I WONDER how many Chronicle readers know about or remember the giant railway locomotive that ran up the steep Worsbrough bank incline.
Today the old track is part of the Trans Pennine Trail. The beautiful scenery is in stark contrast to its remarkable industrial history.
I have been researching the subject for a new film that I am making.
At 1 in 40 and climbing for 7 miles (11km) the Worsbrough bank was one of the steepest inclines in the world.
As part of the Woodhead route the line ran from the huge marshalling yards at Wath, picking up coal trains from the South Yorkshire collieries. It serviced the Fiddlers Ferry power station, at Warrington in Lancashire, a distance of 72 miles (116km).
The Beyer Garratt locomotive was built especially to deal with the steep gradient and it was both the largest and most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in Britain.
Costing more than the Flying Scotsman at £14,895, it was delivered in 1925 after taking just three weeks to build at Gorton in Manchester.
Designed by the famous engineer Nigel Gresley it was nearly 80 foot long and it had two coal tenders and weighed over 180 tons.
Making over 18 daily return trips up the gradient and assisting other locomotives to pull over 60 plus coal wagons every day the monster was a noisy daily visitor.
As a child I remember it well from our council house that was half a mile away. The entire valley reverberated to the sound of it as it climbed up the incline.
The Garrett was based at Mexborough and it was stationed at the Wentworth Junction close to my old pit, Wentworth Silkstone, known locally as the ‘Levvy Tag’.
This was the steepest part of the incline and it was attached there to the coal trains for the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) climb up to the West Silkstone Junction. At the top it would be detached. The assisting three engines would then normally continue as far as Dunford Bridge.
On the way with 60 full coal wagons the train would pass through the two Silkstone tunnels. Being the last of four steam locos to enter the tunnels, the footplate conditions on the Garrett with heat, steam, and smoke were “close to hell.” To overcome this, gas masks were provided for the crew connected via a pipe to a vent at rail level. The crews, however, objected to sharing these for reasons of hygiene and continued to simply cover their mouths and noses with a wet handkerchief.
The line was electrified in the early fifties and the massive Garrett was withdrawn in 1955.The line eventually closed on July 18th 1981.
I remember how the Worsbrough Bridge crossing gates always seemed to be closed for the interminable coal trains. This was before the M1 motorway opened in the sixties so just imagine the chaos it would cause today with all the modern traffic on the A61 road.
Another part of our history long gone.
