The Tramways of Hartside

The Tramways of Hartside
by Peter Holmes

The following information has been compiled from an article entitled:-
The Tramways of Hartside written by Peter Holmes,
which was published in the Industrial Railway Record
No. 138, September 1994 edition,
published by the Industrial Railway Society.

Introduction

On the A686 road between Alston and Penrith, there is a locality known as Hartside, which is best known today for its hairpin bend and the fine view. In the past, Hartside has been the site of at least four industrial railways, the existence of which was unsuspected until the characteristic ‘mineral line siding or tramway’ symbol was spotted on an old Ordnance Survey map. I have not had the opportunity to delve very far into the local history; possibly much more material is there to be researched, but I am putting down what information I have, in the hope that it may stimulate some response.

Above: A map of the Hartside Tramway systems, reproduced from the article in the Industrial Railway Record, No. 138, September 1994 edition, published by the Industrial Railway Society.

Knapside Tramway

The 2.5 miles long Knapside Tramway is probably the earliest of the four lines described and appears on the current 1:25,000 map as ‘Course of Old Tramway’. Its route is easy to trace and follows the contours on a low embankment for much of its course. The tramway was built at an unknown date to serve mineral workings in the vicinity of Aglionby Beck, around grid reference NY 653391. This area is of geological interest in that it marks the western extremity of the Great Sulphur Vein, which was a major feature of the Alston Moor mining area but was never a significant source of useful minerals. At Aglionby Beck an attempt was made to extract limonite, which is a low grade iron oxide, and also whinstone. Neither mineral was produced in worthwhile quantities and the tramway probably carried little if any traffic.

A few hundred yards south of Aglionby Beck, a branch of the Great Sulphur Vein did yield a small amount of lead, and was worked at the Knapside mine at NY 654387. There were several levels here, and at least one shaft, worked by a horse gin. The tips contain samples of galena and pyromorphite. It is not known whether these workings were contemporary with the Aglionby Beck operation; if so, the output could well have been carried on the tramway. The published mineral statistics give no figures for either Aglionby Beck or Knapside mines.

Photo: A stone embankment on the Knapside Tramway at Grid reference NY 654936, looking north, on 27th August 1993. Photo by Peter Holmes.

The well-engineered tramway started next to the main Hartside road at NY 647418 approximately and was separated from the road by a wall with access through a gate. There is evidence of a small terminal yard with room for about two tracks; the lie of the ground and the existence of the long-established wall suggesting that the tramway did not cross the road. After a number of sharp curves, of which the tightest is about 50ft radius, the tramway settled down to a fairly straight run across open moorland. The trackbed is marked by parallel drainage ditches twelve feet apart, and in one place there is a low stone embankment nine feet wide. Sites of two passing loops can be seen, and their position suggests the existence of at least one more. A widening of the trackbed at the loops is clearly defined by the drainage ditches, the loops being about 22 yards long. The trackbed is made up of broken stone which shows through the short grass over much of the route. There are no sleeper impressions. In several places small streams pass through the embankment, but there is no stonework, which suggests that the bridges were entirely of timber. Unfortunately, despite extensive erosion of the embankment ends, no sleepers or track materials have been found.

The course of the tramway terminates in a hollow between two streams at NY 653391, surrounded by bleak moorland and very slight traces of mineral workings. Adjacent to the terminus the ground has been quarried and the outcrop of whinstone is visible; Knapside mine is nearby with no apparent rail connection. This must be one of the loneliest industrial railway sites in the country and has an air of mystery, not unlike the remote ends of the Gorseddau Tramway.

In the absence of any relics on the ground, it is difficult to estimate the gauge of the Knapside Tramway. The earthworks would actually accommodate standard gauge, but the sharp curves at the north end probably rule this out. I suggest that the track materials may have been the typical local ‘underground’ type of the mid nineteenth century, namely wrought iron T-section rail held in chairs, with a gauge of 2ft or slightly less. The wagons could also have been of an underground type, possibly similar to the Nenthead ‘box wagon’. Motive power would undoubtedly be horses. We must not overlook the melancholy possibility that when the mines failed to develop, the tramway was left unfinished. This would account for the lack of sleeper marks or track relics. Even though the passing loops are spaced in anticipation of fairly intensive operation, the scale of the mine workings is so small that it is hard to believe a tramway was even planned.

Haresceugh Fell Tramway

This tramway served an area of barytes workings around the head of Loo Gill on the south west facing slopes of Haresceugh Fell. It is shown ‘in situ’ on a 1950s edition of the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map, which is deceptive as it was surely dismantled long before that date. This map was based on a much earlier 1:2,500 sheet, and here as elsewhere this accounts for the appearance of obsolete railway detail on a modern map. The tramway also appears on the 1925 Edition one inch map.

Barytes is a naturally occurring form of barium sulphate, and was the subject of a Government survey published in 1915. This had very little to say about the mines at Hartside, where there was apparently no coherent vein, the mineral running through a shatter-belt in the sandstone ‘country rock’. The workings before 1915 were described as little more than trials, and the published mineral statistics up to 1913 say nothing. Barytes once found use as a pigment, but since the development of the petrochemical industry, its principal function has been as a weighting medium for well drilling fluids. It is thus a mineral of some strategic importance, and both World Wars have seen operation of barytes mines which would have been uneconomical in any other circumstances. Since the evidence suggests that the tramway at Haresceugh Fell was built after 1915 and before 1925, it seems likely that it was just such a wartime operation.

The trackbed of the tramway is difficult to follow, and in places I is hard to believe there were ever rails on the ground at all. It must have been lightly built and a walk along the line one freezing January day revealed very little. The whole route is optimistically shown as a path on the current 1:50,000 map, although the 1:25,000 map depicts a gap in the middle, where the evidence on the ground becomes well and truly lost. A fragment of stone retaining wall can be seen and the site of two small bridges. In places the trackbed has been washed away but no remains of track materials could be found. The tramway started at about NY 645425, a short distance from the hairpin bend on the main Hartside road. Here the route is clear, as the trackbed was later made into a road serving a coal level at NY 645431 and the more recent barytes mine in Loo Gill. North of the coal working, the route becomes hard to follow, but it sweeps round in a wide curve towards the west, gradually losing height. There were some further small coal workings close to this stretch, possibly contemporary with the tramway.

Around the west end of the line, in the vicinity of NY 628431, there are quite substantial earthworks associated with quarrying and barytes mining, although it is not easy to separate old workings from more modern ones. This area is on the 'back' of the barytes deposit worked by Laporte in the 1940s and described below. The remains of a small winch can still be found and this appears to have wound from an inclined level at about NY 633433. This working may have had a short rail system, although it would have been isolated from (and more recent than) the main tramway. The Haresceugh Fell tramway can only be described as an enigmatic system in a remote and inhospitable place, and I do not recommend exploring it in winter!

Hartside Barytes Mine

Of the four systems described in this article, this is the best documented and the most traceable. The mine was operated by The Hedworth Barium Co Ltd of Hebburn, and was later acquired by B. Laporte & Co. Its workings were separate from those served by the Haresceugh Fell tramway, and at a lower level, the intention being to work the same deposit from the bottom up. There were two entrance levels alongside Loo Gill at NY 642428. The mineral was put through a basic crushing and cleaning plant adjacent to the gill, and was then hoisted up a steeply inclined tramway to bins, sited close to the southern terminus of the earlier tramway at NY 645426. This incline was partly supported on wooden longitudinals, and the wagons were wound up the hillside by an electric winch. A road connected the bins to the celebrated ‘hairpin’ bend at Hartside, running partly on the line of the earlier tramway.

The partially treated barytes was taken by lorry to Silver Band, Laporte’s mine near Appleby, for further refining. Once again it was wartime demand which had brought the mine into being; Hartside mine is recalled as being in operation in 1943, and probably closed at the end of World War 2. There was a proposal to build an aerial ropeway between Hartside and Alston station, a distance of six and a half miles. A ropeway was acquired, possibly second hand, but was never installed. Parts for it were delivered to Alston and are recalled as lying in the station yard for some time, but presumably the demand for home produced barytes took a downward turn and the ropeway project progressed no further.

The track layout is not entirely clear, but the incline appears not to have joined the underground track, being separated from it by the small dressing plant. Metal sleepers indicate that the gauge of the tramway on the incline was 60cm rather than 2ft, suggesting equipment of Continental origin. A length of rail found on the incline is flat bottom section of about 30 lb per yard (or 15 kilos per metre).

Photo: The site of Hartside barytes mine in Loo Gill, looking south west on 14th August 1993. The incline descended from the left and the entrance levels are behind the camera. Photo by Peter Holmes.

Remains of two wagons can be found alongside the inclined tramway, and a third at the bottom. They also appear to be of Continental origin, their dimensions are metric and one has axleboxes marked ‘DuCroo & Brauns, Amsterdam’. The chassis are of the usual channel type with curved ends; two have been used as flats while the third appears to have been a tipper and retains one of the body supports. Of the body there is no trace. The wagons used underground were probably U-shaped side tippers. The main entrance level sloped upwards and wagons were drawn into the mine by an electric hauler at the inner end of the level. Its slope was sufficiently steep for the full wagons to pull the rope out behind them.

In the ruined winding house at the top of the external incline, a curious feature is a number of coloured granite flagstones, incorporating lettering and patterns. These may have originated from Threlkeld quarry near Keswick, which was a major producer of such flags until they went out of fashion. In the 1930s an enormous number were disposed of for use as hardcore or building material.

Twotop Hill Colliery

I cannot say whether this was the official name of the working, but it is the nearest geographical feature and would be a likely name. All that can be seen of the colliery are a number of shale tips, which form quite a prominent feature on the horizon above the Hartside road. The one inch map of 1925 shows a tramway about 600 yards long, connecting the mine at NY 635411 with the road at NY 629411. It was presumably worked by gravity. Part of the course is roughly paralleled by the road to the telecommunications mast on the western slope of Fiend’s Fell. The earthworks of the tramway are far from clear; at the bottom the line seems to have run on to a bunker alongside the road, the layout at the top is less obvious.

Lying in the grass below the colliery tips is the well-rusted framework of a wagon body. A thorough search of the surrounding area, including the nearby Twotop Beck, failed to reveal any other relics. At sites such as this, the diligent searcher is sometimes rewarded with a pair of wheels or a pressed metal sleeper, which at least enables the gauge to be determined. It seems, however, that Twotop Hill, like Haresceugh Fell, cannot be made to give up its secrets so easily.

I would like to acknowledge the assistance given to me by Ben Armishaw and the late Eric Richardson.

References

Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Special Report Vol.ll, Barytes and Witherite, Published by HMSO 1915.
Dunham K.C., Geology of the Northern Pennine Orefield, Vol. 1, Tyne to Stainmore. Published by HMSO 1948.
R.A. Fairbairn, The Mines of Alston Moor (British Mining No.47). Published by Northern Mine Research Society 1993.
Ordnance Survey one inch map, Sheet No. 10 Alston & Weardale, 1925 Edition.

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