression for brake application - there being no failsafe spring loaded brakes that were satisfactory
I truly wish I could actually help at a heritage railway. But since I'm Dutch there isn't a rather lot I could go to, and what we have is far away from where I live. Then again, we preserved so much less then you Brits have, its truly a shame.
Ah that's a shame. There are places in the UK like the Talyllyn who have oversees volunteers, who stay for a week or so. Perhaps some of the places in your country have overnight accommodation?
I love how Lawrie goes from "this is stupid" to "i'm genuinely enjoying this!" in less than 5 minutes.. Thanks for showing us another unique piece of history!
always love when that happens
You're most welcome!
The episode where Lawrie finally went loco.. Well for a start anyway.. :D
😂 😂
The Gravity Train is the ancestors of the runaway Troublesome Trucks
Possibly part of the inspiration for them
Imagine doing this when the Southern Extension is complete. I know I'll have to come visit for that!
I love a gravity train...been watching many videos of them at ffestiniog but never knew corris did it, glad to see you experience it
Thanks Lawrie! Near a family member they had two gravity railway lines for coal, now long gone, but you can see where they were, only had 1 accident!
Glad you survived your run down the hill! 🙏🙏
Which type of accident was it? Did a wagon jump the track halfway down?
@@Lillstisse661 Believe so, due to overloading I think.
Looks like a fun ride.
It was!
My Grandaddy had a similar ride in about 1936 when he was 15 as he and a couple friends rode an empty clay cart (without the mine's permission) down a long gradient in West Tennessee. He said the cart probably wasn't going 20 mph but that it felt like they were flying and they all jumped out, getting a bit bruised up but otherwise fine as the cart continued downgrade derailing itself on a curve. Almost no trace of the tracks exist today with the exception of some earthen grade built up in a section of woods where part of it was torn out to put a gravel road through it.
Oh the things we do when we're young 😂
I used to live in South Australia. There was a gravity tramway used for transporting grain from Hoyleton to Port Wakefield, then the third biggest port in the colony. Wagonloads of grain , with a few wagons of horses to pull the empty train 43 km back.
I love the minor terror in matt's voice as he imagined all different runaway scenarios that could happen.... would make great highspeed footage though!
I'd rather not do it though!
If for nothing else, this was worth watching for the sound of fear in Matt's voice at the beginning 😂
He was not convinced
you want to try the one on the Ffestiniog Railway Lawrie. and I'm with you on the part of taking up drinking! . 🤣👍
I would love to. I think that would be great
Brilliant video..absolutely love it..I visit the corris as often as I can and always visit the model railway exhibition to support them..keep up the great work 😀
I don't know how I missed this one! What a lovely railway the Corris is it has to be one of my favourites. Loved the ride down in the wagons quite a hair-raising thing to do especially when you think it's only a block of wood on one wheel that scrubs off the speed.
And a small one at that
Yes. Tad alarming
I just stumbled on this channel and my god I love this.
Hope you enjoy the rest of our content
Woo Hoo what a great giggle of a Gravity Train with Lawrie & Matt. It makes a great video seeing train's like this being shared online.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it
wagons like "trigger's broom"
Lot of railway stuff is like that
I wonder if the train would have bounced around as much if the cars were full of slate?
Rails were probably more even when they were new, if nothing else.
Yes the weight would set up a side to side motion more intense than when empty
Thank you for taking us on this little adventure... that is some lovely country side too.
Now I wonder how he would handle riding a Marine Railway down it's incline? Only it's a 80 by 30 foot deck with towers to keep the boat in place as it's being hauled out of the water.
Now all you have to do is get it back up that hill again! 🤣
How do they get it back up the hill I would like to know we have nothing like that in Australia it is very lnteresting
That's fine, just need to get a Loco!
there was one here at Amlwch to bring copper ore from the mine to the harbour , two tracks the one with laden trucks pulled the empty ones up through a system of pullys and ropes. By all accounts it worked well at least compared to the mule trains it replaced
Ah, a funicular railway
@@andrewreynolds4949 not quite, cable hauled inclines as opposed to funiculars generally having locomotives (though noted they can be on a balance method too)
Another great video. I knew Ffestiniog had a gravity train in preservation, I didn’t realise Corris Railway had one as well.
It's super fun too!
@@lmm I would love to have a ride
And on a similar vein, Fortescue Mining has announced that their iron ore mine trains to the coast will use self recharging locomotives with the energy being used to haul the empty cars to the mine being generated by the loaded cars rolling down the rail line to the coast. All 400km of it.
Oh that's cool! The gravity train lives on!
Driving a train with no locomotive! Gravity train on the Corris Railway LGL Ep. 32 love louis shireley
Nice wagons
8:40 - 8:43 Lawrie litrally sounds terrified going from how his voice tenses up / sounds tense
It was.. Unnerving
That does look like great fun, and probably terrifying with a full load of slate.
Lmao I never realized how realistic the minecraft minecart sound effects were until like 6 minutes into this video
😂 😂 😂 😂
I learned of gravity railroads at a young age due to growing up near Carbondale, Pennsylvania, USA, which was where the cars were Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad cars were loaded with anthracite coal then hauled up and coasted down the Moosic Mountains to get to Honesdale and the end of the Delaware and Hudson Canal which would haul it 100+ miles into New York State to the Hudson River and on to New York City.
My first wife grew up in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, a block from the uphill end of the Switchback Gravity Railroad which, likewise, hauled coal a few miles to Mauch Chunk (today Jim Thorpe) for transfer to Lehigh Canal barges.
Oh really? Must have been quite the thing to see
Having enjoyed(?) the delights of a small gravity train you should head up to the Ffestiniog and try a much bigger one over a longer distance........
Did Tom Scott do that one ?
Or Fortescue Mine’s in Western Australia (all 400km). Standard gauge trains, 2km long.
We certainly don't operate like that in the USA I'd say that. Sound interesting however I Kinda want a locomotive attached just in case.
In case of what?
Fantastic! In America they still do this sort of thing in large yards for shunting
This very much reminds me of riding down the mountain in Funchal, Madeira in a bamboo sled - on a public road...
That sounds like an adventure and a half!
Interesting how that Matt I presume was considered about the situation and when I worked for the railroad we would have to do this for some customers with full size cars 😁👍
The key difference between a rollacoster and a gravity train is your not in control
I loved it
I didn't feel I was!
On the main line there used to be hump shunting where the wagons were pushed uncoupled over a hump and the loose wagons would roll into the specially controlled yards with a brake man on hand to stop the wagons. Also slip coaches used that were technically be carriage that was released from the train and stopped in the station without the Express train stopping.
Hunp yards are still used in Canada. I grew up near MacMillan yard which is an enormous facility. The braking is done automatically nowadays, no risky jumping on and off moving freight wagons.
i live in northern minnesota and we are known for iron mines and logging! from virginia mn to duluth mn there is a railway about 60 miles. this was set to be all down hill. it was said you could get on a hand cart. pump for not too long and then just sit back and ride it all the way to lake superior! the ore would be loaded on 1000foot great lake ships and iron shipped all over the world! also look up Mallet locomotive #229 in two harbors minnesota. might like seeing that big boy!
That would have been an amazing sight to behold!
Imagine what it was like in the early days of Talyllyn preservation when you could just do this as a random picnicking party. If the lawyers could swing the wavers needed, that would be a blast to bring back.
It can be done safely, as shown here.
very interesting review of the rolling stock on the Corris railway
lawrie get down to Porthmadog they do it with the trucks full of slate and about 10 trucks
Auto Loco 😉 Lovely to see 👌
Environmentally sound too!
What about those pelton wheels at the second station? Enquiring minds!
In this video, Lawrie uses the Planet Earth Itself to drive a train.
Clever bloke, that Newton!
Amazing to think that before him, there was no gravity 😂
Lawrie Goes Loco - the earth!
Hello Lorry. Finally another loco video! I've seen some video about gravity railway few years ago. Long train, in first wagon was signalist, who was giving signals how many breaks should be applied. Trickiest part was to come down in such speed, that you can stop at the end of platform. But don't remember name of video, even railway. Was it this one?
Most likely the Ffestiniog I'd have thought
this was released during my school day
Fantastic. The Welsh G WMU....... The Welsh Gravity Wagon Multiple Unit. We have a dragon and give a wonderful ride. And yes I'm Welsh
How do they get the train back to the start ? Do u have to push it back up the hill ?
Probably they use a locomotive… I don’t think they use horses these days
With a locomotive!
Train =lawrie train=gravity train
More fun than the DLR .....
Next stop cold harbour laaaaane 😅
The DLR was quite the thing when it opened
And I just wanted to see how you were going to get your train back up.
In a future video!
7m 16s If my high school physics teacher was correct, even 100 tons of slate would make no difference to the speed. Gravity accelerates the mass, regardless of the mass.
Now 100 tons of slate would increase your momentum ( m * v) but not your speed.
Of course, minor inefficiencies come into play, but you can test this out with a 36" length of PECO OO-scale track and a single wagon on a 10-degree incline. Time it without a load of wet clay, and with a load of wet clay. Time it at different inclines (up to about 70 degrees). Repeat with two wagons, ten wagons (OK you'd need TWO yards of track!).
Cheers, Chris
I did mean the extra mass hurtling down like an unstoppable force
Episode 30: Loco pulls train
Episode 31: Loco IS the train
Episode 32: Loco? Who needs a loco?
Fortescue Mines - locomotive has no engine (just batteries with no charger required (dynamic braking actually generates excess power)).
Where can I go next?
@@lmm It’s just you, running along the trackbed of a heritage railway, making general growling or chuffing noises, while you complain about how the ride is rough and that the vibrations are making your legs ache.
Hello Laurie I met you on the Alan keef open day 2022 how are you doing mate
So if Gravity goes down, how do you get back up ?
With a locomotive!
@@lmm Well the Loco would bring the train back, but how do you bring back gravity (will have to check your script as to how the words actually came out)
@@highpath4776 oh that's Newton's job
@@lmm Or Einstein ?
No mention of how they get it back up then?
With a locomotive
Missed opportunity to call it "Lawrie Goes Loco-less"... but still brilliant as always!
EDIT: Never mind, it _was_ called that. Disregard this comment.
I thought it did, right at the beginning about forty seconds in, written on the "Totem Titles" ?
@@dancedecker.
Noted!
@@TotoDG No problem. Cheers
I was thinking, did I muck something up in the edit 😂
@@lmm.
I just looked at the title, and that was just the same as usual. Turns out I'm just an idiot. :/
So the operator sits in the car with the slate?
Most were smaller wagons and the brake operator/s would sit atop the slates
Pretty much
how do you get it back up the hill?
When these were in service, either a horse or a locomotive would pull the empties back to the top if the hill
Need to do the Ffestiniog Gravity train!
Yes I really do
What happened to the drone footage?
It became corrupted
This is when you flip the car into Neutral and turn the engine off to save fuel going down hill. Hoping the brakes work at the traffic lights
Or maybe just let the regen braking pump up the batteries some, free of cost.
Similar yes, I think there are some railways looking at using the principle of charging batteries on the way down
I'd love to see a review of a horse-drawn train! That counts as a "locomotive" right?
That might be fun
Whose drone was pacing the train at around 10mins in?
Matt's, but the footage got corrupted sadly
Am I right between them the Slate Quarry AND the Corris Railway NEVER made a profit (at least not enough to pay back capital invested),
Anyone know what that signal is for? It's at 90 degrees to the track! Does it rotate into position? Is it meant to signal people at the top of the hill somehow?
It's there to show the public on the road that there is a railway there
Ah, sweet Terrafirma!
Excatly!
Did anybody else see the shadow to look like a narrow gauge diesel 7minutes 33 seconds
did the railway actually run Gravity trains back in the day or is this just a heritage thing?
Started of as Gravity down and horse hauled back up for the empties. Loco operation came later and even at the end of the railways life several of the quarries operated exclusively gravity working down to meet the railway still.
It was quite a widespread practice in the early days
@@benbrotherwood9128 I suppose keeping the locomotive in downhill gave better braking opportunities
So how does it go back up?
With a locomotive
GRAVITY TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS. Wish we had one!
The bank is certainly steep enough!
@@lmm *plans insane ticket option*
I'd do that with while having a few pints of beer without a brake lever to pull, just to have a good time WooooHoooo! Gotta live life a little!
Without the brake you may have some issues.
No alcohol on the railways either!
And now push back up the Hill
I believe a train with no locomotive is called a MU.
A locomotive doesn't make a train. A train can sit quite happily without a locomotive, and very much remains a train.
Need a standard gauge one for 1 in 49 on NYMR lol
At 7:07 you suggest the gravity train would run faster if full of slate, but is that really the case? Gravity acts on objects of different mass, all else being equal, the same such that they fall at the same speed. Also, if the bearings are a bit tired, the extra weight of loaded wagons on the axles could act as a form of brake. I don’t think the speeds reached mean air resistance is a relevant factor.
There has been the fatal problem of the unintentional gravity trains - the runaways, the Croydon Tramlink one , where there was no system of automatically applied braking being totally dependent on manual driving, and the unbraked engineering unit on the London Underground, which suffered an engine failure which mean no compression for brake application - there being no failsafe spring loaded brakes that were satisfactory
It's not faster, it's just harder to stop.
I would be scared tbh
It's good fun!
Are you and Matt still you friends after that!?😂
Just about!
I truly wish I could actually help at a heritage railway. But since I'm Dutch there isn't a rather lot I could go to, and what we have is far away from where I live. Then again, we preserved so much less then you Brits have, its truly a shame.
Ah that's a shame.
There are places in the UK like the Talyllyn who have oversees volunteers, who stay for a week or so.
Perhaps some of the places in your country have overnight accommodation?
How id Matt like it?
"it was an experience"
Could do with ten ton behind it to be fair XD
Corris
🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂😎😎😎👍
Aren't gravity trains fuuun...