West Somerset Mineral Railway - The Incline, and Early Operations

The Incline, and Early Operations

The formidable rise in altitude to reach the mines was to be accomplished by a gravity worked incline, three-quarters of a mile long, on a gradient of 1 in 4. To achieve the constant gradient, formidable earthworks were necessary, and construction took four years. Mining had been proceeding apace, and by now large stocks of ore were waiting at the incline head to be conveyed to the Harbour. Ore was brought down the incline while it was being completed, from 31 May 1858, and it was not fully finished until March 1861, when two 18-feet (5.5 m) diameter winding drums were installed on a single axle, located below the track, at Brendon Hill. Public goods traffic had been accepted from 28 September 1859.

The plane was 3,272 feet (1 km) long and the vertical interval was 770 feet (235 km). A single wagon containing five tons of ore could be lowered down the plane in twelve minutes. Fixed railway-type signals were used to indicate that an ascending wagon had been attached to the rope; the brakesman at the upper level then levered the descending, loaded wagon to the brow of the hill, and the descent and ascent began. The descent was controlled by braking.

The WSMR line was leased to the Brendon Hills Iron Ore Company for seven years from 1859, and the latter was to work the line. The lease was extended and transferred to the Ebbw Vale Iron Company on 24 June 1864.