On Saturday 22nd April 2023, I had the pleasure of dropping into the Railway Heritage Centre in Donegal Town. We had planned a holiday in Co. Donegal in 2020 but we were foiled by the COVID-19 lockdown. This visit was well overdue.
The Donegal Railway Heritage Centre records and celebrates “the operations of the County Donegal Railways Committee which operated two narrow-gauge railways in County Donegal from 1863 until 1959. The County Donegal Railway Restoration Society restored the centre, which opened in 1995 and is housed in the old station house in Donegal Town. Today, it operates as a visitor attraction comprising a museum, information centre and shop. On display are rolling stock, historical artefacts and an audio-visual presentation on the railways’ history.” [1]
Over the period of lockdown quite a lot happened at the Heritage Centre.
The most significant event was the home-coming of No. 5, ‘Drumboe’, the Co. Donegal Railway Joint Committee 2-6-4T Locomotive on 9th October 2021. This locomotive was originally built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company [2] in 1907 and served on the railways of Co. Donegal until the end of 1959. Now cosmetically restored, ‘Drumboe’ has pride of place at the entrance to the Heritage Centre.
No. 5, ‘Drumboe’ in service at Barnesmore Gap in the late 1950s. [5] [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]‘Drumboe’ underwent an extensive restoration job in Whitehead, Co. Antrim. The locomotive is shown here at the Works prior to being returned to Donegal. [3]‘Drumboe’ on its way home. [4]‘Drumboe‘ settled in its new home. It is undercover to protect it as much as possible from the elements! The text on the display board reads: Built in 1907, Nasmyth Wilson/Manchester. Drumboe’s original name was No. 17 Glenties. She was renamed in 1937 to No. 5, Drumboe. In 1907/8 the CDRIC ordered 5 new modern steam locomotives to deal with the growing traffic as the CDR network expanded. They were called the Class 5 locomotives and numbered 16-20. All of them were 2-6-4Ts: the numbers stand for the wheel arrangement and the T for tank engine. On the evening of 31 December 1959 Drumboe hauled the very last train from Stranorlar to Strabane and back as the CDR finally closed as a railway. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]
Preparing for Drumboe’s arrival at the Heritage Centre required a significant re-organisation of the centre’s outside exhibits. All are now protected from the worst that the elements can throw at them by a series of different roof structures. Just a few photographs from 222nd April 2023.
The Red Van in its new location: the text on its display board reads: Built in 1887, Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Company for the Clogher Valley Railway. Red Vans only transported goods. They were for lighter use, up to the capacity of 2 tons. The Clogher Valley Railway (1887-1941) was a 37 Mike long narrow-gauge railway in County Tyrone and County Fermanagh. After the closure of the Clogher Valley Railway in 1942 the County Donegal Railway (CDR) bought all the red vans. These covered vans were converted to run behind the CDR Railcars. Our red van retains its original wooden chassis from 1887 and all original metalwork. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]The Grey Van(No. 84) in its new display position: the text on its display board reads: Built in 1893, the Oldbury Carriage & Wagon Company. The grey vans were used for heavy freight up to 7 or 8 tons this could be the transport of livestock or general goods. Grey vans were normally only used in steam hauled freight trains. Our grey van 84 was built as a sliding door van.It was withdrawn in 1960 and sold off before being rescued by the NWIRS (North West Irish Railway Society) in the early 1990s. Grey Van 84 was stored in Derry where it was set on fire in the early 2000s. After the closure of the Foyle Valley Railway it was moved to Donegal town. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]Coach No. 58</strong>: the text on its display board reads: Built in 1928, Coach 58 was built on a second-hand frame 41 feet and 3 inches in length. The CDR bought this coach along with two others in January 1952 from the NCC numbering them 57-59. Formerly Coach 318 became CDR 58. Coach 58 was one of the three most modern on the whole of the Irish narrow gauge lines. It came to the County Donegal Railway on the closure of the NCC (Northern County Committee) lines near Larne in 1950. Though Coach 58 was built on an original chassis from 1879, it provided modern accommodation for Donegal excursions, and later on as a railcar trailer until the railway closed. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]: the text on its display board reads: Built in 1928, Coach 58 was built on a second-hand frame 41 feet and 3 inches in length. The CDR bought this coach along with two others in January 1952 from the NCC numbering them 57-59. Formerly Coach 318 became CDR 58. Coach 58 was one of the three most modern on the whole of the Irish narrow gauge lines. It came to the County Donegal Railway on the closure of the NCC (Northern County Committee) lines near Larne in 1950. Though Coach 58 was built on an original chassis from 1879, it provided modern accommodation for Donegal excursions, and later on as a railcar trailer until the railway closed. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]Railcar No.15 passenger unit: the text on the railcar body’s display board reads: Built in 1936, Walker Brothers & the Dundalk Works (GNR). Railcar 15 was the first articulated Railcar. This means that the driver’s cab was separated from the railcar body. The railcar cost £2,275, seated 41 passengers and could transport a weight of 12 tons. The County Donegal Railway pioneered the use of diesel railcars introducing the first one in 1931. The passenger unit of railcar 15 survives here at the museum, restored after a period of dereliction following the railway’s closure in 1959. Railcar 15 was withdrawn in 1960 and was sold at auction in 1961.The body of Railcar 15 was acquired by the CDRRS in 1995 and moved to Donegal Town. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]
On entering the museum, which occupies the ground floor of the old passenger station building, one has the opportunity to look at an excellent model railway which depicts Donegal Town Railway Station and Inver Station. Inver Station was on the branch from Donegal Town to Killybegs. All six of the pictures immediately below were taken by me on 22nd April 2023.
As well as this working model a number of other models of railway vehicles are on static display. Just a couple of examples here. The first is a Walker Brothers Railbus, the second is Phoenix a unique diesel shunter. Both of the pictures below were taken by me on 22nd April 2023.
Phoenix was built by Atkinson-Walker Wagons Ltd of Preston in September 1928 as one of their Class A3 engines. After a short trial on the Clogher Valley Railway, it was found to be totally unsuitable. No buyer to be found and the engine lay idle at Aughnacloy coach and wagon shed until 1932. It was bought by Henry Forbes for the County Donegal Railway and converted at the Great Northern Railway’s Dundalk workshop to diesel power. It was fittingly named the “Phoenix” and worked on the County Donegal Railway till its closure in 1959. It can now be seen in the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum.
The major part of the indoor space at the Heritage Centre is dedicated to a series of displays centring on the different stations on the network. Each includes a track plan and a series of photographs of the location. Carefully placed around the Centre are artifacts and railwayana from the Co. Donegal Railways.
Of particular interest to me were the track plans of the various stations on the network. Some of these are shown below. Much of the text attached to each station plan comes from the Heritage Centre’s displays …
Donegal Town Railway Station was opened in 1889 and closed in 1959 it was about 19 miles from Stranorlar. The West Donegal Railway was opened between Stranorlar and Lough Eske (Druminin) on the 25th April, 1882. From 1882 to 1889, the journey between Stranorlar and Lough Eske took some 40 minutes and then passengers transferred to horse-drawn road cars for the last four miles down into Donegal. The fare was 6 pence. The final section to Donegal town was inspected on the 9th of September 1889 and opened on the 16th of September 1889. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]Killybegs Railway Station opened in 1893 and closed in 1959. The journey from Killybegs to Donegal was 19 miles. The line out to Killybegs from Donegal Town was the result of government intervention some forty years after the famine. For the promotion of the local food industries (agriculture, fishing and food processing) a good transport infrastructure was needed. Railway travellers were reminded of their arrival in Killybegs by the intense smell of the fishmeal factory when entering the town. The Killybegs line served the local communities it passed with regular passenger and freight. In summer it was often the destination for excursions from Derry and Strabane. There are many fond memories of steam-hauled specials cautiously winding their way along the Atlantic coast. There is very little evidence of the station in Killybegs in the 21st century. Killybegs is now a thriving port which has seen major redevelopment. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]Stranorlar Railway Station was opened in 1863 and was due to close in 1959, however, it remained open to goods until 6th February 1960 because road improvements necessary for lorries had not been completed by 31st December 1959. It was 13 miles from Strabane. Stranorlar Station was first constructed as a branch from the GNR station at Strabane. With the construction and operation of the West Donegal Railway to Donegal Town the station became an important junction. Stranorlar was at the heart of the Co. Donegal Railway network. The extensive layout of Stranorlar reflected its key role in all of the operations of the railway and it was the headquarters for all administration and the running of the system. Skilled jobs specific to the railway were signalmen, drivers, guards and shunters. Stranorlar Station and the associated offices, depots and fitters’ shops was a major employer. Practical skills included engineering, joinery, coachbuilding, foundry work, smithies and clerical workers. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]Glenties Railway Station opened in 1895 and closed in 1952. It closed to passengers in 1947 and all traffic 1952. Glenties is 24 miles from Stranorlar. I have covered the branch in two previous articles.
The line never paid its way and services were lightly used at all times though there were occasional heavy workings associated with market days. Hugging the valley floor and in company with the river and road it continued north-westwards from Stranorlar. Proceeding on through the now bleak and windswept moorland the line continued alongside Lough Finn down into Glenties Station.
I have covered the branch to Glenties in two previous articles.
Letterkenny Railway Station was opened in 1909 and closed in 1959. The Strabane and Letterkenny Railway began life to promote the prosperous farmland north-west of Strabane. Letterkenny to was 19 miles. It was intended to facilitate trade and agriculture in the area of south-east Donegal north of the Finn Valley. Letterkenny was also served by the Lough Swilly Railway to Derry and Burtonport. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]
I have covered the line between Strabane and Letterkenny in a series of three previous articles:
Strabane Railway Station opened in 1863 and was due to close in 1959, however, it remained open to goods until 6th February 1960 because road improvements necessary for lorries had not been completed by 31st December 1959. Strabane was approximately 13 miles from Stranorlar. Strabane to Stranorlar was the first stretch of line in Co. Donegal. The line was built by Finn Valley Railway as 5’3″ gauge. It was re-gauged to the narrow (3′) gauge in the summer of 1894 over only one weekend to match with the rest of the Donegal network! The partition of Ireland in 1922 led to serious delays and other complications for the Railway. All of its extensive freight traffic and all passengers had to clear through customs at Lifford (Republic of Ireland) and Strabane (Northern Ireland). [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]Derry Railway Station was opened in 1900 and closed.in 1954. It was just under 15 miles from Strabane. The County Donegal Railway’s own line to Derry improved the handling of the substantial through goods traffic of imported coal from the Foyle quayside to the many customers throughout the system. This station was adjacent to the twin-deck Craigavon Bridge which, at its lower level, gave rail access to Derry’s three other railway stations and the Harbour Commissioners’ own lines. The Derry line was always steam worked for both passenger and freight services. This was to gain maximum benefit from cheaper coal in Northern Ireland and to save depleting stocks at the company’s depot at Strabane. [My photograph, 22nd April 2023]
The featured image shows No. 14 on the turntable at Burtonport. The photograph was taken in April 1940 and was shared by Joe Begley on the Burtonport Heritage Facebook Group on 21st October 2020. [15]
In April 2023 we stayed close to Burtonport, adjacent to Loch Meela, in Co. Donegal. On the first full day of our stay, we walked the Burtonport Old Railway Walk. [1] A 6km length of the Burtonport extension of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway has been made into an accessible path. The weather was great and the walk very enjoyable. We were impressed by the investment in the walk made by the local community and Donegal County Council.
After the closure of the line it seems that it remained undisturbed for many years. Apparently, in 2009, however, “there was a heavy snowfall, and some of the old railway line was cleared to access water mains that needed repairing. The remaining section was later cleared and gradually developed as a walkway with the support of the local community. A massive effort has gone into creating this beautiful and peaceful walk.” [1]
This first length of the old railway extends from Burtonport as far as Kincasslagh Road Station and, apart from a short length close to the latter, can be walked with relative ease.
The route of the old railway between Burtonport and Kincasslagh Road Station as shown on historic mapping provided by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland dating from the early 1940s. The latter station was located to the East of Lough Waskel, to the top right of this map extract. [6]The map displayed on the information board in Burtonport shows the length of the old railway covered in this first article. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]
The whole of the Burtonport Extension features in a guide written in the late 1980s by Dave Bell & Steve Flanders. [2] In that guide, they provide a series of relatively low resolution monochrome photographs of the railway in operation and as they found it in the 1980s. This article is the first in a series looking again at the line and what can be found along its route.
At Burtonport, Bell and Flanders provide a station plan and a number of photographs from before closure and at the time of their survey.
Bell and Flanders describe arriving at the station from the South in the 1980s by car, the old trackbed now being a narrow road: “You drive through a small cutting before entering the railway’s terminus at Burtonport. … Just before the station itself you drive through a fish processing plant then, suddenly, on the left, you can see the engine shed, recognisable by its characteristic round-top windows and door.” [2: p83]
They go on to describe the station as they found it on their visit: “In the middle distance is the terminus station itself with a length of platform still in existence on the right-hand side of the road. The station house and offices still stand but are now derelict. They and the [engine] shed are now the only railway structures left at Burtonport. … Originally a siding ran along the quayside so that fish vans could be loaded directly from the fishing boats. Burtonport is still an important centre for Ireland’s fishing industry but today refrigerated articulated lorries haul the catches to their markets. It’s also from here that the ferry service runs to Aran Island, known as Arainn Mhór, Big Aran.” [2: p84]
Kincasslagh Railway Station and Crossing Keeper’s Cottage No. 21 are now in private hands. This article finishes with some older pictures of the site and some taken in 2023.
Kincasslagh Railway Station looking Southwest along the line towards Burtonport The Goods Shed is to the left and the passenger facilities are towards the end of the platform on the right. The station was built in 1913 and closed with this length of the line in 1940. This image was shared on the Burtonport Heritage Facebook Group by Patrick Boner on 15th February 2013. [12]The remains of the Goods Shed in the 21st century, seen from the public road to the South. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]A 1959 view through the site of Kincasslagh Railway Station from Southwest of the Goods Shed seen in the right foreground. The Crossing Keeper’s Cottage is partially masked by the Goods Shed and the passenger facilities are on the left. This photo was taken in May 1959 by Michael Davis and was shared by Patrick Boner on the Burtonport Heritage Facebook Group on 1st September 2018. [13]A view looking Northeast through the site of the station from the location of the goods shed. The passenger building is on the left and crossing keeper’s cottage on the right. The photograph was taken in 1965 by Michael Davis and was shared by Patrick Boner on the Burtonport Heritage Facebook Group on 3rd September 2018. [14]This satellite image is at a slightly larger scale than similar images above it shows the location of what was Kincasslagh Railway Station. [Google Maps, 28th April 2023]The passenger station building and platform as they appear in the 21st century. The site is very well maintained. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]Crossing Keeper’s Cottage No.21. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]The view from what used to be the Level Crossing, looking Southwest into the site of the station. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]Turning through 180°, this is the view Northeast from the old level crossing location. The modern road is ahead beyond the gorse bushes.The view Southwest from the modern road. The Crossing Keeper’s Cottage is just visible above the gorse. The garage is on the line of the old railway. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]This is a memorial adjacent to the line of the old railway to the first action in the War of Independence. [My photograph, 23rd April 2023]
The next article in this short series can be found on this link:
Dave Bell & Steve Flanders; Donegal’s Raulway Heritage Guide No. 2, The Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway: A Visitor’s Guideto the old railway and all the bits that can still be seen; County Donegal Restoration Society, Donegal Town, Co. Donegal, 198…
Jim McBride; The Lough Swilly Remembered; County Donegal Railway Restoration CLG, 2021. Illustrations from this book are reproduced here with the kind permission of Jim McBride.
Joe Begley, Steve Flanders & E.M. Patterson; The Lough Swilly Railway: Revised Edition; Colourpoint Books, Newtownards, 2017.
Belturbet Railway Station viewed from the West. The main passenger facilities are on the left behind an unidentified C&L locomotive with its mixed goods/passenger train. The 3ft gauge C&L entered Belturbet Railway Station from the West and it’s trains used the North face of the platform. Great Northern Railway (GNR) trains entered the station from the East and were able to make use of the protection afforded by the station roof as they used the South face of the station platform. The GNR water tower, shown here on the right of the image was relocated during the renovation of the site to occupy the location of the C&L Engine Shed which would, at the time of this picture been some distance behind the photographer and over to the right. [5]Taken from further Northwest this photograph, which was shared by the Heritage Railway Magazine on its Facebook page on 8th August 2021, shows the transshipment platform and shed at Belturbet with the broad gauge on the right of the platform and the 3ft gauge C&L to the left. On the right are the C&L Engine Shed and Water Tower and in the distance to the left, the GNR Engine Shed and at the extreme left of the image the passenger station’s roof. [6]A view of Belturbet Station from the East, only GNR broad gauge is visible in this image. [7]
In April 2023 we were able to drop in at Belturbet Railway Station on our way to Co. Donegal. The Station Museum was open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12noon to 5pm throughout the Summer season. [1][2][3] A small group of enthusiast’s have turned a derelict site into a good museum and rescued the majority of rail related buildings on the site. A patient wife allowed me a pleasant hour or so looking round the Museum.
Belturbet was the terminus for two different railway lines: the Irish standard gauge (5ft 3in) line from Ballyhaise on the Cavan Branch of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), and the Cavan and Leitrim Railway (C&L) – a 3ft gauge line which served Dromod to the Southwest and Arigna to the West with its three 3ft gauge lines meeting at Ballinamore in Co. Leitrim). At Dromod the C&L connected to the Midland Great Western Railway mainline from Dublin to Sligo.
Closure of the Station occurred in 1959. The site remained derelict for 36 years until, in 1995, Belturbet Community Development Association commenced restoration work. That work was completed in 1999. Further development of the site is planned which will see original track being relaid and with the intention of seeing trains running once again in Belturbet.
Belturbet Railway Station as shown in publicity material for the Station Museum. A North point has been added to the plan so as to avoid confusion if comparing the plan with maps of the location. [4]
The plan of the Station Site is numbered to allow easy identification of different buildings. The 3ft gauge line enters the schematic plans from the West (the right side of the image), the 5ft 3in gauge line enters from the East (the left side of the image). The buildings are:
The Main Station Building and Museum – the dressed stone buildings were the main reception area, office and waiting rooms for the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Belturbet. What is now a single reception room was originally two separate rooms, the first being the main concourse for access to the platforms. To the East were two waiting rooms, one for the general public and one (with toilet) for ladies holding first class tickets. To the West of the main reception area (behind the museum reception desk was the ticket office leading to the Station Master’s office, which had a connecting door to his house.
The Station Master’s House – has been restored. It would have originally been a family home but can now be booked for self-catering holidays.
Railway Lines and Platform – Belturbet railway station, which opened in 1885, was built and operated by the Great Northern Railway Company of Ireland (GNR). It was the last station of the GNR broad-gauge railway line – 5ft. 3 in. (1.6 m.). In 1887 the Cavan & Leitrim (C&L) narrow-gauge line – 3 ft. (0.9 m.) was built, Belturbet was the first station on this line. On the newly extended platform, passengers transferred from one line to the other. GNR and C&L trains stopped on opposite sides of the platform. There was a roof over the platform immediately adjacent to the station buildings.
GNR Goods Shed/Store – Goods Wagons were positioned alongside the small platform in front of the Goods Store. Wagon floors were level with the platform which made it easy for the porters with their barrows to move goods on and off the wagons. A crane was used to load and unload heavy items.
Cattle Dock and Ramp – The Cattle Dock was virtually unchanged from its opening in 1885 until its closure on March 31st, 1959. The dock was used to load livestock onto the wagons. This was particularly useful on the first Thursday of every month, when Belturbet Fair took place on the Fair Green.
GNR Signal Box – this building was no longer on site when the preservation work commenced.
GNR Turntable – The circle of stones indicate the position of the turntable. It was so well balanced that one man could single- handedly turn around a 50 ton engine.
GNR Engine Shed – The GNR Engine Shed, refurbished to original specifications, is where an engine was housed at night. The large vent in the roof allowed smoke and steam to escape when the engine was in steam.
Transshipment Shed – For many years GNR coal trains were filled from C&L coal wagons by local men using only shovels, barrows and planks of timber. The demand for Arigna coal ensured that Belturbet Station remained open five or six years longer than many similar stations.
C&L Engine Shed and Water Tower – the C&L shed and water tower were demolished before renovation of the station site commenced.
GNR Water Tower – In 1997 the GNR water tower was dismantled and reassembled on the site of the original C&L Engine Shed and Water Tower, which had been demolished.
C&L Turntable – this had been removed before renovation commenced.
C&L Goods Shed/Store – this was the only building on the station site to have survived the period of dereliction with its original slate roof and wooden doors.
There are a significant number of historic photographs on display cover both the broad gauge line and the narrow gauge line.
The following photos were taken by me on 21st April 2023.
The viaduct which carried the C&L across the River Erne on its approach to Belturbet Railway Station. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]Crossing the viaduct on the C&L on the way to Belturbet Railway Station. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]Continuing our approach to Belturbet Railway Station. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The historic 25″ OSi mapping shows the C&L approach to Belturbet Railway Station across a level crossing which had an associated Crossing Keeper’s Cottage. [8]Crossing the road on the C&L’s final approach to the station. The Crossing Keeper’s Cottage still stands in very good condition in the 21st century. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The Station site at Belturbet close to the turn of the 20th century as recorded on 25″ OSi mapping. [8]The Transshipment Shed viewed from beyond the West end of its platform. It was primarily used for the transfer of Arigna coal from the C&L to the GNR. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]Just a little closer in. The GNR engine shed is visible just to the left of the roof of the Transshipment Shed. C&L trains from Arigna drew in to the near face of the platform. GNR trains approached the rear of the platform from beyond the Shed. On the right, the water tower base can just be made out. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The GNR water tower base was dismantled and reassembled (in 1997) on the site of the original C&L Engine Shed and Water Tower, which had been demolished. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The GNR Engine Shed as seen from the Southwest. The stones which mark the location of the GNR turntable can just be seen beyond. [My photograph, 21st April 2021]The GNR Engine Shed viewed from the East. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The location of the GNR turntable. The building beyond the turntable to the left is the roof which covered the GNR passenger platform. The buildings directly behind the turntable were built on the site a long time after closure. The house a men’s charity. The GNR water tower was relocated to allow this building to be built. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The Transshipment Shed, seen from the East with broad gauge track in evidence to the left of the platform. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]The trainshed roof over the GNR platform is on the left of this image with the passenger facilities beyond. The two storey building is the Station Master’s House. [My photograph, 21at April 2023]The GNR Goods Shed to the East of the main station buildings. [My photograph, 21st April 2023]Two views from the station approach roads, both show the main facade of the station. [My photographs, 21st April 2023]
Teelin Pier, Co. Donegal. … [My photograph, 26th April 2023]
What happened to the proposed extension to the Killybegs branch of the Co. Donegal Railways to Teelin Pier?
The short answer is that it did not really get beyond the imaginations of a few folk in the Glean Cholm Cille (Glencolumbkille) and Carrick area of Co. Donegal.
There was a government scheme which provided support to fishermen in the area, first in the Congested Districts Board establishing Teelin as the principal fish-curing station and then in supplying fisherman with large fishing smacks (and associated gear). [1]
Local parties could not countenance this investment going to waste for the want of a short railway extension from Killybegs. Revd C. Cunningham of Glencolumbkille expressed the feeling of a meeting of the Glencolumbkille and Kilcar Industrial Committee, held at Carrick, Co Donegal when he said that “with such efforts being made to make Teelin a fishing centre of unequalled importance with a fleet of first class fishing vessels, it was sad to reflect that the rich harvest which would naturally be expected from the broad Atlantic shall be in a great measure fruitless through the want of this short extension.” [1].
He went on to argue at that meeting that should the extension from Killybegs to Teelin be made “not only would existing industries be re-invigorated but others would be developed, and thus the people instead of having, in case of failure of crop, to appeal for relief to the Government, would become self-supporting, happy and independent.” [1]
It seems that the authorities turned a deaf ear to the appeals of local people. The reason given in histories of the line, for the failure to extend the line beyond Killybegs is that the topography would have required serious civil engineering features making it too expensive to construct. [1]
However, some maps of the Co. Donegal Railways show a dotted line between Killybegs and Teelin Pier, following the coastline. A typical example is shown below. …
The Railways of County Donegal. This map of the lines in Co. Donegal includes those which were considered as possible extensions and shows them as dotted lines. The line between Killybegs and Teelin Pier is shown bottom-left of this image. [2]
But … What if? … What if it had been built soon after the completion of the line to Killybegs? I am given some encouragement in following this flight-of-fancy by the publication in 2022 of the Donegal Railway Heritage Trail by the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre which seems to show a line from Killybegs to Teelin Pier, not as a possible or proposed line but as a line which seemingly got built. [4]
Is my flight-of-fancy possible?
I guess that I want to be able to imagine a parallel universe in which every proposed railway line not only was built, but remains in operation today.
Is there anything else that might encourage my flight-of-fancy? … I think there might be! Here are a few things to contemplate ….
1. Have another look at the photograph at the top of this article which shows Teelin Pier as it was in April 2023 when we visited. What might the substantial stone structure be which sits just in from the right edge of the image, if not the base of a long disused water tower? Might it not be good to imagine one of the Co. Donegal locomotives idling alongside the water tank while it’s crew refill it’s tanks for the long run through to Killybegs and on to Donegal?
2. And, just peeping into the same image is another building. The photograph below shows that building close to the “water tower” base. What might it be if not an engine shed?
Teelin Pier buildings in April 2023. [My photograph, 26th April 2023]The same building before it was re-roofed recently. [3]
Yep, it does look very much like a typical small engine shed. Might the plastic panels in the corrugated iron roof have marked locations where steam and smoke were allowed to vent as an engine was being prepared, early in the morning, for its next duty on the line?
3. Close to the road to Killybegs (R263), to the East of Carrick there is an old stone bridge which clearly carried an earlier incarnation of the R263 but could so easily have carried a 3ft-gauge railway as well! The two images below are taken from Google Streetview …
Please understand, this is just a ‘what-might-have-been’ and understand too that even if it had been true, these little indications of a possible old railway would probably be all that remained in the 21st century.
What I do need to do to complete this short fairytale is to look again at the three possible indications of the presence of an old railway and clarify their actual use, and then to allow Dr. E.M. Paterson a final word …
1. The stone base for a water tank. That might just be what it was, although with no railway connotations. It is more likely that it was an ice house, needed to allow fish catches to be preserved for onward transport. [3]
2. The engine shed. Sadly, the origins of this building are well documented and have nothing to do with any old railway. It is a detached gable-fronted single-bay single-storey former coastguard boathouse, built in 1871, originally associated with Teelin Coastguard Station. Now in use as a private boathouse. When surveyed it was described as having a “pitched corrugated metal roof. Roughcast rendered finish over rubble stone construction with rock-faced ashlar sandstone block-and-start quoins to the corners of the front elevation (north) with dressed margins. Single segmental-headed window opening to the centre of each side elevation (east and west) having rock-faced ashlar sandstone block-and-start surrounds with dressed margins, cut stone sills; openings now blocked. Segmental-headed carriage-arch to the front elevation (north) having rock-faced ashlar sandstone block-and-start surrounds with dressed margins, and with replacement timber double-doors.” [3]
Obvious, really, when you see the same building from a different angle ….
The view, from Teelin Pier, of the two structures discussed above. The use of the building on the right as a boathouse is emphasised by the ramp which would have permitted the launch of a coastguard vessel and which makes the building ideal for its private use today.
3. The stone bridge did indeed carry a previous incarnation of the R263 but never saw use as a railway structure!
Dr E.M.Paterson tells us that Barton’s 1896 map of the Co. Donegal railway network, “drawn on a scale of 4 miles to 1 inch and measuring 30 in by 22 in, shows four probable Government Railways, none of which was built as shown. … [The fourth of these] was a westerly extension of the Killybegs branch … out to the coastal villages of Kilcar and Teelin, where there was a ‘government’ pier. … Had the Killybegs-Teelin extension been constructed, it would have been a spectacular one, reaching into some of Donegal’s wildest scenery and ending near the mighty sea cliffs of Slieve League, which rise 2,000 ft above the Atlantic. It would justifiably have rivalled the Valentia branch and the Mallaig extension of the West Highland Railway.” [5: p31-32]
The featured image above was colourised by Simon Alun Hark. It makes the engine house and the mechanisms associated with the inclined plane so real. [14]
This schematic representation of the Shropshire Tub Boat Canals is helpful in clarifying the extent of the network. It shows the locations of all the inclined planes on the system. These are marked with a red arrowhead which in each case highlights the direction of the lift. The Trench Branch and Incline were in important link in the journey between the Shropshire Union Canal and the River Severn at Coalport, linking the Newport Canal to the Shropshire Canal. [10]
P. Whitehead [11] provides approximate statistics for the inclined planes on the Shropshire Canal as follows:
Lilleshall Inclined Plane: 123 yds long, 43 ft. This replaced an earlier vertical lift in a shaft and tunnel system. [11]
I first came across an example of these inclined planes before moving to East Shropshire. We drive past the Hay Incline when travelling by a circuitous route from Manchester to Ludlow. At the time I wrote a couple of short articles for my blog:
This article focuses on the Trench Inclined Plane which was built by the Shrewsbury Canal Company in 1792 after it took over the Wombridge Canal. The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire, England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted. It opened in 1788. Trench Inclined Plane remained in operation until 1921, becoming the last operational canal inclined plane in the country. The canal had been little used since 1919, and closed with the closure of the plane. [15] [16]
The Inclined Plane consisted of twin railway tracks, each with a cradle in which a single tub-boat was carried. An engine and engine house were built at the top of the incline to provide power to the Incline. It was supplied by the Coalbrookdale Company and was replaced in 1842 by a new engine that lasted for 79 years, until the final demise of the incline on 31 August 1921. The remaining structural elements of the incline were remove in 1968 as part of the Telford New Town developments. [15][17]
The engine’s main function was to lift the tub boats I cradles out of the canal at the top of the incline over the end wall of the canal. The rails of the inclined plane ran up out of the canal and then down the main length of the Inclined Plane. Generally, the working traffic was in the downward direction of the incline, and was counterbalanced by empty tub-boats returning up to the top level. [17] This meant that little power was needed for the operation of the main length of the incline.
Incidentally, “a prominent feature near the top of the incline was the Wombridge Pumping Engine house. This was a Cornish type, with a tall chimney, and was erected in 1858, to pump water from the mines. The main cylinder was 60 inches (150 cm) in diameter, with a 10-foot (3.0 m) stroke, and it lifted water from a depth of around 600 feet (180 m). The engine developed 250 hp (190 kW) and normally ran slowly, raising 3,338 imperial gallons (15.17 m3) of water per minute, in three strokes. When running at maximum speed, it could achieve eleven strokes per minute.” [18]
These two images were shared by Brian Edwards on the Shropshire Past and Present Facebook Group in late August 2022. [20]
Maps and Illustrations of the Inclined Plane
The Trench Branch Canal left the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal at Wappenshall Junction.
An extract from the 1901 6″ Ordnance Survey which shows the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal (Shropshire Union Canal) running East-West, albeit in something of a ‘V’-shape with the Trench Branch running to the Southeast, off the bottom edge of the extract. [21]The same location on the ESRI satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland. [21]Wappenshall Junction seen from the Northwest.[Google Earth, 2022]A much earlier view of Wappenshall Junction. The Trench Branch leaves this scene through the bridge on the far-right of the image which leads to Wappenshall Lock. [22]
The Trench Branch ran across open fields until it reached the industrial areas near Trench. The first length passed under Wappenshall Bridge, through Wappenshall and Britton Lock, Kinley Bridge, Wheat Leasows Bridge and Lock, Shucks and Peaty Locks, Hadleypark Bridge and Lock, Turnip Lock and Wittingham Bridge before reaching Baker’s Lock/Basin and Castle Iron Works, Hadley.
Richard Foxcroft provides a plan of the Shropshire Canals on ‘Exploring Telford’ a website which focusses on the industrial history of the area which is now Telford, particularly the canals and railways. An extract is shown below. [23]
The line of the northern end of Trench Branch of the Shropshire Canal as shown on ‘Exploring Telford’ [23]
I followed this length or the Trench Branch on the morning of 31st August 2022. Much of the route is on private land and where this is the case, the old canal has been reintegrated into its surroundings.
Access to the canal basin at Wappenshall Junction is at present restrict to site personnel only as the basin and associated structures are under going restoration.
Wappenhall Junction warehouses are undergoing restoration as is the canal basin. [My photograph, 31st August 2022] Grant funding has been provided and work is being undertaken predominantly by volunteers from the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust [24]These new build properties front onto the line of the canal which is illustrated using a red line. The wall in the foreground is the wingwall of the arch-bridge which used to carry the village road over the canal. [My photograph, 31st August 2022]The village lane used to be carried on this structure. Closure of the branch-canal provided the opportunity to realign the road both horizontally and vertically. [My photograph, 31st August 2022]
South of Wappenshall was the Wappenshall Lock. Access to the lock was not possible. No access was possible to Britton Lock nor to Kinley Bridge. The location of Wheat Leasowes Bridge and Lock were easily found as they lie on the road between Preston upon the Weald Moors and Leegomery Round-about on the A442, ‘Queensway’.
The three images above were all taken on 31st August 2022. In sequence, they show: the view North along the line of the old canal which is marked by the field-ditch which remains alongside the hedge in this image; the view South across the road; and finally a view which shows a length of the old canal which is now in the garden of the property in the second image and which still retains water. [My photographs, 31st August 2022]
The length of canal visible in the garden of the property above was the length between the two locks, Wheat Leasowes Bridge Lock and Shucks Lock. The property concerned appears to be an extended lock-keeper’s cottage.
The 6″ OS Map of 1881, published in 1887 shows the bridge and the two locks. The road can clearly be seen to deviate to miss the lock on its alignment and it is unsurprising that once the canal became redundant, the road was realigned. [25]21st century satellite image covering roughly the same area as the map extract above. The lock-keeper’s cottage appears to have been extended. The open area of the canal falls within the curtilage of that property. [26]An extract from the 6″ 1901 OS Map published in 1902 which shows Peaty Lock and Hadleypark Bridge and Lock. [27]A 21st century satellite image of the same area as above, with the locations of the key features marked. [27]The alignment of the old canal at the point it crosses the modern A442, Queensway. Pety Lock was located just to the North of the new road. [My photograph, 31st August 2022]The overgrown route of the old canal to the South of the A442. It retains very little water but the channel is visible here for some distance. [My photograph, 31st August 2022]A picture of Hadleypark Lock taken from the location of the old bridge over the Canal at this point. [My photograph, 31st August 2022]Looking back to the North at the guillotine lock gate arrangement used on the Shropshire Canal.This is the guillotine lock gate mechanism at Turnip Lock. [May photograph, 31st August 2022]
These three images also come from Turnip Lock. The first shows the recess in the locak wall down which the gate slides. The remaining two images show the lock walls, first looking South towards Trench and then looking North towards Wappenshall. [My photographs, 31st August 2022]
Turnip Lock and then Whittingham Bridge appear on the 6″ OS Map of 1901 before the canal them bends towards the East aand passes Baker’s Lock and Basin and the site of Castle Iron Works. [28]The same area on the ESRI satellite imagery. The ochre line shows the approximate limit of public access. The canal runs through the Hadley Castle Business Park. Moveero (part of GKN) occupies the large buildings which sit over the site of the Castle Iron Works. [28][29] The Shropshire Star announced in April 2022, that GKN would be investing a further £20million in the site. [30]The 6″ OS Map shows the canal turning first to the East and then back towards the Southeast as it approached Trench Pool. [31]The line of the canal is highlighted through the industrial areas. Remnants can be seen in the top-left of this image and the alignment is, apart for where under modern structures or roads, still highlighted by a ribbon of deciduous trees. The A442 appears again in the form of the gyratory towards the right-side of this extract from the satellite imagery. Trench Pool appears on the extreme right [31]Trench Inclined Plane as it appears on the 1874 6″ OS Map. Trench Pool was used to store water for the canal system. The Shropshire Union Canal connects to the incline from the West via the Shrewsbury & Newport Canal. At the top of the incline there was a short stub branch to Wombridge Ironworks and a longer ‘Trench Branch’ or ‘Wombridge Canal’ which connected to the Donnington Wood and Coalport branches of the Shropshire Canal. [9]Trench Inclined Plane in 1901 as shown on the 25″ OS Map. Note the location of the bridge over the canal just to the South of Trench Pool, West of the Shropshire Arms. A photograph of that bridge appears below. [8]This extract from satellite imagery 9ESRI) shows the approximate location of the Inclined Plane and it engine house. [32]The bridge over the old canal at the bottom of Trench Inclined Plane. It linked the site of the Shropshire Ironworks with Trench Pool. This colourised photograph was shared by Simon Alan Hark on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 9th August 2021. [12]
The following colourised photographs give an excellent idea of what the Inclined Plane was like and how it worked. They have been colourised by Simon Alun Hark.
John R. Day wrote two volumes in the early 1960s about the railways of Africa. The first was about the southern area of the continent and entitled, unsurprisingly, ‘Railways of Southern Africa’. [1] The second volume was entitled ‘Railways of Northern Africa’ and dealt with the remainder of the continent. [2]
An on-line acquaintance very kindly sent me a copy of the chapter from that second volume which covers British East Africa. Today, the chapter title would give cause for some concern, but colonial attitudes still held sway in the 1960s. [2: p24-41]
Reading that chapter piqued my interest and I managed to pick up a secondhand copy of the book at a reasonable cost.
I have written a series of articles about the Uganda Railway and its successors in Uganda and Kenya. Those articles can be found here on my blog (rogerfarnworth.com). [3] These articles begin with a history of the mainline and then follow the route of the railway West from Mombasa. Later articles pickup on one of the volumes about the history of the railways in East Africa which were written by M.F. Hill. [4]
Day begins his chapter on British East Africa by quoting from Sir Winston Churchill’s My African Journey, which highlights what was very true in the very early years of the 20th century, “that the Uganda Railway did not pass through Uganda. It was a railway to it, not of it. ‘It stops short of the land from which it takes its name, and falls exhausted by its exertions and vicissitudes, content feverishly to lap the waters of the Victoria Nyanza.'” [4: p24][5]
The Uganda Railway: this map of the route of the line is included in Winston Churchill’s My African Journey. [5]
Day also remarks on the level of vitriol which was directed at the Uganda Railway during its construction, quoting The Railway Gazette of 1911, “It is doubtful whether any project has been so roundly abused and so soon proved successful as the Uganda Railway. Politicians of all shades of opinion had their fling at it in turn, and it was condemned as a permanent money-sink. Yet it went on being built, slowly but surely, and in the second year of full public operation earned a profit over its working expenses.” [6] Day goes on to state boldly that it was this railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria which created modern Kenya!
In Day’s book a short note follows about the thinking which brought the Railway into being: “The Imperial British East Africa Company, formed in 1888 from the British East Africa Association, played an important part: one of its main objects was to suppress the slave trade. In 1890, the Company arranged for 60 miles of narrow-gauge railway to be built. From England came 65 miles of 2 ft. gauge track and from India came labourers: only seven miles were built, but it was named the “Central Africa Railway”. Later it was pulled up and the material re-used for a tram-line in Mombasa.” [2: p24][7]
“Apart from the desire for good communications with Uganda, which, besides being a desirable territory in itself, controlled the head-waters of the Nile and thus much of the economy of Egypt and the Sudan, it was thought that the railway would end the slave trade. The argument was that the slaves travelled with the caravans, but once the railway was built it would so speed up and cheapen travel that the caravans would cease.” [2: p24]
Robert Clemm argues that “the territory of what would become the British colony of Kenya was little regarded by Europeans during the mid-to-late 19th century. At that time, it served as little more than a barrier to cross to places more renowned and important. For explorers who wished to verify if the reports of a snow-cappedmountain in Africa were true, it was simply a land to traverse on the way to Mount Kilimanjaro. For British officials in the aftermath of the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, it was a land necessary to possess not for its own intrinsic worth, but only as a means to stabilize “effective occupation” and to preserve British dominance. For officers of the Imperial British East Africa Company, it was an obstacle to surmount to gain access to the much richer lands of Uganda. The construction of the Uganda Railway, however, radically changed the perception, and, by extension, the nature and history of Kenya. … The Uganda Railway was a piece of technology crafted to solve the joint political and economic concerns of the British Government in eastern Africa. In linking the coast firmly to Uganda it would solidify British control over a region contested by German colonial enthusiasts, and would ensure the prosperity of the regionthrough the expected transport of cash crops to the coast. … As much as the Uganda Railway seems to present yet another example ofthe importance of technology generally, and the railway specifically, to the process of imperialism, it goes well beyond that. The “Lunatic Express,” as the Uganda Railway was nicknamed, illustrates the power of technology to create and transform well in excess of our own intentions. While its creators simply wished to solve the technical question of linking important regions via a stable transportation network, the railway fundamentally transformed the land over which it crossed. The transformation went beyond that of the physical land-scape, which would be leveled and etched with rails and ties, and extended to the very understanding of what Kenya was.” [8: p133f]
Mervyn Hill’s first volume, [4] demonstrates the way in which the Uganda Railway fulfilled the role that Clemm describes.
Day continues, in his chapter on British East Africa, to outline the survey work of a team of three Royal Engineers led by Captain J.R.L. Macdonald which sought the best route to Lake Victoria. Day comments that Macdonald “was concerned only to find the quickest and cheapest way from the coast to Lake Victoria: no one at that time was bothered about the highlands of Kenya.” [2: p25]
Day notes that the election of Lord Salisbury’s Conservative government in Britain in 1895 finally resulted in a decision to build the railway. He describes the decision taken in 1896 to build the line to metre-gauge as ‘unfortunate‘. It was a decision “based on the assumption that, as many Indian railways were of this gauge, rolling stock could be obtained quickly if needed in an emergency.” [2: p26] Day does not state why he sees the decision as unfortunate. It may possibly be because other railways on the continent were being built to a gauge of 3ft 6in, rather than metre-gauge.
Construction started with a 1,700ft timber viaduct connecting Mombasa Island to the mainland. This remained in use until an iron bridge was opened to traffic in July 1901. Day reports that relatively quick progress was made in 1896 with the railhead being 23 miles from the coast by the end of the year.
The story of the construction work in 1896-1898 was, however, a troubling one. “By the end of 1896, the number of Indian labourers had risen to about 4,000; but more than half suffered from malaria, which also attacked the European staff. Troubles continued to dog the work in 1897 and 1898. An outbreak of bubonic plague in India dried up the labour supply for months. All the camels and all but six of the 800 donkeys used to carry supplies died, as did over a third of the mules and more than nine-tenths of the oxen. Water had to be brought by train to supply the labourers. Transport beyond railhead was eased later by the importation of four traction engines and trailers.” [2: p27]
A revolt in Uganda and a mutiny by Sudanese troops saw the incomplete railway transporting large numbers of troops about 100 miles from the coast and it was the successful use of the railway by the military which gave greater impetus to the construction work.
The first 100 miles of the line has been opened to freight at the end of 1897, and to passengers early in 1898. In December 1898, a delay of three weeks with work completely shut down was caused by attack on workers by two lions. These attacks continued into 1900 and meant that the pace of the work was slower than it might have been. Nonetheless, by the end of 1897 rails were 256 miles from the coast.
By the end of May 1899 the rails had reached what became Nairobi and the railway headquarters were built there. “By the end of 1899, more than 18,000 Indian labourers were at work and the line was pressing on from Nairobi toward the escarpment and the site of the inclines. The first few months of 1900 brought heavy rains and partly washed away the earth- works east of Nairobi, causing delays. By this time the survey had been completed to the lake by a shorter route than that first envisaged, the locomotive stock had increased to over 90, and there were about 175 passenger vehicles and 900 wagons of various types.” [2: p29]
Day comments that a “new route had been found into the Rift Valley which avoided the reversing stations which Macdonald had thought necessary. At first, however, the Chief Engineer decided to use a funicular railway to carry material down into the Rift Valley so that the railway could be continued towards Lake Victoria without wait- ing for the permanent line. The vertical height of the funicular was just over 1,500 ft. and it was in four sections. The top section was at 1 in 6, the two middle sections at 1 in 2 and the bottom section at about 1 in 11.” [2: p28f]
“On the top and bottom inclines, full wagons going down pulled the empty ones up again. On the centre sections, built to a gauge of 5 ft. 6 in., wagons were carried on special trucks so built as to have a horizontal deck on which were metre-gauge tracks for the railway wagons. These special trucks were hauled by a 1 in. dia. steel wire rope passing round a power-driven drum at the top of the incline. All four inclines were double track, but the lower portions of the 1 in 2 section were of gauntletted track, i.e. the two tracks were interlaced. A temporary railway led from the foot of the incline to the permanent line of route at a point 375 miles from Mombasa. The inclines enabled the railway to advance another 170 miles before the permanent alignment was finished into the valley and the funicular was taken out of use in November, 1901.” [2: p29]
March 1901 saw the railhead having reached 483 miles West of Nairobi, 17 miles behind the earthworks. The line reached Port Florence (later Kisumu) on 19th December 1901. It cost around £5.5 million and climbed more than 6,000ft en-route from Mombasa. Very soon minds turned towards extending the line to Uganda to avoid the need for the transshipment of goods onto and off lake steamers. Uganda was a different world to Kenya. “Sir Charles Eliot wrote in 1903: ‘To cross the lake [to Uganda] is like visiting another continent. The country is cultivated and thickly populated. There are good roads, fences and houses all constructed by the natives. The people are all clothed, and it is a reproach not to be able to read and write.’ The contrast with Kenya as it them was could not have been greater.” [2: p30] It is easy to see why Uganda was a target for colonial powers.
Winston Churchill continued his advocacy for an extension of the railway into Uganda. A deep water pier at Killindini was funded by the British government by means of a loan and £60,000 was allocated for the construction of a ‘tramway’ between Nairobi and Thika in Kenya. The ‘tramway’ was built to the same gauge as the railway and with gradual improvement over the years, became a defacto branch line.
An extract from a map produced by East African Railways and Harbours which shows the branch line heading away from the main line at Nairobi and running through to Thika and beyond. [2: p23]
Churchill’s advocacy resulted in the construction of a line between Jinja on Lake Victoria and Kakindu on the Nile and permitting access to Lake Kioga. The terminus was relocated during construction to Namasagali. The line was given the name, ‘The Busoga Railway’ and opened in 1912. I have written about this line and the article can be found here. [9]
A branch line to Lake Magadi was also constructed, running from Konza (282 miles from Mombasa) to the lake. It was around 100 miles in length. The Lake Magadi Soda Co. was formed in 1911 and later acquired a 99-year lease of the area and powers to build a pier at Kilindini. The branch line was complete in 1915. The line is referred to here and a pictorial record of a visit in the 1990s is included in that linked article. [10]
Another extract from a map produced by East African Railways and Harbours which shows the branch line heading away from the main line at Konza and running through to Magadi. [2: p23]
In the early years of the 20th century traffic on the mainline increased significantly. “In 1902, there were three or perhaps four trains a week in each direction. In 1912 there were 50 or 60: the working profit was £134,000.” [2: p32]
After WW1 the possibility of a line to the Uasin Gishu plateau was reconsidered. It was hoped that this line might eventually result in a further extension into Uganda. There was some heated argument about the best route for this line before work commenced on the new line from a junction at Nakuru in the the last few weeks of 1921. By 1923, a line as far as Sabatia was in use.
Another extract from a map produced by East African Railways and Harbours which shows the new line heading away from what was the main line at Nakuru and running through Sabatia, Equator and Timboroa. [2: p23]
The network continued to develop. The Thika line was extended to Nyeri. Work in the West of Kenya was also moving forward, decisions were taken to: extend the Usain Gishu line; create a branch to Mbale (in Uganda) from Tororo on the border; build a line from Rongai to Solai in Nakuru District; and a branch from Leseru to Kitali. All of these, bar the Mbale branch, were under construction by the end of 1924.
“In 1926, the name of the railway was changed from the Uganda Railway to the Kenya and Uganda Railway, and at the end of that year 1,128 miles of railway were open.” [2: p34] By January 1928 the line reached the River Nile and an extension to Kampala from Jinja was under consideration.
In 1927, a further name change to ‘Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours’ was in place and more powerful locomotives were introduced with an increase in rail weight to 80lbs/yard on the length from Mombasa to Makindu. A new causeway was under construction to link Mombasa Island to the mainland. The causeway made room for both road and rail and was completed by a 5-span bridge. The Nyeri Branch was completed mid-year. The Branch to Mbale, extended to Soroti, was under construction and a branch from Gilgil to Thomson’s Falls was agreed.
A further extract from the East African Railways and Harbours map which shows the branch from Rongai to Solai, the branch from Gilgil to Thomson’s Falls and a length of the Nyeri branch. [2: p23]
Construction of the Thomson’s Falls Branch commenced at the beginning of 1928 and was completed by August 1929. The Soroti Branch was completed by September 1929 and the branch from Kisumu to Yala by November 1930. The Naro Moru Branch was extended to Nanyuki (visible to the right side of the image above) by October 1930.
“The Jinja-Kampala line was started in early 1929 and the 58-mile line made such progress that track-laying was finished in January 1930. The inauguration has to wait for the completion of the bridge across the Nile, opened by the Governor of Uganda on 14th January 1931.” [2: 35f]
A portrait of East African Railways 59 class Garratt locomotive no. 5902, before it was named ‘Ruwenzori Mountains’. East African Railways and Harbours – A.J. Craddock’s personal collection of EAR&H publicity photos given to him during a visit to the Nairobi HQ in 1954 (EAR&H negative 961/1) – Public Domain. [11]
Engineers and surveyors were at work in Western Uganda in the 1930s looking for ways to connect through to the Congo but the world depression of the 1930s hampered any significant expansion of the network. Only a short length from Yala to Butere was completed. Trade improved in the late 1930s and new passenger and rolling stock arrived by 1939, along with six powerful Beyer Garratt Locomotives. WW2 brought a reevaluation of priorities, railway workshops were turned over to military uses. New lines were considered if they would enhance the war effort. One of these was an extenion of the Nairobi-Thika Branch to the North. A great deal of effort was put into the building of this line which in the end proved of little value as its intended use was overtaken by the speed of the military advance North from Kenya.
After the war, a line to the Kilembe Copper Mine was deemed essential. A route had been surveyed before WW2 and the idea was resurrected in 1950. Kilembe was expected “to produce 20,000-25,000 tons of copper and 1,500 tons of cobalt a year. The Government of Uganda came to the conclusion that a line would be justified and that the area through which it would run would be suitable for crop growing and cattle ranching.” [2: p37] The project was approved in January 1952, work began in the same month. The line was open to Mityana by August 1953 and to Kasese in August 1956. The construction work was demanding. Day tells us that “up to 5,000 men at a time worked on the new line, which ran in places through thick forest and in others demanded heavy earthworks. Embankments were needed to cross the papyrus swamps which the line traverses for some 40 miles of its route, and there are 24 bridges. The Lake George swamp demanded a four-mile earth embankment containing 18 million cubic feet of earth and included gaps spanned by three 60 ft. bridges. The swamp is fed by streams from the Rift escarpment and from the Ruwenzori Mountains, and concrete piers had to be sunk 40 ft. into the swamp to support the ends of the bridge spans.” [2: p38]
“Where the railway drops down into the Western Rift Valley a great spiral was built to take the line down part of the 1,000 ft. difference in level. Apart from excavation and moving 60 million feet of earth on this and other parts of the escarpment stretch of line, blasting had to be undertaken where rock barred the way. When the rails reached Kasese, with the Ruwenzori Mountains just beyond, railhead was 1,080 miles from the sea. Traffic was flowing from the mines over the £5 million line to the smelting plant at Jinja, 263 miles away, by the end of the year.” [2: p38]
In 1950 a main line realignment between Nakuru and Nairobi (113 miles) was completed at a cost of £2.25 million, shortening the journey by 10 miles and easing gradients. “It included the 2,500ft Limuru tunnel and another at Gilgil in the side of the Great Rift Valley.” [2: p38]
In 1955, the railways in East Africa had their most successful year. Day tells us that the annual report for 1957 reviewed the decade since the war and the formation (in 1947) of the larger East African Railways and Harbours Co. with the inclusion of what were originally German colonial lines in Tanganyika (Tanzania): “Public goods on the inland transport services had increased from 2.6 million tons a year in 1948 to 3.8 million tons in 1957, and ton-mileage from 769 million to 1,454 million. (in 1962 traffic had risne to4.15 million tons and 1,661 million ton-miles.) The tonnage of imports and exports passing through East African ports rose from 3.1 million to 4.4 million. The locomotive stock rose from 234 in 1948 to 461 in 1957 and the number of wagons rose from 5,764 t0 9,594. The route mileage increased from 2,930 to 3,375.” [2: p39]
At the end of 1957, locomotive stock consisted of, “129 Beyer-Garratt, 222 tender, and 58 tank locomotives as well as 46 diesels. There were 994 coaching vehicles.” [2: p39]
1957 was a pivotal year for traction on the network. The Southern section (Tanganyika) was primarily run by diesel locomotives and railcars and some diesels were in use on the Magadi branch. 1958 saw ten new diesels (1,850h.p.) ordered and over the next few years significant expansion continued. Independence for Tanganyika (Tanzania) in 1961 put in doubt the continuing use of the Southern section as the new state would need to fund at least £200,000/year to keep the system.
In May 1963, an international committee of inquiry recommended that all steam motive power should be replaced by standardised diesel-hydraulic locomotives. Days final comment is that this would be a major undertaking as at the time 406 steam locomotives remained against 56 diesels(of which some of the largest were diesel-electrics) [2: p41]
It is at this point that Day’s history of the East African lines comes to a halt. He was unable to catalogue events of the later 1960s and beyond. His book was published in 1964.
A more detailed history can be found in M.F. Hill’s book Permanent Way: the story of the Kenya and Uganda Railway. [4] This book can cost significant sums on the secondhand market. I have produced a series of articles on it which begin here. [12]
References
John R. Day; Railways of Southern Africa; Arthur Barker, London, 1963.
John R. Day; Railways of Northern Africa; Arthur Barker, London, 1964.
Immediately after publishing the article about the most southerly length of the Branch (Part 3), I was contacted by Ian Turpin who built a model of Coalport East Railway Station some years ago. He sent me a copy of the 1″ 1833 Ordnance Survey (revised in the second half of the 19th century to show the railways of Shropshire) which covers the Branch.
In addition, as part of his research for his model railway project he took a number of photographs in and around both Madeley Market Station and Coalport East Station in the late 1980s. This addendum catalogues the pictures that he took. My thanks to Ian for providing these photographs, some of which show scenes which have disappeared since they were taken.
At the end of this article are pictures of Ian Turpin’s layout which he kindly sent to me.
But first, a series of pictures associated with the Branch which have come to light since the three articles were completed. ….
An aerial view of Coalport (East) Railway Station extracted from a larger aerial image included by Heritage England on the Britain from Above website. The view is from the South across the River Severn in 1948, (EAW019495) [1]This view looks to the West along the Branch from Coalport (East) Station. It emphahsises the gradients on the line. The gradient started immediately at the station throat as the gradient marker indicates. After passing under the overbridge trains encountered even steeper gradients. Looking through the bridge the increased grade can be seen. The bridge in this picture carries Coalport High Street and remains today to allow the Silkin Way and a rainwater sewer main to pass under. Pictures below show the propping required to allow the bridge to continue to carry road loading. [National Railway Museum]A picture of Coalport East Station in 1958, only a couple of years before final closure. This view looks West under the road bridge which spanned the Station. It was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 9th November 2020. [2]The dismantling of trackwork at Coalport East Station after the closure of the Branch. This picture was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 11th December 2021.[3]After the removal of the Branch trackwork, the route of the old railway was commandeered to provide a route from Telford New Town to the River Severn for the rainwater drainage main sewer. During construction,. the sewer was very prominent. After construction and with landscaping in place, only short section of the sewer pipe remained visible. Much of the length is now below the Silkin Way and in earlier articles we have seen evidence of its presence. This picture was shared in a comment on the image above by Geoff Martin on 12th December 2021. [3]A picture of the site of Coalport East Station in 1987. This view is taken from the same location as the photograph of 1958 above. It looks West under the road bridge which once spanned the Station. It was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg alongside the 1958 image on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 9th November 2020. It illustrates the way in which the site has changed with the introduction of the main rainwater sewer. It precedes the pictures taken by Ian Turpin by only a year or two. [2]This photograph from the 1930s shows Coalport Bridge in the foreground. The Carriage Shed at Coalport Station can be seen immediately above the bridge. This image was shared by Marcus Keane on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 18th March 2014. [4]Lin Keska shared this postcard image of Coalport Bridge in the comments about the above image on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 26th February 2019. The passenger facilities can be seen to the left of the bridge. The carriage shed is again visible above the bridge and the high retaining wall behind the station site can be picked out to the right of the image. [4]Lin Keska also shared this image in the comments on the same post on 26th February 2019. This picture was taken in the 1960s. The site of the passenger station is now overgrown and the Carriage Shed has also been removed. [4]This photograph shows the front of the passenger facilities at Coalport East Station after closure of the passenger service in the 1950s. It was shared by Marcus Keane on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 26th August 2015. [5]
Secondly, Coalport River Severn Warehouse
A close inspection of the 1881 6″ or 25″ Ordnance Survey will show a building straddling two of the sidings in the goods yard to the West of Coalport Station.
The 1881 6″ Ordnance Survey [6] shows a warehouse building alongside the River Severn to the West of the passenger facilities at Coalport East Station. This was the River Severn Warehouse noted fleetingly by Bob Yate in his description of the Branch. [7: p183]
Yate notes this warehouse in his shirt description of Coalport East Station: “Two run-around loops gave access to a small goods yard, and to the goods warehouse alongside the River.” [7: p183] By the time of the 1901 Ordnance Survey, the main warehouse element of the building had been demolished, leaving only a truncated section which acted as a good shed. The only picture that I have found of the building dates from after it had been partially removed.
Third, the relevant parts of the 1″ Ordnance Survey of 1833(revised to show rail routes). …
This first extract from the 1″ Ordnance Survey shows the length of the Coalport Branch covered in my first article about the line, Hadley Junction to Malinslee Station.This extract shows the length covered in Part 2 – Malinslee Station to Madeley Market Station. The thick black lines drawn on the map represent possible schemes to line the different rail routes in the immediate area.This extract shows the length of the Branch covered by the third article, from Madeley Market Station to Coalport Station (Coalport East Station).
Fourthly, Ian Turpin’s photos of Madeley Market Station. … Madeley Market Station Building seemed a little isolated and forlorn back in the late 1980s, although it seems not to have suffered any significant vandalism. The pictures were taken with a mind to being able to recreate the facilities at Coalport in model form as the buildings were of similar construction.
The Bridge Toll House at street level in the 21st century. The building originated as a warehouse (1793-1808), was in use as house by 1815 and as tollhouse from 1818, when the adjacent Coalport Bridge underwent major repairs. Shropshire County Council became owners in 1922, and it was restored after it passed to the Buildings at Risk Trust in 1994. [9]
The cottages to the North of the river and to the South of the Station site. The next two photographs show the same cottages from the NorthThe same cottages as shown on Google Streetview with the Bridge Toll House on the right. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The photographs taken by Ian Turpin were all used as background material for the construction of a model railway centred on Coalport (East) Railway Station. The pictures were taken in the period before the road-bridge across the Severn was renovated.
And, before we turn to the photographs of Ian Turpin’s layout, …. two extracts from LNWR publications. The first of these shows the 1905 timetable for the Branch, the second is the LNWR working directions of 1917 for operating Motor Trains on the Branch. Both of these were forwarded to me by Ian Turpin. The working timetable shows that the Branch was worked by two engines. A two-coach motor-train worked the branch from May 1910 until sometime after the grouping with 50ft x 8ft arc roof stock (converted from ordinary non-corridor stock). The Branch was by this time rated third class only. Of the two coaches, one was LNWR No.103 (LMS No. 53450 and the other was LNWR No. 1815 (LMS No. 5338).
Ian Turpin’s layout which featured in The Railway Modeller in the 1990s.
Ian Turpin sent me the superb photographs of his excellent model below. They were taken for an article about his layout which was published in the Railway Modeller in the 1990s. He has very kindly agreed to their inclusion here.
Bob Yate; The Shropshire Union Railway: Stafford to Shrewsbury including the Coalport Branch; No. 129 in the Oakwood Library of Railway History; The Oakwood Press, Usk, Monmouthshire, 2003.
The Zeal Tor Tramway was “also known as Redlake Peat Tramway. Built for Messrs. Davy and Wilkin of Totnes, 1847-1850, for carrying peat from Redlake Mire to Shipley Bridge. The tramway was constructed from wooden rails bolted to granite blocks, along which the peat was transported in horse-drawn trucks. The business only continued for a few years and ended in 1850.” [1]
“The men who worked in the peat-cutting at Redlake used to stay out there during the week and they built a house of sorts on Western White Barrow and lived largely on rabbits poached from nearby Huntingdon Warren.” [2]
“Much of the route of the old tramway can be seen. The lower part of it was later, in 1872, used by the Brent Moor Clay Company, as also was the building at Shipley, now abandoned.” [2]
“The wooden rails and granite blocks have disappeared. The track line, clean turf not overgrown, is clearly defined. From ‘the crossways’ in the north the track keeps to the west of Western Whitebarrow and continues down the south side of the hill in a south-easterly direction to the Brent parish boundary.” [2]
Wade says: “Leyson Hopkin Davy and William Wilkins of Totnes established the South Brent peat and peat charcoal works at Shipley Bridge in 1846. In order to transport raw peat to Shipley Bridge the Zeal Tor Tramway was constructed 1847. It was horse drawn, built with wooden rails bolted to granite sleeper blocks. The gauge was between 4ft 6 inch and 5ft (judged from places where sleepers still exist).” [3: p11]
The Partnership was dissolved 1850 and the tramway left to decay until 1872. “The Brent Moor Clay company was formed by Messrs Hill and Hall, who sought to produce clay. … The site was half way along and close by the course of the old tramway, to which a connection was built. The tramway was then used for transporting materials between Petre’s pit, as it became known, and the old naphtha works at Shipley Bridge which was converted to clay dries.” [3: p11-12] … However, the clay was of too poor quality for anything but pottery, and the 1870s marked a depression in the china clay industry. Petre’s pit closed and the Company abandoned works by 1880 and the tramway was … left to rot.” [3: p13]
“The trackbed of the dismantled tramway provides great access to the high south moor from the car parking area at Shipley Bridge.” [4]
The Route of the Tramway
We start our exploration of the route of the old tramway in Shepley Bridge on the River Avon, which can be seen on the right of the map extract below and in the bottom-right of the satellite image from railmaponline.com which follows a little further down the article.
An extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1886. Note the hamlet of Zeal and Zeal Bridge in the bottom-right of this image. [5]
The next image is an enlarged extract for the 6″ Ordnance Survey mapping showing the site of Shepley Bridge.
At this location a branch tramway ran West to Petre’s Pits. There are remnants close to this location of ancient huts, [25] tin was excavated here and later clay extraction occurred for a short period. It was the clay extraction works which resulted in a link to the Zeal Tor Tramway being constructed. As we have already noted, the quality of the china clay produced was very poor and the venture did not succeed. [3: p12]
Petre’s Cross is located in the centre of the summit cairn on Western White Barrow (O/S Grid Ref: SX/65361/65493). It was one of four crosses, erected in the 16th Century, by Sir William Petre to mark the boundary of the Manor of Brent. It is about 1.14 metres. It is about 0.36 metres wide and about 0.18 metres thick. [21]
“Sir William Petre was one of the signatories to the dissolution of Buckfast Abbey in 1539, when it was valued at the sum of £464 – 11s – 2d. He then promptly went out and bought the land belonging to the former Abbey and incorporated it into his estate. This cross was one of four that he later utilised, or had erected, to mark the extended boundary of his Manor of Brent. The other three crosses were sited at Three Barrows, Lower Huntingdon Corner and Buckland Ford, although the latter is now missing.” [21]
This cross “was badly mutilated in the mid 1800’s by the nearby Redlake peat cutters who built themselves a shelter out of the stone of the summit cairn. The arms were knocked off the shaft, with one arm also taking a part of the head. The shaft was then used as a chimney support for the fire built into the shelter.” [21]
“Although the shelter was later demolished and the cairn rebuilt, the outline of the house is still visible. The entrance doorway is in the east wall and the fireplace is directly opposite the door. The shaft of the cross is now set into the top of the cairn, outside the house and in an upside down position. The chamfered base of the shaft, which once fitted into it’s socket stone, is clearly visible at the top. The shaft also now bears the Ordnance Survey benchmark.” [21]
North of this point the Zeal Tor Tramway route was crossed by the later Red Lake Tramway and beyond that crossing point the Zeal Tor Tramway spread out into a series of portable lines across the peat beds. [3: p13]
The view from close to the end of the Zeal Tor Tramway of the spoil heap at the Red Lake Clay workings. This picture was taken on 30th November 2022 by Steve Grigg and shared on the Dartmoor Public Facebook Group. [26]
After writing recent articles about the northern section of the branch, I was contacted by David Bradshaw, co-author with Stanley C. Jenkins of ‘Rails around Oakengates’, an article in Steam Days magazine in March 2013. L, offering permission to use material from that article in this series of posts about the Coalport Branch. [1]
Along with discussion of all the railways in and around Oakengates (including the Lilleshall Co. private railways), David Bradshaw and Stanley C. Jenkins looked at the Wellington to Coalport Branch.
David suggested that I should use material from the article to supplement material included in my recent articles. My feeling is that the section of the ‘Rails around Oakengates’ article which covers the Coalport Branch should be reproduced in full. This addendum focusses solely on the relevant parts of the Steam Days article. [1: p168-170, 175, 176-177] ……..
The Wellington to Coalport Branch
The Great Western Railway had taken over the S&BR in 1854, and this may have prompted the LNWR to consider a scheme for converting the Shropshire Canal into a railway. This busy waterway was experiencing severe problems in terms of subsidence and water supply, and there was a major flooding incident in July 1855 when Snedshill tunnel collapsed. It was thought that the cost of repairs would probably exceed £30,000 and, faced with this heavy expenditure, the London & North Western Railway decided that the money would be better spent on the construction of a replacement railway from Hadley, near Wellington, to Coalport, which would utilise, as much as possible, parts of the troublesome canal.
The Coalport line passenger services became synonymous with Francis Webb’s ‘Coal Tanks’ (the sole survivor, No 58926, being a regular on the line), 300 of which were built by the L&NWR between 1882 and 1897 as an 0-6-2T derivative of Webb’s Standard ’17-inch’ 0-6-0 tender design. On 13 August 1947, in the last summer of the LMS, ‘Coal Tank’ No 7836 calls at Madeley Market station with a Coalport to Wellington working. The small town of Madeley was initially served by the Great Western Railway from 2 May 1859, on the Madeley Junction to Lightmoor route (the Madeley branch), and upon restarting its journey the depicted LMS train will pass over the GWR route at 90°. Madeley Market station opened with the Coalport line in June 1861, and clearly the local population found it more desirable to travel from here than on the GWR route, as the station on that line first closed to passengers in March 1915, as Madeley Court. W.A. Camwell/SLS Collection
It was then estimated that the proposed Coalport branch line would cost about £80,000, including £62,500 for the purchase of the waterway. Accordingly, in November 1856, notice was given that an application would be made to Parliament in the ensuing session for leave to bring in a Bill for the purchase and sale of the Shropshire Canal and the ‘Conversion of Portions thereof to Railway Purposes, and Construction of a Railway in connection therewith’.
The proposed line was described as a railway, with all proper stations, works, and conveniences connected therewith, commencing by a junction with the Shrewsbury and Stafford Railway of the Shropshire Union Company in the township of Hadley and parish of Wellington, in the county of Salop. at a point about two hundred yards westward of the mile post on the said railway denoting twelve miles from Shrewsbury’, and it terminated in the parish of Sutton Maddock, in the county of Salop, at a point ten chains or thereabouts to the east of the terminus of the Shropshire Canal at Coalport’.
The railway would pass through various specified parishes, townships, or other places, including Wellington, Hadley, Donnington Wood, Wrockwardine, Wombridge, Oakengates, Stirchley, Malins Lee, Dawley, Snedshill, Madeley, and Coalport, ‘occupying in the course thereof portions of the site of the Shropshire Canal’. Having passed through all stages of the complex Parliamentary process, the actual ‘Act for Authorising the Conversion of parts of the Shropshire Canal to Purposes of a Railway’ received the Royal Assent on 27 July 1857.
The canal was closed between Wrockwardine Wood and the bottom of the Windmill Hill inclined plane on 1 June 1858, although isolated sections of the waterway remained in use for many years thereafter. The work of conversion was soon underway, and on Thursday, 30th May 1861 The Birmingham Daily Post announced that the Coalport and Hadley line of railway would be opened on ‘Monday next’, implying that the first trains would run on 3rd May. In the event, this prediction was slightly optimistic, and on 12th June the same newspaper reported that, ‘in accordance with the arrangements arrested’. previously announced’, the Coalport branch had been opened for passenger traffic on Monday, 10tj June 1861.
As usual in those days, Opening Day was treated as a public holiday, and a large number of spectators had assembled at Coalport station to witness this historic event. ‘At the appointed time, the first engine, and train of first, second and third class carriages, moved off from the station, having a respectable number of passengers’.
The newly opened railway commenced at Hadley Junction, on the Stafford to Wellington line, and it climbed south-eastwards on a ruling gradient of 1 in 50 towards Oakengates (3.25 miles from Wellington), which thereby acquired its second station. Beyond, the route continued southwards, with intermediate stations at Dawley (6 miles) and Madeley Market (7½ miles), to its terminus at Coalport, some 9½ miles from Wellington. The final two miles of line included a continuous 1 in 40 descent towards the River Severn. An additional station was opened to serve Malins Lee, between Oakengates and Dawley, on 7th July 1862.
The steep gradients on this new line contributed to three alarming incidents that took place within the space of a few weeks, the first of which occurred shortly before the opening to passenger traffic, when a train of wagons ‘laden with bricks, stone and sand for the works now in progress at the Coalport terminus, under the care of a brakesman, suffered a brake failure and, ‘thus liberated, the train acquired excessive speed, dashed past the court, through Madeley, until it neared the entrance to the tunnel in Madeley Lane. Here, its further progress was arrested by a large plank being skilfully placed across the rails, and the insertion of some spragges in the wheels. Fortunately, no injury was done beyond destruction to the plank’
On 30 August 1860, The Birmingham Daily Post reported a similar incident, when a train of ballast wagons was traversing the line from Madeley’ and ‘a coupling chain gave way, causing the wagons to ‘dash down the gradient at a fearful velocity’. Fortunately, the ‘timekeeper’ at Coalport Works, aware that the runaways were approaching, threw a bar of iron across the line of rail, whereby its further progress was arrested’.
Incredibly, a third near-disaster occurred on the following day, ‘as the engine was returning from the Coalport terminus with a numerous train of empty carriages’. For reasons that were not entirely clear, the train derailed near Mr Eagle’s Chain Manufactory, which was on the highest embankment on the line and, having fallen part way down the 60ft embankment, the engine became deeply embedded in the earth, earth, a ‘great number of men and appliances’ being required to extricate it from its precarious resting place. It was subsequently revealed that the embankment had been subject to almost daily subsidence, which may have contributed to the accident.
The Coalport branch line was, from its inception, geared towards freight traffic rather than passengers, and there were numerous private sidings linked to nearby factories within the Oakengates Urban District. One of these sidings, known as Wombridge Goods, served Wombridge Iron Works, which had a connection with a surviving section of the Shropshire Canal. There was also Wombridge ballast siding and Wombridge Old Quarry siding, while other sidings served the iron foundry of John Maddocks & Son, and also the Lilleshall Company’s steel works at Snedshill.
Successive editions of The Railway Clearing House Handbook of Stations reveal further private sidings on the Coalport branch, including, in 1938, the Exley & Son siding and the Nuway Manufacturing Co siding at Coalport, and at Madeley Market there was the Messrs Legge & Sons’ siding and the Madeley Wood Cold Blast Slag Co siding.
The original train service consisted of three passenger trains in each direction between Wellington and Coalport, with a similar number of goods workings. This modest service persisted for many years, although an additional Thursdays-only train was subsequently provided in response to the increased demand on Wellington market days. In 1888 the branch was served by four passenger trains each way, together with five Up and three Down goods workings. By the summer of 1922 there were five Up and five Down passenger trains, with an additional short-distance service from Wellington to Oakengates and return on Saturdays-only.
In the final years of passenger operation, the timetable comprised five trains each way. In July 1947, for example, there were Up services from Coalport at 6.22am, 8.50am, 11.57am, 4.40pm and 7.40pm, with corresponding Down workings from Wellington at 8.04am, 10.02am, 1.40pm, 6.30pm and 9.15pm; a slightly different service pertained on Thursdays and Saturdays. The final branch passenger service in 1952. consisted of four Up and four Down trains, increasing to five each way on Thursdays and six on Saturdays.
A view looking north from the Canongate overbridge in Oakengates on 30 July 1932 finds a former L&NWR 0-8-0 in the goods yard, while passing on a northbound rake of five-plank wagons is a Webb 0-6-0, probably a ‘Cauliflower”. The sharply curved line on the extreme left is Millington’s siding, and this timber business was also served from the rear of the GWR goods yard, although the rival sidings to the sawmill were not connected to each other. From the GWR system an elongated siding crossed Canongate on the skew, it being one of four railway lines crossing this road, the others (all to the right of the photographer) being part of the Lilleshall Company system, although those relating to the Snedshill Iron Works would be in the hands of Maddock’s before the outbreak of war. The 0-6-0 is moments away from the platform ends of the LMS station, the properties to the right facing on to Station Hill, but it is worthy of mention that the photographer is equidistant from the GWR passenger station, out of sight to his left, and is even nearer to the industrial lines to his right, albeit they are much higher up the hill. Wrockwardine Wood crowns the distant hill. WH. Smith Collection Kidderminster Railway Museum.About 300 yards further south, and once again facing north, we overlook one of the busier connections from the Coalport line, our vantage point being the Holyhead Road overbridge, the old A5 trunk road. This view shows the Coalport branch in the cutting on the left, while the lines on the right connect to the former Snedshill Iron Works; a Hawksworth ‘9400’ pannier tank is seen shunting the siding in the mid-1950s. This was initially one of the connections to the Lilleshall network but in about 1938 the Lilleshall Company sold the Snedshill Iron Works to John Maddock’s & Son, an Oakenshaw-based engineering firm that was outgrowing its premises near the GWR station. Subsequent development saw the distant building become one of the most modem casting foundries in Europe, and post-war, pipe fittings became the principal activity. A.J.B. DoddA ‘9400’ 0-6-OPT, No 9401, is pictured with our previous vantage point in view. The bridge ahead is that carrying Holyhead Road across the Coalport branch, while rumbling beneath the photographer’s feet will be express trains passing through Oakengates tunnel; and it should also be remembered that the course of the Coalport line at this point was once a canal, because it was here that it sprang a leak! On the other side of the bridge is the link to the John Maddocks & Sons (ex-Snedshill Iron Works) siding, while the point diverging at the photographer’s feet is a spur south to the Priorslee Furnaces established by the Lilleshall Company. The L&NWR/LMS route in Oakengates was at a much higher level than that of the GWR, hence the tunnel, but most of the heavy industry that needed to be served was even higher up the hill, so the Coalport line from Oakengates (Market Street) station to here has been climbing at 1 in 50. With passenger operations on the branch eliminated in 1952, the freight-only days of this line saw the route’s ex-LMS identity blurred by the regular use of Hawksworth 0-6-OPTS on the daily goods job to Dawley & Stirchley, the line being cut-back to there from 5 December 1960, and of course the ‘TOAD’ parked on the running line further blurs traditional LMS and Western boundaries. A.J.B Dodd/Colour-Rail.com
Oakengates (Market Street)
The Coalport line diverged from the Wellington to Stafford route at Hadley Junction, and ran south-eastwards via Wombridge goods station, at which point various private sidings branched out to serve Hadley Lodge Brickworks and other industrial concerns.
Oakengates (LMS) on 9 August 1932, looking north towards the level crossing, complete with its diminutive L&NWR-designed Crossing box. Opened with the Coalport line as its primary intermediate station, the principal buildings are on the Wellington-bound side, with passenger facilities such as ticket purchases and Up-side waiting accommodated within the single-story. Trains would continue to call mere until 2 June 1952, less than a year after British Railways rebranded it Oakengates (Market Street), that being the road that lead to it, ather than Station Hill, which was its actual location. All the goods facilities were to the south of the station, part of the sidings being glimpsed to the left of this view, behind the fence, and these would be maintained until 6 July 1964 when the line from Hadley Junction to Dawley & Stirchley, the terminus of the Coalport line since 1960, would officially be taken out of use, although at some point the former Down line through here would be removed in the freight-only era. Mowat Collection
Oakengates, the largest station on the Coalport branch, was a short distance further on. The former LNWR and LMS station was renamed Oakengates (Market Street) on 18tj June 1951, to prevent confusion with the nearby GWR station, which was thereafter known as Oakengates (West). The town’s Coalport line station was orientated on an approximate north-to-south alignment, and its layout included Up and Down platforms for passenger traffic, with a level crossing immediately to the north of the platform ramps. The main station building was on the Up (northbound) platform, while the diminutive signal box was situated on the Down platform, in convenient proximity to the level crossing. The cabin was a standard L&NWR gable-roofed box, albeit of the smallest size.
Greetings from Oakengates. A commercial postcard, franked in October 1905, shows the station forecourt area of the LNWR station in Oakengates. The view is looking east up Station Hill, and the Methodist Chapel on the right was where my sister and I went to Sunday School in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Halfway up the hill, the Lilleshall Company main line crossed at road level and the disused canal passed under the road. David Bradshaw Collection
The main station building, which was similar to that at Coalport, was a typical LNWR design, incorporating a one-and-a- half-storey Stationmaster’s house at the rear, and an attached single-storey building, which contained the booking office and waiting room facilities. The single-storey portion faced on to the platform, and it featured two rectangular bays and a central loggia, which was fully enclosed by a wood and glass screen to form a covered waiting area. The residential block sported a steeply pitched slate-covered roof, whereas the booking office portion had a flat roof. The building was of local brick construction, with tall chimneys and slightly arched window apertures. This distinctive structure was erected, as were all the others on the line, by local builder Christopher Bugaley of Madeley. There was a detached gentlemens’ convenience on the Up platform, while facilities for waiting travellers on the Down platform comprised a small waiting room.
Two dead-end goods sidings at Oakengates were provided on the Down side, while the Up side sported a sizeable goods yard and a substantial goods shed. There was also a timber yard siding and an additional goods shed that was used by Millington’s, a local company. The 1927 Ordnance Survey map suggests that the timber siding ran to within a few yards of the local (Oakengates & District) Co-operative Society Depot, and it was hardly a stone’s throw from a connection from the GWR station. For a time I attended the Sunday School at the Methodist Chapel halfway up Station Hill and I was a regular at the classic Grosvenor Cinema, which was close to Market Street station. Halfway up Station Hill, the old canal and Lilleshall Company lines ran under and across the road respectively.
Motive Power on the Coalport Branch
The Coalport branch was typically worked by Webb ‘Coal Tank’ 0-6-2Ts, together with Webb 2-4-2Ts and ‘Cauliflower’ 0-6-0s. In earlier years the route had also been worked by L&NWR 0-6-0 saddle tanks such as No 3093, which was recorded on the line in 1895. The London & North Western Railway ‘Coal Tanks’, which included the still-extant No 58926 (seen on the Coalport line as late as 21 October 1950), enjoyed a long association with the route, but at the end of the LMS era these veteran locomotives were replaced by Shrewsbury-allocated Fowler class ‘3MT 2-6-2Ts, such as Nos 40005, 40008, 40048 and 40058. The goods trains, meanwhile, were worked by a range of ex-LMS locomotive types, including Fowler Class ‘3F’ 0-6-0s, ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, and also the occasional ex-L&NWR ‘Super D’ 0-8-0.
Webb 5ft 6in 2-4-2T No 6757 awaits departure from Coalport station with the 4.40pm service to Wellington on 5 September 1947, the use of a complete pre-Grouping era train on this duty being typical at this time. However, on the day the photographer noted that this ‘1P’ was in use instead of the usual ‘Coal Tank’, due to a locomotive shortage. More than likely it was the 4ft 5in driving wheels of the ‘Coal Tanks’, nominally ‘1F’-rated freight engines, that made them a more popular choice for the passenger jobs on this steeply graded line. Within a few yards of departing Coalport the branch climbed at 1 in 40, a grueling ascent, at worst 1 in 31, continuing almost relentlessly for about three miles, to a point just short of Dawley & Stirchley. The stop at Madeley Market, halfway up the climb, was either a blessing or a curse, depending on the health of the 19th century engine and its fire. I recall the ‘Coal Tanks’ on these duties, but by the time I started train spotting in 1951, these ex-L&NWR 2-4-2Ts had all been withdrawn. W.A. Camwell/SLS Collection
The passenger services, known locally as the ‘Coalport Dodger’ were poorly supported – except on market days in Oakengates and Wellington, and for the locally renowned Oakengates Wakes (Pat Collins Fair) – hence their early demise, particularly as the rival ex-GWR route to Wellington was more convenient. World War II staved-off closure for a few years, but in the early months of 1952 it was announced that passenger services would be withdrawn with effect from 2 June 1952, and as this was a Monday the last trains ran on Saturday, 31 May. Fowler Class ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 40058 worked the final trains, its smokebox adorned with black flags, a wreath and the chalked letters ‘RIP’.
A former L&NWR Webb ’17in Coal Engine’, LMS No 8148, is at the head of open wagons beyond the passenger extremity of the Coalport branch in about 1930, the carriage shed providing an attractive backdrop. This 500-strong class of engines were tender versions of the ‘Coal Tank’ design. The 0-6-0, outshopped new as L&NWR No 878 in June 1877, didn’t gain its post- Grouping running number until February 1926 and it would continue to serve the LMS until 1934; it is carrying the LMS (Western Division) shedplate for Shrewsbury, which had a two- road sub-shed at Coalport, this being attached to the other side of the carriage shed. Rail Archive Stephenson
Motive power on the line after the cessation of passenger services was often provided by Hawksworth ’94XX’ class 0-6-0PTs, such as Nos 9470 and 9472 (complete with broken front numberplate), or less frequently, by ’57XX’ class 0-6-0PTs. There was an incident when a ’57XX’ was derailed on the catch points just outside Oakengates station, although details are elusive. Wellington shed’s sole ‘1600’ class 0-6-0PT, No 1663, shunted the GKN Sankey sidings near the junction of the Stafford and Coalport lines and it is believed to have ventured up the branch on occasion.
A goods working which appeared at Oakengates after mid-day invariably featured an LMS Burton-based Class ‘3F’ or ‘4F’ 0-6-0, although on one unforgettable occasion, on 14th August 1957, Bath (Green Park)-allocated Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 44917, in ex-Works condition, turned up on this humble working. This train had apparently started life as a light-engine working that had left Shrewsbury (Coleham) at 5.10am and, on then reaching Shrewsbury (Abbey Foregate) at 5.35am, it picked up a goods working and eventually arrived at Priors Lee sidings, just outside Oakengates, at 2.20pm.
In the period from July to the end of October 1957, the following locomotives appeared on what local trainspotters called ‘the mid-day goods’ (although it actually arrived in the early afternoon) – Class ‘3F’ 0-6-0s Nos 43709 and 43809, Class ‘4F’ 0-6-0s Nos 43948, 43976, 43986, 44124 and 44434, and of course ‘Black Five’ No 44917 (71G).
It is interesting to note that excursion trains continued to run from Coalport after the withdrawal of the regular passenger services. On one occasion, around 1956, there were two excursions to the North Wales Coast on the same day, both of which were hauled by Class ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s. Only one of these workings stopped to pick-up at Oakengates, as the other ran straight through Oakengates station – it must have been one of the few examples of a ‘non-stop’ passenger working in the life of the line? On 23rd April 1955 the Locomotive Club of Great Britain joined forces with the Manchester Locomotive Society to run a ‘Shropshire Rail Tour’, which left Shrewsbury at 2.30pm behind ‘Dean Goods’ 0-6-0 No 2516 on a tour of local branch lines, which included the Minsterley and Coalport routes, the fare for this interesting excursion being 15s 6d.
A year or two later, on 2nd September 1959, the Stephenson Locomotive Society arranged a further tour of West Midland branch lines, including the Womborne, Minsterley and Coalport routes, a Swindon three-car Cross Country diesel-multiple-unit being provided instead of a steam-hauled train, ostensibly to ‘improve timings’.
Another abiding memory is of an excursion, believed to have been arranged by the late Cyril Poole, a teacher from Madeley Modern School, which departed behind a Hughes/ Fowler ‘Crab’ class 2-6-0 and returned in a tropical storm behind a ‘Super D’ 0-8-0, running tender-first. The train was made up to ten coaches and it took at least twenty minutes to surmount the 1 in 50 bank into Oakengates. Steaming was not an issue, but there were adhesion difficulties as the engine slithered and slipped up the bank – the noise level was something never to be forgotten!
References
D. Bradshaw and S.C. Jenkins; Rails around Oakengates; in Steam Days No. 283, March 2013, p165-179.
“In 1905, two Plymothians, R. H. Payne, an estate agent and surveyor from Devonport, and Charles Cottier, (IDAS 1981) a solicitor and property developer, conducted a survey on the Southern moor (Dartmoor). … They commissioned R Hansford Worth to identify the location of any clay deposits which were sufficient to support a mining operation. He found large deposits around Redlake Brook which had previously been exposed by the earlier workings of tin streamers and peat cutters. The area was found to be at least 600 by 200 yards with a depth of 60 feet and was expected to be capable of producing a total of 2,250,000 tons at an annual extraction rate of 45,000 tons. This would realise an estimated value of £3,150,000.” [39]
Richard Hansford Worth (1868-1950) was born in Plymouth. He was a Civil Engineer whose knowledge of Dartmoor is best remembered for his antiquarian studies and as a local historian – see Worth’s Dartmoor, 1954.
“In 1910 the newly formed China Clay Corporation Ltd, with headquarters in Ivybridge, built a single track, three-foot gauge, railway running eight miles from the drying sheds at Cantrell to the pits at Redlake, with a rise of over a thousand feet. The railway opened on 11th September 1911 but it was not until the end of 1913 that the works were completed and ready to commence production.” [39]
It is worth noting here that the various sources associated with the Clay Workings at Redlake and Leftlake seem to use ‘Redlake’ and ‘Red Lake’ interchangeably, and similarly, ‘Leftlake’ and ‘Left Lake’. You will see this in evidence throughout this article.
I recently picked up a book by E.A. Wade, “The Redlake Tramway and China Clay Works,” published by Twelveheads Press, Truro, 2004, and thought that it would be good to have a closer look at the Tramway and the nearby, earlier, Zeal Tor Tramway. The Red Lake Tramway was a 3ft gauge line, the earlier Zeal Tor Tramway was of a wider gauge between 4ft 6in and 5ft. This article looks at the Red Lake Tramway. The Zeal Tor Tramway will be the subject of another article.
There was also a very short article in The Railway Magazine (Vol 98 No 614, June 1952) about the tramway, but I have been unable to find any further significant narrative in print. It is, however, mentioned by William Crossing in his ‘Guide To Dartmoor‘:
‘This track is really an old tramroad, over which peat was once conveyed to some naphtha works at Shipley, on the verge of Brent Moor. It has been disused for a very long time, but I can remember when the rails, which were of wood, bolted to blocks of granite, were to be seen in places. The buildings at Shipley still remain, having been put in a good state of repair by a china clay company, about the year 1872, but operations in connection with this venture did not long continue … The railway was formerly known as the Zeal Tor tram-road.” [4]
The Redlake Tramway ran from Red Lake across Dartmoor to Cantrell, near Bittaford, to the South. It was built to carry supplies and workers between Bittaford and the clay workings at Redlake, near the centre of the southern part of Dartmoor. It was built in 1911 to a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge, and ran for a circuitous 8.3 miles (13.4 km). [5]
“The trackbed remains today. It can be followed from Bittaford Moor Gate providing access to several tors and hills such as Hangershell Rock, Sharp Tor, Piles Hill, Three Barrows, Eastern and Western White Barrows and Quickbeam Hill.” [5]
“The trackbed is lined at various points with marker posts, disused quarries and earthworks. Towards the top of the ascent are Leftlake and Redlake itself. Both are abandoned pits that have been flooded, creating lakes (the word “lake” in both names derives from the streams flowing through the areas, not the artificial lakes, which are recent features). There is a robust stone bridge at Leftlake, with a rudimentary name plaque engraved in mortar. At Redlake there are the remains of a demolished pumphouse, along with other ruins.” [5]
The Redlake China Clay workings. Google Maps shows the route of the old railway as a track which ends close to the flooded workings. [Google Maps, 22nd March 2023] [2]The Leftlake China Clay workings. Google Maps again shows the route of the old railway as a track which passes to the West of the flooded workings. [Google Maps, 26th March 2023][6]
“At the southern end of the line remains the old bridge abutments of the track going over the incline which lowered wagons to give access to the standard gauge mainline, the trackbed of the incline, the base of the winding house, and at the line’s extremities the locomotive and carriage shed remains.” [5]
The location of the Clay Works at Cantrell, Devon. [Google Maps, 22nd March 2023][3]The China Clay Works at Cantrell, Devon as seen from the B3213. The B3213 was once the main A38 between Exeter and Plymouth. [Google Streetview, March 2023]The site which would host the China Clay Works at Cantrell in 1886. This is an extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1886. The site was essentially the same at the time of the 1905 Ordnance Survey which was published in 1906. [8]The Cantrell Works site adjacent to the Plymouth to Exeter main line as shown on the National Grid revision of the 25″ Ordnance Survey mapping of 1952, published in 1954. On this map extract the Works are referred to as Agricultural Engineering Works. The earthworks for the incline which linked the Works to Redlake can be seen to the left of the works complex. [9]
In addition to the Cantrell Works, the Company purchased Cantrell Farm which, in addition to the farm buildings, came with 64 acres of land. The farm purchase provided a series of buildings (stables and loft, cart house, wagon house, tool house, motor house, and root house) which facilitated activities over the whole works site. Close to the main works building there was also ‘Younghouse Cottage’ which acted as the works’ manager’s house. Further buildings were of timber and corrugated iron construction. [1: p45]
The Incline at Cantrell
Dartmoor Explorations website has a number of photographs of the incline and the area at the top of the incline. Their site can be found here. [10] (Further exploration along the length of the line is also available on the Dartmoor Explorations site, here. [11] The two webpages provide a superb set of photographs showing the route of the line from Cantrell to Red Lake.)
The top of the incline. The winding house can be seen just below the word ‘Reservoir’ on this extract from the National Grid revision of the 25″ Ordnance Survey mapping of 1952, published in 1954. The incline dropped down from the location of the winding house along the embankment which runs almost due South down the valley side to the Cantrell Works which feature in the previous map extract. [9]My sketch of the layout of the works and incline which led up to the Red Lake Tramway. This is based on a drawing in E.A. Wade’s book. [1: p46]
Wade describes the incline as being single-tracked and at a gradient of approximately 1 in 5, descending/ascending around 300ft. [1: p43]
“In the early part of the tramway’s history there was a signal at the top of the incline but this was later removed and replaced with warning notices. The Cantrell incline was operated once or twice a week, with four or five wagons being allowed on to the incline at once. The incline engine was operated by the locomotive driver. By 1928 the boiler for the incline engine had been condemned and needed a new firebox. It was kept down to a pressure of 50 p.s.i., at which it was only able to haul one wagon up the incline. The winding engine reversing lever was utilised as a brake. At the foot of the incline was a siding which ran on a loading bank (570 feet long by 13 feet 6 inches wide) between the mainline and a GWR transfer siding which was some 1,620 feet long and laid alongside the clay linhays. At the extreme western end of this siding there was a 22 feet long steel girder on a wooden framework, used for unloading machinery from the main line to the narrow gauge wagons. The loading bank was built on a level with the floor of the linhays and in it was built a weighbridge house. The sixty ton ‘Pooley’s Weigh-bridge’ was capable of weighing up to about 30 tons and was presumably set into the main line siding. The GWR siding was known as Cantrell Siding and the mainline company installed a signal box bearing the title, Redlake Siding Box.” [1: p43-44]
The abutments are all that remain of a bridge carrying a footpath over the incline. The abutments are of a more sturdy construction than would have been necessary for a footbridge but it not clear what this should be the case.
The tramway’s locomotive and carriage sheds sat about a quarter of a mile to the East of the incline. The main tramway route headed West from the incline before striking away North towards Red Lake. At the head of the incline, in front of the engine house, there were two lines, the main line and a short loop line. There was a wagon turntable provided on the loop line which made the connection to the incline. Wade tells us that each ascending and descending wagon had to be turned manually. [1: p44]
The head of the incline as it appears in the 21st century. The bridge abutments already mentioned can be seen at the bottom of the image. North of the old bridge, the embankment of the incline remains and and leads North to the site of the old winding house. [Google Earth, 3rd April 2023]
The Route of the Tramway
As we have already seen, the tramway and incline were set to a 3ft track gauge. The terminus of the line was at the engine shed and locos would travel from there passed the carriage shed and on towards the incline and the winding house. Just prior to the incline the stores building sat on the North side of the line. Wagons lifted up the incline would be turned by had on the wagon table and stored ready for a trip along the line.
This Google Earth satellite image has had the lines of the tramway superimposed in red. [Google Earth, 3rd April 2023]
The satellite image above has the trackwork superimposed on it by me. From this point on the route will be shown using railmaponline.com satellite imagery which is based on Google Maps satellite images. [13]
This extract again comes from the National Grid revision of the 25″ Ordnance Survey mapping of 1952, published in 1954. [9]Railmaponline.com uses a pink line to show the approximate route of the tramway. The route remains as a pathway all the way to the Red Lake workings. [13]
The locomotive would take the wagons West along the line passing to the South side of a quarry which had been used to provide ballast and construction stone for the line. All the while the tramway was rising steadily rather than just following the contours around Western Beacon. A relatively tight radius took the line round the western flank of Western Beacon. As it turned northward it crossed first the 800ft contour and then the 900ft contour.
This map extract again comes from the National Grid revision of the 25″ Ordnance Survey mapping of 1952, published in 1954. [14]
The small engines would have been straining even under relatively light loads of predominantly empty wagons on the trip up to the main quarry workings.
The route of the old line, while generally moving Northwards was seeking the shallowest gradient possible and consequently curved with the contours of the land but continued rising relatively steeply. On the adjacent extract from the 25″ National Grid edition of the Ordnance Survey, the line switches back again and as it does so, rises through the 1000ft and 1025ft contours. [14]
It is necessary to show the line with a series of different OS map extracts as the route of the line crosses back and forth across the edges of two Ordnance Survey sheets. Whereas the satellite imagery used by railmaponline.com is not bound by map edges and can therefore be shown, over this length as one image.
Western Beacon summit is shown, towards the bottom-right of the adjacent railmaponline.com extract. The tramway route is shown in pink. The grey line running in from the bottom-left is the Two Moors Way which joins the old tramway route. [13]
The Two Moors Way as shown on the Ordnance Survey Explorer Map OL28 – Dartmoor. The route of the old tramway appears as a double dotted lane which is unfenced.
This next extract from the satellite imagery of railmaponline.com covers approximately the same area as the two OS Map extracts above. It shows the route of the Redlake Tramway continuing in a northerly direction with little of obvious note on the route. Grasscombe Ball and Piles Hill are not obvious at this magnification. [13]
The journey from the top of the incline has been over open moorland and it is worth noting that the old line was not fenced in any way. There is little to see in the immediate vicinity of the line other than rough grass.
The next extract from the 1954 25″ Ordnance Survey revision undertaken for the National Grid shows the old Tramway route crossing Ugborough Moor and continuing to climb to around 1375ft above sea-level. At around 1375ft the gradient flattens out and the old line passed through a natural defile to the West of Three Barrows. A shallow cutting was necessary at this point which can be seen at the top-left of the map extract.
This railmaponline.com extract on the right above covers the same area as the extract from the 1954 25″ Ordnance Survey revision alongside it.
Wade describes the route North from the western flank of Western Beacon as continuing “in a generally northerly direction, with detours to the west and east to follow and gradually ascend the contours of the hills, and passes below, and to the west of Hangershell Rock … Further north at Spurrell’s Cross (2 miles 63 chains) there was a passing loop and at Three Barrows (4 miles 44 chains) there was a short siding, entered from the Cantrell direction. A small shelter stood by the points. This siding served a further stone crusher for producing ballast. The concrete base and holding down bolts for it, can still be seen beside the track. Three Barrows is a prehistoric site where the ground was a mass of small blocks of stone with very little soil. This stone was excavated and was of such an even size that there was no need to screen it before it went to the stone breaker. Apart from some small cuttings and embankments, there are no really notable features on the line until the Leftlake clay pit is reached.” [1: p46-47]
The two images above cover the next length of the tramway including Leftlake Clay Pit. That on the left is, again, an extract from the 1954 25″ Ordnance Survey revision undertaken for the National Grid. [17] That of the right is from railmaponline.com. [13]
“Apart from some small cuttings and embankments, there are no really notable features on the line until the Leftlake clay pit is reached. … At Leftlake the line passes over a stone and brick bridge … and between the pit on the eastern side … and the spoil tip on the western side. Above and to the South of the pit may be seen a small area of ruined concrete sand and mica drags which refined the Leftlake clay before it passed into the pipeline [to travel down to the Cantrell Works]. A passing loop or sidingwas put in at Leftlake when the pit was reopened in 1922.” [1: p47-48]
Dartmoor Explorations have produced an excellent webpage about the Leftlake clay workings which can be found here. [18]
There is a series of pictures on the different pages of that website covering the full length of the tramway. The pictures included here do not come from that site but rather, predominantly, from the Geograph website. [33]
The Heritage Gateway records the site as No. MDV4234 – Left Lake China clay works, Harford and Ugborough Parishes and provides this description: “Left Lake, china clay workings. A large pit, now water-filled, several smaller pits and cuttings, and the brick bridge carrying the Redlake China Clay Railway. The clay ‘beds’ nearby are in Harford parish. The Harford parish boundary crosses the spoil heap on the west side of the rail track. The clay workings are of two periods: 1850-1858 and 1922-1932, but it is not clear which pits can be ascribed to each period, or whether the later workings went over the same ground as the earlier ones. The Blackwood Path passes through the workings, and it is possible that the horse-drawn wagons of the 1850’s used this track to Wrangaton.” [31]
Other sources suggest that the two worked areas were distinct with the earlier workings being to the West of the tramway and spoil heap. See, for example, the sketch on the Dartmoor Explorations webpage reproduced below. [18]
The Dartmoor Explorations webpage includes this sketch of the area around the Leftlake Clay Pit. The early clay workings are shown top-left. The spoil heap is referred to as a Sky Tip. [18]
Among other details the Heritage Gateway notes that the site was worked “unsuccessfully for a short while in the 1850s, and later reopened between 1911 and 1932 by the China Clay Corporation. The works, which exploited the site of a former tin stream-works, comprises a 0.5 hectare clay pit, now water filled, a large area of substantial spoil heaps to the west of the pit (MDV28106), including a sky tip, ancillary buildings (MDV28104) and a processing works (MDV27892), all now ruined. An adit with a 30 metres-long finger dump is located 360 metres west of the pit beside Left Lake stream (MDV122904). The Redlake Railway (MDV3138), constructed in 1912, transects the site via a substantial embankment which has a stone underpass bridge to allow access from the pit. The double ceramic pipe (MDV5167) from Redlake, used to transport clay slurry to the drying floors at Cantrell, also runs through the site and clay from Left Lake was piped into it from the settling tanks, via an additional feeder pipe.” [31]
Left Lake clay pit operated with an incline similar to that at Red Lake (see further below) but on a much smaller scale. It bridged the Red Lake Tramway to gain access to the spoil heap.
The line North of Left Lake
Wade tells us that the tramway leaves the workings at Left Lake “in a north-westerly direction and then passes around a long semi-circular curve on a low embankment to face due east. From this point the Redlake spoil tip comes into view for the first time, some 50 chains to the north and looking no more than a molehill in the vast expanse of moorland. However, the track, which is now at its highest point (some 1,490 feet above sea level) still has nearly a mile to travel, on a slight downhill gradient, before reaching the works. It turns to the north (7 miles 50 chains [from the head of the incline at Cantrell]) and passes a ruined building which is the remains of the six roomed Red Lake Cottage, once the home of Captain and Mrs Bray. It crosses the path of the former Zeal Tor Tramway, from Shipley Bridge, at 7 miles 57 chains. Here it enters a cutting, the deepest on the line, turns to the north-west (7 miles 77 chains) and finally emerges at Redlake. The total length of the line was some 8 miles 17 chains.” [1: p49]
These two images show the remaining length of the Red Lake Tramway with the Red Lake clay workings shown towards the top of both images. The first (on the left) comes from the OS Sheet SX66NW from the 1954 revision undertaken for the National Grid. The second is approximately the same area as it appears on the satellite imagery provided by railmaponline.com [13]
At Red Lake, we note that the spoil heap is much larger than that at Left Lake. Wade tells us that “the incline which took the wagons of waste from the pit to its peak is clearly discernable. This incline was not, of course, connected with the tramway proper and was of a different gauge. The large pit is now completely filled with crystal clear water and the banks drop away at an alarming angle. The original layout of Redlake was complex. … The lease extended to an area of some 1,300 acres but only a tiny proportion of this was ever worked; the pit itself eventually covering approximately 32 acres. In the main shaft, which was 130 feet deep, were fixed two pumps of the vertical single-acting, outside packed ram type; there being four rams, 13¼ inches in diameter with a six feet stroke. The cast iron column was 15 inches in diameter.” [1: p49-51]
“The stone built pumping engine and boiler house (with slate roof) contained two engines of the horizontal compound tandem condensing type, by Hawthorn, Davey and Co, with high and low pressure cylinders, of 18 inch and 36 inch bore by 48 inch stroke, and two 10 ton flywheels.” [1: p51]
This is an extract from one of Wade’s drawings. It shows the immediate location of the Red Lake clay-workings. The numbered locations are: 1. The main clay pit; 2. The incline and the spoil heap; 3. The tipped overburden; 4. The winding engine;. 5. The engine and boiler house; 6. The coal house; 7. Artificial reservoirs; 8. The peat house; 9. The drying room and store; 10. The dining room; 11. The Smith’s shop; 12. The Carpenter’s shop; 13. The Office; 14. The Loco Shed; 15. The hostel. [1: p50]
The Heritage Gateway Website records the Red Lake China Clay works under record No. MDV107445.
“China clay working took place at Redlake between 1910 and 1932 and the remains of the site comprise the water filled pits, massive spoil heap, and ruined remains of buildings and some machinery, as well as the route of the railway that carried workers and supplies to the site.” [37]
The website includes a quotation from an Archaeological Survey of 2018 which covers the full length of the tramway and associated buildings before focussing on the site at Red Lake. ….
Redlake China Clay pits were active between 1910 and 1932, operated by the China Clay Corporation Ltd and later by the Ivybridge Clay Company. The extractive site and the processing works are at several different locations, all served by the Redlake Railway which runs from Cantrell at Bittaford, to the Redlake pits, a distance of 12.7 kilometres. The primary processing plant (MDV5159) was on Ugborough Moor, while the drying sheds and distribution facility was at Bittaford. Clay was transported between the two via a twin ceramic pipeline (MDV5167) running approximately parallel with the railway. The clay pit is located on flattish ground at the head of Red Lake, an eastern tributary of the River Erme, from which the name of the clay works was derived, and which had previously been heavily worked for tin using stream-working methods. The clay-working remains comprise a very deep pit, though this is now completely water filled with a surface area of 1.4 hectares. A large overburden heap (MDV122909) in the form of finger dumps is 120 metres south-west of the pit, where the waste was delivered via a tramway. The earthwork cutting through which the tramway passed survives though now disguised by rushes. The main, cone-shaped waste heap (MDV 26060) is adjacent to the north-east side of the pit. This was a sky tip of 20 metres high, which in later years of operation was fed by an inclined tramway leading directly from the bottom of the pit to the summit of the cone. The ridge on which the incline travelled survives running up the south-west arc of the heap. Evidence of flat-topped finger dumps on the south-east slope of the mound suggest that an earlier phase of dumping used horizontal trams to distribute the waste. Two shallow reservoirs (MDV 25059) are sited to the south-east of the sky tip covering an area totalling 0.5 hectares. These probably supplied water to the monitors to wash the clay out of the pit, as well as the boilers in the engine house. Both still retain water. The remains of several buildings survive as either stone foundations or demolished rubble. A number of timber-framed buildings … including a peat store, locomotive shed and others, have left no trace other than the levelled ground on which they once stood. The engine/boiler house (see MDV 24806) was the most substantial building at the clay works, constructed from stone, brick and re-enforced concrete. Remains of the winding house (see MDV122901) sit on the pit edge and occupied an area of approximately 9.7 metres by 7.6 metres. Of the range of buildings to the south, … fragments of only the two masonry structures survive (MDV122902), built from stone and brick and totally demolished, leaving a few short lengths of in-situ wall bases and a section of a chimney breast to the south. The northern of these was probably the Blacksmith’s shop which has the concrete base of an anvil with fixing studs in situ. The southernmost building at Redlake was the barracks (MDV25061). This was a rectangular, timber and corrugated iron structure built onto shuttered concrete foundation walls. Only the foundations survive, which have overall dimensions of 19.3 by 12.5 metres, standing to a maximum of 0.4 metres high. [38]
Wade goes on to comment on the spoil heap (sky tip) and the burden tip (where the overburden was dumped). …
“The spoil tip, adjoining the pit, was sited on a convenient area of granite, thus avoiding the waste of any clay bearing land. … The burden tip (where the overburden was dumped) was sited at the opposite side of the pit to the spoil tip and had temporary railway track laid on to it. There was about a mile of 14 lb and 18 lb per yard portable track at Redlake. Around the north side of the pit was dug a boundary leat which collected surface water from the moor and fed it into two artificial reservoirs which supplied the water for the monitors and feedwater for the boilers. This leat also prevented considerable quantities of water from entering the pit. The whole works were floodlit at night. The upper terminus of the tramway consisted of a long run-round loop adjacent to the engine shed (into which there was presumably a siding) and the line proper finally came to an end under the ‘sky tip’ incline; from which sand could be dropped into trucks. However, as has been stated, there was a great deal of portable track at Redlake and it is probable that the locomotives were frequently able to travel right around the perimeter of the pit.” [1: p51]
Locomotives and Rolling Stock on RedLakeTramway
“The small line had a total of three locomotives in its 21-year lifetime. First delivered was ‘C.A. Hanson’, the locomotive having been named after the clay works owner. It was a 3 ft gauge version of a Kerr Stuart standard gauge Waterloo class, the smaller gauge being achieved simply by putting the wheels in between the frames instead of outside (Outside frames) – Apart from this it was a standard loco design.” [5]
The locomotive ‘C.A. Hanson’ on the tramway at the head of the incline which ran steeply down to the works at Cantrell off to the right of the picture. [50]The same locomotive along with two wagons and what appears to be the line’s bogie coach. The photograph was taken on 11th September 1911 on the occasion of the opening of the line. [50]3D model of ‘C.A. Hanson’ advertised by rue-d-etropal.com for bespoke 3D printing. [49]
“The second locomotive was ‘Dartmoor’, a Kerr Stuart Tattoo class loco. It was of standard Tattoo design, so no drawings exist of this exact loco, except for the cab which was different to offer greater protection considering Dartmoor’s harsh climate.” [5]
The ‘Tattoo’ Class Kerr Stuart Locos were 0-4-2T locos and a number have survived into preservation. ‘Dartmoor’ had a modified cab to cope with the harsh climate on Dartmoor. Three examples exist in the UK, all operational: ‘Stanhope’ (1917) on the Apedale Valley Light Railway; Talyllyn Railway No.4 ‘Edward Thomas’ (1921); and Corris Railway No.7 (2005); at least two survive out of service in Namtu, Burma at the Burma Mines Railway. The class was built with either outside frames (such as Stanhope) or inside frames (such as Edward Thomas). However, none of these remaining examples were built to 3ft gauge as ‘Dartmoor’ was. [53]
3D model of ‘Dartmoor’ advertised by rue-d-etropal.com for bespoke 3D printing. [49] Available photographs of the locomotive show it with the semi-circular saddle tank as shown here, but that it had a fully enclosed cab which is not represented in this model. The locomotive should not be confused with a first locomotive bearing the name ‘Dartmoor’ that worked on the line. The first loco is shown in Wade’s book about the line. [1: p63] It was a 2ft gauge Kerr Stuart ‘Wren’ class locomotive which was used during the construction of the 3ft tramway. A Kerr Stuart ‘Wren’ class loco ‘Haig’ of similar construction to the first ‘Dartmoor’. [51]
“The third loco was ‘Lady-Mallaby Deeley’, and 0-4-0 geared vertical boilered locomotive. Built by Atkinson Walker’s, it was the sister of the AW tractor provided to the Clogher Valley Railway, which was reputed to be unsuccessful, thus being converted to diesel. It survives to this day. Unlike the CVR tractor, the Redlake one was deemed highly successful and was the preferred loco at the time (C.A. Hanson having been scrapped in 1921).” [5]
“Both ‘Dartmoor’ and ‘Lady-Mallaby Deeley’ were scrapped on the line’s closure in 1932.” [5]
Wade writes, in an article on the Merioneth Railway Society website, [48] that “‘Lady Mallaby Deeley’ was the last locomotive to work on the Redlake Tramway. She was built by Atkinson-Walker Waggons Ltd of the. Frenchwood Works, Preston and was one of their Class A.3 steam tractors. This company, which was an amalgamation of Atkinson Waggons Ltd (who had absorbed the Leyland Steam Wagon Company of Chorley) and Walker Bros (Wigan) Ltd, produced no more than twenty-five locomotives between 1927 and 1931; the majority of which worked on industrial lines, in Britain and overseas. Walker Bros (Wigan) Ltd was founded in the 1870s as Walker, J Scarisbrick and Bros, the name being changed about 1880, and produced some twenty steam engines until about 1888; diesel passenger railcars being manufactured at a later date. However, the design of the Atkinson-Walker engines is attributed solely to Atkinsons, who were much better known for their steam road vehicles. All of these locomotives had vertical boilers within all enveloping bodywork, giving them the appearance of boxes on wheels. They were built in four classes with 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 wheel arrangements and either vertical or horizontal cylinders. The works numbers began at 101 and all were to standard gauge except numbers 111 (the Redlake engine) and 114, both of which were of 3ft gauge, and 105 – 108, which were all exported to Singapore and were probably of metre gauge.” [48]
3D model of ‘Lady Mallerby Deeley’ advertised by rue-d-etropal.com for bespoke 3D printing. [49]
“Number 111 was built early in 1928 and was delivered to the lvybridge China Clay Co Ltd in the same year, where she was named LADY MALLABY DEELEY after the proprietor’s wife. She, that is to say the locomotive, was of class A.3 (the 3 possibly indicating the gauge) and was of 0-4-0 wheel arrangement with a vertical water tube boiler, with a squared firebox, very like those fitted to the road vehicles. The boiler was made virtually in two pieces, which could be taken apart for internal cleaning, and was fired through a chute which had its opening in the footplate.” [48] It seems that the locomotive had a very short working life of around 4 years. It was sold in 1933, to Marple and Gillott of Sheffield, who appear to have been machinery merchants and scrap metal dealers and there is no further mention of it in historic records. [48]
Of, perhaps only incidental interest here, is the fact that sister locomotive No. 114 was delivered new to the Clogher Valley Railway in Ireland and was claimed to be a total failure. After lying out of use until 1932, it was fitted with a diesel engine by the County Donegal Railways. Named PHOENIX, it exists to this day in Northern Ireland. 114 was said by the makers to consume 10lbs of coal per mile (although it is unlikely that such a low figure was obtained in practice) and to have cost £950 when new in 1928. [48]
3D model of Redlake Tramway (3ft gauge) Coach 3 advertised by rue-d-etropal.com for bespoke 3D printing. [49] The coach appears in one of the two monochrome photographs above.3D model of Redlake Tramway (3ft gauge) Coach 3 and 4 (ex bogie coach 3) advertised by rue-d-etropal.com for bespoke 3D printing. [52]
There were initially 3 bogie coaches. One bogie coach was later split it two 4 wheel coaches (one with 3 windows and one with 4), numbered 3 and 4. [49]
References
E.A. Wade; The Redlake Tramway and China Clay Works, published by Twelveheads Press, Truro, 2004.
Co-ordinates: 50.4857165, -3.9096677.
Co-ordinates: 50.3943394, -3.8873118.
William Crossing; Guide to Dartmoor; Forest Publishing; updated edition of 1912.
Roger Farnworth 
