The Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was a
narrow gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
in
Kintyre
Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...
, Scotland, between
Campbeltown and the
coalmining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...
village of
Machrihanish
Machrihanish ( gd, Machaire Shanais, ) is a village in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It is a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre, which faces out towards Northern Ireland and the Atlantic.
Machrihanish bay
The main ...
. Only three other passenger-carrying lines in the UK operated on the same
gauge
Gauge ( or ) may refer to:
Measurement
* Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments
* Gauge (firearms)
* Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire
** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, ...
, all of them in Wales - the
Corris Railway
The Corris Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Corris) is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) and Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales.
The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, runni ...
, the short-lived
Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway
The Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway was a gauge narrow gauge railway in Cardiganshire (now Ceredigion) in Mid Wales. It ran from (later renamed ''Llandre station'') on the Cambrian Line, through the village of Tal-y-bont and the valley of t ...
and the
Talyllyn Railway
The Talyllyn Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Talyllyn) is a narrow gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1865Drummond 2015, page 17 ...
.
History
Coal has been mined on the
Kintyre
Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...
peninsula since 1498 or before. Although not of the highest quality, the coal found there was abundant and relatively cheap to extract. In the middle of the eighteenth century the
collieries
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...
of the area were kept busy supplying the many
whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
distilleries in the Campbeltown area.
Canal
In 1773
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
surveyed a canal to connect the coal mines to Campbeltown to reduce the costs of transportation. The
Campbeltown and Machrihanish Canal
Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishin ...
was opened in 1791.
[Coal Mining](_blank)
/ref>
This early transportation link fell into disuse and had been virtually abandoned by 1856. In 1875, the Argyll Coal and Canal Co. acquired the main colliery and found the canal in a state of disrepair. They decided a better transportation system was required and began to investigate the building of a railway to Campbeltown.
Colliery railway
As rail transport developed in the 19th century, the colliery owners sought to build a tramway to replace the canal. In 1876 a lightly constructed industrial railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British ra ...
was built connecting Kilkivan Pit to Campbeltown, a distance of . For a short length the line ran on the formation of the canal before reaching Campbeltown, where it ended on a pier.
The colliery railway only ever carried coal traffic and used two locomotives, ''Princess'' and ''Chevalier'' to haul the trains of mine tub
A minecart or mine cart (also known as a mine trolley or mine hutch) is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are seldom used in modern opera ...
s.
Light railway
The colliery railway's traffic was largely seasonal as most of the colliery output was consumed locally. Around the turn of the century the mine owners began to search for additional traffic for the summer season. At the same time, new steam ship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
s began bringing tourists to the remote Kintyre peninsula. This led to the formation of the Association of Argyll Railway Co. Ltd. which applied for an order under the Light Railways Act to build a railway connecting Campbeltown with Machrihanish, on the west coast of the peninsula.
Construction of the Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway began in November 1905. The majority of the route of the new railway followed the colliery tramway, but with several of the steeper gradients and sharper curves eased. The colliery line was also extended west to the new terminus at Machrihanish. The work was completed in 1906 and the railway opened on 18 August 1906. It was an immediate success, attracting 10,000 passengers in its first three weeks of operation and replacing the horse-drawn tourist charabanc traffic in Campbeltown.
In the years leading up to the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the railway thrived on a mixture of coal and passenger traffic. After the war, competition from new motor buses began to reduce the railway's profitable tourist trade. By 1931 the summer tourist trade had dwindled significantly. Although passenger trains did run in early 1932, the railway was failing and it abandoned passenger services in May 1932. By November 1933 the railway had been wound up and in May 1934 the last trains ran, assisting in the scrapping of the line.
Maisel Oil Company
According to Davies both the railway and the colliery were acquired about 1929 by the Maisel Oil Company, which had a patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
for a process to produce oil from coal. This concern was not successful and the line closed to passengers in September 1931 and to all traffic in November 1932.
Macmillan gives a slightly different version:
"In June (1928) the Franco British Co. acquired the Argyll colliery and at a Campbeltown Town Council meeting on 13th August, Mr. Maisel, a director, said that gas could be got from a proposed coal distillation plant and bought by the town. A report to the shareholders stated that a testing plant of the Aicher low temperature carbonisation process had been in operation for a fortnight, under the supervision of Mr. Aicher. Tests gave yields of between 34½ and 74 gallons of crude oil per ton of coal 54–331 L/t or 37–79 US gal/short ton In addition 2350 cubic feet/ton 3/t or 2,100 cu ft/short ton">5.5 m3/t or 2,100 cu ft/short tonof gas and the residual coke were available from the process. In June 1929 the Franco British Company re-emerged as the Coal Carbonisation Trust and their prospectus mentioned carbonising 1,000 tons ,016 t or 1120 short tonsof coal per day yielding 11 cwt of coke per ton 50 kg/t Almost immediately afterwards the pit at Kilkivan was abandoned and the whole project 'melted like snow aff a dyke'."
It seems that there was some concern about the company's conduct and a question was asked about the matter in Parliament on 14 February 1933.
Accident
On 9 August 1910 there was a fatal accident when a train being stabled in the Linecraigs engine sidings collided with an engine already in the sidings. A cleaner, G. Jamieson, engaged in cleaning the standing engine, was knocked down by his engine, run over, and killed. The cause of the accident was the irregular use of a key to unlock the electric token instruments. This practice was authorised by A. Black, the superintendent of the line. He stated at the Board of Trade Inquiry into the accident that the reason for this practice was a desire to save the expense connected with the wear of the batteries that supplied power to the tablet instruments. This was achieved by suspending tablet working until 9 o'clock in the morning, as, prior to that hour, there was only one engine in steam in use on the line, and the suspension of tablet working enabled the batteries to be overhauled and cleaned.
Rolling stock
Locomotives
Passenger stock
R.Y. Pickering & Co. of Wishaw
Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it formed ...
supplied four passenger bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
carriages for the line in 1906. Each carriage had a central saloon with wooden tramway style seating for 64 passengers and open end platforms. Two further carriages were supplied by Pickering in 1907, the second of which had a central luggage compartment.
The carriages survived the closure of the line and in 1934 were moved to Trench Point on the other side of Campbeltown Loch where they were used as holiday homes. During the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
they were used by the Admiralty. After the war they were left to deteriorate until the remaining underframes were finally scrapped in 1958.
There are six saloon coaches on the gauge Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District. At Ravenglass the line ends at Raven ...
in Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
which are based on the exterior designs of the Campbeltown passenger stock, built in 1989 and 1990 for the Gateshead Garden Festival
The Gateshead Garden Festival was the fourth of the United Kingdom's five national garden festivals. Held between May and October 1990, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, it lasted 157 days, and received over three million visitors. Attractions i ...
.
Freight stock
Colliery railway
The colliery railway probably used mine tub
A minecart or mine cart (also known as a mine trolley or mine hutch) is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are seldom used in modern opera ...
s from the collieries' internal lines when it opened in 1876. By 1902, 18 four-wheeled flat wagon
Flat wagons (sometimes flat beds, flats or rail flats, US: flatcars), as classified by the International Union of Railways (UIC), are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck (or 2 decks on car transporters) and little ...
s were in use, each of which carried four " mine hutches". The hutches were small mine tubs, each of which carried of coal. The hutches were mounted transversely on short lengths of rail on the main railway wagons.
Light railway
With the rebuilding of the colliery line in 1906 the opportunity was taken to replace the hutch carrying wagons with more conventional stock. A set of four-wheel open-sided coal wagons were purchased from Hurst Nelson & Co. Ltd. of Motherwell. Like the earlier colliery wagons, these had dumb buffers
A buffer is a part of the Buffers and chain coupler, buffers-and-chain coupling system used on the railway systems of many countries, among them most of those in Europe, for attaching railway vehicles to one another.
Description
Fitted at the ...
and centre couplings. Later batches of wagons were built to a design. In all the railway used approximately 150 coal wagons, all owned by the Campbeltown Coal Co. rather than the railway.
In addition to the coal wagons, the railway also had a small number of other freight stock, all owned by the railway company itself. A brake van was supplied by R.Y. Pickering. The same company supplied an open-sided milk wagon based on the design for the wagon but with open spars extending above the sides to provide extra support for carrying milk churn
A milk churn is a tall, conical or cylindrical container for the transportation of milk. It is sometimes referred to as a milk can.
History
The usage of the word 'churn' was retained for describing these containers, although they were not thems ...
s. Finally the railway had a detachable snow plough
A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to re ...
and a small platelayer
A platelayer (British English), fettler (British English – UK, Australia, NZ) or trackman (American English) is a railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway, usually under the charge of a foreman called (in UK ...
s' trolley for maintenance work.
Stations
None of the stations had platforms, however a small wooden shed with a corrugated iron roof was present at Machrihanish. The stations and halts were located at Campbeltown, Plantation Halt, Moss Road Halt, Lintmill Halt, Colliery Road, Drumlemble Halt, Machrihanish Farm Halt, Trodigal Halt and Machrihanish
Machrihanish ( gd, Machaire Shanais, ) is a village in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It is a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre, which faces out towards Northern Ireland and the Atlantic.
Machrihanish bay
The main ...
.
See also
*List of 2 ft 3 in gauge railways
In railway terminology, track gauge indicates the distance between the inside edges of the running rails. Standard gauge is defined as , and narrow gauge as any gauge less than that distance.
In Britain, standard gauge is used for all main line r ...
*British narrow gauge railways
There were more than a thousand British narrow-gauge railways ranging from large, historically significant common carriers to small, short-lived industrial railways. Many notable events in British railway history happened on narrow-gauge railways ...
References
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External links
Railscot - Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway
{{coord, 55.42093, N, 5.67718, W, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:2000, display=title
Portages
Closed railway lines in Scotland
Railway lines in Scotland
Transport in Argyll and Bute
2 ft 3 in gauge railways in Scotland
Railway lines opened in 1876
1876 establishments in Scotland
Light railways
Campbeltown