Jake of Winter Hill Adventures

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Forest head to Gains - disused railways,Old Mines and quarries -Cumbria

image of area from
http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/brampton_railway_mines.html

we went from Blacksyke colliery to the Blacksyke quarry to Gairs colliery

along this route ran the famous Rocket steam engine

"In April 1837 James Thompson purchased George Stephensons Rocket from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway for the sum of £300"

background note:

Blacksyke Colliery

"Blacksyke Colliery's first shaft was sunk during 1820-1 and went into production in 1822-3 using a steam engine for pumping and coal winding. To serve this Blacksyke colliery a branch line was put in East of Hallbangate climbing in a south westerly direction via a rope hauled line to reach this bleakly sited colliery".
http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/brampton_railway_mines.html

http://www.dmm.org.uk/articles/8510805.htm
details of accidents at colliery

this is a coke oven

mine in the mist

at the top of the hill of mine waste

steam engine where it used to be
note from dad : used for mine and the railway -incline was too steep for engines on their own !

video of Blacksyke mine

Blacksyke s quarry

red sandstone
note from dad -not from this area looks like Eden red sandstone ?

smmmmmooooth stone looks like wood !

Blacksyke quarry from above

Forest head Quarry

try and spot the railway line

Here are the railway tracks to Gains Colliery

background note :
Gairs Colliery - Work began on Gairs Colliery on the bleak windswept fells above Hallbankgate during 1909 and was completed by 1912. Besides the main seam there was a blacksmith shop and screens for sorting the coal. With this new development a further extension of the Brampton Railway was completed with a branch leaving the Blacksyke route near Forrest Head and following the course of the older line to Howgill. Beyond Howgill the new line climbed steeply to Gairs Colliery with gradients of between 1 in 27 to 1 in 18 which was one of the steepest worked adhesion lines in Great Britian at the time. At its peak in 1921 Gairs Colliery employed 180 below ground and 51 above ground and was finally abandoned on 6th September 1936

http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/brampton_railway_mines.html

an old railway bridge on the way to Gains colliery

the spooky house ( dads note :Gains house where the mine manager was supposed to live but its split into two houses which are equal ? )

-Dads note we did not explore the mine because of the weather moving in see right hand side of the photo

safety choice - Jake was tired due to adverse weather conditions , don't take risks and become a casualty there's always next time !

I am in the fog wind and rain again

note from Dad -we dropped height and took the protected route next to the stone wall to avoid the wind

video showing high wind ,rain and low level cloud

a mine opening ?
(one of the small breaks in the weather to allow a good photo )

note - from dad

weather for route

high winds leading to high chill factor -cold due to driving rain and wind , poor visibility at times -down to 5m ,

above this area is a place called cold fell - a name not without reason !

route taken
blackberry played up due to getting wet so distance is underestimated times/speed not accurate
http://www.sanoodi.com/routes/forest-head-to-gains-4.6-miles-302292/
point to point run

links

Local mountain rescue team

http://www.penrithmrt.org.uk/

walk links
http://www.markrichards.info/
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/544/932/4009111315.pdf
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/content/internet/544/932/4009111739.pdf

we used a combination of the above two walks plus the Cumbria railways site to explore this area

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/461843 Gains mine in better weather than we had !