Lindal railway incident

The Lindal railway incident happened on Thursday 22 September 1892 near Lindal-in-Furness, a village lying between the Lancashire towns of Ulverston and Dalton-in-Furness. A locomotive shunting at sidings disappeared into the ground after a large, deep hole opened up beneath it. The locomotive was never recovered and still lies buried beneath the railway, though the depth remains a source of speculation.
The story.
East of Lindal station on the Barrow-Carnforth route, the two main lines and two goods lines ran along an embankment, with five sidings to the north. The 7am Barrow-Carnforth goods had stopped at the sidings behind Furness Railway locomotive No.115, a D1 class 0-6-0 built by the firm of Sharp Stewart between 1866 and 1885.
The ‘Sharpie’ (as the class were nicknamed) was busy shunting when the driver, Thomas Postlethwaite, saw cracks opening up in the ground right below. Knocking off steam, he jumped for his life, no sooner clear than the earth opened up to expose a sheer-sided hole across and similar in depth. The driver and his fireman stared in disbelief as their locomotive fell into it front first, the funnel and front part embedded, with only the tender remaining visible above the surface. The rails on which the engine had been standing were snapped off and went down with it, while the supporting baulks under the main lines were laid bare. The adjacent up passenger line was left hanging lopsidedly, its ballast having cascaded into the abyss.
Rescue attempts.
Breakdown gangs from the locomotive and permanent way departments attended with a crane and tool vans. The tender was uncoupled and pulled clear, but the locomotive itself weighed 35 tons and getting it out would be a massive task. The hole had appeared just 45 minutes before a Barrow-Carnforth passenger was due, and rumours soon went round that a whole passenger train had been swallowed up and scores of people had been killed and injured. People flocked to look, but were kept from going too close by railway staff and police.
At 2:30 PM, the men took a break for refreshments and had not been clear long when the hole suddenly deepened to about 60 feet – the locomotive falling further still until the earth closed over it and eclipsed it from sight. Witnesses were awestruck to see the huge machine disappear so quickly from their sight, falling to an unknown depth and beyond recovery. The hole was even wider by then, with all eight tracks now twisted and bent, the ballast having fallen away, the sidings over which they had been able to take empty coaches was now unsafe to use.
Passengers on the 2.57 from Carnforth were forced to abandon the train and had to walk down the adjacent road to Lindal Station, where another train took them on to Barrow. Thirteen conveyances were chartered, including large brakes, buses and horse-drawn carts for their luggage.
Trainloads of ballast continued to arrive and though most thought the worst had been seen, the full extent of the subsidence could only be guessed at and no one yet knew when rails might start to be safely relaid. The uppermost level of the mine workings were down and No. 115 was considered to be lost forever. Others speculated that the locomotive was only down.
The hole eventually swallowed up around 300 wagon loads of ballast until a solid foundation was established. A Board of Trade inquiry was held under the auspices of Major-General C.S Hutchinson, veteran of numerous rail accidents including the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879. Lindal may not have been a tragedy, but was a fascinating case all the same.
Disruption.
Immediately after the first collapse, passengers were forced to alight from their trains and walk around the crater to the far side. The empty carriages were then taken slowly over the dubious tracks, passengers resettling themselves once their train was back on solid ground. Passengers were eager to see the hole and crowded round to get a good look while officials tried to hurry them along.
Goods and mineral traffic were a major source of revenue, so keeping them running was vital. Coke for the ironworks at Barrow, Askam and Millom, normally came via Carnforth and Lindal, but with the whole line at a standstill and Carnforth yard blocked with stalled goods trains, coke trains had to be redirected via Penrith and Whitehaven, an extra , the same route being used for livestock, perishables and goods traffic for the Belfast boats. Up Barrow to Carnforth workings were also disrupted and again redirected round the Penrith route.
Great efforts were made to get southbound trains away as quickly as possible, so as not to miss connections at Carnforth. Removing all the mails from Thursday evening’s 7.45 p.m. and 9.00 p.m. from Barrow was a long-winded affair, but all the bags were transferred to the onward train, and so efficiently that it caught the Night Mail at Carnforth. Friday morning’s mail was similarly dealt with, done and dusted within an hour.
Explanations.
The embankment was encircled by a tell-tale pattern of dips and hollows indicating a history of subsidence. Shaky ground had already caused concerns, requiring trains to be ‘slowed’ before crossing a nearby bridge. Extra ballasting had been necessary and the two main lines, as well as having normal crossways sleepers also rested on longitudinal baulks of timber. A field below the embankment had a hollow nearly ten feet deep, and a nearby farmhouse had been abandoned because of subsidence. There were two levels of mine workings beneath the railway. The uppermost had not been used for some time, but miners in the lower level claimed they could hear trains above their heads and had already predicted a "big spill" someday.
Further subsidence.
Subsidence was reported again in November 1893, the line sinking by six feet very close to the 1892 subsidence. Traffic was again brought to a halt and worked single line until the problem was solved. Lancashire MP Colonel Thomas Sandys wrote to the Board of Trade with his thoughts, suggesting the mines be filled in or a bridge be built to span the unsafe ground altogether. The Board of Trade kept a watch on the Furness Railway for years afterwards, though directors were worried about adverse publicity.
Alternative explanation.
The explanation for the loss of No.115 given by a contemporary paper did not involve mining subsidence:
At the point where the subsidence took place there were large fissures in the rock, filled with sand. It is known that there is a subterranean stream below this, and it is supposed that owing to its action there has been a rush of sand, thus causing the subsidence effectively that the engine had not fallen into mine-workings but into a cavity caused by the collapse of an underlying sand-filled wash-hole or sink-hole of which the Furness area has many, mostly formed in the Ice Age. Where an underground water course washes out the sand it leaves a void. Heavy rainfall would accelerate removal of the fill, and heavy rainfall did precede the event: "[w]ith the heavy rains of late, there had been considerable flooding in the neighbourhood, and it is to this cause that the disaster is probably due."
At the time, the account given by "The Engineer" considered this possibility and identified how it might have been triggered by mining activity, but in the end thought it not the principal cause: The railway at this point is undermined by the Parkside and Lindal Moor Mining Company, now leased by Messrs. Harrison, Ainslie, and Co., and for something like half a mile in length it is honeycombed by mining operations. For some time past evidence of the mine falling in, at any rate in its upper workings, has been seen, and on both sides of the railway embankment the ground has been gradually slipping for some time. The railway company, however, has been watching the action of this subsidence, and has placed a special watchman on the spot, with a view of detecting any change. Some time ago an adjoining farmhouse was let in, and the company found it necessary to prop up a railway bridge to prevent the line from collapsing. It is reported, however, that the workings of the Parkside mines have not been interfered with by the subsidence in the embankment, and that they exist intact under a stratification of rock which is as yet unshaken. The inference is that the vast volume of water which is pumped from the mines has caused percolation through the rock and left cavities in the upper strata which have caused a subsidence; but there is reason to believe that the subsidence which has now occurred is due mainly to the absolute fall of earth into old workings…
Today.
No. 115 is officially regarded as ‘preserved’, but recovery is a source of speculation. It may not lay as deep as long thought. Many believe that the locomotive is not far down, probably lies within the confines of the embankment. The incident has been the inspiration for "Down the Mine", one of the Rev. W. Awdry's railway series published in 1953, though that story may equally have been inspired by a similar incident in April 1945 where an industrial locomotive, still with its driver on board, fell into a disused mine shaft.
In popular culture.
The event provided the inspiration for the Arthur Conan Doyle story, "The Lost Special".
The third story in the eighth book of "The Railway Series" by Wilbert Awdry and its television adaptation in "Thomas & Friends" were inspired by the incident.


Amble branch line

The Amble branch line was a branch railway line in Northumberland, England, that ran from Amble Junction north of Chevington on the East Coast Main Line to Amble via Broomhill. The line was single track to Broomhill and then double track to Amble.
History.
Opening.
Built in 1849 by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway to carry coal from the local collieries to Amble's Warkworth Harbour the line was finally completely open to passengers in 1879.
History.
It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. During the 1920s the line carried 750,000 tons of coal a year. The line closed to passengers seven years later, in 1930 but the goods service continued. The line became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
In 1964 the goods service was withdrawn and the line closed completely in 1969.


Bishops Castle Railway

The Bishop's Castle Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line in Shropshire, from near Craven Arms to Bishop's Castle. It opened in 1866 but was continuously short of money, and was unable to complete its originally-planned route, nor to provide more than the most basic level of equipment. It closed due to bankruptcy in 1935.
Origin.
Bishop's Castle is a small town located in Shropshire near the border with Montgomeryshire, now Powys. Its population in the middle decades of the nineteenth century was about 2,000. The town had been on the route of a proposed trunk line to Porth Dinllaen, which was seen as a packet port for Ireland at one time, but that scheme had come to nothing.
To the east the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway had opened its main line in 1852; there was a station at Craven Arms, named after a nearby inn that had been a staging post for the coaches. To the west, lay the Oswestry and Newtown Railway, which was promoted in 1859: its main purpose was to connect a group of small railways at Newtown with the English railway network, by way of Oswestry. The O&NR had a Montgomery station, but it was two miles from the town it served. That part of the line opened in 1862.
At this time it had become clear that rural towns that were not connected to a railway would suffer economically, as necessities brought in, and manufactures and agricultural products sent out, were expensive to transport by other means. Accordingly the idea developed of a railway branch line from the Craven Arms station to a point on the O&NR near Montgomery, serving the town and intermediate areas. From a junction at Wistanstow near Craven Arms, this would run through Lydham and join the O&NR north of Montgomery station, near the bridge over the River Camlad. The town of Montgomery is on a hill, and the route of the proposed railway could not be made close to the town; a short branch line to it would be built. There would also be a branch from Lydham to Bishop's Castle.
At public meetings locally, the scheme received enthusiastic support, and a Parliamentary Bill went forward; the railway was authorised by the Bishop's Castle Railway Act, on 28 June 1861. Authorised share capital was £180,000, to build miles of line.
There was dismay when the scheme was published, for it was then seen that Bishop's Castle was planned to be on a branch and not the main line. The Shrewsbury Chronicle commented, "The railway is a misnomer, for Bishop's Castle will never enjoy much, if any, of its vast benefits". As a result of local feeling, the Committee of the House of Commons introduced a clause in the Railway Bill requiring that a branch from Lydham Heath to Bishop's Castle must be opened concurrently with the main line.
Construction and opening.
A contractor was appointed, and he stated that he would start work as soon as a proportion of the share capital had been actually subscribed. This proved extremely difficult and for a considerable time no work was started, due to the absence of share subscriptions. It was not until 1865 that work was begun, by another contractor, and the part of the line from Craven Arms to Lydham and Bishop's Castle was opened on 1 February 1866. The line formed a Y shape, as trains ran from Craven Arms to Lydham and reversed to reach Bishop's Castle. Much of the route followed the River Onny.
The first commercial use of the line was actually on 27 January 1866, when a special train was provided for the Squire of Plowden for his shooting party.
However Oppitz says that the Bishop's Castle branch from Lydham was used [for passenger purposes] from October 1865 without waiting for the approval of the Government Inspector.
Expansion plans.
Notwithstanding the failure to complete the line, the directors now started to plan an extension line, to Minsterley. The topography was helpful for such a line, as low-lying land around the Aylesford Brook and the Rea Brook led from Chirbury (on the proposed Montgomery line) to Minsterley; there was already a branch line terminus there, connecting with Shrewsbury. An Act authorising this extension was granted on 29 June 1865.
Now the money market turned against railway projects in the financial Panic of 1866 and it became impossible to get finance. Moreover the ordinary trading of the company was disappointing, and it fell into the hands of a receiver in Court of Chancery. Completion of the original line from Lydham to Montgomery was obviously impossible.
Working the line.
The company had two locomotives, and operated one at a time, so that the operating system was “one engine in steam”. There was no electric telegraph or block working, and therefore no communication for train control. There were three train services each way daily with an additional one on cattle-fair days. There were several passenger coaches, although three were normally used on service trains; they were four-wheelers, using the obsolescent chain brake system.
Receivership and temporary closure.
The railway was always heavily in debt, and on 27 February 1877 possession some of the land on which the railway ran was taken by authority of the Court of Chancery, due to unpaid debts. The line was closed until 2 July 1877 when the sum of £700 was paid in to court and the seizure was cancelled. The money was raised by a sale and leaseback of a locomotive and some land, to local persons.
Most of the press simply said that the line was 'stopped' during this period; however the Wellington Journal (newspaper) said that a service was continuing between Horderley and Bishops Castle, with Mr Scriven, a hotel proprietor, providing a wagonnette service from Craven Arms to Horderley. The suspension of through goods trains was considered to have had a marked adverse effect on the price of coal in Bishop's Castle.
Another Attempt to reach Montgomery.
Not to be deterred the company's supporters promoted a further scheme in 1883 to extend the line from Lydham Heath to Montgomery. They obtained an authorising Act of Parliament on 7 August 1884, incorporating the Bishop's Castle and Montgomery Railway, but once again local support in the form of share subscriptions was absent, and the scheme never progressed. It was abandoned by a further Act of 5 July 1887.
Washout in 1886.
There was severe flooding in the district in 1886 and the line was breached by a washout at Plowden on 13 May 1886. For a few weeks the traffic was worked from each end and passengers were conveyed past the gap in horse brakes.
A final plea to the GWR.
On 1 January 1922, the Cambrian Railways, owners of the Oswestry and Newtown line at Montgomery, joined the Great Western Railway as part of the grouping of the railways. Craven Arms was also a Great Western station (jointly with the London and North Western Railway, shortly to be the London Midland and Scottish Railway). The Bishop's Castle Railway tried to persuade the GWR to build the Lydham Heath to Montgomery line, so forming a through link between the two main lines. If that were done the Bishop's Castle might sell its line to the GWR. The GWR immediately made it plain that it was not interested in such a development. Evidently Montgomery Town Council had been lobbying for such a scheme–the "Montgomery" station on the Cambrian line was some distance from the town; however in June 1924, the Ministry of Transport indicated that a Government grant was not a possibility.
Closure.
For decades the company had struggled to continue in business while in receivership. The financial state of the company was worsening as road transport in rural areas began to expand, and the Receivership was terminated in April 1935: the business was closed down and the line now ceased to operate.
Bishop's Castle Railway Society.
The Bishop's Castle Railway Society hopes to preserve remaining artefacts from the railway.


Wallasey Corporation Tramways

Wallasey Corporation Tramways operated an electric tramway service in Wallasey between 1902 and 1933.
History.
Wallasey Corporation Tramways was a direct successor of the Wallasey United Tramway and Omnibus Company, which had provided horse-drawn tramway services in Wallasey since 1879. The Wallasey Tramways and Improvements Act, 1899, gave the Corporation the power to obtain the tramway company, which it did on 1 April 1901 for the price of £20,500 (equivalent to £ in ).. This included seven 34-seater double deck tramcars, and 78 horses.
The Corporation relaid the track and on 17 March 1902, the first line was opened, from Seacombe Ferry to New Brighton Ferry via Wheatland. Two days later the direct route from Seacombe to New Brighton via Seabank Road was opened, replacing a horse bus service.
On 17 May 1902 a third line was opened from Seacombe to New Brighton via Brighton Drive, Church Street, Liscard Road, Seaview Road and Warren Drive.
The depot was in Seaview Road.
The contractor for the system was R.W. Blackwell and Co.
Fleet.
The Wallasey tramway rolling stock consisted at maximum of 78 cars which were delivered at intervals between 1902 and 1920. Since the picture is of car 78, this was the last tram to be delivered, this was in 1920 and ran in the town for 13 years. Wallasey 78 has now run on the Wirral Tramway for longer than it did on its original line.
Closure.
The decline set in on 20 January 1929 when the Seabank Road service was withdrawn. There were subsequent closures and re-organisations until the whole system was closed on 30 November 1933.
Car 78 is preserved at the Wirral Transport Museum and is in use on the Wirral Tramway.


City of Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd

 The City of Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd operated trams in Birmingham, England, from 1896 until 1911.
The company was formed on 29 September 1896 by James Ross (President and Vice-President of the Toronto and Montreal Street Railway Co. of Canada) and Sir William Mackenzie to take over the business of the Birmingham Central Tramways Company Ltd.
The last routes in Birmingham closed on 31 December 1911. Most of its services were taken over by Birmingham Corporation Tramways.
Historical overview.
City of Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd was the result of a number of changes in ownership of the tramway franchises within the city of Birmingham since its creation in 1872 until 1911.
The Birmingham and District Tramways Company Ltd (BDTC) operated trams in Birmingham from 1872 until 1876. BDTC was acquired by the Birmingham Tramways and Omnibus Company Ltd (BTOC) in 1876.
BTOC in turn was taken over by the Birmingham Central Tramways Company Ltd (BCTC) in 1886. In 1896 the assets of the BCTC were acquired by the CBTC.
On 1 January 1907, some of CBTC’s Birmingham routes were taken over by BCT. On 1 January 1912 BCT took over the remainder of the company's routes, ownership of which had just passed from neighbouring local councils to Birmingham Corporation.
Detailed history.
Birmingham and District Tramways Company Ltd.
BDTC was the tramway company operating in Birmingham from 1872 until 1876.
The company was formed by William Busby and Daniel Busby in 1871 as an amalgamation of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Tramways Company Ltd and the Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd.
It built a standard gauge tramway line in 1872 from Hockley Brook to Dudley Port operated by horse trams. In 1873 the service was extended to the centre of Birmingham over the Birmingham Corporation tracks which were leased for £910 over seven years. The Birmingham Corporation tracks had cost £15,000 to build.
In 1874 the tramway between West Bromwich and Dudley Port was abandoned as the company was in financial difficulty.
The company was taken over by the Birmingham Tramways and Omnibus Company Ltd in 1876.
Birmingham Tramways and Omnibus Company Ltd.
BTOC operated trams in Birmingham from 1876 until 1886.
It took over the business of the Birmingham and District Tramways Company Ltd and restricted the trams to a service between Birmingham and Handsworth, thus discontinuing the service through West Bromwich.
It was taken over by the BCTC in 1886.
Birmingham Central Tramways Company Ltd.
The BCTC operated trams in Birmingham from 1884 to 1896.
The company was formed in 1882, initially as the Birmingham Suburban Tramways Company but by the time of the opening of its first line, had been renamed the Birmingham Central Tramways Company Ltd.
The initial rolling stock consisted of 10 Falcon horse cars for the Nechells route, 14 Kitson steam tram locos and 13 Falcon trailer cars.
In 1886 they purchased the track of the BTOC, which lay outside the city boundary, and 18 horse cars. At the same time Birmingham Corporation leased the lines within the city to the Company.
Taken over by companies controlled by Scottish-Canadian businessman James Ross, on 24 March 1888, the horse tram route from Colmore Row to Hockley Brook was converted to cable traction by the Patent Cable Tramway Company, and on 20 April 1889, the line was extended to Handsworth (New Inns). The service was operated with open-top double-decker cars.
In October 1889 the portion of the acquired tramway along Bristol Road to Bournbrook was closed for reconstruction. It re-opened on 24 July 1890 and was worked by Nos. 101-112, Falcon battery-electric (accumulator) open-top double-deck cars.
On 29 September 1896 the assets of the BCTC were acquired by the City of Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd.
The City of Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd.
The CBTC operated trams in Birmingham from 1896 until 1911.
The company was formed on 29 September 1896 by James Ross and William Mackenzie to take over the business of the BCTC.
From 14 May 1901 the route from the city to Bournbrook via Bristol Road (later extended to Selly Oak) was operated by electric cars using overhead current supply. Other routes were soon electrified and the company became a British Electric Traction subsidiary in 1902.
On 30 June 1902 the company took over the routes of the Birmingham and Aston Tramways Company which were now owned by Aston Manor Urban District Council. By this date the CBTC were operating 21 overhead electric trams, 54 cable trams, 89 steam engines, 76 Double Decker steam trams, 10 horse cars, 45 horse buses and 608 horses on tracks mostly constructed and owned by Birmingham Corporation.
The last routes in Birmingham closed on 31 December 1911. Most of its services were taken over by Birmingham Corporation Tramways.


Much Wenlock and Severn Junction Railway

Much Wenlock and Severn Junction railway was a railway in Shropshire, England. It was built between 1860 and 1862 and formed part of the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway. For much of its working life it was operated by the Great Western Railway and subsequently the Western Region of British Railways.


Great Rocks Line

The Great Rocks Line is a freight railway line in Derbyshire, England, that runs between the Hope Valley Line at Chapel Milton and the stone quarries and sidings at Peak Dale and Peak Forest, before looping around to the town of Buxton. It takes its name from the Great Rocks Dale through which it runs.
It was opened in 1867 as an extension to the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway, allowing the passenger trains of the Midland Railway a connection the whole way from London to Manchester for the first time. However, the rest of the former MBM&MJR was closed in June 1968 by the Labour Minister for Transport, Barbara Castle, leaving the northern section now known as the Great Rocks Line open only for stone freight trains and as an emergency diversionary route for the passenger Buxton line.
The most notable structure on the line is the bifurcated Chapel Milton Viaduct, just below the junction with the main line between Sheffield and Manchester. It also passes through the -long Dove Holes Tunnel and the former Chapel-en-le-Frith Central and Peak Forest stations. Both the viaduct and tunnel were designed by the Midland's Engineer-in-Chief, William Henry Barlow, known for designing the train shed at St Pancras at around the same time.


Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway

The Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway was an early railway company in England which was opened in 1857 between Stockport Edgeley and Whaley Bridge.
Origins.
As early as 1828 when the Cromford and High Peak Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were still under construction, a Mr Thomas Legh had proposed in Stockport, that they could well be connected by a railway line from the former's terminus at Whaley Bridge. There were also number of other ideas for lines from London to meet the C&HPR at Cromford to reach Manchester. The main problem had been that of carrying passengers on the series of cable operated sections (see Derby station)
In the next few years the route of the line was hotly contested by the three major railways of the time. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway had gained approval in 1848 for an extension of the Whaley Bridge branch of the Peak Forest Canal, which it owned, from Bugsworth to the tramway, with the eventual aim of reaching Buxton. This was succeeded by plans for a railway line, but neither scheme had been proceeded with due to lack of funds.
The Midland Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway had jointly leased the impecunious Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway which had reached Rowsley by 1849, with the view of running through Buxton and up the Goyt Valley to Whaley Bridge and thence to a junction with the M&B at Cheadle Hulme. However, when the M&B merged into the new LNWR the latter naturally sought to restrict competition with its own London to Manchester service.
Construction.
In 1853 Thomas Legh, together with other landowners and financiers from London, formed the committee of the Stockport Disley and Whaley Bridge railway, with its first meeting at the Swann Inn Disley. The engineers would be Joseph Locke and J. E. Errington. When the Bill was put before Parliament there was opposition from both the MS&LR and the LNWR, however the Stockport and Whaley Bridge Railway Act was passed on 31 July 1854. The line would be operated on the company's behalf by the LNWR. A further Act in 1855 allowed for a short line from Whaley Bridge to the end of the Cromford and High Peak.
Construction of the line produced very few problems, the main one being an embankment between Hazel Grove and Norbury. The line was opened on 28 May 1857 and a special train left Stockport for Whaley Bridge where on the return a celebratory dinner was held in the schoolroom at Disley. That evening a supper was provided for the workmen.
The actual first service was on 9 June, the intermediate stations being Hazel Grove, Disley, New Town (south of New Mills) and Furness Vale. Coaching connections were provided to Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith.
A viaduct to connect the line with the Cromford and High Peak was not complete when traffic began in August 1857. The carrier had to transfer the limestone using his own horses and carts. The wagons carrying the limestone were added to the passenger trains, and it was reported that three wagonloads were despatched with each. The viaduct was completed towards the end of the year.
In 1855 there a meeting of the three companies at Euston Square, where it was noted that the S&WB line was virtually complete. The possibility of extending it to Buxton or Rowsley was discussed. Both the MS&LR and the Midland proposed that no one of the three companies should proceed alone with any scheme, but the meeting ended with them more than a little suspicious of the LNWR.
The SD&WBR's capital was £150,000, of which £85,000 came from the LNWR and £3,750 from the C&HPR. Although, the public message was that the line was independently financed, James Allport of the Midland Railway felt justified in saying it was an LNWR undertaking - moreover deliberately designed to prevent other railways from entering the area.
The Buxton extension.
At the end of 1856, the Midland approached the LNWR with a proposal to extend the jointly leased MBM&MJR as a through route. They offered to subscribe £200,000 and the Duke of Devonshire was willing to add £50,000, even allowing the line to pass through Chatsworth Park if necessary. The LNWR turned down the offer and, in fact, were quietly pursuing plans for an extension of the SD&WB.
When the Bill went before Parliament the Midland made no opposition. They had been refused a hearing about the original railway on the ground that they had no "locus standi". The "'Stockport Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway Extension Act" was passed on 27 July 1857. Fox suggests this was facilitated by the Duke of Devonshire and discussions with the MSL and Midland Railways. While these may have been amicable at first they were not the destined to stay that way. Additional capital of £200,000 was to be raised for the extension and, once again, the LNWR contributed the lion's share - £105,000 with the MS&LR providing up to £35,000. Formal transfer to the LNWR took place on 16 November 1866.
Moreover, while the Midland's original plan had been to cross from Buxton to the Goyt Valley then north to Whaley Bridge, the LNWR took a roundabout route through Chapel-en-le-Frith thence by an immense curve to Dove Holes before travelling south to Buxton. It certainly didn't suit the expresses that the Midland intended to run,
The Midland felt that, simply for political reasons, the LNWR had built an inferior line. As Allport put it ""The proposed railway, for some reason which does not appear on the face of it" is run along the high country where there is little or no population; and instead of taking the valley with a gradually rising ascent, "it goes up the steep gradient out of Buxton, to fall down again. The line appears to me to have gone up the hill for the sake of going down again.""
Work began in 1859 and progressed fairly smoothly. There were problems at Combs where there was to be a road underbridge. In the end, it proved necessary to divert the road to a point where the embankment was shallower. There was one tunnel planned - Eaves Tunnel. It had been expected to be 300 yards, but finished as 431 yards long. On the same stretch over the Barmoor, north of Dove Holes, a planned 87 feet deep cutting, became Barmoor Clough Tunnel of 111 yards. The company was now openly under the control of the LNWR with its secretary, C. E. Stewart, also the secretary of the SD&WBR.
The line was open to Buxton on 30 May 1863. On the same day as the Midland line from Rowsley, although full passenger services did not begin until 15 June.


Cricklewood Depot

Cricklewood sidings currently provides stabling for passenger trains, and is the site of a former steam shed and diesel Traction Maintenance Depot located in Cricklewood, Greater London, England. It is situated beside the Midland Main Line, to the east of Cricklewood station.
The depot code was CW.
Passenger train stabling.
Trains berthing in the stabling roads between services are cleaned and have their water tanks refilled. Train types include East Midlands Railway Class 43 HSTs, Class 222 Meridians as well as Thameslink Class 700 EMUs.
Domestic waste operations.
The North London Waste Authority operates Hendon transfer station, which is located immediately behind the northern end of the site and accessed through the passenger sidings. Freightliner Heavy Haul hauls a waste container train, nicknamed "The Binliner" from here to a landfill site at Calvert in Buckinghamshire.


Dinmore Tunnel

Dinmore Tunnel is the name given to two railway tunnels located on the former Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway (S&HR) line between Hereford station and Leominster station. The first tunnel (currently the 'up' tunnel) was built in 1853, with the second tunnel (the 'down' tunnel) being added in 1891. Both are still in use and are jointly the 15th longest tunnels on the former Great Western Railway. To the south of the tunnel was Dinmore railway station, which closed in 1958. They are located just south to the village of Hope Under Dinmore and tunnels under Queenswood Country Park & Arboretum.
Construction.
When the S&HR was opened in November 1863, it was a single track throughout. However, all infrastructure was made wide enough to accommodate twin tracks throughout apart from the Dinmore Tunnel which, owing to the uncertain rock strata, was left as a single bore. The engineer, Mr Pollard, recommended that if the line were to be doubled, then a second tunnel should be constructed. When the S&HR became a joint line of the London & North Western and the Great Western and West Midland Railways, they pursued the second tunnel option.
The tunnels are split-level - the track on the up line to Leominster being at a higher level than the down line to Hereford, both are long and the line speed through both is .


Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company

The Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Tramways Company operated an electric tramway service between Dudley and Stourbridge and also other lines in the neighbourhood between 1899 and 1930.
History.
On 2 April 1898 the Dudley and Stourbridge Steam Tramways Company was purchased by British Electric Traction
A programme of modernisation was undertaken and the service was converted for electric traction. The first electric service ran on 26 July 1899.
In April 1900 the company declared a net profit amount of £4,309 10s () for the year ending December 1899. The share capital of the company was £200,000 () divided into 20,000 5% cumulative preference shares of £5 each, and 20,000 ordinary shares of £5 each. By mid 1900 the British Electric Traction Company held 19,707 ordinary shares, of which 11,496 were purchased and the remainder allocated in part payment for the electrical conversion.
Extensions were opened as follows:
On 29 September 1902, the company took over ownership of the Kinver Light Railway for the sum of £60,000 (equivalent to £ in ).
For the Whitsun weekend in 1904, the tramway saw impressive passenger numbers. The total for the four days commencing Saturday was over 185,000 which at fares ot no more than 3d per journey () represented an income of £1,100 (). The Dudley to Stourbridge section was the most popular. Of the 64,073 passengers carried on the Monday, 31,000 travelled between Dudley and Stourbridge with trams running every 5 minutes.
On 1 July 1904 ownership was transferred to the Birmingham and Midland Tramways Joint Committee, a subsidiary of British Electric Traction.
On 1 April 1924 the company took over some of the routes of the South Staffordshire Tramways Company.
The depot was situated in Amblecote on corner of Stourbridge Road and Collis Street. It was 4 track shed opened in October 1905. It was expanded with an additional 2 tracks in 1908, and a further track was added around 1914. It closed in May 1926 and used as a tram store until 1930.
Closure.
Route closures occurred on the following dates:
Survivals.
Four vehicles are known to have survived:


Cambridge Street Tramways

Cambridge Street Tramways operated a horse-drawn tramway service in Cambridge, England, between 1880 and 1914.
History.
When railways reached Cambridge in the 1840s, the main station was built around from the city centre, as a result of sustained opposition from the university authorities. A means was, therefore, necessary to transport passengers from the station to the city, and two rival schemes for a horse tramway were proposed. Of these, it was the Cambridge Street Tramways Company which was authorised to proceed.
The tramways were built with a rail gauge of , and the first section to open linked Cambridge railway station to Cambridge Post Office, then located next to St Andrew the Great's Church in Sidney Street, running along Station Road, Hills Road, and Regent Street. The tramway was inspected by Major General Charles Scrope Hutchinson from the Board of Trade and opened for public use on 28 October 1880. A branch from Market Hill to the junction of Hills Road and Regent Street, running along Trumpington Street and Lensfield Road, followed in November 1880, and shortly afterwards, this was extended along Gonville Place to East Road. The routes crossed at Hyde Park Corner, next to the church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, but were always worked as two separate lines. The system was mainly single track, with a short section of double track in Hills Road.
Other lines proposed along Newmarket Road, Maid’s Causeway, and Emmanuel Road were not constructed. The depot, at the junction of East Road and Dover Street, is now a pub named "The Tram Depot".
Closure.
In the early 1910s, British Electric Traction, a private company that owned several tramway systems, took an interest in the Cambridge system but were unable to suggest an acceptable solution for electrifying them. Since 1908, the trams had suffered from competition as a result of the formation of the Ortona Bus Service. British Electric Traction took the decision in early 1914 to abandon the trams and invest in the Ortona Motor Company. The tramway system closed on 18 February 1914, and the company was wound up in that month after the Corporation sued for failing to pay their rates.
The tramway operated a fleet of eight cars. When it first opened, there were two double-deck vehicles, numbered 1 and 4, and two single-deck vehicles numbered 2 and 3. The latter two both had an upper deck added at some point. Two more single-deck cars had been obtained by 1892, which were numbered 5 and 6, while in 1894 number 7, a double-deck car manufactured by Starbuck, joined the fleet. The final vehicle was car number 8, a double-deck car obtained in 1909. When the system closed, all eight vehicles were sold by auction and found various uses.
Tram number 7 became a workshop extension to a bungalow in Ely. It survived long enough to be acquired for preservation by the Ipswich Transport Museum in 2003 and has been restored aided by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Restoration revealed that it had been built by the Starbuck Car and Wagon Company of Birkenhead around 1880, initially for the Bath Tramways Company, where it operated until around 1884. It was then purchased by the Bradford and Shelf Tramway Company, where it was probably used as a trailer to a steam tram, although details are sketchy, before moving to the Cambridge system in 1894.


Bicslade Tramroad

The Bicslade Tramroad was a wagonway built by the Severn and Wye Railway (S&WR) in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The first section of the line was opened in 1812 as a branch of the S&WR plateway from Lydney to Lydbrook, which had opened in 1810. It was expanded over time to serve the collieries and quarries in the Bixslade valley (although the S&WR referred to the line as the "Bicslade" Tramroad); the last stretch, to Bixhead Quarry, opened in 1855. Stone traffic ceased in 1944 and coal followed in 1946.
History.
Opened in 1812, the line ran between Bixhead Quarry and Bicslade Wharf. It served the Forest of Dean Stone Firm, Union Pit (also known as the Bixshead Slade Pit), Mine Train Quarry, Bixslade Low Level (Bixslade Deep Level), Hopewell Mapleford Colliery, Bixslade High Level (Bixslade Land Level), Spion Kop Quarry, Bixhead Quarry and Phoenix Colliery, in addition to several other minor quarries. Extensions and sidings were constructed continually between 1812 and 1855 to serve the different industries of the area. In 1855 the tramroad reached its largest extent, with two passing loops.
From 1874, when the Severn and Wye Railway was converted into locomotive power, cargo carried by the line was transferred at Bicslade Wharf onto trains to be shipped to their destinations. In 1899 stone from Mine Train Quarry was being sent via the branch to the Marquis of Bute for work on the renovation of Cardiff Castle.
The line gradually declined during the beginning of the 20th century; on 25 July 1944 the last stones were transported via the line and coal traffic stopped in 1946. The tramway continued to be operated by horse-power until traffic finally ceased in the 1950s, by which time it was the last working horse-powered tramroad operating in the Forest of Dean.
Today.
Almost the entirety of the Tramroad's route has been converted into public footpaths. Nearby, Cannop Ponds (a reservoir which used the tramroad as a dam) is now a popular visitor attraction and picnic site, owned by the Forestry Commission. A guide along the path of the tramroad has been published by the local history society and is available in many nearby shops.
One freemine, Monument Mine, and three quarries continue to operate in the Bixslade valley, largely hidden by woodland.
Two of the trams on the line have been preserved and are now on public display at the Dean Heritage Centre and at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn.


Bawtry to Haxey railway line

The Bawtry to Haxey railway line was a line built on the border of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, opening in 1912. It was part of an earlier scheme to convey coal from a new colliery at Tickhill to Grimsby for export. After authorisation, its promoters did not proceed with construction, and when the South Yorkshire Joint Railway was built, serving Tickhill and other developing pits, that line was a better outlet for the minerals and the promoters lost interest in the Tickhill line.
Eventually the Great Northern Railway adopted the powers and built the line, but it never carried mineral trunk hauls and became simply an insignificant agricultural siding. It closed in 1964 or 1965.
Conception.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a new colliery was being developed at Tickhill, in South Yorkshire about three miles west of Bawtry. Rail access to Grimsby was critical to the commercial success of the pit, and the owners promoted the Tickhill Light Railway. This was to run from the colliery at Tickhill to a junction with the Great Northern Railway at Bawtry, on the East Coast Main Line, and from there it was to run on to a junction with the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway at Haxey. It was expected to be able to continue from there to Goole over the Axholme Joint Railway, at the time being promoted by the North Eastern Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway jointly. The section from Bawtry to Haxey followed closely the route originally authorised to the Great Northern Railway in 1846, but never built by them.
The promoters of the proposed line got a Light Railway Order dated 7 Aug 1901 for a line from Haxey to Bawtry and Tickhill. However, at this stage they did nothing towards construction, and meanwhile the Axholme Joint Railway was opened to Haxey on 3 November 1904.
Although they did not take any steps toward construction, the impending opening of the Axholme line may have prompted the Tickhill promoters to renew their authorisation: on 22 Sept 1904 they were granted an Extension of Time Order.
The Great Northern Railway takes over.
On 30 May 1907 the Great Northern Railway board decided to apply for an order to take over the Tickhill Light Railway's powers themselves, paying £2,300 to the original promoters; the transfer was granted in July 1908. The intended junction at Haxey was simplified; originally it had been proposed to cross directly to the Axholme Joint Railway, but this was not needed by the Great Northern Railway; the simplification would save £10,000. Still not making this a priority, in June 1910 the board ordered construction between Bawtry and Haxey, as soon as land could be obtained, at an estimated cost of £88,000. Haxey was on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line; as the connection was planned to bring coal to the line for transport south, the Great Eastern Railway agreed to pay for part of Haxey junction. The Great Eastern Railway interest must have been to get access for its trains to the Tickhill colliery area, although they would have needed to construct the Bawtry to Tickhill section themselves.
A trade periodical reported in November 1911 that
A start has been made in the last few days on the new line which the Great Northern Railway are constructing between Bawtry and Haxey and which will be a valuable link in view of prospective colliery developments. The line which will be eight miles long is to cost £30,000 and will occupy about twelve months in construction. The contractors are Messrs H. Lovatt Ltd. Collieries have been spoken of at South Carr and Misterton and for these, together with the new pit to be sunk at Harworth [this became [Harworth Main Colliery], the line will be very valuable. Some months ago, a survey was made for a siding from the Harworth Colliery to connect with the Great Northern line near Scrooby. As most of the coal will go eastward, the connection will very likely be carried to Bawtry, in which event it would be an easy matter to extend the line via Harworth to Tickhill and link up with the Five Companies' line. The Order gives power to carry the line to Tickhill.
Harworth was located midway between Rossington and Firbeck. The exploration lease was held by a German combine headed by Hugo Stinnes. A line connecting the site to the East Coast Main LIne at Scrooby was authorised in August 1912 and a temporary line laid for the sinkers, using a German locomotive. With the outbreak of war, all work at Harworth was suspended in August 1914.
Opening.
The Bawtry to Haxey line was opened for goods traffic only on 26 August 1912; it consisted of eight miles of single line. In the meantime the Tickhill colliery had been connected to the South Yorkshire Joint Railway, and construction of the Bawtry to Tickhill section was no longer planned. As predicted by the Iron and Coal Trades Review, the Harworth connection to the main line was made at Scrooby, south of Bawtry and facing south. As a result there was no coal traffic on the Haxey line. There were sidings at Misson goods depot, an agricultural location intermediately on the line, and a private siding for Yorkshire Amalgamated Products. There were three sand and gravel quarries, two near Bawtry and one about half a mile west of Misson. Passenger trains were never contemplated.
It is very doubtful if through traffic was carried between Bawtry and Haxey. It is possible that the central portion of the line was lifted and shipped to France during World War I. The Haxey end was used for wagon storage, having been closed to ordinary traffic before 1923. About three-quarters of a mile of track eastwards from Misson was removed about that time. In 1950 a locomotive went on to the Haxey stub to move wagons and derailed due to the poor state of the track, and immediate permanent closure of the eastern extremity followed.
The western end from Bawtry continued in use due to the sand traffic; in London North Eastern Railway days, two round trips daily were often required. According to Squires, there was no run-round facility on the branch, so returning trains were propelled to Bawtry. However, the Ordnance Survey map for 1921 shows a passing loop to the south of the line at Misson, while in 1964 there was a much longer passing loop to the north of the line as well.
Instead of becoming a trunk haul mineral line, the section from Bawtry to Misson was little more than a farming siding and this finally closed on 1 April 1965, or 7 December 1964, according to other authorities.
See also.
Lincolnshire lines of the Great Northern Railway


Westhouses Locomotive Depot

Westhouses Locomotive Depot was a Traction Maintenance Depot located in Westhouses, Derbyshire, England.
The depot's TOPS code was WT.
History.
From March 1966 to November 1966, Class 11 locomotives were stabled here but they were sent to Newton Heath and Crewe Diesel TMD. Class 20, 25, 47 and 56 locomotives were also stabled here. After a Class 56 derailed in the shed yard, a decision was taken to close the lines into the shed and the staff were moved to Tibshelf Sidings where locomotives continued to service mid week.


Lancaster Green Ayre railway station

Lancaster Green Ayre railway station was the Midland Railway's station in the city of Lancaster in England. The line between Green Ayre and Morecambe was used for pioneering experimental electrification via overhead wires.
The station closed to passengers in 1966 and there are no remains.
History.
Lancaster's first two stations were the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway's at "Greaves" in 1840, and the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway's "Lancaster Castle" which superseded it in 1846.
The third station was opened by the Morecambe Harbour and Railway Company (MH&R) on 12 June 1848. The station building was designed by Edmund Sharpe. Originally called "Lancaster", it was soon renamed "Lancaster Green Ayre", although timetables incorrectly listed its name as Lancaster Green Area until 1870. The line originally ran from Lancaster to . The MH&R soon amalgamated with the "little" North Western Railway, which continued the line eastward from 17 November 1849, reaching in 1850. A connecting curve between Green Ayre and Castle opened on 18 December 1849.
The station was on the southern bank of the River Lune, adjacent to Skerton Bridge and immediately to the north of the city centre. Immediately west of the station was the junction between the connecting curve to Castle and Green Ayre's engine shed and the main line, which then crossed the river via Greyhound Bridge and continued along the north bank of the river, passing under the Lancaster and Carlisle's Carlisle Bridge over the river. East of Green Ayre the line followed the south bank of the river.
Take-over by the Midland Railway.
The "little" North Western Railway was taken over in 1874 by the Midland Railway, which had previously operated, then leased the line, and became a significant route for that company, giving access from its Yorkshire lines to the Lancashire coast in an area dominated by its major rival, the London and North Western Railway.
The Lancaster–Morecambe line was electrified in 1908. This was the first high-voltage overhead electrification in the United Kingdom and was at 6,600 volts AC 25 Hz; it was the pioneer for such systems. It was intended to be a test bed for further mainline electrification by the Midland Railway. In 1952 the original rolling stock was life expired and was withdrawn. Steam traction took over for a short while and then the power supply was upgraded to 50 Hz and some new stock provided; this was to act as a test-bed for further main-line electrification in the UK. This section of line became particularly busy.
Run down.
The line between and Morecambe via Green Ayre fell victim to the Beeching Axe. It closed to passengers on 2 January 1966, although the line through the station continued to be used for freight until 16 March 1976. The station was demolished that year.
The Greyhound Bridge was converted for use by the A589 road from 1972. The site of Green Ayre station is now a public park. Nothing remains of the station, but a goods crane from goods shed has been erected in the park near the site. The site of the adjacent locomotive shed is now occupied by a supermarket.
References.
Citations
Sources


Blackwell Mill

Blackwell Mill is a location in Derbyshire, near to the village of Blackwell near Buxton, but not part of it.
There was once a corn mill on the River Wye which may have dated from 1066. Most of it has disappeared, apart from the weir. What is left is marked as an Ancient Monument.
It stands at the meeting point of several valleys: Great Rocks Dale, Chee Dale and Ashford Dale. In times past the Manchester Turnpike forded the river. It marks the northern end of the public path from Bakewell, used by walkers and cyclists, called the Monsal Trail.
The trail follows the trackbed of the former Midland Railway main line from London to Manchester. Blackwell Mill lies between Bakewell and Buxton, on the Midland's attempt to extend the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway into Manchester. This point was the south curve of the triangular junction which it built when it, instead, extended to New Mills.
There was a railway station variously called "Blackwell Mill" or "Blackwell Mill Halt". Long enough only for one carriage, it was reputed to be the smallest passenger station on British Railways. It consisted of two short platforms, with no buildings, apart from a small shelter, which although derelict is still standing despite the station closing in 1967. The halt was for the railway workers who lived in the still-existing, and still occupied, eight terraced cottages nearby in the valley. The station was also included in a Pathé News film in 1938.
Passengers and goods from Buxton wishing to transfer to or from the Midland Main Line travelled past this point, to then change trains at Millers Dale.
The branch carried on into Buxton along Wye Dale, crossing the main A6 road and the river by a high twin-arched girder bridge, before entering Pig Tor Tunnel (191 yards), where it emerged into Ashwood Dale, followed by the Ashwood Dale Tunnel.


Seaton branch line

The Seaton branch line was a railway branch line connecting the seaside resort of Seaton, Devon, in England, to the main line network at Seaton Junction railway station, on the main line between Salisbury and Exeter.
The branch line opened in 1868; it became very popular with holidaymakers, greatly enhancing the attraction of the resort, but it declined and the line was closed in 1966.
Origins.
The small town of Seaton became a seaside holiday resort in the middle of the nineteenth century, although its historic port activity had declined to the use of fishing boats only. When the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened a main line from Yeovil to Exeter in 1860, completing a route from London, local people saw that a rail connection might reinvigorate their town. However the difficult terrain of the Devon Coast in the area forced the L&SWR to align its route a considerable distance to the north. They opened a station called Colyton for Seaton, near Shute. The station was four miles from Seaton, and over a mile from Colyton.
Local people wanted an actual rail link to the town, and after a first failed attempt to obtain an Act of Parliament for the purpose, they were successful, obtaining an Act for the "Seaton and Beer Railway" on 13 July 1863. The Company had an authorised capital of £36,000, and powers for a loan of £12,000, for the construction of a line from near the L&SWR Colyton station to a Seaton station to the east of the town.
The Act included powers to construct a bridge over the River Axe, giving access to Axmouth.
Construction.
At a Company meeting on 5 December 1863, Sir Walter Trevelyan was elected Chairman of the Company, and W.R. Galbraith the Engineer.
A contract for the construction was awarded to Howard Ashton Holden, signed on 8 January 1864, but progress was extremely slow, and in April 1865 the Company wrote to Holden threatening suspension of the contract. On 27 September 1865 the Company terminated Holden's contract on Galbraith's advice. Two alternative potential contractors fell by the wayside, and it was obvious that the available firms lacked the financial resources to undertake the work. The Company itself was now running short of money, and it had to obtain a further £12,000 by a 5% preference share issue and a £4,000 loan in an attempt to fund the work more directly, and John Sampson was engaged to carry the work on, with considerable financial assistance from the Company. Even Galbraith, on the Company's authority, was unable to obtain a locomotive to hire for the conduct of the works. With horses instead, he took direct control of the works, with Sampson in effect his site manager.
The planned opening for the summer season of 1867 was abandoned, but by 2 August 1867 a locomotive was found to be hired in to work on the construction. Several small contracts were let for constructing buildings; an understanding regarding the supply of water to Seaton station was found to be unsatisfactory, and an alternative with Sir Walter Trevelyan had to be hastily arranged.
The working arrangements with the L&SWR seem to have been left unclear. The company wished the L&SWR to work the line for them, and they tried to obtain more favourable financial terms than the L&SWR offered, and for a time considered working the line themselves. However the vulnerabilities of operating such a short line with the risk of accident or locomotive failure disrupting matters. At length the Company agreed the L&SWR terms.
The Company submitted the line for formal approval by the Board of Trade's Railway Inspectorate, and Colonel Yolland visited on 27 December 1867, but he objected to the Company's proposed connection at Colyton (i.e. the junction with the L&SWR main line): branch trains arriving were to run past the station and then propel back 200 yards to use the down (westbound) platform of the main line, rather than having a separate bay platform. There were numerous other matters of detail objected to.
When Yolland revisited for a second inspection on 19 February 1868, he was satisfied with all the minor issues except one, but the platforming arrangement at Colyton Junction was outstanding. However Sir Walter Trevelyan had an interview with the president of the Board of Trade, and the outcome was that this objection would be laid aside on the Company's undertaking to provide a branch line platform in six months on request from the Board of Trade.
At the end of February 1868 the Company received a letter from the L&SWR in which it declared its own objections, mainly connected with the provision of more durable structures. The Seaton and Beer Company went to arbitration over the L&SWR's demands, and the arbitrator found that limited improvements only were required.
The arbitration award referred to above was notified by letter on 15 March 1868.
Opening.
Accordingly, the branch line opened for traffic on 16 March 1868. The L&SWR worked the line. There were five trains each way each weekday, with mixed operation for two up and one down trains. Branch trains arriving at Colyton (later Seaton Junction) ran past the station towards Exeter to the point of convergence with the main line, and then reversed back into the down (westbound) platform.
The 1:30 PM train from Seaton reversed at the Junction and ran to Axminster to make a connection for London, returning and making a connection out of the 10:50 AM from Waterloo.
The line was 4¼ miles long; there were two intermediate stations, at Colyton Town and Colyford; Colyton (on the L&SWR main line) was renamed Colyton Junction on the same day. (It was renamed Seaton Junction on 18 July 1869 to avoid confusion with the Town station.)
Traffic and operation.
In the three and a half months to 30 June 1868, the line had only earned £300 from "coaching" and £43 from goods; the L&SWR retained £155 and the Company received £145. However, by 1870 matters much had improved, with 81,000 passengers and 13,928 tons of goods being carried in that year; in the same year the platform at Seaton was extended by 180 feet to accommodate the now-heavy volume of passenger traffic.
The line was worked at first by Beattie 2-2-2 well tanks, no 12 "Jupiter" and 3 "Phoenix" being in use at the beginning. O2 and T1 class 0-4-4 tank engines replaced the Beattie engines in the 1890s, occasionally supported by an Adams radial 4-4-2T. From 1930 auto train operation was begun on the branch.
The M7 0-4-4 tank engines are most associated with the line in its post-war years; these engines used the Westinghouse brake on passenger trains, making a characteristic sound as the train brake pipe was charged with compressed air.
Bulleid light pacifics were reported to have run on the branch.
On summer Saturdays after 1949 there was considerable extra traffic on the line, with two locomotives together operating nine-coach trains with through coaches to and from London. However, from 1962 through working to and from the branch ceased.
Diesel multiple unit working took over the branch from 4 November 1963.
When the line opened, it was operated on the "one engine in steam" system, but from 5 March 1899 the Tyers electric tablet system was instituted, with an intermediate signalbox at Colyton.
Original engineering.
The original track on the branch was 65 lbs per yard flat bottom rail in 24 feet lengths fastened direct to cross-sleepers on 12 inches of ballast.
The line was on easy gradients from Seaton to Colyford, and then rose at 1 in 76 with some short easier sections, to the junction with the main line.
The bridge to Axmouth.
The original powers for the Company had included the provision of a toll bridge over the River Axe to the east of Seaton station, giving access to the village of Axmouth. The small harbour there had road access on that side of the Axe. A contract for the bridge was let to William Jackson of Westminster on 15 December 1875; the engineer was Philip Brannon.
The bridge was opened on 24 April 1877, with a central span of 50 feet and two side spans of 30 feet span. It was constructed in concrete, and "is believed to be one of the first bridges in the UK to be constructed in concrete, with the adjoining toll house being the oldest concrete house in England."
The L&SWR takes over.
The Company and the L&SWR negotiated a lease of the line to the L&SWR. Awdry says that the Company discussed lease terms with the Great Western Railway too. A 1,000 year lease to the L&SWR was effective from 1 January 1880 for a rent of £1,000 in the first year, rising progressively to £1,550. The agreement had an option to purchase, and the L&SWR took ownership on 1 January 1888. However it refused to adopt the Axe bridge, a road bridge immediately to the east of the Seaton station leading to Axmouth; the bridge was taken over by Sir A.W. Trevelyan.
The takeover resulted in the preference shareholders receiving 75% of the nominal value of their stock, the residue going to the ordinary shareholders.
Improvements at Seaton Junction.
In 1927–1928, the Southern Railway (who had taken over the L&SWR at the Grouping of the railways in Great Britain) extended and improved the station facilities at Seaton Junction, providing through main tracks with the platform lines on loops; there was a new branch platform (opened on 13 February 1927), which branch trains could use without fouling the main line.
Closure.
With the growth of road transport after 1950 and of car ownership in the 1960s, the line declined substantially, and the line was closed on 7 March 1966.
Seaton Tramway.
The alignment between Riverside (just north of the old Seaton Station) and Colyton was purchased by Modern Electric Tramways Ltd, who moved their operations from Eastbourne in 1969 and established Seaton Tramway in 1970. It was extended northwards in stages, reaching Colyford in 1971 and Colyton in 1980.
The original Colyton station building is still in use as the Tramway's gift shop and restaurant. Colyford Station was demolished to make way for a tramway passing loop and siding, with just the old Gents WC remaining, although long since decommissioned.
With Seaton Station unavailable due to demolition and redevelopment, Seaton Tramway opened a new route from Riverside to Seaton Harbour Road/Underfleet in 1975, which does not use any part of the branch line alignment.


Chard Junction railway station

Chard Junction railway station was situated on the London and South Western Railway’s West of England Main Line in Somerset, England. It was the junction of a short branch line to Chard. It was opened in 1860 as Chard Road and closed in 1966. An adjacent milk depot was served by its own sidings from 1937 to 1980. A signal box remains to control Station Road level crossing and a passing loop on the long section of single track railway between and .
Although no longer a station nor a junction, the name 'Chard Junction' still appears on the signal box and official maps.
History.
The London and South Western Railway's (LSWR) line from Yeovil to Exeter was opened on 19 July 1860. A station named 'Chard Road' was provided on the Somerset–Devon border to serve the nearby town of Chard, the 'Road' part of the name indicating that it was not in the town. On 8 May 1863 a branch line was opened to , but it was not until August 1872 that Chard Road was renamed 'Chard Junction'. A signal box was erected at the junction in 1875.
From 1 January 1917 the branch line was worked by the Great Western Railway (GWR) with the trains and staff that worked its own branch from to the Chard Joint station that had been opened in 1866. In 1923 the LSWR became a part of the larger Southern Railway (SR).
Sidings for dedicated milk trains to serve a new creamery were laid on the south side of the station in 1937, shunted by the dairy's own Ruston and Hornsby four-wheel diesel locomotive (works number 183062 built 1937). Taken over by the Wiltshire United Co-operative Society, in 1974 a second hand Ruston and Hornsby 0-4-0 replaced it (304470 built 1951), which had previously been locomotive 12 at Windsor Street gas works in Birmingham. The original locomotive was retired into preservation two years later.
1948 saw the SR and GWR nationalised to become the Southern Region and Western Region respectively of British Railways. Things continued much as before but traffic was dwindling. Passenger trains were withdrawn from the Chard branch on 10 September 1962, although goods traffic continued for a few years more. From 1963 the line west of Salisbury was transferred to the Western Region and just a few months later "The Reshaping of British Railways" report recommended the closure of many rural stations and lines. In 1964 through trains beyond Exeter were mostly rerouted off the line through Chard Junction and along the Bristol to Exeter line instead. Just two years later, on 7 March 1966, Chard Junction was closed to passengers and on 3 October that year the remaining goods traffic on the branch line was withdrawn and the line closed completely. Further rationalisation saw the main line reduced to just a single track in 1967, although a passing loop was retained at Chard Junction. The eastwards to was singled on 7 May, followed by the westwards to on 11 June. The old level crossing gates were removed in January 1968 and replaced by full road-width lifting barriers.
The sidings serving the milk factory were taken out of use in 1980, although two years later a new signal box was built to replace the original that was then more than 100 years old. Additional loops have been installed since the 1960s; from December 2009 the single-line sections will be eastwards to and westwards to the long loop at .
Description.
The railway here climbs eastwards at a gradient of 1 in 120 (0.8%). At the north-east end of the station was the level crossing of Station Road and the Chard Road Hotel that served railway passengers at this remote location. The main station buildings were on the north-west side, the side nearer to Chard and on the platform for trains going towards Yeovil and London. On the opposite platform there was only a small waiting room and basic facilities. In front of the station entrance was the road approach and, opposite this, a separate platform used by the Chard branch trains. The track layout did not allow trains to run directly between the branch and main line, instead traffic to and from the branch had to be shunted through a connection in the goods yard which was at the Exeter end of the station between the main and branch lines. This included a goods shed and facilities for handling cattle traffic. The private sidings for the milk depot were behind the Exeter platform.
Today the old London and Chard platforms can still be seen, along with the signal box next to the level crossing. The goods shed still stands and is in use, but not for railway business. The station hotel still stands to the north east of the level crossing; it was known as now the Three Counties Hotel it has since closed.
Signalling.
The first signal box was provided on the eastbound platform next to the level crossing in 1875. The next signal box to the west was away at Broom Gates (a level crossing), and one was opened at Hewish Gates in 1900, shortening the section towards in the east by . A separate signal box known as Chard Junction Branch controlled movements in and out of the branch platform. It was reduced in status to a ground frame on 5 March 1935 and was closed entirely in 1964. The signal box on the main line platforms was replaced in 1982 but it continues to be known as 'Chard Junction', despite the lack of any kind of junction since 1966. Adjacent signal boxes are now located at eastwards, and westwards. As part of signalling modernisation the signal box is due to close as it will be controlled remotely from Basingstoke (info sourced 2012).
Services.
Long-distance services on the main line were operated by the LSWR and its successors between London Waterloo station and various stations in Devon and Cornwall such as , and Padstow. Local trains often operated between or and Exeter Queen Street.
Branch line services were operated between Chard Junction and Chard Town from 1863 to 1866, and between Chard Junction and Chard Joint (or Central as it was later known) from 1866 to 1962. These were operated by the LSWR until 1916 and then by the GWR, although only very seldom were they advertised as running through to Taunton on the latter's branch.
Proposed reopening.
There are proposals to re-open Chard Junction as part of a Chard town regeneration scheme; this has the support of Mayor Martin Wale, and both the current MP for Yeovil Marcus Fysh, and the former MP David Laws.
Whilst the station has been unused since 1966, the site has been subject to protection in planning terms from redevelopment that would preclude the station being reopened for passenger and as a possible freight terminal. In 2010 the site was sold by the former British Railways Board and offered to Somerset County Council who declined to buy it as they thought it would cost too much money to re-open it. Based solely upon this statement the Local Planning Authority South Somerset District Council are currently stating that they will no longer protect the site in planning terms from redevelopment. In January 2012 a planning application for a concrete batching facility was lodged by Darch and Sons, currently this application is being deliberated by South Somerset District Council and as a result a campaign group has been set up to try and protect the station site from development and to get the planning protection reinstated. Supporters of the campaign include David Laws MP, County and District Councillors and the local newspaper the "Chard and Ilminster News". The support group has accused the Local Planning Authority and County Council of "following in the footsteps of Beeching".
Following the Governments support for expanding the railway network it has been proposed that Chard Junction could reopen.
In January 2018, Devon County Council agreed to re-examine the proposals to reopen the station.
In May 2018, a Transport Strategy recommended the reopening of the station to passengers.


Long Eaton

Long Eaton is a town in the Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about south-west of Nottingham and some south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. Long Eaton has been part of Erewash borough since 1 April 1974, when Long Eaton Urban District was disbanded.
Geography.
Long Eaton is located in Derbyshire, forming part of the border with Nottinghamshire and very close to Leicestershire. The town is covered by the Nottingham post town and has a Nottingham telephone area code (0115).
History.
Long Eaton is referred to as "Aitone", in the "Domesday Book". Several meanings are associated with the name, for example "farm between streams" or "low-lying land". This farming settlement grew up close to the lowest bridging point of the River Erewash.
The "Great Fire of Long Eaton" destroyed 14 houses and several other buildings in the market place in 1694.
The village remained a constant size until the construction of the Midland Counties Railway in 1839 and the Erewash Valley Line in 1844, which brought links that encouraged growth. Two industries came to employ many people in the growing town: lace-making and railway waggon manufacturing. A large railway yard at Toton Sidings grew up just north of the town.
By 1900 the town population had grown to over 10,000, through construction of new houses, business premises and factories throughout the Victorian period. In 1921 Long Eaton's boundaries were extended, bringing Wilsthorpe and parts of both Sandiacre and Sawley into the town.
Notable architecture.
A notable building in the town is the Palladian Long Eaton Hall. This was originally a private residence, but is now occupied by the borough council, and is attached to the Long Eaton Town Hall complex, which opened in 1991.
The Parish Church of St Laurence stands to the east of the Market Place. Local tradition dates parts of the church to the 11th century, possibly built under Viking King Cnut. However, some place the oldest parts of the church after the Norman Conquest, possibly in the 12th century. It was originally a daughter church of All Saints, Sawley, but gained separate status in the 19th century.
There are several fine examples of industrial architecture in Long Eaton. Most are connected with the town's development as a lace-making centre. By 1907, the town housed almost 1,400 lace machines and the industry employed over 4,000 people (a quarter of the population). One of the largest lace-making mills, Harrington Mill, was built in 1885. It took one and a quarter million bricks to build the 167-metre long factory and it has 224 cast-iron windows down one side. Harrington Mill is a traditional, four-storey, red lace mill, built by a consortium of lace manufacturers. The turrets on the sides of the building house the original staircases.
The floors above the shops in High Street and the Market Place show that large parts of the centre were built in Victorian or early 20th-century times. The New Central Building is an example of late Victorian architecture. The High Street and Market Place were pedestrianised in the 1990s. The work to enhance and improve the layout and paving of Long Eaton town centre was completed in 2010.
Transport.
The main road through the town forms part of the A6005 and junction 25 of the M1 motorway is on its north-western border. The area round the town-centre traffic island is locally called The Green.
Long Eaton railway station is on the Midland Main Line from London, St Pancras. The broad Erewash Canal passes through the town.
There are bus services every few minutes to the nearby cities of Nottingham and Derby. Other local services include the East Midlands Airport.
Schools.
Long Eaton has two state secondary schools, The Long Eaton School and Wilsthorpe School, and several primary schools, including Brooklands, St Lawrence, Dovedale, Sawley, Harrington, English Martyrs, Longmoor and Grange. It also contains the public school Trent College, the private Elms School for ages 3–11, and a 2 special needs schools: Stanton Vale and Brackenfield SEND School.
Long Eaton School was split into two sites: Lower for years 7, 8 and 9, and Upper for years 10, 11 and sixth form. The Lower School building, opened in 1965, was demolished in 2006, when new school premises were built next door on the same grounds. Upper and Lower are now in one building again, which was opened by Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer. It has gained specialist status in science, become an eco school with an eco club, and recently gained academy relations. There is a research-grade telescope built on school grounds., where regular stargazing sessions are open to the public. It has partnership and student-exchange relations with Spanish, French, Italian and Chinese schools abroad.
In 2005 Wilsthorpe School gained specialist status in business and enterprise. In 2018, the school was rebuilt. Both Wilsthorpe and Long Eaton schools have an OFSTED rating of "good".
Brass band.
Long Eaton Silver Prize brass band is one of only two still functioning in Erewash. It was formed in 1906 after severing from a local temperance society. At its height, it reached the Brass Band Second Section. The original club building in Sailsbury Street closed in early 2015, but the band itself plays on.
In 2006, its centenary year, the band won the Midland Area Regional Championships, its first contest win since 1966. This secured promotion back to the Second Section and an invitation to the National Championships of Great Britain. The band also won this contest, in what were its best contest results since 1927.
Sport.
Long Eaton Speedway raced at the Long Eaton Stadium on Station Road. The first meeting was held on 18 May 1929. The Long Eaton Invaders became National Speedway Champions in 1984. However, the speedway stadium closed in 1997. Its area now holds a new estate of houses and flats to let and buy, and in part a playing field for Grange Primary School.
Long Eaton United F.C. plays in the Midland Football League, as founder members in 2014. The club was formed in 1956 but records show football prominent in the town for many years before. The Football Club has many junior sides and gained FA Charter Standard Community Club status in 2013. It also has a ladies' team competing in the East Midlands Womens Football League.
Long Eaton Rangers F.C. was founded in 1889 but left the Midland League in 1899.
The town has a rugby club, Long Eaton RFC and two recreational cricket clubs: Long Eaton Cricket Club, established in 1972, and Sawley Cricket Club moved onto West Park from nearby Sawley park in 1977.
Recreation.
The main park is West Park which has a café and neighbours West Park Leisure Centre.
Long Eaton holds an annual "Chestnut Fair" in November.
In a tradition which started in 1931, the town hosts an annual Carnival each year – currently on the third Saturday in June. The event commences with a parade of floats, decorated vehicles and walkers in fancy dress, which circulates round the town. It continues in the afternoon and evening with a range of entertainment, stalls and a funfair on the Carnival showground on West Park.
Notable people.
This is an alphabetical list of notable people in Long Eaton with a Wikipedia page.