Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum

The Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum is located in Threlkeld three miles (5 km) east of Keswick, in the heart of the Lake District in Cumbria. It is suited for families, school classes and enthusiasts. It includes a quarry with a unique collection of historic machinery, such as locomotives and cranes, an underground tour of a realistic mine, a comprehensive geological and mining museum and mineral panning.

Threlkeld Quarry originally opened in 1870 to supply railway ballast to the Penrith-Keswick line. Later, the stone was used by the Manchester Corporation Water Works for their Thirlmere scheme, for railway ballast for the Crewe-Carlisle line, for roadstone, kerbing and for facing buildings with dressed stone. The granite quarry finally closed in 1982 and is now the site for the Threlkeld Quarry & Mining Museum which is run by a group of staff and volunteers.

The extensive quarry site has ample space for the display of the unique collection of vintage excavators and old quarry machinery.

The track of the 2 ft (610 mm) gauge quarry railway has been relaid and provides a ride into the inner quarry for visitors to view the quarry faces in safety. Several locomotives are in regular use and others are on display in the Top Shed.

The steam locomotive 'Sir Tom' was built by W.G. Bagnall of Stafford in 1926 and named after Sir Tom Callender of British Insulated Callender's Cables (BICC). This 0-4-0 saddle tank narrow gauge locomotive worked at BICC in Kent until 1968. After being idle for thirty three years, it arrived at Threlkeld in 2001, and since then has been completely overhauled. Sir Tom was rebuilt and is driven by Ian Hartland. The locomotive completed the first full season of work at Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum in 2010. Sir Tom is mainly used to haul passenger trains from the middle quarry into the inner quarry.

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