A Light Railway for the Western Dales
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 1:02 pm
The GWLR began life in 2014, building on the enthusiasm and foresight of local history buffs, who had unearthed the story behind the Yorkshire dales' forgotten railway - the Breastfield & Bogg Bridge Light Railway, a long forgotten and foolhardy effort by the great Bernard Housedown (Potter) of 'Black Burton', the former home of pottery in the Yorkshire dales (It is said the villages name was derived from the black smog that enveloped the village and most of Gretadale from the pottery chimneys, burning the local sulphurous coal). In these more genteel times, the village is now called Burton in Gretadale - but not by t'locals - who still refer to 'Black Burton'.
Bernard was much inspired by the canal system which had led Stoke on Trent to surpass him as a leading supplier of fine pottery to the dales, but was convinced that a light railway would be quicker and cheaper, despite warnings from his son Bringdur Housedown (Bernard's wife was Icelandic, hence his son's unusual first name) that "t'railways not exactly smooth sailin', is it? Won't t'ut pottery get smashed afore it gets out o' town?". "Oh, shut oop Lad" Bernard is alleged to have replied "I wants a railway, an' a railway I shall 'ave!"
As is so often the way with such things, once challenged by his son Bringdur, Bernard became like a man possessed; a railway engineer was appointed and planning began. Isambard (K.B.) politely declined Bernard's invitation, but a chance meeting at a local hostelry resulted in self proclaimed (and self recommended) rail engineer William Eckerslike (Willy to his friends) being appointed, on 'advantageous' terms.
Perhaps Bernard was unwise to tell Willy to "spare no expense" but that is exactly what he did, although at the subsequent bankruptcy hearing, it was not possible to identify where Willy had spent the Housedown fortune. Certainly, a track was laid, rolling stock was purchased and a fine causeway was constructed over Manor Bog, in tribute to Mr Madoc, MP - one of Bernard's life heroes. But the infrastructure and stock were valued at no more than a tenth of the expenses claimed - if only Willy could've been found to attend the hearing, perhaps some light could have been shed…
Despite the best advice of friends and accountant, Bernard got the railway he'd longed for. Unfortunately, the pottery business in the Dales had gone into permanent decline under the onslaught of cheap mass produced pots from Staffordshire. The first, and only, scheduled train from Breastfield left the pottery with its load just as the receivers entered Bernard's office. And, sure enough, on arrival at Bogg Bridge, most of the consignment had been reduced to shattered shards - just as Bringdur predicted…
All of the stock and property of the railway were sold to cover Bernard's outstanding debts. By the time the scrapmen and administrators had finished, all that was left of the line was the associated earthworks, and of course, Bogg Causeway.
Moving nearer to the present day; in 2014 a chance conversation in the local hostelry (The Punch Bag) revealed an interest in looking for remains of the route taken by the railway, with the obvious starting point being Bogg Causeway. From this inauspicious start, a new limited company, BaBBLR Preservation Group, was born. Couldn the railway be restored, and run viably as a freight and tourist led enterprise? Bogg Causeway - the land nearest camera has now been reclaimed as farmland. The causeway appears solid and useable. At 165 (scale) yards long, it was a major engineering triumph over boggy peaty land - especially for an engineer of Willy Eckerslike's dubious ability. Now to find the route of the rest of the line...
Having verified that the causeway was still usable, work began to identify the route taken between Breastfield Pottery (as was) and Bogg Bridge.
The old station area had been left to nature, and became very overgrown. The local grapevine, meanwhile, lead to a real surge in interest amongst locals - a work party arrived to help with clearing the station area - far more than tree fellers! Remains of giant Leylandii Eforvicia have been grubbed out.
Tireless work at Gretadale Reference Library, uncovered the route to Breastfield (now a wooded area outside the village) where the remains of the old Housedown Pottery were discovered.
Not being content with simply researching and maybe restoring a defunct railway, a man of vision in the community, Frederick Archibald Turnpike, realised the potential for a resurgence of narrow gauge railways as a low cost transport link to the wider world. Working quietly behind the scenes, Turnpike secured funding to establish a new light railway company - news broken to the local population via their own publication in December 2014 - Appointed as the new Railway's Controller, Mr F. A Turnpike said the name change was unavoidable, if the line wished to become recognised in the local area, and more importantly, to secure the financial input from the anonymous benefactor 'in perpetuity'. And so, in 2014, began the Greta and Wenningdale Light Railway, or GWLR, as it has become known.
Bernard was much inspired by the canal system which had led Stoke on Trent to surpass him as a leading supplier of fine pottery to the dales, but was convinced that a light railway would be quicker and cheaper, despite warnings from his son Bringdur Housedown (Bernard's wife was Icelandic, hence his son's unusual first name) that "t'railways not exactly smooth sailin', is it? Won't t'ut pottery get smashed afore it gets out o' town?". "Oh, shut oop Lad" Bernard is alleged to have replied "I wants a railway, an' a railway I shall 'ave!"
As is so often the way with such things, once challenged by his son Bringdur, Bernard became like a man possessed; a railway engineer was appointed and planning began. Isambard (K.B.) politely declined Bernard's invitation, but a chance meeting at a local hostelry resulted in self proclaimed (and self recommended) rail engineer William Eckerslike (Willy to his friends) being appointed, on 'advantageous' terms.
Perhaps Bernard was unwise to tell Willy to "spare no expense" but that is exactly what he did, although at the subsequent bankruptcy hearing, it was not possible to identify where Willy had spent the Housedown fortune. Certainly, a track was laid, rolling stock was purchased and a fine causeway was constructed over Manor Bog, in tribute to Mr Madoc, MP - one of Bernard's life heroes. But the infrastructure and stock were valued at no more than a tenth of the expenses claimed - if only Willy could've been found to attend the hearing, perhaps some light could have been shed…
Despite the best advice of friends and accountant, Bernard got the railway he'd longed for. Unfortunately, the pottery business in the Dales had gone into permanent decline under the onslaught of cheap mass produced pots from Staffordshire. The first, and only, scheduled train from Breastfield left the pottery with its load just as the receivers entered Bernard's office. And, sure enough, on arrival at Bogg Bridge, most of the consignment had been reduced to shattered shards - just as Bringdur predicted…
All of the stock and property of the railway were sold to cover Bernard's outstanding debts. By the time the scrapmen and administrators had finished, all that was left of the line was the associated earthworks, and of course, Bogg Causeway.
Moving nearer to the present day; in 2014 a chance conversation in the local hostelry (The Punch Bag) revealed an interest in looking for remains of the route taken by the railway, with the obvious starting point being Bogg Causeway. From this inauspicious start, a new limited company, BaBBLR Preservation Group, was born. Couldn the railway be restored, and run viably as a freight and tourist led enterprise? Bogg Causeway - the land nearest camera has now been reclaimed as farmland. The causeway appears solid and useable. At 165 (scale) yards long, it was a major engineering triumph over boggy peaty land - especially for an engineer of Willy Eckerslike's dubious ability. Now to find the route of the rest of the line...
Having verified that the causeway was still usable, work began to identify the route taken between Breastfield Pottery (as was) and Bogg Bridge.
The old station area had been left to nature, and became very overgrown. The local grapevine, meanwhile, lead to a real surge in interest amongst locals - a work party arrived to help with clearing the station area - far more than tree fellers! Remains of giant Leylandii Eforvicia have been grubbed out.
Tireless work at Gretadale Reference Library, uncovered the route to Breastfield (now a wooded area outside the village) where the remains of the old Housedown Pottery were discovered.
Not being content with simply researching and maybe restoring a defunct railway, a man of vision in the community, Frederick Archibald Turnpike, realised the potential for a resurgence of narrow gauge railways as a low cost transport link to the wider world. Working quietly behind the scenes, Turnpike secured funding to establish a new light railway company - news broken to the local population via their own publication in December 2014 - Appointed as the new Railway's Controller, Mr F. A Turnpike said the name change was unavoidable, if the line wished to become recognised in the local area, and more importantly, to secure the financial input from the anonymous benefactor 'in perpetuity'. And so, in 2014, began the Greta and Wenningdale Light Railway, or GWLR, as it has become known.