Furness Railway Loco No 115 - The Lindal Railway incident Engine

[OnTheBranchline]

This might be a silly question but has there been any talks or attempt of digging the lost engine up? With modern technology, the job might be easier and safer now than it was 100+ years ago.

Edited May 5, 2017 by OnTheBranchline

[jamie92208]

This has been raised (Apologes for the pun) several times over the years.  I seem to remember that the loco is estimated to be quite a long way down, over 100' was once mentioned, in old ironstone mines IIRC.   There will also be underground water so I suspect that there will probably little left of the loco and to get down that far would be extremely expensive and possibly quite dangerous.

 

Jamie

[Enterprisingwestern]

It's probably cheaper and less faff to build a new one for anyone so inclined.

 

Mike.

[Jenny Emily]

Wasn't it mooted as being a potential dig for Time Team at one point which they passed on for much the same reasons as given above? Unlikely to be much left of the locomotive due to corrosion and simply being crushed by the weight of material above it.

 

Wasn't there a locomotive in the Wigan or Leigh area that suffered a similar fate?

[jamie92208]

There are quite a few stories of locos that were buried particularly in the Industrial sector.  I was told as a kid that Horton Lime Works on the S & C had run their locos off the end of a piece of track into what we knew as the blue lagoon.  I have never had chance to check or verify that story.  The lagoon was some sort of tailings pond from the lime making process and we could see it when climbing Pen-Y-Ghent. I'm sure that there were others.

 

Jamie

[Marshall5]

There are quite a few stories of locos that were buried particularly in the Industrial sector.  I was told as a kid that Horton Lime Works on the S & C had run their locos off the end of a piece of track into what we knew as the blue lagoon.  I have never had chance to check or verify that story.  The lagoon was some sort of tailings pond from the lime making process and we could see it when climbing Pen-Y-Ghent. I'm sure that there were others.

 

Jamie

I can confirm that story as i was told it first-hand by the transport manager on a field visit there in 1972.  I seem to remember an 0-6-0ST and a Sentinel were mentioned.

Ray.

[James Harrison]

OS Nock in his book Railway Archaeology wrote about the recovery of 115.  (Or was it a story told in a railway magazine that he included?) Apparently the story was so convincing that more than one person went to York to see the recovered engine...

[sir douglas]

over 100' was once mentioned

 

so that rules out geo-phys radar to at least find it because its too far down and the iron ore would likely blurr the results

[MarcD]

so that rules out geo-phys radar to at least find it because its too far down and the iron ore would likely blurr the results

 

With the natural background of hematite (85%-95% ore) most of Geo-phis techniques wouldn't work. Also the loco fell initially to the 20 fathom level but this would have been "artificial ground" so the loco could be down at a depth of 200 fathom if the artificial ground has collapsed into the stope. 

Lowfield mine, which is the mine that collapsed, is a bit of an odd ball in the Furness ore field as it the only one that is on a hydrothermal mineral vain and is the only true deep mine . All of the other mines extracted ore from sops, ore bodies that are shaped like giant carrots. Modern mining would have used open cast to get at the ore in most of the ore bodies.

 

Marc 

[PhilJ W]

There was an industrial locomotive that disappeared into a similar hole IIRC in the late 30's. I can't remember exactly where or when but tragically it took the driver with it and neither the locomotive or the driver were ever recovered.

[Sir Hadyn]

There was an industrial locomotive that disappeared into a similar hole IIRC in the late 30's. I can't remember exactly where or when but tragically it took the driver with it and neither the locomotive or the driver were ever recovered.

Yes, somewhere on the Lancashire Coalfield I recall, I think it was a Wigan Coal & Iron Co, 0-6-0ST but my books are elsewhere.

[Killian keane]

In chronicles of boultons siding, mention is made of a converted bury saddle tank like this one that remains buried beneath the foreshore at Wisbech, after a convoluted set of circumstances, the mechanics of which still seem unknown

[LMS2968]

There was an industrial locomotive that disappeared into a similar hole IIRC in the late 30's. I can't remember exactly where or when but tragically it took the driver with it and neither the locomotive or the driver were ever recovered.

Abram, three miles south of Wigan, and just north of Bickershaw Lane. The loco and Driver Ludovic Berry are still there.

 

I live about 200 yards away.

[sir douglas]

i vaguely remember someone mentioning this years ago so ive just had a look for it

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/past1.php

[pete_mcfarlane]

There are a few examples of buried locos and other bits of railway equipment being recovered:

 

http://www.oldengine.org/members/ruston/arlesey.htm

http://www.viewing.com/steam/aveling/aveling.htm

 

The Ruston Navvy has even been returned to steam. 

[adb968008]

I read somewhere that what looked like a reasonably large German locomotive was recovered about 10 years back, from a location on the continent, after being bombed in the war and subsequently buried.

 

I saw a picture of it but haven't been able to trace the story since.