Construction
The engineer for the railway was Robert Stephenson, with the assistance of Thomas Miles, while his father raised much of the capital for the line from friends in Liverpool.
Like other early railways, it followed canal practice in that it consisted of essentially level sections linked by inclines (taking the place of the canal's locks), where the trains were drawn up and lowered down by rope. Even so, it featured some quite heavy earthworks. From a station and coal wharf alongside the Soar Navigation at West Bridge on the west side of the Fosse Way in Leicester, it headed northwards for about a mile, before passing through the 1,796 yards (1,642 m) long tunnel at Glenfield, to the valley of the Rothley Brook. It proceeded about five miles to Desford, then swung north west towards Bagworth. The original Bagworth station was at the foot of a 1 in 29 self-acting inclined plane to the summit at 565 feet (172 m). Then the line passed through a cutting at Battleflat before reaching Bardon Hill and on to Long Lane where new collieries were opened. Beyond Long Lane the railway descended by a further inclined plane of 1 in 17 to the existing coal mines at Swannington and an end on connection with the Coleorton Tramway, which linked to further coal mines and limestone quarries. The track was to be single throughout.
Construction began almost immediately, but soon ran into trouble, particularly with the tunnel. Initial boring had suggested that it would not need a lining. However, it turned out that some 500 yards (460 m) would be through porous sandstone. During its construction in 1831 the contractor, Daniel Jowett, fell down a working shaft and was killed.
The low power of contemporary steam engines meant that where the gradient was steepest, locomotive haulage gave way to other means. As was common in those days, "There were two inclines on the line: one at Bagworth, rising at 1 in 29 towards Swannington and worked by gravity; and a much steeper though shorter one at the Swannington end, descending at 1 in 17 and worked by stationary engine ..." The latter was built by the Horsely Coal and Iron Company, and was equipped with a very early example of a piston valve.
Read more about this topic: Leicester And Swannington Railway
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