Snailbeach District Railway - Eastridge Quarry

[Danny252]

Reading about the Snailbeach District Railway, most sources mention a branch line being built to a quarry at Eastridge (also referred to as Graham's Moor) in 1905, which provided significant traffic for the railway until the quarry closed in 1920/1921, and the branch was taken up in 1922. The only information I can find on the route of this branch is the map on page 14 in Eric Tonks' book, which shows the branch coming off near the junction for the smelting works, and climbing towards Callow Lane and reaching the quarry with little curvature. No evidence of the route is readily visible on any maps or satellite images I can find, although Tonks briefly mentions that "traces of the Eastridge Wood branch are to be seen near the junction".

 

On looking at the terrain in the area, a branch climbing straight up towards Eastridge seems very steep! From the line of the railway, the climb is nearly 70m (230 feet) to reach the top of the ridge, which Tonks' map suggests occurs in less than half a mile, an average gradient of approximately 1 in 10 - the steepest gradient I can find mentioned elsewhere on the line is only 1 in 25.

 

Did the branch go all the way to the quarry, or was it instead a short branch to some loading facility, or an incline? Any information on the route and nature of the branch would be appreciated.

 

(Alternatively, there are the remains of another quarry in Poles Coppice, to the north east, which would be rather more accessible - but it doesn't match the described location...)

[APOLLO]

A bit of a mention here

 

http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/colonel-stephens-railways/snailbeach-district-railway/a-short-history-of-the-snailbeach-district-railways

 

An interesting little railway.

 

Brit15

[Danny252]

To partially answer my own question, it seems the route was simply straight up, according to OS maps - it took a while until I came across an OS map covering the right era, as it seems the main revisions came slightly before the branch opened, and slightly after it closed! Selecting Historic OS Maps > New Popular on http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ shows the branch.

 

That doesn't quite answer the method of working, as the wagons still needed to climb 200ft in a horizontal distance of 1900ft - a gradient of about 1 in 10. All I can imagine is that only a very few wagons were moved at a time, or that it was indeed an incline.

[tanatvalley]

This answers your question.

[Baldwin30762]

In answer to your question wagons would go down by gravity from Callow Hill to Pontesbury Siding each day a few at a time, then on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays a steam engine would then go to Pontesbury yard and pull all the empty's back up to Callow Hill sidings where the whole process would start again.

 

When all the steam locos where out of order they started to use a tractor which would haul the wagons back to the sidings.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Colin Rainsbury