Comments on: What are/were these?

By: YorkStories

YorkStories — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 10:05:39 +0000

Thanks for the info above Ralph. More interesting bits of old iron just added: in Bootham Park and off Piccadilly.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 18:07:24 +0000

The track is 18 inch gauge. A fascinating relic; it’s just down the river from where I live.

By: Mike Taylor

Mike Taylor — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:05:12 +0000

Does anyone know the gauge of the track?

By: YorkStories

YorkStories — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:55:31 +0000

Thanks, Marian and Ian. Really interesting that they were connected with the barracks. I’ll have to go down there again and look properly this time. I didn’t notice and read the plaque Ian - I do appreciate your recording of the text here. Also like the fact that the remains of an old gateway are still there too. Looking forward to having a better look, now I’m better informed!

By: Ian Fisher

Ian Fisher — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:26:54 +0000

These old narrow gauge tracks, which had been hidden for years, were revealed during the work being done along the riverside at about the time that the Millennium Bridge was being built. In addition to the tracks themselves, there is clearly a former way through the wall beside the riverside path here, with two substantial brick pillars which presumably would have acted as gateposts. The wall is now extended to fill this gap. One of the series of plaques along both banks of the river (the one on the opposite bank to the tracks themselves), gives the following information - “Military stores were unloaded at an Ordnance Wharf, built in 1888, and taken to the army depot in Hospital Fields Road on a narrow gauge railway, a small section of which is still visible at the southern end of New Walk. Explosives were brought in the schooner ‘Princess’ known locally as the ‘Powder Boat’.”

By: Marian Hilditch

Marian Hilditch — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:57:17 +0000

They’re still there. I’ve always wondered. I think I read they were for pushing things down/up the barracks.