Furzebrook Railway

Infobox rail
railroad_name=Furzebrook Railway
gauge=c.4 ft (1830)
2 ft 8½ in (1866)
start_year=c.1830
end_year=1957
length=3½ miles
hq_city=Furzebrook
locale=England
successor=AbandonedThe Furzebrook Railway, also known as the Pike Brothers' Tramway, was a narrow gauge industrial railway on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It was built by the Pike Brothers, to take Purbeck Ball Clay from their clay pits near Furzebrook and West Creech to a wharf at Ridge on the River Frome.

History

The Pike Brothers were in the business of extracting ball clay from pits in the Furzebrook area of the Isle of Purbeck from about 1760, making their first sale to Wedgwood in 1791. Originally the output was taken by pack horse to Wareham, from where it was taken by barge on the River Frome to Poole Harbour. By the beginning of the 19th century, the cost of using pack horses, together with competition with other clay miners, led them to investigate other ways of shipping their clay.cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | pages = 69-79 | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8 ]

The nearest competitor, Benjamin Fayle at nearby Norden, had built the Middlebere Plateway to take his clay to the south shore of Poole Harbour in 1806. Around 1830 Hatherly Watts and Co followed suit by building the Furzebrook Railway to Ridge, about half a mile downstream from Wareham. The line was engineered with a continual downhill gradient, and loaded clay wagons were run by gravity, with the empty wagons being hauled back by horses. To facilitate this, some wagons were equipped with sledge brakes acting directly on the rail. The gauge of the railway as built is believed to be around RailGauge|48.cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | pages = 69-79 | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8 ]

In 1866 the Pike Brothers purchased this railway and the line was relayed for steam locomotive haulage, and by this date the gauge had been narrowed to 2 ft 8½ in (825 mm). By this time, the original workings at Furzebrook were worked out, and the railway was diverted slightly to the north at its upper end, and extended with several branches serving clay pits at Povington, Cotness, Greenspecks and Creech Grange.cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | pages = 69-79 | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8 ]

When it opened in 1885, the London and South Western Railway standard gauge line from Wareham to Swanage simply passed over the Furzebrook Railway, with no connection. However sometime after 1900, interchange sidings were constructed at Furzebrook to allow clay to be shipped out by main line rail.cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | pages = 69-79 | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8 ]

Even after steam locomotives were introduced, gravity propulsion was not entirely abandoned. Up to the 1930s, a well known sight was a single wagon train train carrying clay pit workers back to their homes in Ridge in this way. In 1955 road transport started to be used to transport the clay, and the last usage of the Furzebrook Railway was in 1957.cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | pages = 69-79 | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8 ]

Locomotives

The locomotives used by the railway include:cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | pages = 69-79 | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8 ] cite book|title=The Narrow Gauge Charm of Yesterday: A Pictorial Tribute |author=Peters, Ivo| authorlink= Ivo Peters |publisher=The Oxford Publishing Company| year=1976|id ISBN=090288865X] cite web | url = http://www.pmmmg.org/Pikes.htm | title = The Furzebrook Railway | publisher = The Purbeck Mineral & Mining Museum | accessdate = 2007-08-08]

Remains

The line's engine shed at Ridge still exists, and is a listed building. The route of the line from Ridge to Furzebrook can be traced on the ground and on maps. As noted above, the steam locomotive "Secundus" has survived.

ee also

*British industrial narrow gauge railways

References

Bibliography

*cite book|title=The Narrow Gauge Charm of Yesterday: A Pictorial Tribute |author=Peters, Ivo| publisher=The Oxford Publishing Company| year=1976|id ISBN=090288865X
*cite book | title = The Railways of Purbeck | publisher = The Oakwood Press | last = Kidner | first = R.W. | edition = Third Edition | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-85361-557-8

External links

* [http://www.pmmmg.org/Pikes.htm Purbeck Mineral & Mining Museum page on the Furzebrook Railway]
* [http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles/ArticlesDetail.asp?ID=599 Dorset Life article on the Pubeck clay tramways]