The Bulkeley Hill Narrow Gauge Railway was a long gauge rope-hauled incline on the

Bulkeley Hill The Peckforton Hills are a sandstone ridge running broadly northeast–southwest in the west of the English county of Cheshire. They form a significant part of the longer Mid Cheshire Ridge which extends southwards from Frodsham towards Malpas ...

near

Bulkeley Bulkeley () is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is on the A534 road, west of Nantwich. In the 2011 census it had a population of 239. History Th ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Henrys Adventures
''Cheshire's Steepest Railway - The Bulkley Hill Narrow Gauge Railway.''CC BY 3.0
Retrieved on 4 July 2020. With a grade of nearly 1:1 in one section, it is known as ''Cheshire's Steepest Railway''.

History

The Staffordshire Potteries Water Board was granted permission in 1937 to build drinking water pumping stations at

Peckforton Peckforton is a scattered settlement (centred at ) and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The settlement is located to the north east of Malpas and to the west of Nantwich. ...

and

Tower Wood A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

in Cheshire with a reservoir on

, from where the water was piped to a large reservoir at Cooper's Green near Audley for distribution to Tunstall and the Potteries. After the water was pumped into the elevated reservoir, it ran in a 27-inch pipeline (ø 686 mm) to the potteries.''Bulkeley Hill Tramway.''
/ref> The incline was used during the construction of the Bulkeley Hill Reservoir and the water pipeline to overcome a height difference of about . It has three

catch points Catch points and trap points are types of turnout which act as railway safety devices. Both work by guiding railway carriages and trucks from a dangerous route onto a separate, safer track. Catch points are used to derail vehicles which are ou ...

for derailing runaway vehicles. At its bottom station, five reused Lancashire boilers are available as diesel storage tanks for the pumps.David Kitching
''Bulkeley boilers: Old Lancashire boilers in use as storage tanks at the Bulkeley waterworks.''
/ref> Bulkeley Hill Narrow Gauge Railway (01).jpg,

Catch point Catch points and trap points are types of turnout which act as railway safety devices. Both work by guiding railway carriages and trucks from a dangerous route onto a separate, safer track. Catch points are used to derail vehicles which are ou ...

in the lower part, uphill view Bulkeley Hill Narrow Gauge Railway (05).jpg, Steep area near the top, sidewards view Bulkeley Hill Narrow Gauge Railway (08).jpg, Top end, uphill view

External links

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/…/bulkeley-hill/

References

{{Coordinate , NS=53.0928 , EW=-2.7067 , type=landmark , region=GB , name=Mittelpunkt der Strecke 2 ft gauge railways in England Railway inclines in the United Kingdom Rail transport in Cheshire