Redruth and Chasewater Railway
Encyclopedia
The Redruth and Chasewater Railway, otherwise called the Redruth and Chacewater Railway using modern spelling, was a very early industrial railway line in Cornwall
, England, UK that opened in 1825 and closed in 1915. It was built to a 4ft narrow gauge and ran half way across the Cornish peninsula from the port of Devoran
on Restronguet Creek
(off the Fal Estuary
) to the mining areas around Redruth
.
with the coast near Devoran was authorised on 17 June 1824. The route went via Carharrack
and down the Carnon Valley, via Bissoe
.
The track was of 4ft (1.22m) gauge and used wrought iron
rails attached to granite
blocks by cast iron
chairs; it was also the first use of edge rails in Cornwall. The official opening of the Redruth and Chasewater Railway was on 17 June 1826 when some of the proprietors travelled in three wagons from Wheal Buller to the end of the line at Narabo Quay, near Devoran
. The journey, downhill, was made under gravity with a horse assisting for the return. The line was extended into Devoran in November 1826, and then in 1827 it was extended at both ends; beyond Devoran to Point Quay and from Wheal Buller to Redruth. (Today the restored Count House of Old Wheal Buller Mine overlooks the trackbeds of two early and unrecorded sidings, and beyond, to the Buller branch of the railway).
The railway company, whose headquarters were in Devoran, did not initially operate the line, but rather levied tolls on traffic using it. Several mines had long branches with storage sidings for the wagons. "Chasewater" has created some debate, as the Cornish town is spelt with a "C". It appears this spelling was adopted by the railway.
transported down to ships for onward movement to South Wales
was supplemented by coal carried in the other direction to serve the ever-deeper mines.
Initially the railway company had not been carriers, and up to 1854 the line was worked throughout by horses, but in November 1854 two tank engines, Miner and Smelter were delivered and began working between Devoran and Carharrack, making the Redruth and Chasewater one of the first narrow gauge railways to introduce steam locomotive
s. They were de3livered as 0-4-0ST's, but were rough riders due to excessive overhang at the rear, so were soon rebuilt as 0-4-2ST's At this time the remainder of the railway was operated by the company's own horses. By 1859 traffic had increased to 90,000 tons annually leading to the acquisition of a third engine, Spitfire. Spitfire was named after an incident where Miner and Smelter working hard uphill would scatter cinders and sparks. As a result, a nearby thatched cottage was in danger, the company were persuaded to rebuild it at a safe distance from the line and replace the thatch with slates. The owner was a valued shareholder in the company. The aquisition of Spitfire enabled the whole line from Devoran to Redruth to be worked by steam except the final 1½ miles from Devoran to Point Quay which remained horse-worked until final closure.
The coming of the Great Western Railway eventually ended the R&C as the last major customer of the R&C, Basset mines, switched to using the GWR. The R&C, in the following six months only carried around 6,500 tons of goods as opposed to some 22,000 for the previous year The extension to Chacewater that gave the railway its name was never completed despite works starting in 1853. Closure of the line finally came on 25 September 1915 when Miner took the last train down to Devoran. The line was dismantled, locomotives, wagons and rails became scrap
As the line depended on the mines, so did the port of Devoran rely on the railway, less than a year after its closure, the last commercial vessel called at Devoran.
today, the granite sleeper blocks, where undisturbed, are the most obvious remains of the railway.
ref the Redruth and Chasewater railway. D Bradford Barton 1966
The three locomotives were very similar to look at, being described as "odd-looking". The boiler was surmounted by a square tank from which projected a tall chimney; the cabs were open with sides lower than the top of the tanks.
at Redruth. It featured in the BBC TV programme "Railway Walks", first broadcast on BBC Four on 16 October 2008.
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, England, UK that opened in 1825 and closed in 1915. It was built to a 4ft narrow gauge and ran half way across the Cornish peninsula from the port of Devoran
Devoran
Devoran is a village in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated four miles southwest of Truro at . Formerly an ecclesiastical parish, Devoran is now in the civil parish of Feock....
on Restronguet Creek
Restronguet Creek
Restronguet Creek is a tidal ria in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a tributary of Carrick Roads, the estuary of the River Fal, and is situated approximately four miles south of Truro and three miles north of Falmouth....
(off the Fal Estuary
Carrick Roads
Carrick Roads is located on the southern Cornish coast in the UK, near Falmouth. It is a large waterway created after the Ice age from an ancient valley which flooded as the melt waters caused the sea level to rise dramatically , creating a large natural harbour which is navigable from Falmouth to...
) to the mining areas around Redruth
Redruth
Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...
.
Early years
The railway owed its existence to one man, John Taylor, who also reopened Consols mine, being at the time, the largest copper mine in the world. In the early years of the 19th century large quantities of minerals from the mines in West Cornwall were being carried by horse to the coast to be loaded onto ships. Due to the increasing quantities of minerals and the poor state of the roads, often impassable during wet winters, leading to mines reducing their output, a railway to link the mines around GwennapGwennap
Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles southeast of Redruth....
with the coast near Devoran was authorised on 17 June 1824. The route went via Carharrack
Carharrack
Carharrack is a civil parish and village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated two miles east of Redruth in a former mining area.The parish is of a rural/industrial character and is comparatively small in area...
and down the Carnon Valley, via Bissoe
Bissoe
Bissoe is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated five miles east of Redruth in a former tin mining area.Bissoe was the site of an early arsenic extraction works, the second such commercial works in Britain...
.
The track was of 4ft (1.22m) gauge and used wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
rails attached to granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
blocks by cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
chairs; it was also the first use of edge rails in Cornwall. The official opening of the Redruth and Chasewater Railway was on 17 June 1826 when some of the proprietors travelled in three wagons from Wheal Buller to the end of the line at Narabo Quay, near Devoran
Devoran
Devoran is a village in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated four miles southwest of Truro at . Formerly an ecclesiastical parish, Devoran is now in the civil parish of Feock....
. The journey, downhill, was made under gravity with a horse assisting for the return. The line was extended into Devoran in November 1826, and then in 1827 it was extended at both ends; beyond Devoran to Point Quay and from Wheal Buller to Redruth. (Today the restored Count House of Old Wheal Buller Mine overlooks the trackbeds of two early and unrecorded sidings, and beyond, to the Buller branch of the railway).
The railway company, whose headquarters were in Devoran, did not initially operate the line, but rather levied tolls on traffic using it. Several mines had long branches with storage sidings for the wagons. "Chasewater" has created some debate, as the Cornish town is spelt with a "C". It appears this spelling was adopted by the railway.
Route
Reference Kidner- Redruth (Gwennap pit) 0m
- LannerLanner, CornwallLanner is a village and civil parish in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated about southeast of Redruth.Lanner is in the St Day, Carharrack and Lanner ward which had a collective population of 5,438 in 2001. The population of Lanner civil parish was 2,493 in the 2001 census...
1½m- branch to Wheal Bassett mine
- CarharrackCarharrackCarharrack is a civil parish and village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated two miles east of Redruth in a former mining area.The parish is of a rural/industrial character and is comparatively small in area...
3m - Hale Mills
- uncompleted branch to ChacewaterChacewaterChacewater is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three miles east of Redruth.-Village:...
- uncompleted branch to Chacewater
- BissoeBissoeBissoe is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated five miles east of Redruth in a former tin mining area.Bissoe was the site of an early arsenic extraction works, the second such commercial works in Britain...
6m - Devoran 8m
- Penpol 9m
Success
Initially the line was generally successful. Serving both Great Consols and United Mines, the two largest in the area, and traffic by the 1830s was well in excess of 60,000 tons annually with the company reporting profits approaching £3,000. Copper oreCopper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
transported down to ships for onward movement to South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
was supplemented by coal carried in the other direction to serve the ever-deeper mines.
Initially the railway company had not been carriers, and up to 1854 the line was worked throughout by horses, but in November 1854 two tank engines, Miner and Smelter were delivered and began working between Devoran and Carharrack, making the Redruth and Chasewater one of the first narrow gauge railways to introduce steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s. They were de3livered as 0-4-0ST's, but were rough riders due to excessive overhang at the rear, so were soon rebuilt as 0-4-2ST's At this time the remainder of the railway was operated by the company's own horses. By 1859 traffic had increased to 90,000 tons annually leading to the acquisition of a third engine, Spitfire. Spitfire was named after an incident where Miner and Smelter working hard uphill would scatter cinders and sparks. As a result, a nearby thatched cottage was in danger, the company were persuaded to rebuild it at a safe distance from the line and replace the thatch with slates. The owner was a valued shareholder in the company. The aquisition of Spitfire enabled the whole line from Devoran to Redruth to be worked by steam except the final 1½ miles from Devoran to Point Quay which remained horse-worked until final closure.
Decline
The railway workshops, like the officies, were located in Devoran, and Miner was substantially rebuilt here in 1869, but traffic began to decline as the copper mines closed and in 1879 a receiver was appointed. Smelter was relegated to the status of reserve engine; but lack of maintenance meant that the line deteriorated and derailments were common. Spitfire was rebuilt, but this was a disaster compared to that of Miner. A new firebox was ordered, it was slightly too big, and apparently the frames were forced apart to accommodate it, with subsequent wear on the rear springs and bearings.The coming of the Great Western Railway eventually ended the R&C as the last major customer of the R&C, Basset mines, switched to using the GWR. The R&C, in the following six months only carried around 6,500 tons of goods as opposed to some 22,000 for the previous year The extension to Chacewater that gave the railway its name was never completed despite works starting in 1853. Closure of the line finally came on 25 September 1915 when Miner took the last train down to Devoran. The line was dismantled, locomotives, wagons and rails became scrap
As the line depended on the mines, so did the port of Devoran rely on the railway, less than a year after its closure, the last commercial vessel called at Devoran.
today, the granite sleeper blocks, where undisturbed, are the most obvious remains of the railway.
ref the Redruth and Chasewater railway. D Bradford Barton 1966
Locomotives
| Name | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miner | Neilson Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland.The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines... |
0-4-2ST | 1854 | Rebuilt in 1869 as an 0-6-0ST | |
| Smelter | Neilson Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland.The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines... |
0-4-2ST | 1854 | ||
| Spitfire | Neilson Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland.The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines... |
0-6-0ST | 1859 |
The three locomotives were very similar to look at, being described as "odd-looking". The boiler was surmounted by a square tank from which projected a tall chimney; the cabs were open with sides lower than the top of the tanks.
Today
Most of the route of the railway is now followed by the Redruth and Chacewater Railway Trail which links up with the Great Flat Lode TrailGreat Flat Lode Trail
The Great Flat Lode Trail is a long circular trail around Carn Brea in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, and is one of Cornwall's Mineral Tramway Trails....
at Redruth. It featured in the BBC TV programme "Railway Walks", first broadcast on BBC Four on 16 October 2008.