The Burneside Tramway was initially a narrow gauge and later a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

railway serving the James Cropper paper mills around

Burneside Burneside () is a small village in South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is located to the north of Kendal and to the south east of Staveley, Cumbria, Staveley, on the River Kent, just upstream from the confluence of the River Sprint. It has a ...

, Cumbria.

History

The tramway was built in 1879-80 as a line to connect the paper mills run by James Cropper and Co in

and Cowan Head. Wagons were hauled by horse power. It was converted to in 1924, and in the same year, the Motor Rail and Tram Car Company in Bedford provided a locomotive called ''Rachel'' which was used to transfer wagons between the mill and

Burneside railway station Burneside railway station is in Burneside, Cumbria, England. The station is situated on the Windermere Branch Line from Oxenholme to Windermere. To the east of the station can be found the only two semaphore signals on the line guarding the m ...

. In 1951 Rachel was replaced by a diesel Ruston 48 No.294266. The line to Cowan Head closed in 1965, with the section between Burneside Mill and

still operating until it closed in 1974. ''Rachel'' has survived and is preserved at the

Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway (L&HR) is a heritage railway in Cumbria, England. Location The L&HR runs from Haverthwaite at the southern end of the line via Newby Bridge to Lakeside at the southern end of Windermere. Some services are ...

. The Ruston was named ''Flying Flea'' at Carnforth before moving south to Sir William McAlpine's Fawley Hill Railway. The locomotive was not in regular use, and was sold on to Lawrie Rose, who moved the engine to the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway. The locomotive was renamed ''Sir William McAlpine'' by dowager Lady Judith McAlpine.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite web , title=Burneside Paper Mills Tranway , series=Ordnance Survey 6 inch to the mile maps , year=1913 , website=National Library of Scotland , url=http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=54.3596&lon=-2.7686&layers=6&b=1 Rail transport in Cumbria Tram transport in England 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in England Standard gauge railways in England Industrial railways in England Railway lines opened in 1880 Railway lines closed in 1974 1880 establishments in England Horse-drawn railways