Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway
The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway was a 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) gauge horse-worked railway line in Devon, England. Most of the network had been replaced by conventional railways by 1888. The last surviving section, which continued to operate until 1960, is generally referred to as the Lee Moor Tramway. The company also built a 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) gauge branch line to Turnchapel on behalf of the London and South Western Railway.
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[edit] History
[edit] Princetown, Plympton and Cann Quarry
The 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) gauge line was proposed from Crabtree, on Plym estuary east of Plymouth, to Princetown by Sir Thomas Trywhitt to facilitate the development of Dartmoor. An Act of Parliament passed on 2 July 1819 authorised the work, and a second one on 8 July 1820 provided for an extension at the Plymouth end to Sutton Pool. The first section, from Crabtree (at Laira) to King’s Tor (below Princetown), was opened on 26 September 1823. The extension to Sutton Pool was opened towards the end on 1825, and the remainder of the line into Princetown was in use the following year. In 1829 a branch was opened to connect with the Cann Quarry Canal, and this was extended to both the quarry itself and Plympton five years later.[1]
Thomas Tyrwhitt died in 1833; by the 1840s the railway was in the hands of John and William Johnson; they sold two parts of it to the South Devon Railway Company (SDR). Firstly, the section from Plympton to the River Plym was closed in 1847 to allow it to become part of the new 7 ft 0 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge Exeter to Plymouth main line. In 1851 the line from Laira to Sutton Pool was also sold, but this time the two gauges shared the route so that trucks on both gauges could run to Sutton Pool. Wharves were also provided at Laira and near the road bridge to Plympton.[1]
The line was 251⁄2 miles (41 km) long, even though the termini were only about 13 miles (21 km) apart on a map, in order to allow the track to follow the shallowest gradients.[2] One tunnel was required at Leigham near Marsh Mills; this was 620 yards (570 m) long and just 9.5 feet (2.9 m) high and 8.5 feet (2.6 m) wide. Rails were carried on granite setts; the initial rails were bolted to cast iron chairs, but later track was spiked directly to the setts. Instead of using iron rails, many sidings were laid with granite rails about 1 foot (30 cm) long.[2]
In 1852 part of the Princetown and Cann Quarry lines were sold to the South Devon and Tavistock Railway for their proposed route. The SDR closed the Laira to Sutton Pool line in 1856 so that it could be rebuilt for locomotive working (it had been worked solely by horses until then). When it reopened in 1857 the 4 ft 6in gauge had been given its own route alongside the broad gauge line, but only from Laira to Prince Rock and Cattewater; the line to Sutton Pool was now purely broad gauge.[3]
An Act passed on 3 May 1865 reconstituted the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway Company with all the preference shares owned by William Johnson. The new company was sufficiently profitable to be able to pay a 0.25% dividend in 1870. The remaining portion of the original line, from Yelverton to Princetown, was transferred to the newly authorised Princetown Railway in 1878. This new 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) gauge line was opened in 1883 and connected with the Tavistock line.[1]
[edit] Lee Moor Tramway
A new line from Marsh Mills to Lee Moor was opened in 1856, in part to replace the old Plympton branch of the Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway.[4] Two inclines were worked by stationary engines. The lower one, at Cann Wood, was worked by the descending wagons hauling up the ones travelling in the opposite direction, while the upper incline, at Torreycombe, was provided with water tanks that could be used to counterbalance heavy wagons being taken up the slope. The tramway crossed the Tavistock line on a level crossing near Marsh Mills and trains then continued to Plymouth along the old Cann Quarry line and original Plymouth and Dartmoor track. This entailed another level crossing of the South Devon main line between the Embankment Road and Laira engine sheds.[2]
Lines ran from Lee Moor to both Wotter and Cholwich Town but these closed in 1900 and 1910 respectively. In the 1940s road transport took over most of the traffic and a pipeline was laid from Lee Moor to Marsh Mills in 1947 to carry china clay in slurry form, thus depriving the tramway of most of its purpose. A very limited traffic was carried until 1961 to maintain the tramway’s rights of way.[2]
[edit] Turnchapel branch
The legal entity of the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway was bought by the London and South Western Railway and it was under the guise of the P&DR that this company built a branch line from Plymouth Friary to Turnchapel, on the eastern side of the River Plym. The Act of Parliament authorising construction was passed on 2 August 1883 but it was not completed until 1 January 1897. Stations were provided at Lucas Terrace Halt (from 1905), Plymstock (opened 1892), Oreston and Turnchapel itself. After becoming a part of British Railways on 1 January 1948, passenger trains were withdrawn on 10 September 1951 but goods trains continued to run until 30 October 1961.[5]
[edit] Operation
Haulage was initially by horses except for the steeper inclines which were operated using stationary winding engines. In 1899 two 0-4-0ST locomotives were purchased from Peckett and Sons. An engine shed was provided at Torreycombe; the locomotives only worked between there and the top of the Cann Wood incline. Both have been preserved, but in non-working condition.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Anthony, G. H. (1983) [1971]. The Tavistock, Launceston and Princetown Railways. Salisbury: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-223-4.
- ^ a b c d e Harris, Helen (1992) [1968]. The Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor (4th ed.). Newton Abbot: Peninsula Press. ISBN 1-87264-021-4.
- ^ MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway. 2 (1863-1921) (1 ed.). London: Great Western Railway.
- ^ Shepherd, Eric R. (1997). The Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway and The Lee Moor Tramway. Newton Abbot: ARK Publications (Railways). ISBN 1-873029-06-3.
- ^ Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1997). Branch Lines Around Plymouth. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-87379-398-7.
