RAVENGLASS & ESKDALE STEAM RAILWAY and MUSEUM | LAKE DISTRICT | UNITED KINGDOM

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's fleet of heritage steam and diesel engines transports passengers from Ravenglass to Dalegarth for Boot, some 210 ft above sea level. It was built between 1873-1875 and was the first public narrow gauge railway in England. It is also one of the world’s oldest and longest surviving narrow gauge railways. Our main terminus at Ravenglass sits within two UNESCO World Heritage sites, The Lake District National Park and Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

The Railway opened commercially in 1875 and started carrying passengers in 1876. Due to its mining background, there have been historic issues with viability. In 1958 and 1959, the line and fittings were offered for sale but there was no potential purchaser, and the future looked bleak. Fortunately, the Ravenglass Railway Preservation Society was formed and two interested parties (Colin Gilbert, a Midlands stockbroker, and Sir Wavell Wakefield, a local landowner) stepped in with the balance of the purchase price, £12,000. The Wakefield family are still actively involved in the running of the railway.

Original railway
The original Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway was a 3 ft (914 mm) line opened on 24 May 1875 to transport hematite iron ore from three mines near and around the village of Boot to the Furness Railway standard gauge line at Ravenglass. In the early 1880s, a tramway was built between Beckfoot and another mine at Gill Force.[5] There has previously been a dispute about the gauge the railway was built to. It is shown as 3 feet in records but is quoted as 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) in some books such as the ABC of Narrow Gauge Railways. This figure was believed for many years until the present company discovered a sleeper from before the line closed, with spacings between holes made by track spikes confirming the gauge was the wider one. The confusion probably stems from the fact that the line was built under the condition that it was "of a gauge not less than 2' 9" ".

Following requests from the residents of the valley for a passenger service, the railway was upgraded to meet the minimum standards of the Board of Trade, and the first passenger trains ran in November 1876. It was the first public narrow-gauge railway in England. However, the cost of upgrading the line for passengers left the railway company with substantial debts which it was unable to pay off. The company was forced to declare itself bankrupt in 1877, although trains continued to run under the control of a series of receivers. All but one of the iron ore mines closed within 10 years of the railway opening, and there was not enough traffic from other sources (local goods and passengers from the villages and farms of the valley) for the railway to sustain itself. In later years, the railway did become popular with summer tourists, but this was not enough to offset the railway's running costs. The Summer 1898 Furness Railway timetable shows five weekday trains along the line with three on Sundays.

In 1905, a passenger train was derailed at Murthwaite due to a combination of a defective locomotive and defective track.[8] By 1908 the track-work was in such poor condition, it was declared unsafe for passengers by the Board of Trade. The railway closed to passengers that year. Goods trains continued to run whilst attempts were made to raise money to rebuild the railway. These attempts failed, and the railway closed completely in April 1913.

Google Map Location :- https://maps.app.goo.gl/emKKkzCLTGqoy...
Book Ticket:- https://ravenglass-railway.co.uk/

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