Railways of the North Pennines by Dr Tom Bell

Author:Dr Tom Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750963503
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2015-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

View of Rookhope showing the incline to Bolts Law in operation. Ken Hoole collection, reproduced by permission of HoS-DRM.

The 1858 map shows three tracks at the foot of the incline from Bolts Law and there appears to be a triangular layout in Bolts Burn village, although at this time the line is shown continuing north for only a few yards up the Rookhope Burn to the West Level lead mine. I have found nothing to indicate when the line was extended beyond Slit Pasture mine, although the section beyond was certainly in use with steam haulage by 1868.515 The 6 inches to the mile OS map drawn from the 1895 survey shows several changes to the WI&CCR system.649 At the foot of the incline at Bolt’s Burn, as it was then spelt, only one track is shown, with a single connection facing towards Westgate, although a new, and unnamed, line continues up the valley of the Rookhope Burn. Beyond Bolt’s Burn the Rookhope Burn continues in a north-westerly direction, with the headwaters being only about 1 mile (1.6km) from Allenheads. Both lead ore and ironstone are to be found in this valley, while the massive Rookhope lead smelter, now usually known as Lintzgarth smelt mill, lay just over a mile upstream from the village. The WI&CCR was extended up the valley of the Rookhope Burn, past Rookhope smelt mill to terminate at Fraser’s Hush, probably around 1860 to 1864 according to Berry,789 or 1865 to 1866 according to Rounthwaite,727 and it was fully operational by 1869.789 The 1895 OS map649 shows it going only as far as Grove Rake Mine, although even today, evidence can be seen on the ground suggesting that it did extend further up the valley towards the quarries at Fraser’s Hush and North Grain, while the report of an accident in the Hexham Courant indicates that the line was in use from Rookhope Head in 1875,558 while Berry789 records that 30,000 tons of ironstone were produced from this area in 1872.

On the Rookhope and Middlehope line, the 1895 OS map no longer shows a loop at Smailsburn, nor an engine house at the top of Bishop’s Seat incline. According to Rounthwaite,727 Bishop’s Seat incline was self-acting, and this certainly appears to have been the case from some time before the survey was made for the 1895 OS map, but the presence of an engine house on the earlier survey indicates that a winding engine was installed when the line was constructed. As the bulk of the traffic would go east from Scutterhill depot, it was probably soon discovered that a winding engine was not required and that the incline could be made self-acting. According to Berry,789 a number of old S&DR tenders were employed on this incline, being used full to haul supplies for the west up the incline and then taken back empty by descending loaded wagons. Beyond Scutterhill the line is shown continuing up the east side of the Middlehope Gorge to cross a wooden bridge515 over the burn.

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