Category Archives: British Isles – Railways and Tramways

The Railways of East Shropshire (and Telford) – the Much Wenlock and Severn Junction Railway, Buildwas to Much Wenlock.

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This article follows on from three other articles which covered the Wellington to Severn Junction Railway and which reached as far along the line as Buildwas. Those articles can be found on these links:

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/07/the-railways-of-telford-the-wellington-to-severn-junction-railway-wsjr-part-1-wellington-to-horsehay

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/12/the-railways-of-telford-the-wellington-to-severn-junction-railway-wsjr-part-2-horsehay-to-lightmoor-junction

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/18/the-railways-of-telford-the-wellington-to-severn-junction-railway-wsjr-part-3-lightmoor-junction-to-buildwas

In this article we follow the line from Buildwas to Much Wenlock which was initially the Much Wenlock and Severn Junction Railway, “established by the Much Wenlock and Severn Railway Company. The company itself was formed on 21 July 1859. The railway was later constructed between 1860 and 1862 forming part of the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway.” [1]

The Wellington to Craven Arms Railway was formed by a group of railway companies that eventually joined the Great Western Railway family, and connected Wellington and Shifnal with Coalbrookdale, Buildwas, Much Wenlock and a junction near Craven Arms on the route between Shrewsbury and Hereford. It’s purpose was particularly focussed on the iron, colliery and limestone industries around Coalbrookdale.

The line was built over a number of years by what started out as a number of different independent ventures:

“The Wenlock branch, with its four original constituent companies passed through areas as complex and diverse as its original organisation: from the slag tips and pennystone pit mounds of the East Shropshire coalfield to the wooded crest of Wenlock Edge and Ape Dale. The one central strand however on which the companies focused their attention was the ironworks nestling in the tree-lined Coalbrookdale valley, the success of their venture depending solely on the support which they would receive from the Coalbrookdale Company.” [61: p5]

The railways were opened to traffic between 1854 and 1867. The railways local to Coalbrookdale were heavily used by mineral traffic; the hoped-for trunk hauls to and from South Wales via Craven Arms were not realised. Passenger traffic was never heavy, and was sparse between Much Wenlock and Craven Arms. Passenger traffic closures took place from 1951 and ordinary goods traffic closed down in the 1960s. Ironbridge B Power Station generated significant volumes of merry-go-round coal traffic between 1967 and 2015. The line is now entirely closed to ordinary traffic, but the heritage Telford Steam Railway operates on a section between Lawley and Doseley. [2]

The immediate location of the railway station at Buildwas disappeared under the redevelopment of the power station.

These first few maps are taken from StreetMap.co.uk [17] and show the route of the railway South from Buildwas through Much Wenlock as it appears on 21st century Ordnance Survey mapping. …..

Buildwas to Much Wenlock – The Route

Buildwas Junction Station was on the South side of the River Severn close to what was Abbeygrange Farm. The Village of Buildwas was on the North side of the river. The Station was a relatively busy junction The Severn Valley line was met by the line from Wellington and the line via Much Wenlock to Craven Arms. A short goods line left the station to serve a pumping station on the South bank of the Severn. This extract is from the 1901/2 6″ OS Map. [3]
This 25″ Map provides greater clarity and is taken from the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey. [4]
This aerial image was taken in 1968 a short while before Ironbridge B Power Station was commissioned and linked to the national grid. Ironbridge A Power Station is on the left of the image and is still operational. The railway as it remained in 1968 can be seen snaking across the centre of the image (c) E-ON. [18]
The site is unrecognisable in 21st century. The power stations on the site have both been consigned to history (2023) at different times. This ESRI satellite image as supplied by the National Library of Scotland (NLS) does show remnants of the railway still in place. [5]
An aerial view of the site taken from the East after the demolition of the cooling towers. The railway enters on the bottom right and runs up the centre of the image to the South of the River Severn. In this image, the site has yet to see any major redevelopment. [19]
Buildwas Junction Railway Station in 1962. This view looks West towards Bridgenorth on the Severn Valley line. The junction for services to Wellington via Coalbrookdale was a few hundred meters beyond the station in this view. The line to Much Wenlock is indicated by the platform name board which can be seen just to the left of the water tower on the right of the image. This picture was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 11th May 2017 by Paul Wheeler. He comments: “The station was closed on 9/9/63 on closure of the Severn Valley line. Passenger services from Craven Arms had ceased on 31/12/51, from Much Wenlock and from Wellington on 23/7/62, but the line to Buildwas remained open from Longville for freight until 4/12/63 and from Ketley on the Wellington line until 6/7/64. However, coal traffic for Ironbridge Power Station (B Station built on site of Buildwas railway station) … continued from Madeley Junction, on the main line between Shifnal and Telford Central” until 2016. The Power Station in this photograph was Ironbridge A. This image is reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved] © Copyright Ben Brooksbank and licensed for reuse (CC BY-SA 2.0). [6]
A service for Much Wenlock sits at the station platform in 1957 in the capable hands of 0-6-0PT No 7744 . The line to Much Welock went through the combined station at a higher level than the Severn Valley line. Buildwas Junction Station was overshadowed by the Ironbridge ‘A’ power station. Note the ‘fire-devil’ next to the water column to the left of the picture, in front of the water tower. The Fire Devil is the container with a long chimney which is beneath the water tower. It is used in freezing conditions to prevent the water column from freezing. This picture was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on 17th October 2020, © G.F. Bannister. [7]
A similar view from 1954, this time with a service for Wellington at the branch platform. This was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 2nd March 2020, (c) G.F. Bannister. [8]
This image of Buidwas Railway Station comes from 1961. This time the image shows the Severn Valley lines. The photographer has chosen to focus tightly on the railway station which avoids including the power station in the image. This picture was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Marcus Keane on 20th May 2019. [9]
This image from 1959 was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 24th February 2020. It shows an ex-GWR railcar in the East-bound platform on the Severn Valley line and a service for Wellington arriving from Much Wenlock on the branch. The relative levels of the platforms can easily be seen in this image. [10]
This image from 1932 was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 24th February 2020. [11]
A Westbound SVR passenger service at Buildwas, with service that has arrived from Much Wenlock in the higher branch line platforms in the background. Taken 9 June 1961. From the Sellick collection, hosted online by the National Railway Museum, © National Railway Museum and included here under a Creative Commons Licence, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). [12]
A particularly busy moment at Buildwas Junction Station on 9 June 1961. On the right, two Severn Valley passenger services cross, whilst on the left, a passenger service stands at the single platform for the Much Wenlock branch, with a goods train for Much Wenlock standing in the branch loop waiting to depart. From the Sellick collection, hosted online by the National Railway Museum, © National Railway Museum and included here under a Creative Commons Licence, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). [13] .
This aerial image is embedded from Historic England’s Britain from Above site. It shows the construction of Ironbridge Power Station. It was taken in 1930. Buildwas Station can be seen on the left of the image which has been taken facing West and the line to Much Wenlock curves away to the left from what was the old Severn Valley Line.  [14]
Ironbridge Power Station, Buildwas Junction Station and associated sidings in 1948 (EAW012667) © Historic England (Britain from Above). Both the Severn Valley line and the line to Craven Arms via Much Wenlock leave the image on the left (West) with the Much Wenlock line just to the South of the Severn Valley line. [15]
Looking West along the River Severn in a time of flood. Buildwas Abbey is close to the centre of the screen. The sidings associated with the power station can be seen running from bottom centre to the mid-point of the image, The Much Wenlock Branch curved away to the left of the image and its route is marked by the modern field boundary. (c) xerdnA. [Google Streetview, February 2020]
Looking East through the power station site from the same elevated location, (c) xerdnA. [Google Streetview, February 2020]
A view of the Power Station sidings in 2020. [20]
Google Maps satellite imagery is used by RailMapOnline.com as a background to its mapping of old railway lines. This image shows the area around the two power station sites with the railways of the past shown by the turquoise lines. The route of the Severn Valley Line enters from the left near Buildwas Abbey and runs off the image to the bottom-right. The line to Wellington and Madeley Junction leaves the image mid-right. The Much Wenlock branch leaves the image in the bottom-left corner. [16]
Looking Northwest from the access road to Poolview Caravan Park. For a short distance, that access road runs immediately beside the Power Station sidings. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
Looking Northeast from the access road to Poolview Caravan Park  just before the point where it turns away to the South from the power station sidings. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
The area to the West of Buildwas Junction Station as shown on the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey. Note the station approach road which widens out into an open area between the the two railway lines and the access road to Abbeygrange Farm which passes under the line to Much Wenlock towards the West of the image. [4]
This very grainy image is a significant enlargement of a small section of the aerial image held by Heritage England on their Britain from Above website which is shown above, (EPW034013). It shows the point where the access road to Abbeygrange Farm passed under the line to Much Wenlock. The view is from the East. [14]
The similarly grainy image is also an extract from a Britain from Above aerial image, (EAW012578), which is taken looking South in 1948. Ironbridge Power Station is off the left of this extract. The Severn Valley line is in the foreground with the River Severn to the North (off the bottom of the extract). The Much Wenlock line runs across the centre of the image. The access road to Abbeygrange Farm enters the image from the right and passes under the line at the centre of the image. [21]
This is a first extract from the plans of the Much Wenlock line which are held in the Shropshire Archives in Shrewsbury. It shows the accommodation underbridge which permits access to Abbeygrange Farm which effectively defines the rail approach to Buildwas Junction Station, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Looking South along the access road to Poolview Caravan Park at the point where the old railway line crossed the line of that road. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
Another extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901. The red line superimposed on the image is the route of the modern access road to the Poolview Caravan Park. [4]
Approximately the same area as that covered by the map extract above but shown on the modern satellite imagery provided by the NLS. The modern access road is visible under the tree canopy. The superimposed red lines indicate the approximate position of the station approach road and the alignment of the farm access road. The superimposed turquoise line is the approximate route of the Much Wenlock line. [23]
This next extract from the archived plans shows the length from the accommodation underbridge to a first crossing of the railway on the line of a public footpath just beyond the half-mile point. This is approximately the same length as shown on the map extract and satellite images above, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The footpath shown on the map extract above was accessible from the old station access road as far as the field boundary on the North side of railway land but not beyond that point. A public footpath runs East-West across the field shown to the West of the access road and to the South side of the old railway. In 2023, the field was in use to grow potatoes. Walking West along that path brings one to the first remaining significant structure on the line to Much Wenlock. The map extract below shows the line curving round to the South before crossing a farm access road.

A further extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901 shows the line to Much Wenlock turning away to the South-southwest. An underbridge is shown in the bottom-left of the extract. [4]
The same area in the 21st century with the line of the railway and the location of the underbridge superimposed on the satellite image. [24]
The construction plan shows the curve towards the South, please note that the construction plans are drawn with the North point oriented so as to get significant lengths of the line shown on each plan. The occupation crossing referred to above is at the right side of this image, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
An enlarged extract of the construction plans for the line shows the location of the accommodation bridge which was just beyond the three-quarters of a mile point on the line, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
The first accommodation underbridge on the branch is a significant stone-arched structure. This photograph shows it from the East. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]
A closer image, also from the East. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]
The same structure seen from the West. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]

A steep track alongside the underpass leads South-southwest alongside the old railway route to allow field access and it is possible, at the top of that access road, to step onto the old railway formation and follow it for a short distance to the Southwest through increasingly dense vegetation. Walking Northeast along the formation over the accommodation bridge was not feasible because vegetation obstructed the route over the bridge.

After following a track South-southwest alongside the accommodation bridge which led up to the level of the old railway, this is the view back to the North along the route of the railway. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]
The line to Much Wenlock continues in a Southwesterly direction. [25″ 1901 Ordnance Survey as supplied by the NLS. The underbridge appears in the top-right of the extract. [4]
Approximately the same area as shown on the map above as supplied by RailMapOnline.com. [16]
This image and the one below taken together also show a similar length of the old railway to that on the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey above. These two extracts from the archived construction plans get us to the one mile post on our journey along the line to Much Wenlock, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
For a short distance it was possible to walk along the old railway route Southwest of the accommodation bridge, however undergrowth encroached to such an extent that it was nigh impossible to continue to follow the railway formation. This picture shows the route a hundred metres, or so, Southwest of the underbridge. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]

As the picture above shows, the trackbed from a point just to the West of the accommodation bridge is inaccessible. The next location where access is possible is at the next minor road on the East side of the A4169.

This next map extract takes the railway line to the bottom edge of the the 25″ OS Map Sheet. The road and the railway are running in parallel over the bottom half of this extract. [4]
A narrow lane can be seen entering this map extract in the bottom-right. It passes under the old railway and meets the old road. The bridge deck is long-gone but the abutments remain in an overgrown condition. [25]
This extract from RailMapOnline shows that the tight bends in the old road have been removed by realignment and widening. The A4169 turns away from the line of the old Much Wenlock Road and starts to run on the formation of the old railway. As the new road drifts East towards the route of the old railway it meets the side road which approaches from the East. As we have just noted, the bridge abutments are still present. [16]
This image is a length of the construction plan which shows the length of the line from the 1mile post to the under bridge noted above, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Looking Southeast from the A4169. The South abutment of the old bridge is hidden in the shadows close to the road junction. The old railway ran on alongside the new road alignment to the left. Comparison of this photograph with the preconstruction plan above shows that the new road alignment is taking much closer order to the route of the old railway by this point. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Looking Northwest from the minor road, the South abutment of the old railway bridge can be made out easily on the left. The North abutment is more camouflaged by vegetation. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
The face of the North abutment peeks out from the undergrowth on the left of this image. The East abutment wall-return can be made out on the right of the image. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
The South abutment face is considerably less covered by vegetation. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]

After clearing the bridge the old line was on embankment for a short distance with the minor road rising to the same height and continuing then on an upward grade. The next two pictures show the old railway formation at the point where the minor road and the old railway formation were at a similar height.

Looking North towards the old bridge abutment. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
Looking South along the line of the old railway. In a matter of around 100 metres, the climbing modern A4169 occupies the same space as the old railway. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
Looking North along the A4169. In the distance the old railway route was on the right of the area now occupied by the modern road. Closer to the camera the newer road encroaches into the space occupied by the old railway. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
This extract from the precontract drawings for the Much Wenlock line takes us as far as the bottom edge to the last RailMapOnline.com image above, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The next two extracts from the 1901/1902 OS mapping take us as far as Farley Halt.

These two map extracts from the 1901/1902 Ordnance Survey show the old railway curving to the Southwest and for a short distance running immediately adjacent to the Much Wenlock Road. [26][27]
This extract from RailMapOnline covers the same length of the old railway as the two map extracts above. For a distance, the modern Much Wenlock Road (A4169) follows the same line as the old railway formation, pulling away from it at the point where the old road and railway were closest. The lane to Farley Mill can be seen leaving the modern road in the bottom-left of this image. [16]
Looking Southwest along the A4169. Along this length the road occupies the formation of the old railway. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Also looking Southwest along the A4169. The road curves away from the line of the railway which ran straight ahead. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
This next extract from the precontract drawings takes us to the 2 mile point on the old railway, just short of Farley Halt, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
This enlarged extract from the precontract plans shows the area around Farley Mill. Farley Halt was provided at a much later date and was sited about 400 metres South of the Mill close to what was Bradley Rock Quarry, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

Farley Halt was opened in 1934 and closed in 1962. It had a short timber edged platform with a wooden shelter on the west side of the line behind the former Rock House Inn. The halt could be accessed by steps down from a road over bridge to the south. On the other side of the overbridge was an access siding to Bradley Rock Quarry. The halt has been demolished, but its nameboard can be found displayed 400 metres to the north of the site on a stone barn adjacent to the A4169 Much Wenlock Road. [28]

This next extract from the 1901/1902 Ordnance Survey takes the line as far as Farley Halt which was just on the North side of the road overbridge shown close to Rock House Inn. On the South side of the bridge were the sidings which served Bradley Rock Quarry. It is worth noting the tramways/tramroads associated with the Quarry and the incline and lime kilns to the East. Landowner Liquid Fertilisers now occupy the site of the sidings. [29]
This map extract shows the full length of the sidings and most of the tramway/tramroad network on the East side of the old railway as surveyed in 1901. [30]
This RailMapOnline extract covers the same length of line as the two map extracts above. [16]
Farley Halt before the closure of the line to Much Wenlock. The access road bridge is visible beyond the locomotive. The shelter was made of timber, as can be seen, was the platform edge. [39]

Adrian Knowles

The building shown in this photograph used to Rock House Inn. The railway ran to the East of the Inn and Farley Halt was to the East of the Inn and to the North of the access road to Bradley Rock Quarry. Steps led down from that access road to the wooden-platformed halt. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
The Northern Parapet of the bridge over the old railway at the entrance to what was Bradley Rock Quarry. Farley Halt was on the North side of the bridge. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Looking North over the Northern parapet of the bridge. Farley Halt’s platform was on the right-hand (West) side of the line. [My photograph, 19th August 2023]
Looking South over the Southern parapet of the bridge towards Much Wenlock. The railway formation between here and the next minor road is overgrown. Bradley Rock Sidings were alongside the railway on this side of the bridge. [My photograph, 19th August 2023]

On the South side of the accommodation bridge were Bradley Rock Sidings. They can be seen clearly on the precontract plan below.

This next extract from the precontract drawings takes us to just South of the 2.5 mile point and brings us to the same location as the bottom edge of the RailMapOnline image above.. It covers the full length of the Bradley Rock Quarry sidings and indicates the presence of the quarry’s internal system of tramways. The transhipment wharf is shown with tramways parallel to the Standard-gauge siding. This indicates that at the time of the construction of the line in the early 1860s, the tramways were already present or were at least being constructed, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

Bradley Rock Quarry appears to have been a relatively significant operation at the turn of 20th century. The Quarry is also known as Farley Quarry and it is under this name that more details can be found online. Much Wenlock is situated in the area of a Limestone outcrop. Kent Geologists Group comment on the Quarry: “The strata exposed in Farley Quarry consist mainly of Wenlock Reef Facies interbedded with nodular and tabular limestones of Silurian age and display clearly the particular feature known as “ball stones”. In the deeper parts of the quarry the strata gradually pass downwards into the Farley member. … The Wenlock Series was subdivided by Bassett et al (1974) into bio-zones based on graptolite fauna and the Farley Member is placed at the top of the Coalbrookdale Formation. Within the Coalbrookdale formation, the uppermost mudstones of the underlying Apedale strata grade upwards over some ten metres into an alternating sequence of grey, shaley mudstones and thin, nodular, buff to blue-grey limestones – the Farley Member.” [31]

The two images above were taken in Farley Quarry/Bradley Rock Quarry and illustrate the kind of rock encountered, © Richard Law and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [32][33]

It is worth pausing our journey along the Much Wenlock & Severn Junction Railway to wonder what might have been the way in which stone and lime from Bradley Rock Quarry was exported to the probable primary users along the River Severn and to its immediate North. There appears to be no evidence of a tramway along the line of the Much Wenlock & Severn Junction Railway. This suggests that transport from the quarry followed one of two possible routes. The first option was to use the old road from Much Wenlock to Buildwas, and that would have been the original route used. An alternative option was to gain access in some way to the Gleedon Hill Tramroad. John Wooldridge tells us about the tramways/tramroads which served this area. [34]

“In the early 18th century Abraham Darby brought Wenlock stone for iron smelting in Coalbrookdale. As the local iron industry expanded, quarries between Much Wenlock and the River Severn were acquired by ironmasters operating in the southern part of the East Shropshire coalfield. The Wenlock-Buildwas road (now A4169) led to a wharf on the River Severn downstream (East) of Buildwas bridge from where stone was carried downriver to the ironworks. In 1780 William Ferriday of Lightmoor leased stone quarries near Gleedon hill and the Coalbrookdale Company leased quarries nearby. In 1800 William Reynolds leased quarries at Tickwood and Wyke. In the early 19th century the Madeley Wood Company succeeded to the Wenlock quarries of Richard and William Reynolds (probably the quarries at Tickwood and Wyke) and also to the Coalbrookdale Company quarries (probably near Gleedon Hill). The late 19th-century decline of Shropshire’s iron industry curtailed demand for Wenlock stone and Gleedon Hill quarries closed between 1882 and 1901.

The first stone carrying railway may have been built some time after 1800 – the date when William Reynolds took a lease on quarries at Tickwood and Wyke – to transport stone north eastwards, probably to a Severnside wharf on the Buildwas-Benthall boundary (perhaps the area now occupied by Buildwas power station). This railway had gone by 1833 and I have found no other reference to it, nor indeed any trace of it on the ground. Between 1824 and 1833 the Madeley Wood Company built a railway north from Gleedon Hill to a Severnside wharf [a short distance] upstream (west) of Buildwas bridge. In 1862, mainly to improve the transport of limestone to the Severn, and of coal from there to the kilns at Much Wenlock, a steam railway was opened from Buildwas to Much Wenlock [35].” [34]

The railway built by the Madeley Wood Company between 1824 and 1833 was probably the route which was known as the Gleedon Hill Tramroad. This did not follow the valley in the way that the later railway did but ran South from wharves on the River Severn to the West of Buildwas. Bertram Baxter noted that this was about 1.75 miles in length. [34]

The route of the tramway can be followed on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1881/1882. Doing so, is beyond the scope of this article but one extract from the 1881/1882 Ordnance Survey will illustrate its relative proximity to the Bradley Rock Quarry.

It should be noted that, while there is clear evidence for the existence of the Gleedon Hill Tramroad and of the red line drawn onto this extract from the 25″ 1881/182 Ordnance Survey being correct, the suggested possible tramway routes are speculative. They do illustrate, however, that they were possibly used to access the Much Wenlock Road by the owners of Gleedon Hill Quarry before the construction of their tramroad. It is possible that they were also able, later, to take materiel from Bradley Rock Quarry to the Gleedon Hill Tramroad. To be able to firm up this possibility, further research would be required. [36]

Adrian Knowles, in his excellent book about the line, “The Wellington, Much Wenlock and Craven Arms Railway, that quarrying ceased at the Bradley Rock Quarry in 1927, “and this ended a quaint tradition. Each morning, just before 10.00am, the quarry timekeeper had stood at the connection to Bradley Sidings from where the crossing keeper’s cottage at Farley could just be seen down the line. The crossing keeper would stand at the door with his arm raised and at the instant he dropped his arm the quarry man would know that the Greenwich time signal had been relayed by telephone. Thus, for many years, railway time was quarry time.” [40: p105]

Apparently, “The redundant quarry buildings were later purchased by the Midland Counties Dairy for conversion to a creamery, mainly engaged in cheese production, which opened in April 1934 under the name ‘Dingle Dairy’. Bradley Sidings were left intact but were seldom used as the Midland Counties Dairy operated its own lorries to collect milk from surrounding farms and despatch the finished cheeses. Even the small tramway, which ran into the old quarry from Bradley Sidings, was left in place but was not used.” [40: p105]

The dairy was active until the mid-to late 1930s, but after its closure the newly formed Railway Executive Committee brought about an agreement for the Sidings to be taken over by the Air Ministry “which cleared most of the old buildings in 1938 and installed 16 large underground oil storage tanks. The original quarry tramway, which had been left in place while the dairy had occupied the site, was removed at this time, but the standard gauge siding and connection to the branch were retained. The establishment of the Air Ministry fuel depot was to have dramatic and exciting implications for the Much Wenlock branch and a hint of what was to come was given when strengthening work was undertaken on an occupation bridge near Farley.” [40: p115-116]

When, on 1st September 1939, the Railway Executive Committee took control of the railways, weight restriction on the Much Wenlock line were substantially lifted. “All ‘red’ engines (except ’47xx 2-8-0s and the ’60xx King’ Class) were now permitted to run from Madeley Junction and Ketley Junction to Builders and as far South as Much Wenlock, subject to a 20mph overall maximum speed limit.” [40: p116]

Local airfields were supplied by the oil stored at Bradley and regularly ’63xx’ Moguls and ’28xx’ heavy freight 2-8-0s were seen on the branch. There may even have been the occasional ‘USA’ 2-8-0 as well.

The next length of the railway shows a road crossing and a small disused quarry. The Much Wenlock Road is now moving away from the railway. [37]
The road is further away still on this extract from the 1901/1902 25″ Ordnance Survey. This shows the area that inn the 21st century has a lagoon  [38]
This extract from the RailMapOnline.com satellite imagery shows the same length of line as the two map extracts above. The most notable feature other than the location of the minor road crossing is the presence of a lagoon in the bottom-left of this image. [16]
The crossing in use. This image was shared by Linda West on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group on 13th March 2018. [54]
Looking Southeast from the A4169 along the minor road which crossed the old railway on the level. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Looking Northwest along the same minor road. The crossing-keepers cottage features in this and the last image above. Southwards from this point the line of the old railway is now a public footpath. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
The view North along the route of the old railway towards Farley Halt. The area between this point and the bridge over the line noted earlier is overgrown. [My photograph, 19th August 2023]
This photograph was taken from the line of the old railway, looking towards Much Wenlock. The crossing cottage is much as it was when the line was active. There is a small canopy over the doorway which was not present in the past and the land levels were adjusted with a slight realignment of the road carriageway so that wooden steps were no longer need to access the cottage door. This photograph was taken pon 11th July 2012, © Christine Johnstone and included here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [41]
An oblique view of the crossing-keeper’s cottage in 2023. The porch at the North end of the cottage is an addition (as are the solar panels). [My photograph, 19th August 2023]

Since completing this article, I have been contacted by Eddie Challoner. His grandfather had time as the crossing-keeper at this location in the mid-1950s. This article brought back a series of memories for him and he very kindly provided two photographs from that time ….

This first picture shows a pannier tank approaching the crossing from the South and gives an excellent view of the front face of the signal cabin, © Eddie Challoner.
This picture shows a small family group which Eddie says “includes my father, a railwayman for 51 years, myself and later an engineering student on the railways, sister and grandfather the crossing keeper at Farley Crossing in the mid 50s, © Eddie Challoner.
This extract from the precontract plans shows the location of the crossing-keeper’s cottage and the road crossing. © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The next few images were taken along the length of the line to the South of the cottage which is now a public footpath and part of the Jack Mytton Way.

The line runs South passed a lagoon to its right which was not present when the line was built.

This extract from the pre-contract drawings take us to the 3 mile point, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Shadwell Rock Quarry appears on this next extract from the 1882 25″ Ordnance Survey. [42]
Shadwell Rock Quarry appears again on this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901. The layout of the tramways associated with this area seems to have been relatively fluid. [43]

Shadwell Rock Quarry  was located at the South side of the modern lagoon. It grew significantly in size during the 20th century and its workings have now formed the lagoon which remains into the 21st century.

This aerial image of the quarry is taken looking South towards Much Wenlock in 2002. the line of the old railway is very clear on the East (left-hand) side of the quarry with the Much Wenlock Road (A4169) on the West (right-hand) side of the quarry. The original quarry area was to the South (the far side) of the modern quarry. [44]
This extract from the RailMapOnline satellite imagery shows the route of the line to Much Wenlock as well as the various sidings which were in use when the line was active. [16]
This extract from the precontract drawings shows approximately the same length as the RailMapOnline image above. The elbow in the minor road to the East of the line is evident in both. These precontract plans were orientated in respect to the North point so as the get the greatest possible length of the proposed railway onto each sheet, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The various maps above and below show ‘Games Grounds’ or ‘Recreation Ground’. This were called Linden Field. This was the site of the very earliest revival of the World Olympic Movement. the field was immediately to the North of Much Wenlock Railway Station. The first Olympic games were held in 1850 on this field and continue to be held in the 21st century. The 130th games were held in July 2016.

The Olympic Memorial celebrates the use of these fields for the first modern revival of the Olympic Games. [45] More information can be found here: https://wp.me/p2zM3f-67v [46]
This extract from RailMapOnline.com includes the full length of the site of Much Wenlock railway station. [16]
An extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1882. The Station building and forecourt are at the top-right of this extract, the road bridge is at the bottom, just left of centre. [47]
Another extract from the same 25″ Ordnance Survey sheet of 1882. The goods shed is central to the extract. The yard is framed at the bottom-left by a road bridge. The running line climbs away from the passenger station towards Wenlock Edge on the North side of the yard and passes under that bridge. [47]
An aerial view of Much Wenlock Railway Station and the A4169 from 1955. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Janet Jones on 8th September 2022. [52]
This next extract from the precontract drawings shows approximately the same length as the RailMapOnline image above. The Station building was on the West side of the line and North of the bridge which carried the line over what became the A4169. The goods yard was South of the bridge on the East side of the line. … As we have already noted, these precontract plans were orientated in respect to the North point so as to get the greatest possible length of the proposed railway onto each sheet, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Much Wenlock Station in 1868. [51]
Much Wenlock railway station around the turn of the 20th century. This view looks Northeast along the single platform towards Buildwas. [50]
Another view of the station, this time looking to the Southeast. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Shane Leavesley on 8th September 2014. [53]
The platform side of Much Wenlock Station Building. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group by Linda West on 27th May 2020. [55]
The street side of Much Wenlock Station Building. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group by Linda West on 27th May 2020. [55]
A DMU at Much Wenlock Station. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Shane Leavesley on 8th September 2014. [53]
Much Wenlock Station Building seen from the Northwest on Station Road,© John Winder and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED). [58]
Much Wenlock Railway Station seen in 2012 from the Southwest on Station Road © Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED). [59]

Travelling Southwest from the passenger station, trains crossed Sheinton Street at high level and the either entered the goods yard or continued on towards Craven Arms rising up above the town and along the flanks of Wenlock Edge.

The railway bridge in Much Wenlock in 1901 as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of that year, published in 1902. [60]
The view looking Southwest from Much Wenlock Railway Station towards the goods yard. The parapets of the bridge crossed Sheinton Street are visible in the foreground. The signals control access to the different lines in the yard. The line on towards Craven Arms can be picked out to the right in front of the housing. It climbs away from the facilities in Much Wenlock, © D Chandler Collection. [57]
A view Northwest along Sheinton Street taken outside number 19 Sheinton St. It is included here for the view of the railway bridge over the road and was taken in the first half of the 1960s. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Lynne Steele on 10th April 2021. [48]
A view Southeast along Sheinton Street showing one of the carnival walks in Much Wenlock probably in the mid-60s. It is included here for the view of the railway bridge over the road. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Colin Onions on 2nd February 2015. [49]
Looking South along Sheinton Street in 2023. One bridge abutment remains (immediately behind the pedestrians in the picture. The a4169 was realigned and in this image runs away to the right. The main road used to run down Sheinton Street and into Much Wenlock with what is now New Road meeting it at a T-junction just beyond the old bridge and in front of the black and white timbered building in the photograph. [Google Streetview, May 2021)
Looking North along Sheinton Street with the remaining bridge abutment on the right of the image. [Googl;e Streetview, September 2021]
Looking Northeast along New Road (A4169) towards the remaining bridge abutment. The realigned road runs through the location of the more southerly of the abutments to the old bridge. [Google Streetview, May 2021]

The station goods yard and engine shed were immediately to the Southwest of the railway bridge. We finish this part of our journey along the Wellington to Craven Arms railway in the goods yard at Much Wenlock.

Much Wenlock Engine Shed. This image was shared by Linda West on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group on 13th March 2018. [54]
The goods yard and engine shed at Much Wenlock. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Shane Leavesley on 8th September 2014. The line towards Craven Arms runs behind the Engine Shed. [53]

References

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A Rail Strategy for Greater Manchester (1983). …

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Reading the ‘Modern Tramway’ Journal of May 1983 in Autumn 2023, took me back to the time when I was working for Greater Manchester Council. The County Engineer was A.E. Naylor. I was working in the Engineer’s office in County Hall.

The ‘Modern Tramway’ carried an article by W.J. Wyse about the then recently released rail strategy for the conurbation. [1]

The report was released on 18th February 1983 and summarised the results of six months’ work by BR, the Greater Manchester Council (GMC) and the Greater Manchester PTE, assisted by consultants, ‘to develop an achievable long-term strategy for the maintenance and development of the local rail network, having regard to the likely development of the Intercity network’. It was a report which first made clear intentions for the building of a new ‘tram’-network for Greater Manchester.

Wyse writes:

“From the BR side, there was the important objective of improving Intercity services, so that these need no longer terminate at Manchester. An obvious example of such improvements would be to permit Anglo- Scottish expresses to run from London to Manchester on their way to Preston. The “Picc-Vic” scheme of the early 1970s had had to be abandoned because resources were not available. A later proposal for a low-cost Castlefield curve would have given only limited benefits in terms of improved central area access. Then, in 1980, BR published its proposals for the Windsor Link in Salford which, also using the link via Deansgate and Oxford Road, would enable through running between several interurban and local services. Coupled with the proposed Blackpool-Preston-Manchester electrification, this would also improve access to many Intercity services. Further improvements would follow from the Hazel Grove Chord, linking Hazel Grove with New Mills Central, to give better Intercity services to Sheffield.

The desire to improve the BR facilities in Manchester obviously brought up the possibility of electrifying the existing local rail system at 25 kV, coupling this with converting the 1500-volt lines to Hadfield and Glossop and the 1200-volt third-rail line to Bury all to 25 kV overhead supply. The problem here is that this would be a very expensive solution, so other strategies were considered and compared.

The current rail situation has five distinct areas which create problems that have to be solved in order to improve services. Some of these have already been mentioned, but setting them out in this way shows them in perspective.

1) Rolling stock obsolescence, especially of diesel railcar units.

2) Re-equipment of non-standard electric services now using de supply.

3) Renewal of obsolete signalling systems.

4) Separate north and south suburban railway networks, with lack of links and lack of penetration into and across central Manchester, making rail travel less attractive.

5) Two main Intercity stations, Piccadilly and Victoria, too far apart for easy interchange, and causing duplication of to be abandoned because resources were not facilities.

The GMC has committed itself to maintain the present basic pattern of rail services, and to improve the network to increase the use made of it. This includes better access to existing stations as well as possible new stations, and putting pressure on the government to authorise construction of new class-141 diesel railcar rolling stock.” [1: p146]

The Report proposed a number of alternative strategies.

BR’s intention to focus its Intercity services at Manchester Piccadilly retaining Victoria for provincial interurban and local services was made clear. This would mean a basic framework of Intercity services to Crewe, Macclesfield, Leeds, Preston and Liverpool, and beyond. Other interurban lines would serve Warrington, Chester and Bradford. These main programmes would then govern the re-equipment policies for the local services on these lines.

The rail strategy study concentrated on the lines which carry only local services, and indirect access into and across central Manchester.

The two main options were:

1) a comprehensive system of cross-city rail tunnels with electrification of the whole regional system to 25-kV mainline standards with ‘conventional’ rolling stock; or

2) non-conventional solutions using existing rail routes and a former rail route (to Charlton and Didsbury) with vehicles that could run on existing streets or in tunnels across the city centre to provide a comprehensive network that also would also allow for interchange with the Intercity network.

That second option was then further subdivided into two:

2a) a Light Rail Rapid Transit system using vehicle which were defined as “a cross between a rail vehicle and a tram”; and

2b) replacement of rail tracks by carriageways on which some form of express bus would run.

It was noted that (2b) might create problems for existing and proposed goods facilities.

Greater Manchester Rail Network with the Windsor Link and the Light Rail Transit System. It is interesting to see how much of this proposal has been implemented by 2023 and what additions have been made to the proposals as well. [1: p147]

The conventional rail solution would have meant a rail tunnel between Piccadilly and Victoria Stations with an intermediate stop at Piccadilly Gardens. Another tunnel would have run East-West, connecting the Altrincham line with the Piccadilly line with an intermediate station at Albert Square No reinstatement of the Chrolton-Didsbury line was included.

The non-conventional solutions would have to meet certain criteria:

“i) segregation from the conventional rail network except for grade crossings with limited movement of goods;

ii) routes compatible with development of the conventional rail network;

iii) existing or potential traffic must be sufficient; and

iv) the routes must make a logical network and, for the corridors they serve, give adequate interchange with the main BR network.

These criteria would be satisfied by the following lines; Bury, Rochdale via Oldham, Glossop/Hadfield, Marple/Rose Hill (assuming building of the Hazel Grove chord), Altrincham (with Chester services diverted via Stockport), and the former Midland line to Didsbury.

Interchange with conventional Intercity and local rail services would be given at Victoria, Piccadilly and Deansgate/Central stations. The cross-city routes would meet at Piccadilly Gardens with the equivalent of a triangular junction to provide good access to what they call “the core of the Regional Centre” by all permutations of through-running across the junction.

The routes for the surface link in the city centre [had] been worked out to minimise conflicts with general traffic; apart from the section between Piccadilly Gardens and High Street, the lines would not run through high pedestrian-activity areas. These routes, as shown in the map, have been worked out for a Light Rail solution, but the report indicates that they could be modified for a busway solution.

Alternatives to LRT that were considered include road-based systems (buses and trolleybuses) and dual-mode systems including busways on existing rail formations. The only systems they felt worth considering [were]: LRT, busways and guided buses. [1: p148]

The possible LRT system would require lower standards (in terms of alignment, stations, signalling and vehicle weight) than conventional rail systems. They would be able to run on streets and use existing rail routes at relatively minimal cost. This made them very attractive. Their capacity was stated as between 1,000 and 5,000 passengers per hour, with up to 10,000 in central areas. It was noted that phased development would be possible and that boarding and alighting might well be at close to normal pavement level.

Wyse continues:

“Changes would be needed to the proposed new layout of Piccadilly Gardens, and a number of changes to the road layout to accommodate LRT would have to balance the needs of LRT against other vehicles and pedestrians. An important change of attitude from the more usual approach is the opinion that installation of LRT need not lead to any significant decline in environmental standards, especially if overhead wires can be supported from wires attached to buildings rather than poles.

An LRT system could be extended on to other existing or former rail routes, or considered for other corridors where the roads are wide enough to allow construction. Indeed the wheel [had] now turned full circle, for the LRT could be extended “on-highway, right into the middle of major district centres”, in other words, as a conventional tramway. …

Both busway solutions [were] not … studied in the same detail as LRT solutions. They would require significantly higher capital expenditure for carriageways to replace existing rail tracks on some 90% of the proposed system, but only indicative costs [were] worked out for a carriageway width of 8 m with hard shoulders of 2.5 m. Whilst a guided busway would avoid the need for hard shoulders, there [were] issues of operational reliability and ‘on street’ use. A busway that [could] run on street without extra works or hardware could have advantages over LRT, and feeder services at the outer ends could also use existing roads. Further work would [have been] needed to establish whether capital costs could be reduced without sacrificing the operational and safety aspects. [1: p148-149]

A Comparison of Costs

This table gives an idea, at November 1982 prices, of the relative costs of the different options. The report’s authors noted that these figures do not include thing which were common to all the options, such as the Northwest electrification and the Windsor Link. [1: p149]

As can be seen in Table 1, LRT at surface level is the cheapest estimate by some margin. The report also considered what might be the costs of a first phase of work:

  • Re-electrifying the Bury line and constructing the Victoria-Piccadilly tunnel – £95 million;
  • LRT above ground – converting the Bury and Altrincham lines and building the complete city centre network – £38.5 million
  • LRT city centre network in tunnel, otherwise as the above ground scheme – £56.5 million.

Apparently, no work had yet been done “on assessing the operating costs of the alternative strategies, or on considering the effects of bus operating strategies. … While no assessment [had] been made of the benefits to passengers and the effects on other road users, all options [were] considered likely to give significant benefits compared with the ‘Do Nothing’ alternative.” [1: p149]

Cost comparisons were made with the Tyne & Wear and the London Docklands schemes with figures adjusted to November 1982 levels. Table 2 shows these prices.

This table shows just how significantly lower the estimated costs/mile of the Manchester LRT schemes were when compared with the Tyne & Wear Metro and the London Docklands schemes. The critical figures are in the right-hand column in the table. [1: p149]

Wyse commented that work so far undertaken indicated “that if the present rail network [was] to be retained, an LRT system using existing rail lines which do not carry BR interurban services would appear to offer a significantly cheaper solution than conventional heavy rail and ‘busway’ solutions.” [1: p150]

He also noted that, “Further work [was] needed to consider both the operating costs of the alternatives, with due allowance for revisions to bus services, and the likely order of benefits. … Aspects which need[ed] early consideration include[d]: confirmation of the feasibility of city centre LRT tunnels, the safeguarding of potential LRT and busway routes and facilities, the organisation and management of an LRT or busway system (a joint BR/PTE set up [was] suggested), and finally the opportunities to provide improved cross-conurbation services and connexions to Intercity services for major district centres such as Ashton-under-Lyne.” [1: p150]

Manchester’s Network in 2023

40 years on from thi9s report it is interesting to note how much of what was planned came to fruition. As we know the high cost solution of tunnelling under the city centre was not developed. A Light Rapid Transit solution was given the go-ahead and has met much of what was intended.

The network map can be found here [2].

The first line constructed was the Altrincham to Bury line through Victoria Station and the centre of the city. A link to Piccadilly Station was also installed in the early years. The following history is gleaned from Wikipedia [3].

Phase I opened in 1992. The original Market Street tram stop handled trams to Bury, with High Street tram stop handling trams from Bury. When Market Street was pedestrianised, High Street stop was closed, and Market Street stop was rebuilt to handle trams in both directions, opening in its new form in 1998.

Shudehill Interchange opened between Victoria station and Market Street in April 2003. The bus station complementing it opened on 29 January 2006.

Phase 2 provided a link with Salford Quays with a line running to Eccles. Cornbrook tram stop was opened in 1995 on the Altrincham line to provide an interchange with the new line to Eccles. There was initially no public access from the street, but this changed on 3 September 2005 when the original fire exit was opened as a public access route.

Two of the original stops; Mosley Street, and Woodlands Road were closed in 2013. The latter being replaced by two new stops (Abraham Moss and Queens Road) opened nearby.

By the mid-2000s, most of the track on the Bury and Altrincham routes was 40+ years old and in need of replacement. In 2006 it was decided that a £107 million programme to replace this worn track would take place in 2007.

Phase 3 entailed a significant expansion of the network. It turned into a series of different phases as different funding arrangements had to be made:

Phase 3a – created four new lines along key transport corridors in Greater Manchester: the Oldham and Rochdale Line (routed northeast to Oldham and Rochdale), the East Manchester Line (routed east to East Manchester and eventually to Ashton-under-Lyne), the South Manchester Line (routed southeast to Chorlton-cum-Hardy and eventually to East Didsbury), and eventually the Airport Line (routed south to Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport). A spur was also added to the network to link from the Eccles line to Media City. The link to Media City was opened in 2010. The Line to Chorlton opened in 2011. The other lines opened gradually between 2011 and 2013.

Phase 3b – Three lines mentioned in the paragraph above were extended from initially shorter lines. The construction of the East Manchester line extension from Droylsden to Ashton-under-Lyne, the East Didsbury extension from Chorlton and the Airport line via Wythenshawe, commenced in 2011 and all was complete by the end of 2014.

The link to Manchester Airport. [5]

Phase 2CC – Second City Centre Crossing – was completed in 2017.

Trafford Park [4] – The Trafford Park line linked the Trafford Centre to the network and opened in 2020.

References

  1. W.J. Wyse; A Rail Strategy for Greater Manchester; in Modern Tramway and Light Rail Transit, Volume 48 No. 545; Light Rail Transit Association and Ian Allan, Shepperton, London; May 1983, p146-150.
  2. https://images.ctfassets.net/nv7y93idf4jq/4RsbFDfzF2zVYfE67Njh8H/0018c0020be875e86e41b04e940433ab/23-0483_Metrolink_Map_-_Sept_2023.svg, accessed on 11th October 2023.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Manchester_Metrolink, accessed on 11th October 2023. The featured image comes from this Wikipedia article.
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafford_Park_Line, accessed on 11th October 2023.
  5. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/02/manchester-metrolink-line-opens-ahead-schedule, accessed on 11th October 2023.

Early Railways in Plymouth

2 Replies

The first railways in the area were of wooden rails used during the construction of docks facilities. Some were in use in the Naval Dockyard in 1724, [2] and in 1756 John Smeaton laid some more to help move materials in his workyard on the mainland which was preparing stonework for the Eddystone Lighthouse. [4: p5-8] [1]

Smeaton’s Workyard near the location of Millbay Docks was used for a fastidious trial construction of the lighthouse to ensure that the massive stone blocks used in its construction would fit with each other before undertaking the work on site, 14 miles out to sea. To move these blocks around the Workyard, Smeaton made use of a ‘Rail Road’ which comprised of a four-wheel carriage running on a timber road. In Smeaton’s own words, stones were “delivered upon the four-wheel carriage that runs along the timber road, commonly called at the Collieries, where they are used, a Rail Road: and being landed upon the carriage, any stone can be delivered upon any of the Bankers in the line of the work-sheds on either side: or the carriage being turned a quarter round upon the Turnpike, or Turnrail, it can be carried along the road that goes up the middle of the yard, and be delivered upon any part of its area destined for their deposition; all the stones marked for the same course being deposited together; from which place they can be again taken up upon the carriage, run along the road, and be delivered upon any Banker in the line of sheds, or upon the Platform, and afterwards returned back to the same place of deposition, ready to be carried to sea in their proper order … A Banker in a mason’s yard is a square stone of a suitable size, made use of as a work-bench.” [4: p6-7]

In 1812, John Rennie laid a 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) gauge metal tramway to help with the construction of the Plymouth Breakwater; rails were laid in the quarry at Oreston and on the breakwater, and loaded wagons were conveyed between the two on ships. [5][1]

Rennie’s use of a ‘Rail Road’ is recorded in three different contemporary accounts: “The first of these is ‘Two Excursions to the Ports of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1816, 1817 and 1818, with a description of the Breakwater at Plymouth and the Caledonian Canal‘ translated from the (French) original of Charles Dupin. The second book …  [was] published by J. Johns of “Dock” (soon to become “Devonport”) in a booklet dated November 1820 entitled ‘Interesting Particulars Relative to the Great National Undertaking, the Breakwater now Constructing in Plymouth Sound.’ From these two books, a good picture of Rennie’s little railway can be formed, whilst the third book, Rennie’s own mammoth publication provides yet another set of carefully-scaled drawings, similar to Smeaton’s previous records.” [4: p9-10]

An engraving in Rennie’s book which shows the wagons used on his ‘railway’ [4: illustration between p8 & p9]

Rennie’s 3ft 6in gauge railway allowed horses to bring large stone blocks on flatbed wagons (or smaller stones in wagons fitted with sides), from his quarry at Oreston to a quay where the wagons were turned on a turntable and loaded onto vessels with iron rails in their holds and taken to the sites of the breakwater. On arrival a form of tippler appears to have been used to discharge the wagonloads onto the sides of the breakwater. [4: p10-11]

A second engraving from Rennie’s book which shows the wagons in place in the hold and on the deck of one of the wessels which transported stone from the quarry to  the site of the breakwater [4: illustration between p8 & p9]

“The building of the breakwater extended over some thirty years, and in its final stages a railway was actually constructed on the surface of the “wall” enabling the ships to be unloaded in the reverse manner to that of the loading at Oreston, even down to the provision of turn-tables. … This … has given rise to the claim that this was the first rudimentary ‘train ferry’.” [4: p12]

A further engraving from Rennie’s book which shows the breakwater with the railway on its surface. [4: illustration between p8 & p9]

Kendall noted in 1968, that the quarry at Oreston still continued to supply stone for the maintenance of the breakwater. [4: p12]

On their journey around England in 1826 and 1827,  Von Oeynhausen and Von Dechen visited the Plymouth Breakwater and the later Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway referred to below. [7: p51-55] Of the Breakwater Railway, they commented: “For the transport of the larger masses of stone, 10 ships of 80 tons burden have been built in the Royal Dockyard. These ships can carry 16 blocks, each of 5 tons weight, in two rows, each block resting on a wagon which runs on a railway. The two railways on the ships are extended to the breakwater by drawbridges; and then the wagons are drawn out of the ships by cranes and unloaded. In this manner, a ship of 80 tons can be unloaded in 40 or 50 minutes. The ships are brought to the place where the stones are required to be laid by the help of buoys.” [7: p55]

A more conventional tramway was opened on 26th September 1823. The 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway ran from Princetown to Sutton Harbour and the Cattewater. Branches were opened to Cann Quarry in 1829 and to Plympton in 1834, followed by the Lee Moor Tramway in 1854. Haulage on these lines in Plymouth was always by horses (although the Lee Moor Tramway did have two 0-4-0ST locomotives which spent most of their life at the Lee Moor end of the tramway). The Lee Moor line remained in use until 1960. [1][3][6: p9]

The Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway is covered in much greater detail in the article accessed via this link:

……………. (Currently being written) ……………………..

References

  1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railways_in_Plymouth#:~:text=A%20more%20conventional%20tramway%20was,Lee%20Moor%20Tramway%20in%201854, accessed on 20th September 2023.
  2. Paul Burkhalter; Devonport Dockyard Railway; Twelveheads Press, Truro, 1996.
  3. Eric R. Shepherd; The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway and the Lee Moor Tramway; ARK Publications (Railways), Newton Abbot, Devon, 1997.
  4. H.G. Kendall; The Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway; The Oakwood Press, Lingfield, Surrey, 1968.
  5. David St John Thomas; West Country Railway History; David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1973.
  6. Russell Leitch; Plymouth’s Railways in the 1930s including “The Gear’s Poor Relation”; Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, Peterborough, 2002.
  7. C. Von Oeynhausen and H. Von Dechen; Railways in England 1826 and 1827; translated from the German by E.A. Forward and edited by Charles E. Lee and K.R. Gilbert; Newcomen Society, Cambridge, 1971.

The First Railways: Atlas of Early Railways

4 Replies

Derek Hayes: The Times, HarperCollins, 2017

I picked up a copy of this book in September 2023. It is large format Hardback book of 272 pages. The listed price is £30.00 but my copy cost me just over £10 plus postage and it is in an excellent pre-owned condition. I had anticipated a well-illustrated book which would be a relatively easy read. I was pleasantly surprised to find that while it was an excellent read, it was also a well-researched, scholarly work with: all maps and illustrations properly catalogued and sources noted; a significant bibliography of scholarly works; and a comprehensive index.

Hayes’ book brings together in one volume the history of waggonways, tramways and tramroads as well as early modern steam railways. It  provides some superb copies of contemporary maps. Illustrations and text are exceptionally well laid out. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through some concise introductions to significant plateways and railways of the period.

Wooden Rails and Horse/Manpower

The book begins with a review of significant lines which were first constructed with wooden rails.

– Hayes tells us that, “The earliest definitively documented application of a cross-country railed way in Britain is that of entrepreneur Huntingdon Beaumont: his waggonway ran from Strelley to Wollaton, now in the West part of Nottingham. … Documents fix the date of this first waggonway at between October 1603 and October 1604.” [1: p14]

– Other early waggonways include: some close to Broseley, Shropshire, leading to wharves on the River Severn dated at around 1605; and several feeding to the River Tyne in the 1630s. Practice differed between these two areas. In Shropshire, wagons were usual relatively small on narrow-gauge tracks which fed straight into the mines they served. In the Northeast, wagons were larger and the gauge wider.

– In Wales, a Shropshire-type of waggonway was in use in Neath, Glamorgan before 1700. In Scotland, the first available records, from 1722, cover the Tranant to Cockenzie railway close to Edinburgh which was another Shropshire-style waggonway.

We have evidence that throughout the 1700s, wooden waggonways were in use. Examples include: the Alloa Waggonway (built in 1766); Ralph Allen’s wooden railway in Bath, Somerset (built in 1731); Whitehaven, Cumbria’s waggonways which converged on staiths in the harbour (1735); the Middleton Railway in Leeds (1758); Tyneside/Northumberland/Durham (1608 onwards, significant maps have been retrieved dated 1637, 1761 and 1788). Hayes draws attention to a number of Northeast waggonways: the Plessey Waggonway; the Killingworth Waggonway; waggonways associated with Dunstan Staiths (the last of which closed in 1990!); the Tanfield Waggonway (built between 1725 and 1738); the Beamish South Moor Waggonway (built around 1780); the Pelton Moor (built between 1746 and 1787) and Deanry Moor (built 1779) Waggonways. Hayes also mentions the replica wooden waggonway at Beamish Open-Air Museum. [1: p15-31]

This 1830 map of South Wales, part of the large ‘Map of the Inland Navigations, Canals and Rail Roads with the Situations of the various Mineral Productions throughout Great Britain’, of which
many extracts are shown in Hayes’ book, shows a large number of railways despite being published the same year as the opening of the Liverpool Manchester Railway. The majority of the lines shown are plateways. After an early start with edge rails, most of the lines built after about 1800 were of the plateway type. Many of these railways are referred to in the book. [1: p66-67]

The book goes on to focus on the transition between wooden and iron rails, noting the practice of overlaying wooden rails with cast-iron plates, a system which was in use as early as 1767 in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire. [1: p36]

Cast and Wrought Iron

Hayes then looks at the introduction of Cast Iron and the later Wrought (or ‘maleable’) Iron. Again two different practices developed:

– L-shaped plateways with wheels without flanges were in use underground as early as 1787, these were then used above-ground in the Shropshire area, in the Forest of Dean, on a number of lines in South Wales, and by Benjamin Outram on the Butterley Gangroad, Little Eaton Gangway and the Peak Forest Tramway. Other examples include: the Lancatser Canal Tramroad; the Ticknall Tramway; the Caldon Low Tramway; the Surry Iron Railway, the Gloucester and Cheltenham Railway; the Middlebere Plateway, Dorset; the Silkstone Waggonway Near Barnsley; The Forest of Dean and Severn & Wye Railways; the Somerset Coal Canal Railway; the Kilmarnoch & Troon Railway; and the South Wales Railway and Canal Network (including the Hay Railroad between Brecon, Hay and Kington. A departure from the us of L-shaped Cast Iron plates was the use of granite for the Haytor Granite Railway which supplied granite from Dartmoor to wharves on the River Teign. [1: p38-71]

– Edge rails with flanged wheels saw greater early use in the Northeast and on a number of lines in South Wales, although many in South Wales were converted from edge-rails or round bars to plateways because of the influence of Benjamin Outram. Those lines remained as plateways until the 1830s. Wrought or ‘maleable’ iron was initially expensive as larger section rails were used. This changed when first ‘T- section’ and then ‘I-section’ rails were produced by a rolling process. Many early edge railways used short- sections of rail in a fish-belly shape. Hayes details some of the most significant very early iron edge railways: the Forest Line of the Leicester Navigation; the Lake Rock Rail Road; the Belvoir Castle Railway; the Mansfield & Pinxton Railway; the Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway; the Stratford & Moreton Railwaythe Monkland & Kirkintilloch Railway and its later siblings, the Garnkirk & Glasgow Railway, and the Ballochney Railway; the Slate Railways of North Wales, (including the Llandegai, Penrhyn, Nantile and Dinorwic Railways); and the Northeast Coalfield. [1: p72-93]

A short section [1: p94-99] covering inclined planes and stationary engines precedes Hayes coverage of the first ‘Travelling Engines’ and ‘Working Locomotives’ in the ear before Stephenson growing ascendancy. [1: p100-127]

Steam Power

Richard Trevithick was to be the person who solved the question of how to use steam-power on rails as a Travelling Engine. It required the use of high-pressure steam. …

The railway revolution came from a marriage of suitable iron track with a reliable source of mechanical power. Up to the end of the eighteenth century, steam power was in the form of low pressure, large machines, and the few that were mobile were slow and lumbering. The engineer and inventor Richard Trevithick would change everything. His answer was what he called ‘strong steam’ – high-pressure steam coupled with good enough quality of materials and construction to safely contain it. The first of Trevithick’s high-pressure engines was a stationary machine installed at Cook’s Kitchen Mine near Cambare, Cornwall, in 1800. It was reliable, for it was still running seventy years later. … In August 1802, Trevithick had been in Coalbrookdale, where, it seems, the Coalbrookdale Company, an ironworks, began making stationary propulsion engines based on his design. That month Trevithick wrote to a supporter in Cornwall, Davies Giddy, that “the Dale Co have begun a carrage at their own cost for the real-roads and is forceing it with all expedition.” This is significant in that it may be the first surviving reference anywhere to the idea of running a steam locomotive on rails. However, the possibility of a Coalbrookdale locomotive – which would have been the first in the world is a bit of an enigma, since there is no direct evidence of one being built beyond Trevithick’s letter. … When Trevithick’s Penydarren locomotive first ran in South Wales, it did so on a plateway and would have had wheels without flanges. [1: p100-101]

A good introduction to George Stephenson’s early activities [p128-133] is followed by a focus on the Hetton Colliery Railway which, after a competition between engineers, George Stephenson designed with three self-acting inclines and level sections worked by horses or by his locomotives. By the date of opening, Hetton Colliery Railway became the first to be designed specifically for locomotive use and featured three of Stephenson’s ‘patent travelling engines’. “Just over half the route was worked by locomotives. … The other five sections were all inclines. Three were worked on a self-acting basis and two … used engines. Despite being advised by Stephenson … to use maleable- or wrought-iron rails, the Hetton Colliery Railway used …cast-iron edge rails, each 3ft 9 ins long and laid on stone and wooden blocks. They gave the company a lot of trouble. … Despite considerable on-going modifications, … the railway proved conclusively the value of the locomotive engine and provided valuable experience for Stephenson. … [It] lasted for well over a century: the last section closed only in 1972, the result of the decline of the coal industry rather than issues with the railway.” [1: p134-139]

Most early railways were related to mineral interests and carried freight. The first passengers were carried, if at all, as an after thought. On the Swansea & Oystermouth Railway (later known as the Swansea & Mumbles Railway), which was built by 1806 to transport coal, iron ore, and limestone, Benjamin French offered the company £20/year in lieu of tolls “for permission to run a waggon or waggons on the Tram Road… for conveyance of passengers.” The proposal was accepted by the company, and French began his service with what was essentially a stagecoach with the wheels adapted to run on rails on 25 March 1807 – this is the world’s first documented regular rail passenger service. It seems to have been popular, for French’s permission was renewed the following year for £25. Ultimately mineral traffic on the line did not live up to expectation and passenger traffic became relatively more important. After a 9 year hiatus starting in 1855 both horse-power and steam competed for until 1898 when the companies involved merged. The line was by then essentially a tourist attraction, and a pier was built at the western end of the line to provide a destination. In 1929 the line was electrified and had 13 tramcars Popularity grew, and during the depression years of the 1930s 5 million passengers a year were being carried. But the popularity did not last, traffic declined, and the line closed in 1960.

These early railways were local affairs but there were visionaries who perceived that longer distances would soon become possible. Hayes points us to: Benjamin Outram, who proposed a double-track railway from London to Bath; Richard Lovell Edgeworth, who in 1802 published a paper entitled ‘On the Practicability and Advantage of a General System of Rail-roads‘; Thomas Telford, who surveyed a 125 mile route from Glasgow to Berwick in 1809-10, recommending the use of a railway rather than one of his favoured canals; John Stevens (in the US) who argued that railways would be better than canals over longer distances; William James, who in 1802 proposed railways from Bolton to Manchester and Liverpool, and who, in 1808, proposed a General Railroad Company to build a network of railways across Britain; Edward Pease, in 1821, imagined a London to Edinburgh railway; and Thomas Gray, who in 1820 was the first to proposed a detailed railway network  covering all of the British Isles which could be used for poor-relief by creating massive levels of employment during its construction. [1: p140-143]

Detailed studies of the Stockton & Darlington Railway [1: p144-167]and the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway [1: p168-171] precede discussion of what Hayes calls ‘the First Modern Railway’, The Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Hayes provides a detailed and well-illustrated ‘chapter’ about that railway, including contemporary maps and images. [1: p172-193]

Another double-page spread from Hayes’ book. [1: p192-193]

Further short studies look at: Agenoria’s Railway and at the batch of locomotives, of which Agenoria was one, the other three being exported to the united States, one of which (the Stourbridge Lion) became the first steam locomotive to run in North America in August 1829; the Cromford & High Peak Railway; the Leicester & Swannington Railway; and the Stanhope & Tyne Railway. Honourable mentions include: the Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway; the Avon & Gloucestershire Railway; the Whitby & Pickering Railway; and the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway.

Hayes then reflects on the gradual development of a national network of railways and a growing number of skilled railway engineers, [1: p206-225] before picking out one railway, the London & Greenwich Railway, which has a claim to have been the first commuter railway. [1: p226-229]. Hayes closes his book with a short look at the transfer of railway technology from the UK to the rest of the world. [1: p230-259].

Summary

In summary, Hayes book is, as the rear of the dust-jacket claims, “A highly illustrated and readable account of the earliest railways, from the first wooden-railed waggonways to the development of the railway network of the 1840s and beyond. During this period the modern railway engine was invented and refined; it rapidly outpaced the horse and developed into a swift and strong machine that changed the course of world history forever.” [1]

There are 700 maps and other illustrations and the story is brought to life by a lively narrative supported by well chosen photograph and railway ephemera.

The book is something of which its author can be justifiably proud. I thoroughly recommend it’s inclusion on the library of anyone interested in the development of the railways from their early beginnings. It is worth its cover price of £30.00, but if you can find it in good condition for around £10.00 second-hand, then jump at the opportunity to make a purchase!

References

  1. Derek Hayes; The First Railways: Atlas of Early Railways; The Times, HarperCollins, Glasgow, 2017. [2]
  2. https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Railways-Derek-Hayes/dp/0008249482, accessed on 14th September 2023.

The Purton Viaduct and the Purton Steam Carriage Road

6 Replies

On the road between Purton and Etloe on the Northwest side of the Severn Estuary there is a railway viaduct. Seemingly it sits remote from any former railway. Although you might just be forgiven for thinking that it is a remnant of the Forest of Dean Central Railway, or even associated with the Severn & Wye Railway which ran close to, but to the South of, the hamlet of Purton.

The Severn Bridge Railway Station sat just to the South of Purton on the West Bank of the River Severn. [9]
Purton sits just to the North of the Severn Bridge Station on the Severn and Wye Railway. This map extract comes from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901. [10]

It is, in fact, the main remnant of a planned railway/tramroad – the Purton Steam Carriage Road! It can be seen on the map extract below which shows the viaduct just to the North of the hamlet.

Purton Viaduct appears at the top-left corner of this map extract. The hamlet of Purton is bottom-left. Purton Pill is just below the centre of the extract. Historically, there was a ferry across the River Severn at this location. This map extract comes from the 1879 25″ Ordnance Survey. In 1879, a footpath can be seen following the approximate line of the proposed railway. [11]

The viaduct was built, circa. 1832, of red sandstone rubble with dressed voussoirs. It has 3 arches of diminishing heights, its main pier is wedge shaped, so that the viaduct is slightly angled. The tallest arch spans the road. The centre arch is damaged on the NE side. Its Southeast wall continues as retaining wall for some distance. Part of the parapet survives at the north west end.

The viaduct is of considerable historical and industrial archaeological interest: the Purton Steam Carriage Road was planned in 1830, just a few years after the Stockton and Darlington Railway first ran in 1825.

Sadly, it was never to carry the goods it was intended for, but it seems to have had considerable effect on local politics at the time, and on later railway enterprises in the area.

“The finance was to come from a prominent local Iron-master, Charles Mathias of Lamphey Court, Pembrokeshire. The viaduct is the most tangible surviving evidence for an industrial scheme which would have involved the first crossing of the Severn on a moveable bridge.” [1]

An arch of the Purton Viaduct, © John Winder and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0) [2]

The Purton Steam Carriage Road Company predated the Forest of Dean Central Railway and intended to build a line, 8 miles or so long, from a purpose-built dock at Purton Pill to the then-new Foxes Bridge Colliery in the Forest of Dean.

A scheme drafted earlier in the century was  revived in 1830 and supported by a number of Forest industrialists. As we have already noted, “The promoter of the Parliamentary Bill, presented to Parliament in 1832, was one Charles Mathias, who was so confident of the Bill’s success that he purchased the required land and began construction of the line. Unfortunately, the Bill met strong opposition from the Commissioners of Woods, failed to make its second reading and was withdrawn. Mathias’ premature and misplaced enthusiasm had led to the construction of various bits of railway infrastructure.” [3]

The structures completed included:

  • All or part of Nibley Hill Tunnel near Blakeney (the portals are each marked as “old quarry” on the 1892-1914 OS 25″ map);
  • A cutting here and there; and
  • Purton Viaduct.
Another arch of the Purton Viaduct. The road is that between Purton and Etloe, © John Winder and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0) [3]

Purton Viaduct is Grade II Listed by Historic England. It is recognised as being of “considerable historical and industrial archaeological interest”, but is suffering from the vegetation which has almost hidden it from view in places! [3]

The viaduct is noted in Neil Parkhouse’s, “Forest of Dean Lines and the Severn Bridge” which is the second volume in Lightmoor Press’, “British Railway History in Colour” series. [6]

Another view of the Purton Viaduct, © John Winder and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0) [4]
Another view of the Purton Viaduct, this time from the early 1970s. It shows the viaduct relatively clear of vegetation after a team of volunteers, led by archaeologist David Bick spent time removing vegetation, © John Bayes and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0) Interestingly, John Bayes calls the tramroad /railway, the ‘Hayes Locomotive Tramway’.[5]
This picture of the Viaduct in 2016 appears in Grace’s Guide. [8]

North of the Viaduct, the line of the Purton Steam Carriage Road can be followed on older maps, as the map extract below shows.

Purton Viaduct appears in the bottom-right of this map extract and the route of the planned Purton Steam Carriage Road can be seen as the double-dotted track heading Northwest from the viaduct. This extract is from the 1879 25″ Ordnance Survey. [11]
The line of the proposed Carriage Road runs from bottom-right to top-left on this extract from the 25″ 1878/1879 Ordnance Survey. [12]
The line of the proposed Carriage Road runs from the bottom-right towards the top-left on this extract from the 25″ 1878/1879 Ordnance Survey. Approximately at the centre of the extract the Ordnance Survey chose to name the made-made defile at Lanesbrookgreen as an Old Quarry. It is in fact the location of what was to be the Southern mouth of Nibley Hill Tunnel. [12]
This slightly out of focus extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1878/1879 shows both the North and South ends of Nibley Hill Tunnel marked as Old Quarries. The road running North-South adjacent to the line of the northerly length of Nibley Hill Tunnel and then crossing its line to the North of the proposed southern portal is now the A48. [12]
This composite image overlays modern satellite imagery over the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. The defiles marking the proposed tunnel entrances can be made out at the top and bottom of this image. The A48 is easily made out. [14]

Nibley Hill Tunnel would have been 600 yards in length and would have taken the Purton Steam Carriage Road into the Forest of Dean close to the village of Blakeney.

The Purton Steam Carriage Road was one of two early proposed Tramroads in the Forest of Dean which were close to the line of what became the Forest of Dean Central Railway.

To the North was the proposed Moseley Green and Tilting Mill Tramroad which was intended to link the valley of Blackpool Brook with the outside world by connecting mines in the Moseley Green area with the Bullo Pull Tramroad. It was not pursued. Instead, in 1832, the Purton Steam Carriage Road was devised to access the Blackpool Brook valley. [13]

Its route North of Nibley Hill Tunnel is difficult to identify on the Ordnance Survey mapping of the late-19th and early-20th centuries.

References

  1. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/06871/35, accessed on 9th September 2023.
  2. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6503314, accessed on 6th September 2023.
  3. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6503290, accessed on 6th September 2023.
  4. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6503302, accessed on 6th September 2023.
  5. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1284797, accessed on 6th September 2023.
  6. The National Archive holds records associated with this proposed line which can be accessed at Kew. The relevant details can be found on the following links: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7435267, accessed on 17th September 2021. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7435264, accessed on 17th September 2021.
  7. Further details are available on Grace’s Guide, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Purton_Steam_Carriage_Road, accessed on 17th September 2021.
  8. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:JD_Purton_2016_01.jpg, accessed on 17th September 2021.
  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22482341#/media/File:The_Severn_Bridge_Sharpness_England.jpg, accessed on 9th September 2023.
  10. https://maps.nls.uk/view/109727260, accessed on 9th September 2023.
  11. https://maps.nls.uk/view/109727257, accessed on 9th September 2023.
  12. https://maps.nls.uk/view/109726411, accessed on 9th September 2023.
  13. https://booksrus.me.uk/gn/page%2079.html, accessed on 9th September 2023.
  14. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15.7&lat=51.75242&lon=-2.48792&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 9th September 2023.

The Secret of Laxey Siding

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‘Modern Tramway’ in January 1964 carried an article by J.H. Price about the process involved in getting Snaefell rolling-stock to Derby Castle for maintenance. [1] The featured image for this article shows Snaefell Car No. 4 on the Mountain Railway in May 2005, © John Wornham and included here under a Creative Commons Licence, (CC BY-SA 2.0). [3]

In the early 1950s, Price tells us, “A considerable stir was caused in railway circles by the news that the Russian and Czech railways had introduced a service of through sleeping-cars between Prague and Moscow, overcoming the break of gauge at the Russian frontier. It appeared that the cars could be lifted on jacks, complete with their passengers, while the standard-gauge bogies were run out and replaced by others of the wider Russian gauge. This method was later extended to other routes, and the accompanying photograph, taken in 1957, shows the cars of the Moscow-Berlin Express raised up on electric jacks in the gauge-conversion yard at Brest-Litovsk, on the frontier of Russia and Poland. … Unknown to the Ministry of Communications of the U.S.S.R., something very similar has been going on quite unobtrusively here in these islands, not just in the last decade, but ever since 1933. The place is Laxey, Isle of Man, and the cause is the six-inch difference in gauge between the Manx Electric Railway’s Douglas-Ramsey line and the Snaefell Mountain Railway. The coastal tramway was constructed to the usual Manx gauge of 3 ft. 0 in., but on the Snaefell line this would not have left sufficient room for the centre rail and the gripper wheels and brake-gear, with the result that the mountain line uses a gauge of 3 ft. 6 in. instead.” [1: p19]

How the Russians do it! The bogie-changing installation at Brest, on the frontier of Russia and Poland. A description of this and of a newer method with sliding axle-sleeves was given in J. O. Slezak’s book ‘Breite Spur und Weite Strecken’, © J. H. Price. [1: p19]

Both the MER and the Snaefell lines “have always been under a common management, and in past years, repainting of Snaefell cars was carried out at the mountain line’s car shed by staff who travelled up each day from Derby Castle. Since Snaefell car shed at Laxey is narrow and rather dark, the work was mostly done out of doors, the car being run in and out of the shed each time it rained. After the 1933 fire at the other Laxey car shed had created a float of spare plate-frame bogies, the management decided to use a pair of these to bring Snaefell cars due for overhaul down to the principal Manx Electric workshops at Derby Castle, Douglas. Controller overhauls and motor repairs were already carried out at Douglas, and since 1933 work at Laxey has therefore been confined to routine maintenance, running repairs and truck overhauls.” [1: p19]

The result of this decision was that every now and again (once or twice a year) a Snaefell car had to be lifted off its 3 ft. 6 in. gauge trucks and mounted on 3 ft. gauge bogies to be towed down to Douglas, returning by the same means when its overhaul was completed. This operation was rarely seen by visitors to the Isle of Man as it took place out-of-season.

“The Snaefell 1963 operating season ended on Friday 13th September, and the moving operation started soon after eight o’clock next morning, when Snaefell car No. 4 was brought down from the car shed and run on to the dual-gauge siding. With it came a set of traversing-jacks, various tools, and the necessary wooden packing, kept in the Snaefell car-shed for this twice-yearly operation and any other less foreseeable. eventualities. Four … men then set to work … following a sequence which, like many other Manx Electric operations, is handed down from one generation to the next without ever having found its way into print.” [1: p22]

J.H. Price continues:

“First, the brake-gear and bogie-chains are disconnected, and the bow-collectors roped to the trolley-wire so that the pins can safely be removed, after which the collectors are untied again and lowered to the ground. Once this is done, no part of the car’s circuit can become ‘live’, and next the motor and field connections are broken at their terminals in the junction-boxes, which are housed under the seats and above the motor positions. The body is now merely resting on its two bogies, with no connection between them.

The next stage is to lift the car and exchange the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge bogies for others of 3 ft. 0 in. gauge. In the case of the Russian sleeping-cars mentioned earlier, the two gauges are concentric and the car. bodies need only a straight lift and lowering, but Laxey siding has three rails (not four), and the car body therefore has to be traversed laterally by three inches from the centre-line of the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge to the centre-line of the 3 ft. 0 in. To do this, the staff use a pair of special traversing-jacks with a screw-thread in the base that enables the load to be moved sideways; similar jacks are used by the Royal Engineers to re-rail locomotives, and were also used by them to place Newcastle tram No. 102 on rails at Beaulieu in March, 1959.

Considerations of safety make it preferable to keep one end of the car resting on a chocked bogie, so the Manx Electric use only one pair of jacks, tackling first one end of the car and then the other. First the Snaefell end of the car is lifted, and the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge bogie is pushed out; in this case, it was then towed up to the car shed by Snaefell car No. 1. Meanwhile, two men fetch a 3 ft-gauge plate-frame trailer bogie from Laxey Car Shed and push it by hand along the northbound running line to Laxey station, where it is shunted on to the three-rail siding and run in under the Snae- fell car. The body is then lowered to the horizontal, traversed to suit the centre of the 3 ft. gauge bogie, and landed on the bogie baseplate. A king-pin is then inserted, the loose retaining-chains are secured, and the jacks taken out and re- erected at the other end of the car.

Now comes the turn of the Laxey end (the two ends of the mountain cars are referred to as Laxey end and Snaefell end, not as No. 1 and No. 2, or uphill and down). The car body is raised again on the jacks, and the other Snaefell bogie pushed to the end of the siding. A second plate-frame trailer bogie is then brought up to a nearby position on the northbound Douglas-Ramsey road, derailed with pinch-bars, and manhandled across the tarmac on to the three-rail siding. Once re-railed, the bogie is then run in under the car end, which is lowered, traversed and secured in the same way as before. The Snaefell car is now ready for its trip to Douglas, and as soon as it has been towed away, another Snaefell car collects the remaining 3 ft. 6 in. gauge bogie and takes it up to the Snaefell car-shed, together with the ladder, tools, packing and jacks. [1: p22]

At the suggestion of ‘Modern Tramway’ a member of staff of the MER agreed to make a photographic record of the whole process. The images were then reproduced in ‘Modern Tramway’. The sequence of images appears below, starting with the Snaefell car No.4 being  run into the three-rail siding.

In sequence, these four photos show part of the process of preparing Snaefell car No. 4 for its journey from Laxey to Douglas in September 1963. Notes on these photographs follow below, © A.R. Cannell: [1: p20]

Photograph 1: Snaefell No. 4 “is run on to the three-rail siding at Laxey Station; linesmen tie each bow collector to the trolley wire to take the strain off the mountings, then remove the pins from the spring bases, untie the bow and lower it to the ground.” [1: p20]

Photograph 2: “The car body is disconnected from the trucks (electrically and mechanically) and raised on jacks, and the first 3 ft. 6 in. gauge motor bogie pushed out and towed by another car to the Snaefell depot.” [1: p20]

Photograph 3: “A 3 ft. gauge plateframe trailer bogie is brought up by hand from Laxey Car Shed, ready to be placed beneath the mountain end of No. 4.” [1: p20]

Photograph 4: “The trailer bogie is run in under the car, and the body lowered and traversed sideways on to the bogie centre-plate, then secured by a king-pin and side chains.” [1: p20]

These four photos show the next stages in the process of preparing Snaefell car No. 4 for its journey from Laxey to Douglas in September 1963. Notes on these photographs follow below, © A.R. Cannell: [1: p21]

Photograph 5: The traversing jacks are re-erected at the other end of the car, the body lifted off the second motor bogie which is then pushed on to the end of the three-rail siding.

Photograph 6: A second plate-frame trailer bogie brought up on to the running line, derailed with crow-bars, and pushed across the tarmac to the three-rail siding.

Photograph 7: The bogie is run in under the Laxey end of No. 4, and the body lowered, tra- versed and secured. The conversion from 3 ft. 6 in. gauge to 3 ft. gauge is now complete.

Photograph 8: MER. saloon No. 22 enters the transfer siding by the rarely-used 3 ft. gauge crossover and is coupled by bar and chain to Snaefell No.4, ready for the trip to Douglas.

With this work taking place on a Friday, Snaefell car No. 4 was taken to Laxey car shed and then moved on Monday 16th September to Douglas.

These three photos show the move to Derby Castle Station in Douglas. The first photo shows MER car No. 22 taking Snaefell car No. 4 across Laxey Viaduct to Laxey Car Shed. The second photo shows the two cars arriving at Douglas Castle Station, and the third shows No. 22 shunting No. 4 into the workshops for overhaul and repainting, © A.R. Cannell. [1: p23]

Snaefell Car No. 4 was built in 1895 as the fourth of a batch of 6 cars and arrived at Laxey in the spring of 1895. MER’s website tells us that, “Power for the Car was by Bow Collectors with Mather and Platt electrical equipment, trucks and controllers, and Braking using the Fell Rail system. As new, the cars were delivered without glazed windows and clerestories. Both were fitted in Spring 1896 (following complaints of wind, as the original canvas roller blinds did not offer much protection).” [2]

“Car No.4 was one of two Snaefell Cars (Car No.2 the other) to carry the Nationalised Green livery, applied from 1958. No.4 became the last car/trailer in the MER/SMR fleets to carry the scheme, it being moved to Derby Castle Car Sheds for repaint and overhaul during September 1963.” [2]

Car No. 4’s last trip on the MER for overhaul was during Winter 1993, moving back by Spring 1995. After this all maintenance on Car No. 4 was undertaken at Laxey. Laxey was significantly remodelled in 2014. The dual-gauge siding is no longer used and in the remodelling a token 3-raol length was included for effect.

References

  1. J.H. Price; The Secret of Laxey Siding; in the Modern Tramway and Light Railway Review, Volume 27, No. 313; Light Railway Transport League and Ian Allan, Hampton Court Surrey, January 1964, p19-23.
  2. https://manxelectricrailway.co.uk/snaefell/stocklist/motors/snaefell-no-4, accessed on 30th August 2023.
  3. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/31454, a ceased on 30th August 2023.

The Kingsway Tram Subway, London

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The Modern Tramway and Light Railway Review of November 1963 carried an article by C.S. Dunbar about the Kingsway Tram Subway. It seemed an opportune moment to focus on the Subway as the southernmost portion of the tunnel was about to open to motor traffic as the Strand Underpass.

An image in my blog in an article about the last few years of London’s tram network prompted some response. [2] So, having read his article, I thought that reproducing most of C.S. Dunbar’s article here might be of interest to others. …

Another fantastic hand-drawn map which shows the extent of services operated via the Subway from 1908 to 1948. The drawing incorporates a key to the years during which the various services were run. The final abandonment dates were 1950 for service 31 and 1952 for services 33 and 35. The Kingsway Tramway Subway sits approximately at the centre of the map the stops for Holborn and for Aldwych can be made out relatively easily. The Subway links the tramway network North of the River Thames with the network South of the River. Although the tunnel opened in 1906 It needed to rely on the approval of Parliament for the route along the Embankment which came in 1906 and eventually the link to the network South of the River was not used until 1908, © The Omnibus Society. [1:p323]

The former tramway subway ran beneath Aldwych and Kingsway.  “When the London County Council, as the tramway authority for the Metropolis, decided that it would itself operate the services as the various leases fell in, the question of joining up the separate company systems became very important, particularly with a view to giving communication between the north and south sides of the river. The decision to clear an insanitary area in Holborn, and to construct Aldwych and Kingsway, led to discussion in 1898 on the possibility of using the new streets for a tramway to connect the northern and southern systems. It was then suggested that instead of running the trams on the streets, a sub-surface line should be constructed as an integral part of the improvement. Something similar had already been done in New York and Boston, and a deputation … was, therefore sent to those places.” [1: p385]

On the strength of their report, an application was made in the 1902 session of parliament for powers “to construct a subway for single-deck tramcars at an estimated cost of £282,000 from Theobalds Road to the Embankment at Waterloo Bridge, from which point a surface line would continue to and over Westminster Bridge. By the LC.C (Subway and Tramways) Act, 1902, the subway itself was approved for the whole proposed length, but the tramway was not authorised beyond the north side of the Strand. The proposed Embankment line was rejected and in fact it took the Council four years to secure powers. Many ridiculous arguments were advanced against the line, the most absurd, probably, being that the trams would interfere with members crossing the road to reach St. Stephen’s Club. Six Bills introduced by the Council between 1892 and 1905 to enable it to carry the tramways across Westminster and other bridges and along the Victoria Embankment were thrown out by one or other House of Parliament, and not until 1906 was the battle resolved in the Council’s favour.” [1: p385-386]

As events were to prove, “a great mistake was made in deciding that the subway should only provide for the passage of single-deck cars, but this decision was reached for three main reasons:

(1) to avoid a large sewer under Holborn would, it was thought, necessitate too steep a descent to be safe for double-deck cars – as it was there was a gradient of 1 in 10 from Theobalds Road;

(2) the position of the District Railway in relation to Waterloo Bridge and the gradient from the Strand presented difficulties in the way of making a satisfactory southern exit;

(3) there was a feeling that it might be found that London traffic could be handled more expeditiously with coupled single-deck cars than with double-deckers.” [1: p386]

The Tramway Subway under construction in 1904, together with the pipe subways © L.C.C. [1: p385]

Dunbar continues:

“Construction was undertaken at the same time as the new streets were laid out and as well as making provision for the trams, a pipe subway for gas and water mains 10 ft. high and 74 ft. wide was built on each side. The approach from Theobalds Road was by an open cutting 170 ft. long in the middle of the road. The tracks then passed into two cast-iron tubes, 14 ft. 5 in. in diameter and 255 ft. long, which took the tracks under the Holborn branch of the Fleet sewer. The rails were 31 ft. below the road surface when passing under Holborn, rising again at 1 in 10 to Holborn Station. Raised side-walks were provided in the single tunnels. From here to Aldwych the tunnel was 20 ft. wide with a roof of steel troughing just below the street. The running rails were laid on longitudinal wooden sleepers embedded in concrete, and since the conduit would not have to bear the weight of road traffic a special lighter design was used in which the normal slot rails were replaced by plates which could be lifted for maintenance. As usual with L.C.C. tramway figures it is difficult to ascertain the actual cost of the work, but it seems likely that the construction of the subway itself accounted for £133.500 for the 2,920 ft. from Theobalds Road to Aldwych, with a further £112.500 for permanent way and electrical equipment.

At the time the subway was opened it was not connected with any other electrified route, so it was decided to terminate the public service at Aldwych Station (situated at the junction of Aldwych and Kingsway) and to use the tracks which extended southwards from there towards the Strand as a depôt. Inspection pits were therefore constructed under this length and some repair equipment installed. An intermediate station was built at Great Queen Street (subsequently renamed Holborn). Pending the opening of Greenwich power station, current was obtained from the County of London Electric Supply Company at a cost of 1d per unit.

Single Deck Cars

Sixteen Class F tramcars (numbered 552 to 567) were ordered from the United Electric Car Company, Limited, Preston at £750 each. The Board of Trade, then the Government Department concerned with tramways, was very focussed on the risk of fire in the tunnels and the new cars had to be as non-flammable as possible. “The underframes were therefore made of steel angle and channel sections, and the body panels were of sheet steel. The slatted longitudinal seats were of non-flammable Pantasote on angle steel supports; the seating capacity of the cars was 36. Even the adjustable spring roller-blinds, with which the windows were fitted, were supposed to be non-flammable. The inside finish was entirely in aluminium. The cars were 33 ft. 6 in. long over the fenders and 24 ft. 10 in. over the body pillars. The trucks were centre bearing maximum traction bogies by Mountain and Gibson with a 4 ft. 6 in. wheelbase and 311 in diameter driving wheels. The distance between the centre of the driving axles was 14 ft. 6 in. The controllers were by Dick Kerr and included provision for using the electro-magnetic brake for service stops.” [1: p387]

Elevation and plan of the steel single-deck cars built for the London County Council by the United Electric Car Company. Dimensions were: length over fenders 33ft 6in; width at roof level 6ft 10in; height to trolley plate 11ft; wheelbase 14ft 6in. [1: p386]
Class F tramcar No. 559 poses for photographs on the subway entrance ramp at Southampton Row in 1906, before the opening of the Subway, © T.M.S. Photographic Service. [1: p389]

Dunbar continues:

Service 31 had more vicissitudes than the other two. Consequent upon the conversion of part of the Wandsworth service to trolleybuses on 12th September, 1937, it was cut back to Prince’s Head, Battersea. The conversion of the Shoreditch area caused its diversion on 10th December, 1939, to terminate at the lay-by at Islington Green (outside the Agricultural Hall) which had been put in in 1906 but never used for regular services, except possibly for a few weeks in 1909. Destination indicators, however, showed ‘Angel, Islington.’ There was a further curtailment on 6th February, 1943, when the service began working between Bloomsbury and Prince’s Head in peak hours and between Westminster Station and Prince’s Head at other times. This arrangement was unsatisfactory owing to the turning points being on through routes and the cars and crews being based at Holloway, and it was hoped as from January, 1947, to run between Islington Green and Wandsworth High Street. It was not, however, possible to introduce this improvement until 12th November, 1947.

In addition to the 100 E/3 type cars previously mentioned, 160 other cars were built to the fireproof specifications laid down for the Subway (HR/2 class 1854- 1903 and 101-159, E/3 class 160 to 210), and in later years some of these worked regularly on the subway services, particularly after war losses. After Hackney depôt closed, the cars for the subway were provided by Holloway depôt for all three services and also by Wandsworth (for 31), Norwood (33) and Camberwell (35). At one time in 1941, Holloway depôt was cut off for several days by an unexploded bomb and could only operate a shuttle service of two cars between Holloway and Highgate, during which period wooden E/1 cars from South London depôts were perforce used on the subway routes, turning back at Highbury Station. The famous L.C.C. car No. 1 of 1932 was intended for the subway services, with air-operated doors and folding steps for use at the subway stations, and worked from Holloway depôt on these services from 1932 to 1937. This car was sold in 1951 to Leeds and is now preserved at Clapham.

In 1937, the rebuilding of Waterloo Bridge necessitated the diversion of the subway exit to a position centrally beneath the new bridge, at a cost of £70,000 including a new crossing of the District Railway; after the changeover took place, on 21st November, 1937, the curved section of tunnel leading to the former exit in the bridge abutment was walled off and still exists. For the next three years, the trams entered the subway through the bare steelwork, as the new bridge took shape above their heads. In anticipation of a general conversion of the London tramways to trolleybus working, an experimental trolleybus (No. 1379) placed in service on 12th June, 1939, was so designed as to permit passengers to board and alight from the offside at Aldwych and Holborn Stations. Not until some years later did London Transport admit officially that this experiment had been a failure. The war brought a reprieve to the remaining London tramways, and was followed by a decision that the routes still working would be replaced by motor buses and the subway closed.

Owing to a need to replace worn-out buses, tramway replacement did not commence until 1950, when on 1st October, tram service No. 31 (Wandsworth High Street- Islington Green) was replaced by bus service 170 (Wandsworth High Street – Hackney L.T. Garage), running via Norfolk Street northbound and Arundel Street southbound, and taking about eight minutes from Savoy Street to Bloomsbury as against four minutes by tram. From 7th October, 1951, Camberwell depôt was closed for reconstruction and its share of service 35 taken over by New Cross. Finally, on Saturday, 5th April, 1952, trams ran through the Subway for the last time; tram service 35 (Forest Hill – Highgate) was replaced next day by bus service 172, and tram service 33 (West Norwood – Manor House) was replaced by bus service 171, West Norwood – Tottenham (Bruce Grove). The last car to carry passengers through the subway in service was E/3 No. 185, some time after midnight, and in the early hours of the following morning the remaining cars from Holloway depôt were driven south through the Subway to new homes or the scrapyard.

“A clerestory roof was fitted with a trolley plate on top, although the cars never actually carried a trolley-pole but were built solely for conduit operation. The height from the ground to the trolley plate was 11 ft. The internal height to the top of the clerestory was 7 ft. 94 in. and the width was 6 ft. 6 in. over the solebars, 6 ft. 8 in. over the pillars and 6 ft. 10 in. over the roof. There were five windows on each side. The first of the class, No. 552, was built with bulkhead doors of the twin sliding type and had side doors to the unvestibuled platforms, which interworked with the folding steps. These doors were removed before the car entered service, and the remainder of the class had the normal single door in each bulkhead and a simple sheathed chain across the platform sides.

Each bulkhead was fitted with an oil lamp above the nearside bulkhead panel, which showed either a white or red aspect externally and also threw a light into the interior of the car. These were replaced by electric lamps at an early date. Hanging from each canopy was a box for the colour- light headcode, and above the canopy was a destination indicator. Projecting from the roof at both ends was an iron bar; this struck against other bars hanging from signal lamps at the beginning of the descent from Theobalds Road travelling south and that from Holborn Station travelling north, so putting the aspect to red. Corresponding contacts were made on leaving the section in both directions to put the signals back to green, the object, of course, being to prevent more than one car in each direction being on the 1 in 10 gradient at one time.

To provide a northern connection with the subway, it was decided to electrify the line in Theobalds Road (by arrangement with the North Metropolitan Tramways Company, which then held the lease) and to construct a new line in Rosebery Avenue and St. John’s Street to the Angel, Islington. The estimate for this was £40,500, but owing to great difficulties with sub-surface mains and other obstructions the cost eventually reached £47,000. Part of the reconstructed roadway was carried on a concealed iron viaduct. Work was started on the reconstruction on 17th September, 1905. The Board of Trade inspected the Subway and the new line to the Angel on 29th December, 1905, and motormen then, began to be trained.” [1: p387]

A public service from Angel to Aldwych began on 24th February 1906, the delay was down to the Board of Trade’s worries over the non-flammable character of the tramcars. The ceremonial opening included “the first car, painted blue and gold, taking 12 minutes northbound and 10 south. This was good running, remembering that horse cars were working in Theobalds Road. Smoking was not permitted in the cars and this led one councillor to suggest the provision of open cars especially for smokers. Fares were fixed at 1d. from the Angel to Holborn Hall and from Holborn Hall to Aldwych and d. for the full journey. The novelty attracted a considerable number of passen- gers from the start and the takings for the first three days with a two-minute service averaged [just over 2s. 2d.] per mile as against 1s. per mile for the double-deckers in South London.” [1: p387]

Class G Tramcar No. 584 leaving the Subway for Westminster in 1923. The L.C.C. flaman can be seen to the right of the photograph. [1: p389]

“Meanwhile in July, 1905, the Council’s attention had been drawn to the fact that its compulsory powers for the acquisition of land and easements for the construction of the subway from Aldwych to the Embankment would expire in August. It therefore voted £50,000 for the necessary acquisition in the hope that powers for the Embankment tramway would eventually be secured. Actually £9,400 was paid to the Duchy of Lancaster and £15,250 to C. Richards and Company for the extinction of their interests in the arches under Wellington Street. In the Parliamentary session of 1905 powers were secured for an additional station south of the Strand under Wellington Street.

In November, 1905, the Council ordered a further 34 cars of a similar type to the first batch, but this time with Brush bodies, glazed bulkheads and Westinghouse equipment (Nos. 568-601, class G). It had not been possible to build steel bodies as cheaply as timber ones and the cost of these cars came out at £27,761, or nearly £817 each. On the delivery of these cars, there were sufficient to extend the route to Highbury Station on 16th November 1906, after High Street and Upper Street, Islington, had been reconstructed in the short time of 12 weeks. In fact the cars started running before the borough council had completed the wood paving at the sides of the carriageway.

When the Embankment tramway was eventually opened and powers had been obtained for the subway link, work was pushed ahead on the remaining section. This fell on a gradient of 1 in 20 from Kingsway to the Strand, 1 in 108.3 under the Strand, and was then level; it was far more costly to construct than the original length, mainly owing to difficulties in crossing the District Railway. The final 620 ft, in fact, cost £96,000 exclusive of permanent way and equipment. The cost would have been £20,000 more had the proposed station at Wellington Street been built, but in March, 1907, the Council decided that the proposal should be aban- doned, as the site was only 200 yards from the Embankment and the platform would be 32 ft. below ground. This decision enabled the extension to be opened nine months earlier than would have been the case otherwise. The Council undertook the whole of the work by direct labour and completed it in about twelve months. South of Aldwych Station, the tracks curved sharply to the south-west in twin tunnels and continued beneath Aldwych as a single tunnel with brick-arch roof, separating again at the Strand into twin cast-iron tubes which continued to about a third of the way under Lancaster Place. The exit on to the Embankment was through the western wing wall of Waterloo Bridge and here a triangular junction was constructed. The eastern side of the junction, leading towards Blackfriars, was never used and was removed during the 1930 re-construction referred to later.

Through services were inaugurated on 10th April, 1908, from Highbury Station to Tower Bridge and from Highbury Station to Kennington Gate. Fares ranged from 0.5d. to 3d, (the maximum on both routes). Special workmen’s fares of 1d. single and 2d, return were given from any terminus to Waterloo Bridge. The journey times varied from 47 to 50 minutes on the Tower Bridge route and 41 to 44 on the other. A six minute service was given on each route with early morning extras between Highbury and Aldwych. The cars were stabled at Holloway and New Cross depôts.

The Kennington service did not pay and in looking for another route on which to use the single-deck cars, the management thought of Queen’s Road, Battersea, on which it was impossible to run double- deckers owing to a low railway bridge. The Kennington service was therefore diverted on 25th January, 1909, to work between St. Paul’s Road and Lavender Hill via Battersea Park Road, giving a service to the Lavender Hill area while the Wandsworth Road line was being electrified. As Essex Road was being reconstructed at this time, it is possible that cars actually turned at the Angel or at Agricultural Hall for some weeks. The through fare was 4d. and the journey time 52 minutes. Transfer fares to Kennington were given. In May, 1910, the Angel definitely became the northern terminus, with a short service working between St. Paul’s Road and Southampton Row. In the following year, the southern portion was cut back to Vauxhall, the crossover in Wandsworth Road by the gas works being used. Transfers were issued to Battersea On 17th June, 1912, the service was again extended but this time to Clapham Junction via Battersea Park Road and the Sunday afternoon service began to work from Southgate Road. In the summer of 1911 (probably on 22nd June) the Tower Bridge service was extended to Tooley Street (Bermondsey Street), the through fare remaining at 3d. and the journey time being 52 minutes, but a year or so later Tower Bridge again became the terminus. The junction westward into Tooley Street was replaced in 1923 by one in the opposite direction.

Until 1912, the cars carried colour-light headcodes, the original through services displaying red-green-red for Highbury Station – Tower Bridge and blank-green-blank for Highbury Station – Kennington Gate. When L.C.C. routes began to be numbered in September, 1912, the Tower Bridge service became 33 and that to Clapham Junction 35, the number being hung from the canopy. This arrangement, used on double-deck cars only until upper deck stencils were fitted, was retained on the subway cars until 1930. On 28th October, 1913, 35 was altered to run between Highbury and Belvedere Road only, the southern part of the service being taken over by 86 from Embankment to Clapham Junction. At this time cars on 35 turned at a lay-by in St. Paul’s Road at one end of the route and in Lambeth Palace Road at the other. A year or so later, Westminster Station became the southern terminus. Service 33 was withdrawn altogether, but reappeared after the 1914-18 war as a weekday service between Highbury and County Hall, while 35 then became Highgate – County Hall. After the withdrawal of 33, Tower Bridge Road was covered by 68 from Waterloo Station. In July, 1924, both 33 and 35 were extended to the Elephant and Castle via St. Georges Road, obtaining at last a terminus at which the cars could stand without obstructing other through services. The author believes that the subway services were the only ones which ever regularly used the southbound track in St. Georges Road. When cheap mid-day tickets were instituted, Savoy Street was taken as the ‘City terminus’ on southbound cars and Bloomsbury on northbound. [1: p387-389]


Decision to Enlarge

As years went by, the L.C.C. increasingly became aware that single-deck cars could not be made profitable. The use of double-deck rolling stock would allow many useful connections and the movement of rolling-stock across the Thames would be facilitated. The, then current, route for double-deck trams to cross the Thames was via North Finchley, Putney and Wandsworth.

In 1929, the L.C.C. decided to increase the headroom to 16 ft. 6 in. They sought to raise the roof at the northern end and deepen the tunnel at other places. The decision resulted in observations that the subway might well be “enlarged to take motor traffic as well as trams, but the Metropolitan Police Commissioner pointed out that congestion would arise at each end of the tunnel, that a serious traffic block would quickly develop if a vehicle broke down inside, and that there was a danger of exhaust fumes and even fire. The London Traffic Advisory Committee recommended that the tunnel could serve no useful purpose as a motor-way, and the L.C.C. would have nothing to do with the idea. Nevertheless, on the day the subway was reopened, The Times returned to the theme and hoped that the tunnel would be available for omnibuses and other vehicles ‘when tramways have had their day.'” [1: p390]

Dunbar continues:

“The contract was awarded to John Cochrane and Sons, Limited, who started work on the street level on 11th September, 1929, this necessitating the temporary diversion via Hart Street and Theobalds Road of bus services 7 and 184. North of Holborn the roadway was opened up and the twin tunnels replaced (after sewer diversions) by one wide passage with a steel girder roof, while elsewhere the additional headroom was obtained by under-pinning the side walls with concrete and lowering the track by approximately 5 ft. The estimated cost was £326,000 including £76,000 for the reconstruction of the 50 single-deck cars. On and from 16th January, 1930, only one tram service (numbered 33) ran through the subway from Highgate to the Elephant, while 35 worked Highgate – Bloomsbury. The single-deck cars carried passengers through the subway for the last time on Monday morning, 3rd February, 1930, after which the subway was closed altogether, a connection being maintained by temporary L.G.O.C. bus service 175 (Islington – Charing Cross Embankment via Kingsway and Northumberland Avenue, returning via Norfolk Street, Strand and Aldwych). On 14th May another bus service – 161 – was put on between Islington and Waterloo on weekdays only. The two tramway stations were rebuilt and modernised, that at Holborn being finished in travertine, a cream marble used in ancient Rome. Standard trackwork with yokes and slot-rails set in concrete was used in place of the special type evolved for the original construction.

It had been hoped that the subway would be reopened by the Prince of Wales on 17th December, 1930, and in anticipation of this car No. 1930 was painted blue and gold. Actually, however, it was not possible to start experimental runs before 5th January 1931. The formal reopening was performed on Wednesday, 14th January, 1931, by the Chairman of the Council, Major Tasker, car No. 1931 painted white with blue lining being employed, followed by two other cars. These ran from the Embankment to Theobalds Road and back to Holborn Station, where one of the platform seats served as a rostrum for the speeches. Public service commenced at 5 o’clock next morning, with a one-minute headway and a total of 5,000 cars per week. The L.C.C. issued a special booklet describing the subway’s history and reconstruction and listing the new services and transfer facilities, together with the running times. [1: p390]

A white E/3 tramcar. This is car No. 1931, about to leave Camberwell Depot to perform the Kingsway Subway re-opening ceremony on 14th January 1931, © London Transport Museum. [1: p391]

New Cars

“The subway service was worked by the new E/3 class cars (Nos. 1904-2003) which had been ordered in June, 1929, from Hurst, Nelson & Co., of Motherwell, and had been working on various South London services until the subway was ready. In the subway, it became necessary to use the drivers’ platforms and the front stairways for boarding and alighting at the island platforms of Holborn and Aldwych stations. The former bar-operated signals at Holborn and Bloomsbury were replaced by others worked by the passage of the plough in the conduit slot. The single-deck cars were withdrawn and the trucks and Westinghouse equipments used under new English Electric composite bodies, but still bearing the original numbers (552-601). The single- deck car bodies were offered for sale in 1930, to be collected at Holloway or Charlton. In earlier years, some of these cars were stabled, first at Jew’s Row and later at Clapham for the Queens Road service, while in 1911 some were sent to Hampstead for the experiment with coupled cars which took place between January and August of that year on the Hampstead – Euston route.

Public service through the subway began again on 15th January, 1931, with three services: 31, Hackney Station – Wandsworth High Street via Shoreditch and Battersea Park Road (73 minutes, weekdays), Hackney – Tooting Junction (Saturday evenings) and Leyton Station L.M.S. – Westminster Station (54 minutes, Sundays); 33, Highbury Station – Water Lane, Brixton (42 minutes, weekday peak hours), with occasional workings to Norbury; 35, Highgate, Archway Tavern-New Cross Gate via Kennington (59 minutes, daily). It was originally intended to work 31 through to Wimbledon via Haydon’s Road, but this was never done. From 19th April to 4th October, 1931, the Sunday working of this service was from Leyton, Baker’s Arms, to Tooting Junction (17 miles). A similar arrangement prevailed in subsequent summers, but for the rest of the year the Sunday workings were between Baker’s Arms and Wandsworth.

Service 33 was altered twice during 1931 and began operating in off-peak hours, being diverted first to Norwood on 14th May, and then at the other end to Manor House on 8th October, after which it remained unchanged. Also on 14th May, 1931, 35 was extended to Forest Hill (Cranston Road) via Brockley, the indicators actually showing Brockley Rise. A Saturday evening and Sunday working was instituted between Highgate and Downham via Brockley – 16 miles the longest tram service ever operated entirely inside the County of London. The dates of this service are uncertain, but it was definitely working on 8th October, 1931. It possibly ceased after 5th March, 1932, on which date the southern terminus of 35 became the lay-by at Forest Hill Station. On 30th June, 1932, the route was diverted via Walworth Road instead of via Kennington and thereafter remained unchanged. On 1st June, 1933, short workings were introduced between Highbury and Elephant and Castle via St. Georges Road. These were numbered 35A.” [1: p390-392]

The view South through the Holborn Street Halt/Station, © London Transport Museum. [3]

Route 31 saw a series of different changes over its life. Dunbar tells us that “consequent upon the conversion of part of the Wandsworth service to Trolleybuses on 12th September 1937, it was cut back to Prince’s Head, Battersea. The conversion of the Shoreditch area caused its diversion on 10th December 1939, to terminate at the lay-by at Islington Green (outside the Agricultural Hall) which had been put in in 1906 but never used for regular services, except possibly for a few weeks in 1909. Destination indicators, however, showed ‘Angel, Islington’. There was a further curtailment on 6th February 1943, when the service began working between Bloomsbury and Prince’s Head in peak hours and between Westminster Station and Prince’s Head at other times. This arrangement was unsatisfactory owing to the turning points being on through routes and the cars and crews being based at Holloway, and it was hoped as from January 1947, to run between Islington Green and Wandsworth High Street. It was not, however possible to introduce this improvement until 12th November 1947.”[1: p392-394]

“In addition to the 100 E/3 type cars previously mentioned, 160 other cars were built to the fireproof specifications laid down for the Subway (HR/2 class 1854 to 1903 and 101-159, E/3 class 160 to 210). and in later years some of these worked regularly on the subway services, particularly after war losses. After Hackney depôt closed, the cars for the subway were provided by Holloway depôt for all three services and also by Wandsworth (for 31), Norwood (33) and Camberwell (35). At one time in 1941, Holloway depôt was cut off for several days by an unexploded bomb and could only operate a shuttle service of two cars between Holloway and Highgate, during which period wooden E/ cars from South London depôts were per- force used on the subway routes, turning back at Highbury Station. The famous L.C.C. car No. 1 of 1932 was intended for the subway services, with air-operated doors and folding steps for use at the subway stations, and worked from Holloway depôt on these services from 1932 to 1937. The car was sold in 1951 to Leeds and is preserved at Clapham. [1963]

In 1937, the rebuilding of Waterloo Bridge necessitated the diversion of subway exit to a position centrally beneath the new bridge, at a cost of £70,000 including a new crossing of the District Railway; after the changeover took place, on 21st November, 1937, the curved section of tunnel leading to the former exit in the bridge abutment was walled off and still exists. For the next three years, the trams entered the subway through the bare steelwork, as the new bridge took shape above their heads. In anticipation of a general con- version of the London tramways to trolley- bus working, an experimental trolleybus (No. 1379) placed in service on 12th June 1939, was so designed as to permit passengers to board and alight from the offside at Aldwych and Holborn Stations. Not until some years later did London Transport admit officially that this experiment had been a failure.” [1: p394]

The subway entrances, old and new, at the Victoria Embankment in 1937. As mentioned in the text, the rebuilding of Waterloo Bridge required a diversion of the Subway exit after November 1937. For some time (3 years) trams ran under exposed steelwork, © London Transport Museum. [1: p392]

The Second World War meant a reprieve for the remaining tramways in London. Trolleybuses were no longer seen as the future, the decision was taken to replace the trams with motor buses. The decision was taken to close the Subway. In practice tramway closures did not happen quickly. Already worn out buses were replaced first, so tramway replacement did not start until 1950. We have looked at the twilight years of London’s tramways in an earlier post in this series. [4]

On Saturday 5th April 1952, “trams ran through the Subway for the last time. … The last car to carry passengers through the Subway in service was E/3 No. 185, some time after midnight, and in the early hours of the following morning the remaining cars from Holloway depôt were driven South through the Subway to new homes or the scrapyard.” [1: p394]

“The tracks remained unaltered, though disused, until the final abandonment of London’s tramways on 5th July, 1952, after which the street tracks were lifted in stages and those in the subway, cut at the approaches, were left as the longest section remaining in London. A technical committee was set up by the Minister of Transport to report on the possible use of the subway for motor vehicles, and tests with road vehicles were carried out both before and after closure, but the committee concluded that a satisfactory scheme would cost £1,200,000 and the Minister decided that the money could be better used in other ways. An alternative scheme to convert the subway to a car park was rejected because the cost (£175,000) was out of proportion to the benefit. In 1953, London Transport used the subway to store 120 retired buses and coaches in case they were needed for the Coronation, and in 1955 it was used to represent a railway tunnel in the film Bhowani Junction. A film company offered to take over the whole subway as a film studio, but this was rejected on account of the fire risk. Repeated questions in Parliament kept the issue alive, but in 1955 London Transport invited applications for the use of the tunnel as a store for non-flammable goods, and finally leased it in October, 1957, to S. G. Young & Co. of Blackfriars as a store for machine parts. The new tenants introduced fluorescent lighting colour-washed walls, and filled in part of the floor so as to use fork-lift trucks and pallets. After the trolleybus power supply ceased in 1959, the DC automatic pumps beneath the Strand at the lowest point of the subway were re-motored to work from the public supply.

Meanwhile, in June, 1958, the London County Council expressed interest in taking over the subway and creating an underpass for light traffic beneath the Strand and Aldwych to deal with the traffic jams which often extend right across Waterloo Bridge. This plan involved about half the subway, from Lancaster Place to Kemble Street, and received official backing, though not until April 1962, did the Minister of Transport decide to make a grant of 75 per cent towards the estimated total cost of £1,306,512. The consulting engineers were Frederick Snow & Partners, and the contract for the reconstruction, totalling £1,025,233, was awarded in July, 1962, to John Mowlem & Co, who moved in on 1st September, 1962, and promptly began their 15-month task.” [1: p395]

The new underpass opened on 21 January 1964. “It is only 17 feet (5.2 m) wide and, as a result, it is normally one-way northbound because of the side clearances required. The headroom is only 12.5 feet (3.8 m) due to the tunnel having to pass beneath [a] bridge abutment by a 1:12 gradient. An electronic ‘eye’ alerts drivers of tall vehicles and diverts them to an ‘escape route’ to the left of the entrance. However, high vehicles do still try to pass through and so get stuck occasionally.” [5]

Inside the Strand Underpass in 2007, © sixthland and used here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY 2.0). [6]

“The underpass is a concrete box within the former tram subway, with the road surface at the original track level. At the northern end of the underpass the road rises to the surface on a new carriageway supported by metal pillars. This passes through the site of the former Aldwych tramway station; because of the greater width requirement, 27 trees and some pavement sections were removed for it to be constructed.” [5]

“The tunnel was used by the 521 bus route northbound until it was withdrawn in April 2023. In 2012, the direction of traffic in the tunnel was temporarily reversed, so that it was in use by southbound traffic. This was to facilitate easier traffic flow during the 2012 Summer Olympics.” [5]

References

  1. C.S. Dunbar; London’s Tramway Subway; in Modern Tramway and Light Railway Review, Volume 26 No. 311, November 1963, p385-395.
  2. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/07/17/london-tramways-1950-1951-and-1952.
  3. https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/04/hidden-london-tram-station-opens-to-public-for-first-time-in-70-years-kingsway, accessed on 27th August 2023.
  4. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/07/17/london-tramways-1950-1951-and-1952.
  5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand_underpass, accessed on 28th August 2023.
  6. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strand_underpass_in_2007.jpg, accessed on 28th August 2023.

Going “Piggy-Back” in 1899!

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Modern Tramway Journal included a short article in October 1963 about developments in 1899 on the Isle of Man, and particularly about the use of ‘Bonner Wagons’ by the Isle of Man Tramways and Electric Power Company Limited. [1]

An item about ‘Bonner Wagons’ in the “American technical Press attracted the attention of Mr. Alexander Bruce, Chairman of the Isle of Man Tramways and Electric Power Company Limited, the predecessors of the Manx Electric Railway. Mr. Bruce was engaged in promoting and constructing a 10-mile extension of the coastal tramway from Laxey to Ramsey, and this line was intended to enter Ramsey along the seafront and possibly terminate at the pier, where freight could have been transhipped direct to and from cargo steamers without the expensive carriage necessary at Douglas. The new line also involved a rail-side steam power station at Ballaglass remote from road access. But the Ramsey Town Commissioners would not allow the sea-front route, and Mr. Bruce was forced to adopt instead the inland route and terminus which we know today. This line was opened to Ballure on 5th August, 1898, and into Ramsey on 24th July, 1899.” [1: p350-351]

Included in the tramway promotion was a granite quarry at the Dhoon, “purchased in 1895 and staffed partly by skilled Scottish sett-makers brought over from Dalbeattie, the centre of the Scottish granite industry. Setts from Dhoon Quarry were used for paving the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, and setts and roadstone were produced both for the island’s roads and for export to the mainland. The export trade would provide an excellently balanced freight traffic on the electric line, the rail wagons taking the setts to Ramsey harbour and returning laden with coal for the power station at Ballaglass.” [1: p351]

After the Town Commissioners had prevented the extension of the tramway to Ramsey harbour, Mr. Bruce ordered several 3 ft. gauge ‘Bonner Wagons’ from the USA, which would “travel over the tramway to the outskirts of Ramsey, and could then be transferred to road by a removable ramp at one of the several level crossings. These wagons also came in very handy to counter a demand from the Ramsey Commissioners early in 1899 for 5 per cent of the gross receipts earned on the portion of the line in their area; Mr. Bruce threatened to turn the cars back at the town limits, and pointed out that by using the Bonner Wagons in the town the Company could carry on their freight traffic as they pleased. The Ramsey Commissioners soon gave way, and in return were treated on 9th June, 1899, to a special trip from Ballure to Snaefell Summit and back.” [1: p351-352]

Increasingly after the Second World War, the practice of hauling laden road trailers and semi-trailers on flat rail carsdeveloped in North America. “In this way, the railways of North America are attracting to that share of the long-distance freight that would normally move by road, quoting long-haul charges sufficiently low to represent to the haulier a clear saving over sending the load by road throughout, with its own tractive unit and crew.” [1: p350]

In the early years of railway travel “private carriages (with or without their occupants) were often conveyed on railway-wagons in the early years of railways, and in the days when motor-cars were less reliable than they are now they would quite often cover long distances in motor car vans attached to the train in which their owner travelled a forecast of today’s car-carrier trains. This method was also used for freight vehicles such as the pantechnicons of furniture-removal firms and (of course) by the circus, but the more usual method was for freight consignment to be bulked in railway wagons or vans, the railway company providing carriage services in the towns served, with transhipment in its own terminal warehouses.” [1: p350]

In competition with the mainline railways there were interurban services which predominantly carried passenger traffic but additionally sought freight traffic if it could be handled efficiently. Often such movement attracted significant transshipment costs. “In an effort to reduce these handling costs and quote competitive rates for collection-and-delivery traffic, a few American interurbans adopted a device known (after its inventor) as the Bonner Railwagon. The Bonner Wagon was in fact two separate vehicles which could be combined in one for the rail journey. The main portion was a substantial spring-axle high-sided cart of about four tons capacity, mounted on four spoked road wheels and designed to be drawn by horses when running on the streets; the second, smaller portion was a small axle-carrying truck on four flanged solid disc type wheels, on which the cart would ride for the rail journey, and which supported the cart’s axles at a height sufficient to bring the road wheels well clear of the tracks and pointwork.” [1: p350]

The first demonstration of the Bonner Railwagon system using horse-drawn wagons in Toledo in 1898. [4]

The mechanism was similar to the practice espoused by some European narrow-gauge railways where standard-gauge wagons could be carried over narrow-gauge lines. A typical example would be the practice as used on the Brünig Railway in Switzerland or on the Hartsfeldbahn in Bavaria which made use of Rollbocken in the mid-20th century.

The Rollbocke was an invention by Director Langbein of the Saronno branch of Maschinenfabrik Esslingen, which supplied many European narrow-gauge railways with it. The Härtsfeldbahn had up to 28 units, but then in connection with the expansion of the Rollbocke traffic to the Aalen-Ebnat section in 1950, 16 rental vehicles from the WEG-Bahn Amstetten-Laichingen were added. In 1960 another 16 units followed from the DB route Nagold-Altensteig. [2]

A typical Rollbocke (or dollie). [2]
A standard-gauge freight wagon on ‘dollies’ (rollbocken) at the ramp in Neresheim, around 1970. (Photo: Kurt Seidel Collection)[2]

The use of these Rollbocken was somewhat different in nature to the use of Bonner wagons as separate units were used for each axle of a larger-gauge wagon. Pits were provided to allow the Rollbocken to pass under the larger-gauge wagons.

Rollbock pit in Gbf Aalen in 1967. (Photo: Winkler / Härtsfeld Museumsbahn archive). [2]

The transfer of a Bonner Wagon between road and rail was done by means of a ramp at each side of the rails. In the USA, “the interurban car would shunt the wagon towards this ramp, the sides of which would offer support to the road wheels and as the move proceeded would cause the road wagon to rise clear of the rail vehicle; the latter would then be drawn out from underneath, after releasing appropriate locking devices, leaving the road wagon to be hauled by horses to its destination in the town.” [1: p350]

The transfer taking place in North America. Typically, Bonner wagons had wide-spaced wheels and no cross axles, and were parked astride the railway tracks on small ramps. A specially designed rail car was then run underneath them. Pneumatic jacks lifted the trailer wheels off the ramps slightly and clamped them securely in place. The transfer from road to rail could be accomplished in as little as four minutes. The system promised great efficiency and cost savings as high as 50% by eliminating the re-handling of freight between trucks and rail cars. Nor would cars have to sit idle waiting to be loaded or unloaded. [3]

Although the use of Bonner Wagons “was not widespread, even in America, the method sur- vived long enough to be used in the late 1920s in conjunction with motor tractors by the Lake Shore Electric Railway, with transfer ramps in the outskirts of Cleveland and Toledo at either end of an 85-mile main-line run. Bonner Wagons could be run in trains of any reasonable length, bar couplings being provided between the projecting ends of the rail units.” [1: p350]

An advert in North America from the Electric Railways Freight Company who were freight agents for the Lake Shore Electric Railway Company (1931). [3]

Returning to the Isle of Man, “when the line to Ramsey was fully operative, the Bonner Wagons settled down to a regular routine; granite setts from the Dhoon to Ramsey harbour, coal to Balla- glass power station, empty to Dhoon, and so on. The loading ramp was a removable installation, apparently used at Queens Drive crossing and not at the Ramsey Palace terminus, though even out at Queens Drive local residents often complained of the nocturnal noises caused by the shunting and transfers. It seems from this that the ramp could only be installed and used after the last passenger car had gone past at night, to be removed again before the first car in the morning. … Another ramp was installed at Derby Castle (Douglas) to perform the same rites as at Ramsey for journeys to and from Douglas harbour, and also for general freight traffic in the town.” [1: p352]

Transferring a Bonner Wagon from rail to road on the ‘Bonner siding’ at Derby Castle, Douglas, showing the ramps which supported the road wheels while the rail carrier was being moved. [1: p351]
A train of Bonner wagons hauled by a Manx Electric cross-bench car of the 14-18 series, at Laxey Station in 1899. The building on the right was later lost to fire. [1: p351]

So far as we know, the three Bonner Wagons on the Manx Electric Railway, survived for about 20 years. They were probably the only example of ‘Piggy-back’ vehicles on any British tramway or electric railway. Pearson & Price commented in 1963 that, at that time, the Bonner Wagon name “live[d] on … in an unexpected way, for the Derby Castle layout include[d] one siding that [ran] all alone behind the car shed nearest to the sea-front, and … that piece of track [was] known to the staff as the ‘Bonner siding’. The Dhoon granite quarry finally closed down in 1961, having belonged to the Highways Board for many years.” [1: p352]

References

  1. F.K. Pearson & J.H. Price; ‘Piggy-Back’ in 1899; in Modern Tramway and Light Railway Review, Volume 26 No. 2, Light Railway Transport League and Ian Allan, Hampton Court, Surrey, October 1963, p350-352.
  2. https://www.hmb-ev.de/fahrzeuge/rollbock-2, accessed on 24th August 2023.
  3. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/07/bonner-road-rail-wagons-something-ive.html?m=1, accessed on 24th August 2023.
  4. https://www.lakeshorerailmaps.com/clevelandfreight_3.html accessed on 24th August 2023.

The Canals, Tramways and Railways of East Shropshire – The Lilleshall Company – Old Lodge Furnaces and Granville Colliery

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In the previous article in this series, we looked at the Humber Arm, the tramway which ran from Lubstree Wharf on the Arm to Old Lodge Furnaces and the later mineral railway which operated from 1870 which ran from Lubstree Wharf via the Midland Ironworks (Walkers) to Muxton Bridge Colliery. That article can be found on this link:

The Humber Arm Canal, Tramway and Railway – East Shropshire.

Bob Yate has written an excellent book about the railways and locomotives of the Lilleshall Company. [2] In that book, he provides a sketch map of the Lilleshall Company’s private railways, an extract from that sketch map is shown below. We covered the most northerly elements of these railways in the article above.

This article focuses on the immediate area of Old Lodge Furnaces and the later Granville Colliery. It shows a length of the Donnington Wood Canal alongside the tramways and mineral railways in the area. Other articles will follow the Lilleshall Company’s railway network further to the South.

Bob Yate provides a sketch of the whole of the Lilleshall Company’s network of railways. This extract from the sketch map shows the length of their railways covered in this and the previous article. The locations shown are those from Yate’s sketch map and its key. Those on this extract are: 3. Old Lodge Furnaces; 8. The Humber Arm Railway; 9. Lubstree Wharf; 10. The Donnington (LNWR) exchange sidings and the Midland Ironworks; 13. Lodge Trip; 19. Granville Colliery; 20. Barn Pits Colliery; 21. Waxhill Barracks Colliery; 22. Muxton Bridge Colliery; 23. Freehold Colliery; and 24. Shepherd Slag Crushing Plant. Yaye does not record Meadow Colliery which was close to the Donnington Wood Canal to the Southwest of Muxton Bridge Colliery and apparently tramway served until its closure. [2: p38]

First a general history of the Lilleshall Company before we then look at the two main industrial sites:

The Lilleshall Company

The Levenson-Gower family made their fortune serving the wool trade in Wolverhampton in the 15th and 16th centuries and purchased the Lilleshall estates from Henry VIII in 1539. These estates were once owned by Lilleshall Abbey. Yate tells us that:

“The 1st Baron Gower (1675-1709) and his son, the 1st Earl Gower (1694-1754), enlarged their properties through acquisition and marriage. Granville Leveson-Gower, the 2nd Earl Gower (1721-1803), continued this tradition in 1748 by marrying Lady Louisa Egerton, the daughter of the Duke of Bridgwater.

The 2nd Earl Gower was an astute businessman, always looking to make the best use of his considerable properties. Looking at the various new industries prospering nearby, it was a logical step to join these and to similarly profit by them. However, lacking the necessary technical knowledge and industrial experience, he wisely formed a partnership on 8th September 1764 with two brothers, John Gilbert and Thomas Gilbert, to develop the minerals on the Earl’s estate. John Gilbert had initially been apprenticed to Matthew Boulton before joining his father’s metalworking firm in Birmingham. However, he moved on to become agent to the Duke of Bridgwater and thus gained valuable knowledge of canal construction and operation. His brother Thomas had been educated more formally and qualified as a barrister. This partnership, trading as Earl Gower and Company … [and later] as Marquis of Stafford and Company, until 1802. During this 38 year period, the coal, iron and limestone deposits were developed, and canals built. … One of the earliest examples was the Donnington Wood Canal. …” [2: p7]

Yate goes on to relate how the 2nd Earl Gower passed the mantle to his eldest son who, eventually, became the Duke of Sutherland by marriage. Although it was actually his second son who became active in the business. He dissolved the original partnership and on 24th June 1802 formed the Lilleshall Company. A series of new partners joined the Company bringing with them their capital in the form of existing local mines and ironworks at Snedshill, Wrokwardine Wood and Donnington Wood. A further expansion in 1807 brought further Snedshill businesses into the Company and it soon became necessary to broaden the Company’s land rights to permit further mining and manufacturing work.

Yate continues to relate how the chairmanship of the Company passed down from the second son, (incidentally called Granville Leveson-Gower after his father) who became the 1st Earl Granville in 1833, to his son of the same name who became the 2nd Earl Granville in 1846 and to the 3rd Earl Granville in 1891. Yate gives some details of the various establishments associated with the Lilleshall Company: [2: p11-18]

Wrokwardine Wood Brickworks and Donnington Wood Brickworks: two early brickworks which were probably both out of use by 1850s when a new Donnington Wood Brickworks was opened.

Snedshill Brickworks: it is not clear when this opened but it certainly was active by 1850. It was the last of the Lilleshall brickworks to continue in production, closing in 1977.

Donnington Wood Brickworks: the new works opened in 1850 and closed in 1971.

Wrokwardine Wood Furnaces: Active from 1801 to 1824.

Donnington Wood Furnaces: three blast furnaces, two dated from 1783 and one from 1802. Two were blown out in 1843 and one in 1859.

Lodge Bank Coke Ovens: were opened at the Lodge Furnaces site in 1842 with 42 beehive ovens. 10 ovens were added in 1901. Coal came from Freehold, Muxton Bridge, Meadow and Cockshutts mines. Screening and washing was undertaken at the coke ovens site. The Coke ovens survived the closure of the Old Lodge Furnaces, closing themselves in 1908, although screening and washing of coal continued until 1910.

Old Yard (Donnington Wood): a general engineering works that built boats for canals. It closed in 1861.

Sndeshill Furnaces, Priorslee Furnaces, Priorslee Steelworks, New Yard Engineering Work (Phoenix Foundry) Snedshill Concrete Works, Priorslee Distillation Plant, and Priorslee Asphalt Plant are covered later in this series of articles.

Yate also covers the collieries that we have already encountered in this and the previous article: [2: p15-18]

Waxhill Barracks Colliery: Sinking of the shaft was begun in 1818 and eventually exceeded a depth of 300 yards, but the pit did not open until 1828, and was named after the nearby company housing scheme. In 1896, there were 40 underground and 25 surface workers. The pit closed in 1900, although pumping continued until 1930. [2: p16]

Freehold Colliery: Opened around 1840, there were two 7.5ft diameter shafts initially of 147 yards depth, that eventually reached 245 yards. In 1896 there were 29 underground and 11 surface workers. However, by 1905 this had increased to a total of 205 men, which by 1927 had further increased to 314 at which it remained steady until closure in 1928. [2: p16]

Meadow Colliery: Opened prior to 1840, the horse tramway system connected this pit to the Lodge Furnaces and to the Donnington Wood Canal. It was closed in 1894. [2: p16]

Muxton Bridge Colliery: The exact date of opening is not known, but it was in operation by 1837 and closed in 1912. In 1896, there were 68 underground and 30 surface workers. The remains of the former engine house (built in 1844), which once contained a horizontal steam winding engine, are extant in the Granville Country Park which now covers this site. [2: p16]

Granville Colliery: see the notes later in this article.

Other collieries covered by Yate will be addressed when they are encountered as we continue to follow the Lilleshall Company’s tramways and railways in later articles in this series.

A comprehensive account of the rise and consolidation of the Lilleshall Company was written by W.K.V Gale & C.R. Nicholls in 1979. [7]

Old Lodge Furnaces and their vicinity

An artist’s impression of what the Old Lodge Furnaces site would have looked like in its heyday. The view is from the Northeast. The canal arm which served the furnaces can be seen entering the sketch from the bottom-right (the North). The image is a little misleading as it shows narrow-boats on the canal when in fact tub-boats would have been used. The tub-boats would have been drawn by horses. The rails shown as a schematic representation of the rails on the site throughout its history and show an engine shed on the North end of the fun of furnaces. [My photograph, 27th July 2023]
This map extract is taken from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1881/1882. The canal arm enters from the top of the extract and railways/tramways are shown in preponderance, with the furnaces themselves in a row running North-South just above the centre of the extract. The line leaving the extract on the left ran towards Lubstree Wharf. [1]
This extract from RailMapOnline.com’s satellite imagery shows the area of the furnaces in the 21st century, a little more of the area immediately to the North than appears on the OS map extract above and less on the East-West axis. The turquoise lines are symbolic representations of the tramway network which preceded the mineral railway which is represented by the purple lines. The two tramway routes leading North out of this and the map extract served, from the left: Meadow Colliery (which appears in the first map extract below); Barn Colliery; Waxhill Barracks and Barracks Colliery; and Muxton Bridge Colliery. (That line, from Muxton Bridge Colliery to the site of Old Lodge Furnaces is illustrated on the map extracts which follow the one covering Meadow Colliery). [3]
This extract from the 1881/1882 25″ Ordnance Survey shows Meadow Colliery on the North side of the Donnington Wood Arm of the Shropshire Canal. The tramway from Old Furnaces was still in use at the time of the survey and bridged the canal as shown. It appears that by the time of this Ordnance Survey the canal arm running South from the Donnington Wood Arm of the canal is separated off from the main canal and no longer in use. [4]
A similar area to that shown on the map extract above, the line of the Donnington Wood Canal and that of the tramway are still visible in the landscape. [10]
Muxton Bridge Colliery and sidings with the Donnington Wood Canal shown passing under Muxton Bridge. The colliery sidings functioned as a revering point for traffic to and from Lubstree Wharf and the exchange sidings near to the Midland Ironworks. [4]
Modern satellite imagery shows roughly the same area as in the OS map extract immediately above. The site of Muxtonbridge Colliery is now a reasonably dense deciduous woodland. The trees extend across the line of the old canal. The curve of the Southeastern edge of the woodland approximates to the Southeast side of the old canal. [11]
This extract covers the length of the two mineral railway lines to the Southwest of Muxton Bridge Colliery. The canal is seen running immediately adjacent to the East of the railways. [4]
A similar area, once agian, to the OS Map extract directly above, the routes of the Canal and railway lines are now covered by deciduous trees. [12]
Waxhill Barracks Colliery and Methodist Chapel with the Donnington Wood Canal Arm and the Mineral Railway running in between. The Mineral Railway from Lubstree Wharf curves in and out of the top of this extract. The Mineral Railway/tramway running North from Old Lodge Furnaces crossed the canal at the location shown at the top of this extract. [4]
In the 2st century, the area covered by the map extract above is, again, heavily wooded. The alignment of each of the two railway lines is relatively easy to place. Curving away at the top of this extract from the ESRI satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland the line heading for the exchange sidings at Donnington ran just inside the treeline adjacent to the modern housing estate. The line running South towards the location of the Old Lodge Furnaces is also under tree-cover but at the right side of this image. The line of the canal is much more difficult to envisage on the modern landscape. [13]
Waxhill Barracks with Donnington Wood Canal Arm immediately alongside and the Mineral Railway of 1870 running to its East. [4]
Again, a similar area to that covered by the map extract above. the line of the old canal runs between ‘A’ and ‘B’ along what appears to be a slight break in the tree cover. The Mineral Railway runs through the trees to the right of the satellite image between ‘C’ and ‘D’. [14]
Barn Colliery as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1881/1882. [4]
A similar area to that covered by the map extract above, extending a little further to the West so that the line of the old canal can be shown easily (between ‘B’ and ‘E’). The railway and the sidings associated with Barn Colliery were between ‘D’ and ‘F’. Interestingly, the incline up onto Barn Colliery spoil heap is still clearly identified to the East of the Mineral Railway line. [15]
These two extracts from the 1881/1882 25″ Ordnance Survey are, together, an enlargement of the plan of the Old Lodge Furnaces towards the top of this article. Together, they give an enhanced view of the mapping of the area around the furnaces. In the lower of the two extracts the line running off the extract to the East heads towards Granville Colliery. The line running off the extract to the South runs to Dawes Bower and Grange Colliery. Of the lines exiting the extract to the West, one, running Northwest (at the top corner of the lower image) is the old tramway link to Lubstree Wharf. There are also two lines leaving the bottom-left corner of the lower image, the lower line runs towards collieries/shafts local to the furnaces and is probably a tramway at a higher level than the upper of the two lines which is in cutting and is the connection from Old Lodge Furnaces into the wider Mineral Railway network belonging to the Lilleshall Company. [1]
A view of Old Lodge Furnaces from the East. [4] (This image was first produced in the ‘London Trade Exchange’ of 2nd January 1875. Some of the tramways are visible, as are the coke ovens in the distance, and the engine house on the right, although the engraver has omitted the chimney beside the engine house.) [2: p11]

The Friends of Granville Country Park’s website provides a general introduction to the history of the Old Lodge Furnaces: … [6]

In 1824 the [Lilleshall] Company brought into blast two new furnaces near the site of the Old Lodge. They were named the Old Lodge furnaces because of their proximity to the site of an old hunting lodge which was demolished in 1820. In March 1825 the Lilleshall Company paid the Coalbrookdale Company £2392 for (presumably) a Blast Engine.  George Roden, a stonemason from the Nabb, was paid £425 in 1825 and £777 and 5 shillings in 1826 for erecting loading ramps and the retaining walls. In 1830 the Donnington Wood and the Old Lodge ironworks together produced 15,110 tons. A third furnace was added in 1846 and two more in 1859.

New blast beam engines, manufactured by the Lilleshall Company, were installed in 1862 and the height of the furnaces was increased from 50 to 71 feet at about the same time. Limestone came, via the canal, from the Lilleshall quarries and the coal (coke) and iron stone from the local pits via an extensive system of tramways, some of which, were later converted to standard gauge railways. The 1882 map show this series of transport plateways to transport the materials to the top of the furnace, and remove pig iron the furnace bottom.

The Old Lodge Furnaces produced cold-blast pig iron of the finest quality, but eventually it could not compete with cheaper iron made elsewhere and in 1888 the last of the Old Lodge furnaces was blown out 1888. The furnaces were demolished in 1905 by Thomas Molineaux Jnr, including a tall chimney 140 feet high by 13 feet diameter, known locally as “The Lodge Stack”. In 1956 the stone was reused for St Mathew’s Church. Thereafter the company concentrated all its iron and steel making at Priorslee. [6]

As we have already noted, the Lilleshall Company was formed in 1802. [7: p21] The world was catching up with the Company by the 1960s and 1970s. The Company’s railways were closed in 1959 and the Company itself was showing some signs of strain in the 1960s. [8] However, in 1979, it still seemed, to those involved with the Company, to be ‘soundly based’, “aware and proud of its distinguished past; … living and prospering in the present; … planning with confidence for the future.” [7: p118]

The closure of the Lilleshall Company in Shropshire occurred in the 1980s. The company still exists at a much smaller scale today in Newbury, manufacturing plastic building components. [9]

The Friends of Granville Country Park continue: “All that remains of the furnace after extensive dismantling and site restoration involving raising of the ground levels are parts of the brickwork of the first three furnaces. … The high walls behind the furnaces are the remains of the furnace loading ramps. On the right of the ramp walls hidden in the trees is a retaining wall in front which was the blowing house. Behind the loading ramps were calcining kilns which were added in 1870 to improve the quality of the iron ore.” [6]

Dr. Mike Nevill now works with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, he also writes a blog about Industrial Archaeology. One of his relatively recent articles is entitled ‘Seasonal Archaeology: the Old Lodge Ironworks in the Snow‘ [16] and, in it, he highlights the remains of the Old Lodge Furnaces. They are a superb example of the way in which old industrial sites can become considerably more visible when the leaves are not on the trees. He writes:

“The large stone and brick ruins, in place 10m high, were the remains of the Old Lodge Furnaces on the north-eastern outskirts of modern Telford in Shropshire. These furnaces were built by the Lilleshall Company in 1825-8 and form part of a wider 18th and 19th century industrial landscape encompassing two collieries and accessed via a late 18th century canal. The complex now sits within Granville Country Park and is managed by the Shropshire Wildlife Trust. The park itself was designed as one of the green open spaces for the new town of Telford in the mid- to late 20th century. Now, this industrial landscape has reverted to semi-natural woodland and parkland, the industrial archaeology of the area appearing suddenly out of the overgrowth.” [16]

Nevill wrote this article on 19th December 2022. He goes on to say:

“In the 21st century, the circular brick bases of three of the five furnaces run in front of the high stone walls, this stone terracing, which formed the furnace loading ramps, framing these features. Standing within the ruins of a once hot and noisy furnace complex on one of the coldest mornings of the year had a certain irony. Instead of the sound of men working the furnaces and tapping the pig iron, sweating in the heat, there was only the chirp of robins defending their woodland territory and the crunch of frozen snow under foot.” [16]

The surviving remains of Old Lodge Furnaces in December 2022, © Mike Nevill. [16]

Granville Colliery

Yate tells us that the sinking of the main shaft started in 1860, to a depth of 409 yards. By 1950, this had reached 444 yards. It was linked to Grange Colliery underground in 1952 and finally closed in 1979. He continues: “The most prolific of the collieries, [Granville Colliery] supplied the LNWR, GWR and Cambrian Railways with locomotive coal, and latterly also to Ironbridge ‘B’ Power Station. In 1896, there were 177 underground and 67 surface workers. Later the pit had a fairly consistent workforce of around 300 men, but after the closure of the nearby Kemberton colliery in 1967, this grew to 900 men, but shrank again to around 600 in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, the annual output had grown from around 300-350,000 tons to 600,000 tons in the late 1960s.” [2: p16]

This extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1881/1882 shows the full length of the Mineral Railway branch from the East side of the map extracts above which show Old Lodge Furnaces. It is worth noting the loop which allowed locomotives to run round their trains just to the West of the Colliery site. [1]
An extract from the ERSI satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland. The two lanes which appear on the map extract above can easily be seen on this satellite image. The line of the old Mineral Railway is also easy to make out. Nothing remains of the old colliery building. [17]
This much enlarged extract shows the immediate vicinity of the Granville Colliery in 1881/1882. [1]
A similar extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901/1902. In 20 years some changes have occurred. The more southerly of the two colliery buildings has been enlarged and the new tramway/tramroad has been provided onto the spoil heap North of the standard-gauge mineral railway terminus, [18]
This map extract comes from the 1925/1927 edition of the 25″ Ordnance Survey. [19]
The Colliery site on the 1:10,000 Ordnance Survey published in 1954. [20]
The colliery site on the 1:10,000 Ordnance Survey published in 1967. [21]
This extract from the same Ordnance Survey sheet of 1967 shows the wider area close to Granville Colliery and the rationalisation which had by then taken place. The line North off this extract heads for the site of Muxtonbridge Colliery where trains to the Donnington Sidings would reverse. The line leaving the extract to the West runs on to the rest of the Lilleshall Company’s network. [21]
By 1970, this was the layout of the lines between the mainline at Donnington and the Colliery. This hand-drawn image appears in Bob Yate’s book. [2: p119]

Having looked at maps showing the Granville Colliery site at different points in its history, some photographs will help us better to envisage the site.

The Colliery’s sign close to the A5. This image is a still taken from a B&R Video, “The Jim Clemens Collection No. 2 – Steaming Through Shropshire Part 1.” Grange Lane is on the right side of the image with the A5 behind the camera, © Michael Clemens, and used here with his kind permission. [22]
This photograph shows ‘The Colonel’, an 0-6-0ST, running down to the Sidings at Donnington. The image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Clive Sanbrook on 27th March 2020. [27]
This image, again a still from the Jim Clemens video/cine-film “The Jim Clemens Collection No. 2 – Steaming Through Shropshire Part 1,” appears to be taken looking North toward the Sidings at Donnington. It shows Locomotive No. 8 in NCB days, presumably in charge of a rake of empty wagons heading back towards the Colliery, © Michael Clemens, and used here with his kind permission. [22]
An 0-6-0ST locomotive pulls is train of hopper wagons up the more direct route from Coal Wharf (Donnington) to Granville Pit (not going via the location of Muxton Bridge Pit) .This image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 10th March 2020 by John Wood. [43]
Granville Colliery’s Diesel Loco (NCB No. 2D?) hauling a rake of empty coal hopper wagons up to the sidings to the West of the colliery. This photo was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Carole Anne Huselbee on 5th October 2014. [29]
The same loco crossing the road a little to the South of the picture immediately above. This image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Carole Anne Huselbee on 15th September 2014. [30]
This view from a location on the spoil heap to the South of the last image shows the later engine shed, built by the NCB, and two locomotives in steam marshalling wagons. The wagons closest to the camera appear to be empties which will probably be pushed towards the colliery screens which are a distance off to the right of this image. The photograph was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Paul Wheeler on 25th May 2018. [23]
The earlier engine shed. This building was demolished and the NCB built a replacement some distance away. It looks in a poor condition. The loco on the left looks like the 0-6-0 Barclay tank No 11 or one of the large ex Taff Vale locos. The one on the right is an unidentified Saddle Tank. This image was sent to me by David Clarke the author of a book about Telford’s railways. [49]
A view of the NCB-built engine shed noted in the image above. After the NCB took over the collieries owned by the Company Granville Colliery supplied coal to Buildwas Power Station and the coal trains were worked by a range of locos down the 1.5 miles to Donnington. Granville Colliery had a decent sized shed and in later years used Austerity 0-6-0 tanks but in Lilleshall Company days the bigger engines were the ex-TVR and Barry railway engines. This image and the accompanying text were shared by Marcus Keane on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 15th September 2015. [24]
Another photograph of the NCB engine shed with No. 5 and No. 8 on shed. This image was also sent to me by David Clarke, © A.J.B. Dodd. [49]
No.8 sits outside the engine shed. This image was shared by John Wood on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 27th June 2017. [44]
Towards the end of steam, this loc is bringing its train South from the Depot towards the location of the engine shed which is off the picture to the left beyond the stored coal. The locomotive is ‘Granville No. 5‘. This image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 15th February 2017 by Lin Keska. [25]
This image, again a still from the Jim Clemens video/cine-film “The Jim Clemens Collection No. 2 – Steaming Through Shropshire Part 1,” appears to be taken looking East toward the Colliery from a location at around the third-point from the left side of the last map extract above The locomotive is ‘The Colonel‘, an 0-6-0ST loco © Michael Clemens, and used here with his kind permission. [22]
This image, again a still from the Jim Clemens video/cine-film “The Jim Clemens Collection No. 2 – Steaming Through Shropshire Part 1,” appears to be taken looking East toward the Colliery from a location at around the third-point from the left side of the last map extract above. The locomotive is ‘Granville No. 5‘, a Hunslet of 1952 (Works No. 3771). it is equipped with an oblong Giesl ejector chimney. The line behind the wagon(s) at the right of the image is, most likely, the line serving the Colliery. The photograph was taken on 14th October 1966 by Jim Clemens, © Michael Clemens, and used here with his kind permission. [22]
‘The Colonel‘ is seen close to the locomotive shed shown above. ‘The Colonel‘ was named after Colonel Harrison, Chairman of Harrison’s Grove Colliery. He was also Chairman of Cannock & Rugeley Colliery.
After a spell at Area Central Workshops – May 1960 to June 1961, ‘The Colonel‘ went back to Grove Colliery then to Coppice Colliery at Heath Hayes for a few months in 1963 before transfer to Granville Colliery in November 1963. This image was shared on the Telford memories Facebook Group by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on 24th October 2020. [26]
This photograph was taken at a similar location to those above. At the centre of the image is the weighbridge. Granville Colliery itself can be made out on the horizon. The image was shared by John Wood on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 30th January 2015. [42]
An early photograph of Granvelle Colliery, taken looking East from the railway serving the colliery. This image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 2nd May 2017 by Lin Keska. [28]
Granville Colliery in 1944, No 2 winder to the left No 1 winder to the right, back to back steam winders. The building to the left of frame is the old beam engine pumping house, this picture depicts its removal. Both shaft head gears were wood. This image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 13th May 2016 by Marcus Keane. [31]
At the screens at Granville Colliery, is ‘Holly Bank No. 3‘. This locomotive was built by Hunslet in 1924 (Works No. 1451). This image is a still taken from a B&R Video, “The Jim Clemens Collection No. 2 – Steaming Through Shropshire Part 1,” © Michael Clemens, and used here with his kind permission. [22]
The same location as shown in the image immediately above. By the time this photograph was taken the screens were no longer rail-served and the colliery closed. This image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group by Linda Howard on 9th March 2014. [32]
A view of the screens from behind. This image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group by John Wood on 30th January 2015. [39]
The Colliery Head gear. Paul Wheeler comments: “To left, the upcast shaft and coal lifting cage. To right, man riding head gear and cage, used predominantly for personnel. Extreme right, is the winding engine house (electric) . The offices, baths and engineering workshops are off the photo to right.” Cliff Hewitt, responding to the Facebook posts says: “Left hand shaft was No 1 shaft always used as down cast shaft, man riding, coal & materials. Right hand shaft was upcast shaft & water shaft till the link underground to the Grange colliery 1952, the Grange then becoming the upcast for the Granville. This photo shows Granville after modernisation the No 2 shaft (on the right of picture) then wound men & materials the No 1 shaft became man riding shaft for men going in & out of the pit during shift time when the No 2 shaft was winding coal or materials. In 1967 a 2300hp winder was installed in the No 2 winder (ex Hampstead winder) then the cages in No 2 shaft had double deck cages & wound at a greater speed. Attached is the painting from the surveyors office [below) left hand No 2 shaft showing the beam engine pump all before modernisation.” This image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 1st October 2017 by Paul Wheeler. [35]
The picture referred to by Cliff Hewitt in his notes above. The image was shared by Cliff Hewitt on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 1st October 2017. [36]
The Granville Colliery site in the 1980s. This image was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 20th April 2014 by Nick Nandan. [33]
Also taken in the 1980s, this image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 9th March 2014 by Linda Howard. [34]

The colliery had its own narrow-gauge railway/tramway system under ground and close to the main shafts. Some pictures of this system. The first four are above ground.

Under the head gear at Granville Colliery. Coal was lifted up the shaft and run off to left to what appears to be a tippler. Form there the coal went down to the screens. This image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 1st March 2014 by Marcus Keane. [37]
The same lines seen form the opposite direction and from above. This image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 1st March 2014 by Marcus Keane. [38]
The Tippleris featured in this image which was shared by John Wood on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 30th January 2015. [41]
Two of the tubs/wagons used underground are seen in this image which was shared by John Wood on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 30th January 2015. [40]

Underground, there was an extensive network of lines which were initially served by horse power but which were later to see a number of dedicated locomotives in use.

Cliff Hewitt shared this image on the Granville Colliery Facebook Page on 11th September 2015. He comments: “Old loco road, loco on the full run, looking inbye.” [45]
The underground workshop/garage at Granville Colliery in 1958. Granville had three English Electric battery locos and the garage had battery charging benches on either side of the rails. This image was shared by Cliff Hewitt on 22nd November 2015 on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group. [46]
Granville Colliery had English Electric battery locos, picture is of the loco garage with the 3.3kv battery chargers to the left of frame switchgear to the right & a loco in the background ready for a battery change. This image was shared by Cliff Hewitt as a comment under a post by Ray Pascal, dated 18th November 2015, on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group. [47]
A loco battery changeout. This image was shared on the Granville Colliery Facebook Group on 18th November 2015 by Cliff Hewitt. [48]

The next article in this series will continue West from the area of Granville Colliery, taking in Grange Colliery and the area around Oakengates.

References

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  2. Bob Yate; The Railways and Locomotives of the Lilleshall Company; Irwell Press, Clophill, Bedfordshire, 2008.
  3. https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php, accessed on 21st July 2023.
  4. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121150244, accessed on 7th August 2023.
  5. https://friendsofgranvillecountrypark.com/lodge-furnaces, accessed on 29th July 2023.
  6. https://friendsofgranvillecountrypark.com/industrial-history, accessed on 30th July 2023.
  7. W.K.V. Gale & C.R. Nicholls; The Lilleshall Company Limited: a history 1764-1964; Moorland, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, 1979.
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  22. B & R Video Productions produce a series of DVDs which have primarily been created by converting cine-film. One part of their library is the Jim Clemens Collection. These stills from the video are shared here with permission from Michael Clemens who holds the copyright on his father’s work. Michael is an author in his own right and maintains a website: https://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk. On that website there are details of all of the books he as published together with quite a bit of downloadable material including working timetables. His most relevant publication to this current article is: Michael Clemens; The Last Years of Steam in Shropshire and the Severn Valley; Fonthill Media Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2017. That book contains two photographs which are similar to two of the images shown above (p67).
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  39. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10153034973449890&set=pcb.396942657148768, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  40. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10153034971844890&set=pcb.396942657148768, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  41. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10153034972544890&set=pcb.396942657148768, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  42. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10153034973339890&set=pcb.396942657148768, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  43. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10157888689539890&set=pcb.1477973989045624&locale=en_GB, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  44. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10155399978029890&set=pcb.795212197321810, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  45. https://www.facebook.com/groups/265906436919058/search?q=loco, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  46. https://www.facebook.com/groups/265906436919058/search/?q=under&locale=en_GB, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  47. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=967532196637369&set=p.967532196637369&type=3&locale=en_GB, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  48. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=967582559965666&set=p.967582559965666&type=3&locale=en_GB, accessed on 18th August 2023.
  49. David Clarke; The Railways of Telford; Crowood Press, Ramsbury, Wlitshire, 2016.

The First Permanent Electric Railway in Scotland – The Carstairs House Tramway.

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The July 1962 issue of ‘Modern Tramway’ included a short article about the Carstairs House Tramway, written by Christopher T. Harvie. [1]

Wikipedia states that the Carstairs House Tramway operated between Carstairs railway station and Carstairs House between 1888 and 1895. [2] Railscot has slightly different information. It indicates that the tramway opened in 1889 as an electric tramway but reverted to being horse-powered by 1896. It continued operating in this way until 1925. [3]

Carstairs Junction Station as it appears on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1896/1898. The tramway can be seen on the left of the map extract running from close to the Hotel. [4]
The full length of the tramway appears on this smaller scale extract from the OS mapping. Carstairs House appears bottom-left. [5]

The two RailMapOnline extract below show the full length of the line superimposed on Google Maps satellite imagery. [7]

The route of the tramway is shown by the pink line on these extracts. [7]
Looking Southwest along St. Charles Avenue in Carstairs. The drive to Monteith House is directly ahead. The tramway route ran under the modern properties on the right. [Google Streetview, October 2010]

Carstairs House is now known as Monteith House. It overlooks the River Clyde and sits “about one mile from the main Glasgow-London line of the Caledonian Railway at Carstairs West Station, and in 1886 the owner decided to build a tramway from the railway station to carry passengers to the house, agricultural implements and supplies to the Home Farm, and the great amount of coal then needed for heating the mansion. Accordingly plans were made for a line of 2 ft. 6 in. gauge, electrified at 250 volts, the current being generated by a turbine driven by a waterfall on the Clyde. … The positive and negative conductors were wires running alongside the tracks, supported by insulated posts about a foot high. On the car there was a double shoe to pick up current.” [1: p226]

At Carstairs House there were a few short branches serving a carriage shed and stores/outhouses. Between the House and the railway station was Carstairs Mains Home Farm where there were two further branch lines, one into the yard and the other to a sawmill. The sawmill provided the Caledonian Railway “with a considerable traffic in timber, the area being well forested. Leaving the Farm, the line cut across wooded country to rejoin the road and run alongside it to the main gates of the Estate where, at a lodge immediately opposite the railway, the terminal for passengers was situated. Shortly before it reached the lodge a branch diverged to the left, to run to a transfer siding with the Caledonian Railway.” [1: p226]

This extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1896/1897 shows the terminus of the line at the roadside opposite the Caledonian Railway station and the siding which ran Northwest alongside the Caledonian Railway to a transfer platform. [6]

There were three electric cars used for passenger services, “the first was a saloon four-wheeler built at the House in 1886. The other two were probably obtained second-hand from the electric railway demonstrated at the 1886 Edinburgh Exhibition and may have been built by the North Metropolitan Tramway Company of London.” [1: p227]

The small six-seat 2ft 6in gauge tram constructed locally for the Carstairs House tramway can be seen below. Different sources give different information about the year in which electric operation ceased. Most probably electric operation ceased in 1905 but the tramway itself survived for a further 30 years in order to ship coal and other freight from Carstairs station to the house and to export sawmill products from the estate, through the use of horse-drawn wagons. The tram, which was powered through electricity generated by a hydro-electric plant, drew its current from raised conductor rails, as clearly visible in the photograph below.

One of the Carstairs electric trams in action on the Tramway. The conductor rails can clearly be seen in this photograph. This image was shared on the I Belong to Carstairs Facebook Group on 21st July 2020 by Mark Allison. [8]

A further image showing one of these trams can be found in a book by Peter Waller, Lost Tramways of Scotland: Scotland West. [9]

In 1905, apparently, the owner was electrocuted by falling on the live electrical contacts. The result was that the electrical equipment was removed, the electric cars were placed in storage in their dedicated shed. They remained there until the final closure of the line.

Harvie tells us that:

“After the removal of the electrical equipment, horses took over the working of the line and its history continued uneventfully until the first world war, when it saw a period of intense activity as a transporter of spagnum moss, or bog-cotton, which was used as a substitute for American cotton during the period of unrestricted submarine warfare.

The line continued in use until around 1935, when the Montieth family left Carstairs House. Apparently the electric cars were then scrapped, after over thirty years of disuse. As the coming of the motor-car had ended its passenger services the agricultural tractor and motor-lorry meant the end of its usefulness as a freight carrier.

Shortly after the opening of the line there was put forward a plan for the construction of a network of local electric railways to serve the towns of Motherwell, Hamilton and Wishaw, after the same pattern as the Carstairs House Tramway, with power generated by the Falls of Clyde, near Lanark. Although this scheme remained a proposal, both parts of it were later carried out independently, a conventional electric tramway of 4 ft. 7 in. gauge being built to link these towns with Glasgow in 1903 and a generating station being built on the Falls of Clyde by the Clyde Valley Power Company.” [1: p227]

Two photographs of the information board near Carstairs Railway Station, Carstairs Junction. The Information Board stands near the junction of Strawfrank Road and St. Charles Avenue, close to where the tramway would have started. These photos were sent to me by Steve Pearce and are included here with his kind permission, © Steve Pearce.

References

  1. Christopher T. Harvie; The Carstairs House Tramway; in Modern Tramway and Light Railway Review, Volume 25 No. 295, Light Railway Transport League and Ian Allan Hampton Court, Surrey, p226-227.
  2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carstairs_House_Tramway, accessed on 8th August 2023.
  3. https://www.railscot.co.uk/companies/C/Carstairs_House_Tramway, accessed on 8th August 2023.
  4. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=15.4&lat=55.69277&lon=-3.66831&layers=298&b=11&z=0&point=0,0, and https://maps.nls.uk/view/75651318 accessed on 8th August 2023.
  5. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=14.7&lat=55.68984&lon=-3.67589&layers=298&bk=11&z=0&point=0,0, and https://maps.nls.uk/view/75651318, accessed on 8th August 2023.
  6. https://maps.nls.uk/view/82893909, accessed on 8th August 2023.
  7. https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php, accessed on 8th August 2023.
  8. https://m.facebook.com/groups/352799184389/permalink/10158618389784390, accessed on 8th August 2023.
  9. Peter Waller; Lost Tramways of Scotland: Scotland West; Graffeg, Llanelli, October 2022.