Sand and Gravel Extraction
The sand and gravel extraction industries made extensive use of narrow gauge railways, and several of these lasted into the 1980s - this was one of the last industries to make significant use of narrow gauge industrial railways in the UK.
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Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge railway quarry locomotive Red Rum
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Pentewan Dock & Concrete Company locomotive shed
| Name | Opened | Closed | Gauge | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ace Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd. Marsh House quarries | by 1979 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Aore, England | Locomotive-worked line | |
| Ballast Producers Ltd. Farnham Pits | before 1934 | 1952 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Farnham, England | Diesel locomotive worked line serving the gravel pits around Farnham |
| Bretts Faversham Sand Quarry railway | 1930s (?) | 1969 (?) | 2 ft (610 mm) | Faversham, England | Sand and gravel haulage |
| Bretts Sturry Gravel railway | ? | after 1968, by 1979 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Sturry, England | Served gravel pits on the River Stour |
| Biddenham Gravel Pit railway | by 1920 | 1930s | 2 ft (610 mm) | Biddenham, England | Short horse-worked line serving Biddenham gravel pit, near Bedford. |
| British Industrial Sand Ltd. Middleton Towers railway | 1977 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Kings Lynn, England | Extensive locomotive-worked sand quarry system. Five remaining diesel locomotives acquired by the LBLR in 1980. | |
| Buckland Sand & Silica Co. | before 1934 | after 1935 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Reigate, England | Short steam-hauled railway working sand from the pits to a private BR-worked siding |
| Croxden Gravel Ltd. Twelve Yards Road Pit | ? | after 1979 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Irlam, England | Locomotive-worked line |
| Earls Barton sand quarry railway | after 1975 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Earls Barton, England | Small sand pit with internal locomotive worked line | |
| East Sussex Transport and Trading Company | early 1930s | 1964 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Cuckmere Haven, England | Hauled gravel extracted from the Cuckmere Haven beach to Exceat. |
| G.F.X Hartigan Ltd. Woad Farm Pits | 1933 | 1959 (dismantled 1962) | 2 ft (610 mm) | Newport Pagnell, England | Line serving gravel pits on the River Great Ouse. Used four diesel-mechanical locomotives. |
| Hall & Co. | before 1938 | late 1960s | 2 ft (610 mm) | Eastbourne, England | Shingle extraction railway on The Crumbles. |
| Hall & Ham River Co. North Station Pits | before 1964 | 1970 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Farnborough, England | Gravel extraction railway using diesel locomotives, at least two of which went to the Brockham Museum after the line closed. |
| Ham River Grit Co. Ltd. Bletchingley Pits | after 1963 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Redhill, England | Steam and diesel locomotive worked line | |
| Ham River Grit Co. Ltd. Ham Pits | before 1932 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Kingston, England | Steam locomotive worked line | |
| Heavers Gravel | 1920s | 1962 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Drayton, England | Internal gravel pit line |
| Hoveringham Gravels Ltd. Holme Pierrepont Pit | by 1979 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Holme Pierrepont, England | Internal gravel pit line | |
| Hoveringham Gravels Ltd. Hoveringham Works | by 1979 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Hoveringham, England | ||
| Inns & Co. Ltd. Farnborough Pits | before 1964 | 1967 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Farnborough, England | Diesel locomotive worked line |
| Inns & Co. Ltd. Savay Farm Gravel Pits | 1949 | abur 1964 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Denham, England | Diesel locomotive worked line, east of the River Colne |
| Leighton Buzzard Light Railway | 1919 | 1969 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Leighton Buzzard, England | Industrial railway that carried sand from the quarries around Leighton Buzzard |
| Marlow Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd. Westhorpe Pits | ? | after 1979 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Little Marlow, England | Locomotive worked sand pit railway |
| Penfolds Ltd. | ? | 1963 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Eartham, England | Gravel extraction line |
| Pentewan Dock & Concrete Company | 1939 | 1966 | 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) | Pentewan, England | Diesel locomotive worked line carrying sand from the shoreline dunes to the grading equipment. Used some of the trackbed of the earlier Pentewan Railway. |
| Piel & Walney Gravel Co. Ltd. | ? | 1962 | 3 ft (914 mm) | Barrow-in-Furness, England | Steam locomotive operated gravel line running to a pier at Walney. |
| Pilkington Glass Mill lane siding | ? | by 1979 | 2 ft 1⁄8 in (613 mm) | Rainford, England | Locomotive-worked line |
| Pilkington Glass St. Helens quarry railway | ? | after 1968 | 2 ft (610 mm) | St. Helens, England | Temporary locomotive-worked railways used for sand extraction for glass making |
| Twickenham Gravel Company Waltham Cross Gravel Pits Railway | 1931 | 1964? | 2 ft (610 mm) | Waltham Cross, England | Locomotive-worked railways connecting gravel pits and crushing plant |
| Thomas Patterson & Sons Weydon Hill sand pit | around 1919 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Farnham, Surrey, England | One of the first sand railways installed using ex-WDLR surplus equipment. |
Read more about this topic: British Quarrying And Mining Narrow Gauge Railways
Famous quotes containing the words sand and, sand, gravel and/or extraction:
“Unhappy is the man for evermair
That tills the sand and sawis in the air;
But twice unhappier is he, I lairn,
That feidis in his hairt a mad desire
And follows on a woman thro the fire,
Led by a blind and teachit by a bairn.”
—Mark Alexander Boyd (1563–1601)
“But the twelve lie in the sand by the dry rock
Seeing nothing—the sand, the tree, rocks
Without number—and turn away the face
To the mind’s briefer and more desert place.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“‘Lay me a green sod under my head,
And another at my feet;
And lay my bent bow at my side,
Which was my music sweet;
And make my grave of gravel and green,
Which is most right and meet.”
—Unknown. Robin Hood’s Death (l. 65–70)
“Logic is the last scientific ingredient of Philosophy; its extraction leaves behind only a confusion of non-scientific, pseudo problems.”
—Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970)