The Iron Moor - By Phil Baines

OVER the past few months our route builder Ben Yates has expanded the route southwards from Tebay all the way to Oxenholme. This will give you a nice run-up to the gradients heading over Shap. As part of this expansion, the line via Grange-Over-Sands has been added. Here is the new route map:

Now, Phil gives us some insight into the area we're extending into, and reasons for the expansion:

"Iron ore was mined in the area around Lindal-in-Furness to such an extent it became known as "The Iron Moor". The Lindal Moor iron ore was of a type known as haematite, on account of its blood-red colour. It was of very good quality, being low in phosphorus, and was highly valued."

"The various pits/mines were linked to the Furness railway by a mixture of standard and narrow gauge tracks and a large yard developed at Lindal to handle the traffic."

"The following picture gives an idea of the extent of the yard complex and also shows the hole that subsided under the track and swallowed loco 115!"

"The demand for haematite by the North East steel works meant that the mineral trains carrying coke and coal from County Durham to various ironworks in and around Barrow-in-Furness could carry return loads of ore."

"Originally the trains had to travel (and reverse) via the busy junction at Carnforth, but this was relieved by the development of the Hincaster branch which was a single-track branch line of the Furness Railway which connected Arnside on the Furness main line to a junction with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Hincaster. Intermediate stations were provided at Sandside and Heversham, with the main engineering work being a substantial 26-arch viaduct over the River Bela (or Beela) near Sandside."

"As a significant volume of traffic over Stainmore was mineral traffic and much of it would travel via Tebay to Lindal, it was decided to extend the route along the Hincaster branch to facilitate scenarios representing this traffic. Also, the inclusion of Oxenholme meant that scenarios of mainline running over Shap could be better realised."

"The following pictures show some of the assets developed to incorporate the Hincaster branch into the route. They are still WIP so may look a little bare!"

"Firstly Oxenholme station."

"Next is Beela Viaduct."

"Sandside with the limekiln in the background. There is still a working quarry at Sandside and the spur to the quarry remained open until the mid 1960's."

"Arnside station. The Hincaster Branch entering from the bottom right to join the Furness mainline before crossing the Arnside viaduct in the background."

 *Please note that many details have been added since these screenshots were taken

And here are some more screenshots taken by Ben Yates: 

"Grange-over-sands station and yard."

"and the Lido at Grange-over-sands."

That's all from Phil for this blog post. We now want to just share some extra images that show the gorgeous gardens at Grange-Over-Sands sent to us by Ben just yesterday:

More soon. . . . . . .