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, 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)
“Let the new faces play what tricks they will
In the old rooms; night can outbalance day,
Our shadows rove the garden gravel still,
The living seem more shadowy than they.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Logic is the last scientific ingredient of Philosophy; its extraction leaves behind only a confusion of non-scientific, pseudo problems.”
—Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970)