Lowick
‘0’ Fine scale, Pre-grouping - GUEST
There are 3 Lowicks in England: one in Northamptonshire near Kettering; one in Northumberland between Berwick and Alnwick; and one in the Lake District between Coniston and Greenodd. The name Lowick has a number of possible origins
• The Northamptonshire village appears in the Domesday Book as Luhwik, and later as Lofwyk and in 1167 as Luffewich. The name derives from Old English "Luhha's or Luffa's dwelling place", wic being cognate to vicus in Latin.
• The Northumberland village appears in records as early as 1181 as Lowich, and in 1242 as Lowyc. The name derives from Old English meaning settlement (OE: wic, cognate to Latin vicus) on the River Low.
• The Lakeland village appears in records as early as 1202 as Lofwik, and later as Laufwik: the name derives from the Old Norse "Lauf-vík" (English: Leafy Bay).
For the purpose of modelling the location of “Lowick” we have chosen the Lowick in the Lake District. Built under the 1895 light railways act by the Furness railway to give better access to them minerals agriculture and most are partly mobile access to Coniston water in the company’s lake steamers. The branch left the Furness railway's Lakeside branch at Greenodd travelling up the Creek Valley to a terminus at Lake Bank Steam Pier. Intermediate stations were Penny Bridge, Spark bridge, Lowick and Blawith. Public sidings were provided at Spark Bridge along with a passing loop. Lowick exchange sidings provided giving access to a mineral railway running to a small iron mine in the north-west side of Kirkby Moor.
Access to the exchange sidings was given by a ground frame operated by Lowick's signalman Porter. Empty wagons were propelled in front of the goods train. The locomotive then on coupled itself from the main part of the train and pushed the empty wagons into the exchange siding. Locomotive then reversed back onto the goods train and then continued up the branch to Lake Bank. The train will then run around and return picking up full wagons on the return trip. This was common Furness practice and was used elsewhere on the system, it was even used at Dixon's sidings on the lakeside branch which handled explosives.
Passenger traffic on the branch was mainly made up of small four-wheeled coaches providing a service for the locals. Occasionally there would be an excursion train where other companies stock could be seen on the branch.
The time is set some were between 1916 and 1923. This allows the running of a number of locos and wagons in different liveries due to the war time pooling and loco loans. The railway company was independent in name only and traffic was run by the Furness from the start of operations. There are six types of trains: Local Passenger; Through Passenger; Mixed; Goods; Permanent way/inspection and Iron ore.