Tag Archives: Quartzite

The Railways of Skye and Adjacent Islands – Part 5 – The Quartzite (Silica) Quarry Tramway at Ord

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There was a short tramway in the quartzite quarry close to Ord which was operational in the mid-20th century. …

The small village of Ord sits on the Northwest side of the Sleat Peninsula. [1]
The small building shown on this map near to Coille a’ Chuaraidh is the approximate location of the quarry. [6]
A road from the village runs Southeast across the Sleat Peninsula. The quartzite quarry was on the North side of the road at Coille a’ Chuaraidh. [1]

J.G. Stein & Co. of Bonnybridge commenced quarrying at Ord, Sleat Peninsula, Isle of Skye in 1944 and this continued until 1960. Silica was extracted from the quartzite ore and used as a heat resistant substance in industrial furnaces, fire bricks, cements, boilers etc. Only the explosives store and a storage building, now used as a bothy, survive. [1]

Ore was removed from the quarry in trucks that ran on a very short rail track to the road where it was loaded onto lorries and taken to the pier at Armadale. The ore was then loaded into a waiting puffer (coastal trading boat). [1]

The high cost of transport away from Skye meant that the quarry was uneconomic and it closed in 1960. [2]

The tramway/railway was very short – only 110 metres in length. [4]

The Ord Quartzite Quarry in 2024, © Copyright Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [7]
A stone shed at Ord Quarry which remained in use in 2010, although Ord Quartzite Quarry was disused, © John Allan and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [8]

Rolling Stock

The tramway was operated by manpower, no mechanical propulsion was employed. Rolling stock consisted of a number of wooden-framed tipper wagons, allegedly used on the Skye Marble Railway. [3]

This image is a postcard view of the Skye Marble Quarry.At the centre of the image is one of the tipper wagons used at Kilchrist and which may well have been bought for use at Ord Quarry. [5]

Until the 1970s, there were a number of these wagons gradually deteriorating on the beach at Ord, although there is no longer any sign of them. [4]

References

  1. https://her.highland.gov.uk/Monument/MHG55558, accessed on 3rd June 2025.
  2. http://www.sleatlocalhistorysociety.org.uk/index.php/township/36, accessed on 3rd June 2025.
  3. https://hlrco.wordpress.com/scottish-narrow-gauge/constructed-lines/skye-marble-railway, accessed on ,3rd June 2025.
  4. https://hlrco.wordpress.com/scottish-narrow-gauge/constructed-lines/ord-quarry-tramway, accessed on 3rd June 2025.
  5. https://www.facebook.com/share/1G4ECRkrPn, accessed on 1st June 2025.
  6. https://helpful-mammal.co.uk/2018/07/29/cxcv-armadale-to-isleornsay, accessed on 3rd June 2025
  7. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7761899, accessed on 3rd June 2025.
  8. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2102114, accessed on 3rd June 2025.