4th s Games The Selsbury Mineral Tramway Game Instructions
- July 17, 2024
- 4th s Games
Table of Contents
The Selsbury Mineral Tramway Game
THE SELSBURY MINERAL TRAMWAY
By 4th’s Games
Requirements
This Freeware route pack only has three requirements to get it fully working
as separate downloads.
Those are as followed:
The Falmouth Branch Route Add-On – Steam Link:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/24096/Train_Simulator_Falmouth_Branch_Route_AddOn/
The Riviera in the Fifties: Exeter – Kingswear Route Add-On – Steam Link:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/325960/Train_Simulator_Riviera_Line_in_the_Fifties_Exeter__Kingswear_Route_AddOn/
Pre-WWII Asset Pack from Golden Age Developments – Link:
https://www.golden-age-developments.co.uk/assets.html
That’s all!
I specifically wanted the route to require as little as possible but still
pack a bit of a punch when it comes to the scenery. Various custom assets and
buildings have been specifically made just for Selsbury, which are included
with your download. To find said assets, they are split across the LARD folder
and the PhoenixDev folder. Included with this as well is a drivable horse and
two Waggonway pieces of rolling stock from the 1820s (coal wagon and horse
carriage with a driver aboard).
The horse has been provided to the route by Wayside Works, you can find it in
his WW section; being made from a model on SketchFab by Micheal Sekela –
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/horse-low-poly-
498c82475df44be2ad059db29a80e90e
This adds a new element to the game for running services without a locomotive
for once!
If you want something that really suits running on the railway, I’d recommend
the Neilson “Box” Tank over on Steam Sounds Supreme aswell! The route was made
with that DLC pack in mind.
Acknowledgments
Jimmy of LARD
Route Builder, Asset Modelling and Texture Artist
Dane of 4ths Games
Asset Modelling and Texture Artist
A thank you to Phoenix Developers for testing and play the route for me after
many months of wanting it constantly. A hearty thank to Wayside Works and John
for helping me with the track, re texturing and packaging it. Aswell as the
inclusion of the horse! A healthy thank you to Steam Sounds Supreme for
allowing me to publish the route in the first place.
History of the Railway
Based on limited surveys from 2024
The Isle of Bibbles is a lone island just off the South West coast of England,
apart of the Crown Dependencies. It is small in size, being made up of bog
like terrain and mountainous rocks. In 2024 after extensive survey was
conducted to piece together the true history of the railway. While other
sources can tell you for days about the island’s history, the railway has had
a trouble with keeping records and dates of what was and could have been. Most
of the information gathered has come
from various surviving letters from the residents of Waddleston, Selsbury and
even Withnail.
The route originally used canals at Waddleston, starting in 1812 that
connected to Withnail with the blossoming quarry there. Only one route was
built, with many lockes to transverse the hilly terrain the island is known
for, reaching far to the North to the ports of Selsbury. Having the terrain as
a disadvantage, it was decided soon after that a railroad bringing down the
stone would be a far better option to the canals than a hundred flights of
locks. A year after in 1813 the railroad was completed as a plateway line,
using horses to haul the heavy the stone trains back and forth to the canal
wharf at Waddleston. This was all accomplished by a man named Lord Magnus
Withnail (his family owning a large chunk of Withnail, the area, itself) as he
believed the quantity of rock that could be transported to Britain could be
quite large, forming all sorts of deals with the ship traders to get it there
in the first place after a lengthy journey to Selsbury. This proved quite
profitable in the first years, though the traffic was getting a little too
heavy handed for the horses pulling it. Lord Withnail was the sort of man who
could dream big about how to grow his enterprise. Records indicate at age 29
in 1814, he was already one of the leading exporters of material across
Bibbles due to his marvelous canal system, allowing the chance for other
industries to hop onto this aswell.
In 1819 there was a plan to extend the canal system to a small area named
Folkstone, as mining preparations had already begun with the construction of a
rail facility. Unbeknown to Lord Withnail, it seemed that Baron Rasberry, the
man who owned the farm lands North of Waddleston was unpleased by Withnail’s
proposal to affectively cut through the entire country to even get to
Folkstone in the first place instead of building locks. Many historians
believe this might be because of the previous instinct before, building the
previous route to the quarry, but Baron Rasberry was having none of it,
falling out with Withnail in the latter days. A letter to the budding
political figure
in Waddleston tells the story:
“In all my years of working with Lord Withnail, I have never heard anything so
preposterous than erecting a canal system from Waddleston to the new coal
mines in the East by digging out entire sections of the countryside, my
countryside to. He wishes not to build locks to allow elevation of barges as
it would prove too costing. I shall write to him this evening to explain that
I will be removing myself from our agreements.”
It was decided instead that the coal would be transported to the system via
the means of horse dawn wagons on a road to Waddleston wharf, going over the
hills instead of through it.
A few years later in 1825 a man named Theo Humphrey visited the island, just
having completed several studies in engineering. He saw the problems with the
canal network slowing down considerably trying to keep up with demand for both
stone and coal as the horses slaved away trying to get it there in the first
place. By chance he happened to meet Baron Rasberry, while taking holiday at
Waddleston, suggesting that they construct a railway using the most modern of
tech from England, the steam locomotive. Reports of the time suggest that
Rasberry wasn’t too keen on the idea to begin with for reasons unknown. But
over time he seemed to have come around to the idea as in 1826 a proposal was
drawn up to construct a railway between Folkstone to Waddleston. But Humphrey
wanted to go further with the plan to cut out the canals altogether from
transporting of goods and focus it all on the newly commissioned railway.
There was a lot of side laughing from a lot of those who disliked the idea,
but given his new engineering skills it seemed the best fit to oversee the
project with Rasberry’s backing. So the proposal was extended all the way to
Selsbury, which would include two large bridges over the river and canal
respectively, locomotive facilities, a huge hill to climb and several other
obstacles. A mad man given nothing had ever been considered on that scale on
such a small island. Lord Withnail stepped out to not wishing to convert his
existing railroad to this new “standard gauge”, opting to stick with what he
had without locomotives to. It seemed he thought that the venture would
probably fail and collapse very quickly upon starting.
In 1826 a survey concluded that a railway would be the best option for maximum
profit in transporting goods. Within the next eight years a tramway was build,
opening on July the 7th 1839 from the very end at Folkstone Colliery to the
very start at Selsbury Port of the island. Baron Rasberry took particular
interest in lead ore veins present higher up in the hills leading towards
towards an area named Teawobble. The railroad leading up to Withnail Quarry
was eventually (and begrudgingly) converted to traditional standard in 1843 to
allow traffic to all flow together at the Waddleston.
Over the years it has acquired a number of randomly purchased rolling stock,
some dating further back than the tramway while others a more recent purchase
to keep with the times. The official livery has always been a deep chrome red
with crest on the tanks, fancy yellow lining though a lot of the time it would
fade away due to zero upkeep. An official record on stock has been sited in
various letters from staff, but one has yet to be discovered, so it is up to
interpretation to what actually ran. What we do know is that the railway never
constructed its own locomotives as it had no means to do so, most coming
second hand from England and elsewhere. The line mainly runs goods only,
serving the towns and farms along the way if needed, but runs a passenger
service two times a week at select request stops; that being a Sunday and
Thursday. This would mean only a single locomotive was in operation at any
given time, though there has been indication in a recent document addressed to
the local cricket team at Selsbury that perhaps two services a day was on
between 1845 and 1853. It can be assumed that one was a freight service back
and forth from the junction and the other was a stopping passenger and freight
service along the way. Further evidence for this comes from tickets sold found
in the old cottages just off from Benston, which were issued in 1849 for half
a trip.
At one point in the time the railway was conceived to be of narrow gauge, one
document suggesting a 2ft light railway in replace of the old waggonway up to
Withnail and one of a 3ft line, which would have linked Folkstone and Selsbury
together through an alternative prosed route along the coast.Both plans may
have fallen through with the take over in 1843, putting both plans in the
shelf though it seems both never got past the thought stage. Lord Withnail
always considered his quarry to be of great pride regardless of gauge
swabbies, suggesting sometimes that he had stumbled upon a fine quantity of
stone as if fallen into a large crater of infinite space. His own words in a
letter to his dearest mother.
Between the 1850s to the late 1860s not a lot happened, business was just as
usual and generally okay as it tended to be. Some letters from the Managing
Director suggests new locomotives were purchased on in the 60s, though to what
amount is unknown. Few accidents happened given the one loco policy, though
some are implied through a couple of papers found in the old Selsbury engine
sheds. It details that an engine came off the rails at the corner of Wind-Vil
while travelling to fast down the slope towards the bridge. It did not collide
with anything, but the village folk were awfully distressed at their hay
stacks being flown into the wind. Another noted that an engine was thrown off
the track after a shunting incident at Waddleston, though this time a few
civilians were injured. The Managing Director of the Railway, Baron Rasberry,
has gone on record in 1871 to say “If a railway can’t transport lead then what
is even the point of their invention. WHAT I ASK YOU. Competitors don’t have
the balls to compete!” He later passed away that day due to lead poisoning.
A cold Autumn in 1859 saw Withnail Quarry mining operations come to a stand
still after an unfortunate incident. During that morning, an expedition
ventured down into one of the caverns as the workers had stopped working,
telling their bosses that they had found something. It was unlikely for the
mountainous terrain to have caverns as large as this one did, as they just so
happened to mine into it whilst digging out the usual quantity of stone ready
for the first morning train to Waddleston. The expedition members didn’t
really know what to think of it, deciding instead to get the attention of Lord
Withnail involved instead as a new tunnel would have to be bored to continue
the mining. He was eventually told by a foreman, frightfully uncooperative to
the news, but still curious by this cavern that they had found. Lord Withnail
decided to take a party down there himself to investigate, believing it could
hold some kind of riches to grab. From testimonies of the team, he was rather
invested in the sheer size of the drop to how far the cavern could go. None on
the lamps with their dimly lit fires would illuminate that much of it to begin
with. According to said testimonies, they were down there for about an hour
before a rush of frenzy of them coming back up the mine shaft shouting, before
a horrific shaking ground cut them all off as it threw them to the ground. It
only lasted five seconds, but it collapsed one of the winding houses at the
top of the incline. Once it had ended, the expedition members gathered their
thoughts before foremen spoke out to Lord Withnail who seemed rather quiet.
They explained that the cavern started to fold in on itself and crumbled away.
The foreman thought perhaps one of the workers down there deliberately did
something, but nothing was ever sure at that point. Lord Withnail disappeared
soon after, still unknown to this date where he vanished to. The company fell
into limbo as to who the grounds and quarry fell to, remaining open on limited
service until 1883 where it closed for good.
The lead mines were eventually abandoned in 1887 after being unable to secure
trade routes with the passing of Baron Rasberry a decade prior with the
majority of infrastructure being left there given the inability to connect
directly to a road. After this Folkstone was the only source of goods traffic
on the railway, bar small amounts of local traffic for the farms it served. In
time even Folkstone would close, although it was still making money the
railway had suffered a lot of damage from failing locomotives and general
conditions of the line. This would occur in 1891. Waddleston was closed to
service in 1892 a year afterwards, with Greeby following suit there after to
passengers and goods traffic. A lone passenger service hauled by the most
clapped out locomotive for several years before entirely discontinuing in 1895
when the railway officially closed for good. A lot of the infrastructure was
sold off for scrap to recoup as much money as possible for the remaining
investors. These days you would hardly think a railway passed by, mostly used
as a main road now to the still standing towns of old.
Oddly enough, many sightings of something strange is littered in letters of
the workers of the quarry who once lived there dated from 1890. It has been
suggested that maybe some tall tale stories were fabricated in wake of the
Quarry sudden close back when. A lot of them claiming that a large figure was
over seen wandering around the tops of the incline and further down the road
towards Waddleston where the rock cutting is. Others merely say that they
believe it to be an old worker drowning his sorrows in a bottle. Whether any
of these stories are actually true is highly improbable given workers had not
lived in the quarry houses since 1887 from archaeological surveys in 2023.
What stands left of the old Quarry has now sunken into the ground from where
all the tunnels sat, so we shall never know what indeed transpired.
Destinations
Destinations include (as of 1869):
Selsbury Port
The main harbour of the railway, to where all the Coal and Lead is transported
to England. Originally constructed to a large scale as Baron Rasberry
convinced the local political figure that the goods out of the docks would be
spectacularly huge. In just a year this was already proven false, and half of
the Harbour key is unused a lot of the time. A town (the new one) sits just on
the edge of the dock, growing quite a lot in size over the decades, one would
consider it the capital of Bibbles.
Selsbury
The main town (original) that houses the locomotive sheds. On a Sunday the
residents enjoy a splendid game of cricket quite regularly, as the majority of
those who live there are engineering staff to the railway.
Appleton Halt
The first request stop. This serves the farms around the area, as the halt
acts more of a means to collect the various farming goods without needing to
transport it via road first. Though being careful would be advised, Farmer
Beater is a devil with a pitchfork after a Friday night.
Wind-Vil
A tranquil piece of the land, founded to sow the crop for wind milling. The
millers live here, gathering the wheat to turn
into fresh bread to deliver to market by sundown. Various clay pits are here
to in the distance, forming the pottery circles in which the village is mainly
famous for.
Benston Halt
The second request stop. This halt is high in the hills with the ascend to the
mines. It is rarely used, apart from those who are out on a hike, the weirdos.
Occasionally a lone coal wagon will be placed on the small siding after a trip
to the mines. The townsfolk appreciate the warmth of their fires.
Greesby Station
The newest station on the railway, having been constructed as a mid -way point
for trains that operate more than one on a day. It also serves as a means to
let locomotives water and coal before their quite brutal descent up the 1in50
hill. Quite a lot of the time workers will be in the middle of building the
various new buildings and chopping trees down for materials .
Waddleston Junction
The main terminus for all of the collieries and mines, a big shunting yard and
warehouse are located here. The remains of the canal company tend to be a bit
of a sore spot, with many boaters going past in anguish at the sight of the
Devil’s steam work at play. It is actually the oldest station on the line,
having been built when the canal first was instigated for collecting from
Withnail.
Withnail Quarry
Directly up from Waddleston, Withnail is a stone mining facility which dates
back to 1812. Opened by Lord Withnail of Durham as a plateway line, it is the
very heart and soul of all activity on the railway. Often times there is a
locomotive stationed here as pilot if too many orders come down from all three
sources of industry.
Folkstone Colliery
A coal mining facility just ajasent to the main railway. The canal at one
point was going to be contructed to here, but after a falling out between Lord
Withnail and Baron Rasberry the plans fell apart, instead constructing a
waggonway instead which also stopped at another on route. The only mine in the
land which has regular customers still that is transported to England.
Teewobble Lead Mine
The heart and soul of the tramway. The Managing Director’s famous (patent
pending) Lead. While these days it sees very little action after the death of
Baron Rasberry, it serves as a reminder of the railways origins once upon a
time as only the crows fly around.
4th’s Games
© 2024
This product is protected under copyright and must not be redistributed or
have any files modified without seeking permission to do so from 4th’s Games.
This product is distributed by Steam Sounds Supreme and is subject to the
terms and conditions of their respective distribution platforms.
References
- Horse low poly - Buy Royalty Free 3D model by Michal Sekela (@MichalSekela) [498c824] - Sketchfab Store
- Train Simulator: Falmouth Branch Route Add-On on Steam
- Save 50% on Train Simulator: Riviera Line in the Fifties: Exeter - Kingswear Route Add-On on Steam
- Save 50% on Train Simulator: Riviera Line in the Fifties: Exeter - Kingswear Route Add-On on Steam
- Assets - GOLDEN AGE DEVELOPMENTS
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