Pentewan Railway
| Locale | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1829–1919 |
| Successor | abandoned |
| Track gauge | 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) |
| Length | 4 miles |
| Headquarters | Pentewan |
The Pentewan Railway was a British, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railway in Cornwall, England. It was built as a horse-drawn tramway carrying china clay from St Austell to a new harbour at Pentewan, and was opened in 1829. In 1874 the line was strengthened for locomotive working. It finally succumbed to more efficient operation at other ports and closed in 1918.
Tin mining had been the dominant industry in much of Cornwall in the eighteenth century, but that work was declining by the 1830s. China clay (referred to as kaolinite outside the United Kingdom) had been discovered in the area north and west of St Austell, in Cornwall, and Charles Rashleigh was prominent in developing the industry; he built a harbour at Charlestown from which the material could be shipped to market. The harbour was south-east of St Austell town and the principal sources of the mineral were to the north west, and that the china clay had to be conveyed on packhorses through the centre of the town.
In 1820 Sir Christopher Hawkins purchased land at Pentewan at the mouth of the St Austell river. He constructed a harbour there, and it was completed in 1826 at a cost of £22,000.
In 1827 a prospectus for a railway was published by him; the railway was to run from the West Road at St Austell to Pentewan Harbour; the West Road location was on the cartage route from the clay pits. Tenders for the construction of the line were invited on 26 September 1829. There were no substantial engineering difficulties and the line was announced as already open nine months later, on 1 July 1829; the cost was said to be £5,732 6s 8d. Hawkins appears to have managed the operation through a Pentewan Railway and Harbour Company.
The new railway was built to 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge. There had previously been no other edge railway of that gauge. It was the third public railway in Cornwall, after the Poldice Tramway (a plateway) and the Redruth and Chasewater Railway. The northern part was on a steep gradient falling towards the harbour, so that loaded wagons could be gravitated; the remainder, and the uphill empty haul, was operated with horses.
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