Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Junction Railway
| Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Rural Line |
| System | National Rail Network |
| Status | Closed |
| Locale | Cumbria |
| Termini |
Whitehaven Marron Junction Egremont |
| Stations | 12 |
| Services | 2 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1855 |
| Closed | 1964 |
| Owner | Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway |
| Operator(s) | Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway was an English railway company which built and operated a standard gauge railway in Cumberland, England intended to open up the hematite orefield to the south-east of Whitehaven. It opened for goods traffic in 1855 and for passenger traffic in 1857.
A prospectus for the company promoting the railway was issued in December 1853. The line was to run for four and a half miles from a junction with the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway at Mirehouse, two miles south of Whitehaven to Egremont via Moor Row, and iron ore mines at Bigrigg and Woodend; a two-mile branch was to run from Moor Row to Frizington, serving an ironworks in Cleator Moor, and assorted ore mines in the district. The line was supported by the principal landowners (including the Earl of Lonsdale) and was predicted to be highly profitable. It was claimed that five to six hundred carts were employed to transport over a hundred thousand tons of ore a year raised in the area the railway would serve to Whitehaven; because of this traffic, the yearly rent of the tollgate at Hensingham had increased from £820 a year to £2770 a year over the previous decade
An act was obtained the following summer, and work promptly began on the Mirehouse-Frizington section; by December 1855 it was possible to run a trial train over this, particular attention being paid to the demonstration that trains could safely be stopped and started on the steep climb from Mirehouse to Moor Row. Opening for general mineral traffic followed in January 1856; the safety of the steep descent to Mirehouse being again insisted upon in a contemporary report: "This incline was descended at the rate of six miles per hour without the appliance of any break except to the engine. This is sufficient to set at rest any doubts which may have been entertained by any one respecting difficulty arising from the gradient on this section of the line." The Egremont branch was sufficiently complete by May 1856 that the directors were taken on an inspection tour of the entire line but a Board of Trade inspection of the line in August 1856 insisted on better siding accommodation at the Whitehaven & Furness's Corkickle station and a more permanent arrangement with the W&FJR before passenger services could be authorised. The WC&ER contributed £2000 towards the required work and the agreement with the W&FJR was extended to ten years. Formal opening ceremonies took place 16 July 1857, but passenger services had been running since the start of the month. In the last week of July 1858, about 6,400 tons of ore were transported by the WC&ER, three-quarters of this being shipped to Wales through Whitehaven harbour, despite its inadequate provision for the export of ore. An embankment failed at Woodend in October 1858, an adjoining viaduct was then condemned because of mining subsidence and (January–February 1859) services on the Egremont branch terminated at Woodend whilst the suspect section of viaduct was replaced by an embankment. The railway was so profitable that it was decided to pay the £500 cost of this out of current revenue, which still allowed an interim dividend of 4% for the first half of 1859. In 1862, Frizington branch services terminated at Cleator, again because of subsidence.
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