Yarlside Iron Mines Tramway
The Yarlside Iron Mines Tramway, or Parkhouse Mineral Railway, was a 1 mile monorail from the Parkhouse Haematite Ore Mines to Roose Station on the Furness Railway , in North Lancashire . It had a track width of 8 inches (203 mm) and was based on a monorail system invented and patented by John Barraclough Fell .
history
Yarlside Iron Mines Tramway
John B. Fell designed and built the original Yarlside Iron Mines Tramway in 1868 as a horse-drawn monorail from the Yarlside Iron Mines to a Furness Railway siding.
Parkhouse Tramway
Two years later, in 1870, John B. Fell replaced the railway with another combination of monorail and narrow-gauge railway , patented by him , which is usually called the Parkhouse Tramway because of the Parkhouse Farm located west of the quarries . This had a track width of 8 inches (203 mm) and a very low center of gravity thanks to the axles in front of and behind the car body. It had support rollers attached to the side that stabilized the carts on a central girder consisting of two longitudinal beams. It was driven by a winch over endless steel cables. It could transport up to 100,000 tons of iron ore per year. The lorries each had a capacity of 1 t of iron ore and there were also small passenger cars for eight passengers each, which could transport them evenly and safely at a speed of 15-20 miles per hour (30-50 km / h).
One of the most important unique selling points of this patented monorail system were the wooden trestle bridges, with which depressions and valleys could be overcome instead of creating cuts and embankments. Nevertheless, the railway was converted into an ordinary standard gauge railway in 1873 .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Martin and Jean Norgate: Yarlside Iron Mines tramway, other name: Parkhouse Mineral Railway , Geography Department, Portsmouth University, 2014.
Coordinates: 54 ° 7 '48.2 " N , 3 ° 11' 3.4" W.