Bagnall 401 "Vulcan" hauling demonstration freight trains on the North Tyneside Steam Railway

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Cawfields Quarry Railway. Industrial narrow gauge in Northumberland

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Cawfields Quarry Railway   Kerr Stuart "Sirdar" class 0-4-0T "Vyrnwy" crossing high Mill bridge. The engine shed can be seen behind the wagons. The above picture can be seen on an information board for the burn neat the start of the walk. The orignal picture was taken by J.Keen. History & the route Many in the narrow gauge community will be familiar with the town of Haltwhistle as the planned terminus for the South Tynedale railway from Alston, who hope to return to the town within the next several years. But the South Tynedale won’t be the first narrow gauge railway within the town. By Roger Cornfoot © Creative Commons In 1905 a narrow gauge railway was constructed to link the Newcastle & Carlisle railway with the Whinstone quarry at Cawfields, near Hadrian’s wall. Part of the line was built on a pre-existing Tub way that linked South Tyne Colliery with the South Tyne Colliery screens at  Townsfoot. A number of bridges on the route and embankments had to be...
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The Owd Ratty: Gill Force Tramway

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  The Owd Ratty: Gill Force Tramway The present day terminus for the railway is built on the formation of the Gill Force Tramway. This 1951 shot shows "The Pretender" waiting to take a train back down the valley to Ravenglass. Ben Brooksbank Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0 In the previous post (link here) I covered the history of the Owd Ratty and the line up to Boot in Eskdale. I mentioned that at Gill Force junction the line split and a tramway ran to the mines at Gill Force. The history of this part of the Owd Ratty is not as well documented as the Boot branch and to date there are no known images of the line. What is known is that the line was built in 1880 for the “South Cumberland Iron Company” they were looking for Iron ore on the opposite side of the valley to the mines at Nab Gill. The mines weren’t very successful and only lasted a few years closing completely in 1884. The site of Gill Force junction today. As I stated in the last post, th...
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