The Edge Hill Light Railway, one of
Colonel Stephens'
light railway
A light railway is a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more steep gradients and tight curves to reduce civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow ...
s, was in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
, England. It was designed to carry
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
from Edge Hill Quarries to
Burton Dassett
Burton Dassett is a parish and shrunken medieval village in the Stratford-upon-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The population (including the village of Knightcote) of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,322. Much of the area is ...
where a junction was made with the
Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
. It was never officially opened, but began operating in 1922.
In the middle of the line, there was a cable-worked
inclined plane
An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...
at 1 in 6 (16%). As the quarry was at the top of the incline, the incline could be worked as self-acting: the weight of full ore wagons descending was sufficient to draw the empties back up.
Within three years it was found that the iron ore deposits were uneconomic, and the line ceased operating in 1925.
It was not dismantled until 1946. A caretaker was employed until the late 1930s in the possibility that the line could be re-opened. In 1942, permanent way from the lower portion of the line was requisitioned for the construction of the army depot now known as
MoD Kineton
Defence Munitions (DM) Kineton occupies the site officially known as MOD Kineton, and is a Ministry of Defence property located close to the village of Kineton, Warwickshire, England.
History
Developed from 1941 onwards on land neighbouring th ...
. This had the effect of isolating the line, and the remaining stock at the top of the incline, from the main line and so they survived there until 1946.
Locomotives
Goods stock
References
Further reading
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*
*
External links
Edge Hill Light Railway, via ''The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum''Photos of the railway, via ''Yahoo''The line in relation to the SMJ, via ''SMJ Society''The line in 1945, via ''Michael Clemens Railways''*https://web.archive.org/web/20100324132738/http://www.colonelstephenssociety.co.uk/EHLR%20photo%20gallery.html
*http://warwickshirerailways.com/misc/ehlr.htm
Rail transport in Warwickshire
History of Warwickshire
Railway lines opened in 1922
Railway lines closed in 1925
HF Stephens
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