Roseberry Mine Tramway

What a difference when the sun comes out.

An otherwise dull walk around a regular route of mine taking in Capt. Cook’s Monument and Roseberry, although I avoided the summits as it’s the weekend.

And crossing the field at the top of Thief Lane, brilliant sunshine. To my right, Roseberry was still in dark shadow so I pointed the camera along the old tramway from the ironstone mine to its incline down to the transhipment yard adjacent to the mainline.

The 2′ 4″ gauge tramway split at this point into two tracks for the “kip and dish” arrangement for lowering down the incline.

The tramway operated from 1907 to the mine’s abandonment in 1924. The loaded trucks rolled down the line under gravity. Empty trucks were hauled back by a stationary steam engine and the mine¹Pepper, R. and R. J. Stewart. “The Mineral Tramways of Great Ayton”. Chapter Five. Narrow Gauge Railways Society ISBN 0 9507169 5 2 1994..

The tramway was laid on the route of an earlier one, this one with a 3′ gauge, and operated between 1880 and 1887. For this short period, a small locomotive was used, which, for the enthusiasts, was a 0-4-0 and built by Black Hawthorn of Gateshead, with maker’s number 588.

• 1
  Pepper, R. and R. J. Stewart. “The Mineral Tramways of Great Ayton”. Chapter Five. Narrow Gauge Railways Society ISBN 0 9507169 5 2 1994.