| Crowle Peatland Railway | |
|---|---|
 Schomas 5220 of 1991 (front) and 5129 of 1990 (rear) in Crowle Peatland Railway's Romney Hut | |
  Crowle Peatland Railway shown within Lincolnshire | |
| General information | |
| Status | Railway Museum |
| Town or city | Crowle, Lincolnshire |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 53°37′04.00″N0°51′21.00″W / 53.6177778°N 0.8558333°W |
| Opened | 2016 |
Crowle Peatland Railway is a railway museum based on the peat moors at Crowle in North Lincolnshire, England.
Thorne and Hatfield Moors have a long history of being exploited for peat. Following Cornelius Vermuyden's attempts to drain Hatfield Chase in the 1620s, there was unrest, with local people clashing with the incoming people who settled the land that had been drained. A Commission was created to resolve issues over common land, and in 1630 gave 'turbary rights' to tenants, which allowed them to cut peat for their own purposes, but not to sell peat to third parties. [1] There were attempts in the early 1800s to improve the moors for agricultural use, but by the time Makin Durham, one of the chief protagonists, died in 1882, there was a shift towards extracting peat for commercial purposes. [2] In 1896 the Hatfield Chase Peat Moss Litter Company amalgamated with the Griendtsveen Moss Litter Company and other smaller companies who were working on Thorne Moors, to become the British Moss Litter Company. The new company controlled all of the major peat works on the moors, and began installing 3 ft (914 mm) gauge tramways, to transport the cut peat from the moors to the various works. [3] In the 1950s, horses were gradually replaced by locomotives as the means of moving wagons around the system. As several works closed down, the tramways were linked up, with that at Swinefleet serving Thorne Moors, and that at Hatfield serving Hatfield Moors. Both works were linked by standard gauge sidings to the Axholme Joint Railway. The British Moss Litter Company was bought out by Fisons in February 1963, [4] Fisons were the subject of a management buyout in July 1994, and began trading as Levington Horticulture, which was taken over by the American company Scotts on 1 January 1998. [5]
Crowle Moor is effectively an eastward extension of Thorne Moor. The Commission of 1630 gave turbary rights to the inhabitants and tenants of Crowle, but the 400 acres (160 ha) of land to which they had rights was in Yorkshire. This anomaly was noted by the Local Government Act 1888, which moved the county boundary so that the Crowle turbary land was included in Lincolnshire. Peat exploitation to the east of the Swinefleet Warping Drain was always on a smaller scale than on Thorne Moors to the west of the drain, and in 1993 the boundary was realigned slightly, so that it followed the course of the drain. [6] Over the years there were several small peat moss mills established in Crowle, all near to Moor Middle Road, and each working a ribbon of moorland which ran north-westwards from the mill to the parish boundary. The British Moss Litter Company also extracted peat from Crowle Moors, taking it to Medge Hall and Swinefleet Works, but this ceased in 1956 after a disastrous fire on the moors. [7]
The longest-running site on Crowle Moor was that based at Moors Farm, where horses pulled wagons loaded with hand-cut turves along a single tramway track to a mill. The farm was bought by Clifford Cowling in 1940, who initially used the 26-acre (11 ha) site for agriculture, but in 1947 set up the Scientific Peat Company with William Thomas. Herbert Pickett from Crowle became an additional partner in 1950, and in 1951, the company was bought out by his son Sid Pickett, and Herbert Mason. Turves were conveyed to the mill on a trailer pulled by a Fordson Major tractor, although a short section of tramway was used on the moors between 1954 and 1957. A diesel engine replaced the paraffin engine which powered the mill in 1955, and the mill was connected to an electricity supply in 1957. [8] The peat was processed for horticultural use, and the firm pioneered the use of polythene packaging on Thorne Moors. Consequently, the company was renamed in 1960, becoming Poly-Peat Products. [9] The mill was subsequently used by Ken Crow Peat Products, Richgro Peat, and finally Fernmoor UK Limited, which was incorporated in 2002, and was the last peat company to be formed. [10]
The transition of the moors from an industrial workplace to an ecological resource began in 1971, when Fisons reached an agreement with the predecessor of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust over the management of 144 acres (58 ha) of Crowle Moor as a nature reserve. The Trust bought 290 acres (120 ha) in 1987, which included the area they had been managing since 1971. Fisons gave 2,340 acres (9.5 km2) of moorland to English Nature in 1994, in a climate where there was relentless pressure from environmentalists to recognise the ecological value of the moors. This culminated in the government buying the peat extraction rights for Thorne and Hatfield Moors from Scotts in 2002 [11] for £17 million. [12] On most of the moors, no further extraction of peat occurred, although cut peat continued to be removed by Scotts until 2005. By the end of 2005, some 4,020 acres (16.25 km2) of Thorne and Crowle Moors had been designated as a National Nature Reserve, with the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust managing most of Crowle Moors. [11] The peat works at Crowle, then run by Fernmoor, was known to be operating without planning permission, and the North Lincolnshire Council (Crowle) Discontinuance Order 2002 sought to shut down the operation. Peat extraction continued, despite the issuing of an Enforcement Notice and a Stop Notice in March 2003, and it was not until 2007 that peat extraction finally ceased after a long-running public enquiry published its findings. Fernmoor was wound up on 25 September 2007. [13]
Following the demise of commercial activity on Crowle and Thorne Moors, they became part of the Humberhead National Nature Reserve. The tramway tracks were removed, but various equipment was left at Bank Top, including one of the Simplex locomotives and some bin harvesters. A society was formed, initially called the Crowle and Thorne Moors Peat Railway Society, with the aim of restoring the locomotive, and using the maintenance shed at Bank Top as a base for a short running track. It would also serve to promote the history and heritage of the peat railways. [14] However, the scheme did not meet with the approval of Natural England, although they were supportive of the aims of the society, and donated the locomotive and bin harvesters to them. They were removed from the moors in 2015, and temporarily stored on a local farm. [15]
In 2014, the Society discovered that two of the original Schoma locomotives that had worked on the moors were for sale by a dealer based in Norfolk. Two visits were made to inspect them, the second on 16 February 2015, after which a price was agreed, although the locomotives, together with three slave units, remained at the premises of the dealer Ray King until a suitable location could be found to store them. [16] The Poly-Peat site was now owned by North Lincolnshire Council, and became the base for the operation, while the Society was renamed Crowle Peatland Railway. They received funding of £10,000 from North Lincolnshire Council and the Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Landscape Partnership to fund the restoration of the locomotives. The Partnership obtained a grant of £1.84 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which benefitted a number of local projects, including the railway. [17] The Schoma locomotives were moved from Norfolk to a Romney hut, also used as covered accommodation for a herd of goats, on 10 May 2016, and were subsequently joined by the Simplex. [16] The Society then received a grant of £23,000 from the SSE Keadby Grange Windfarm, to finance the construction of a new Romney hut, to act as a workshop for the project [17] Planning permission for the building was granted on 30 June 2017 [18] and the Schoma locomotives were moved into the completed building on 5 September 2018. [16] Meanwhile, the Simplex locomotive was moved to North Lindsey College, for engineering students to carry out the restoration work as part of their course. [19]
As of May 2019, there was no electricity supply to the Romney hut. The supply company Northern Powergrid (Yorkshire) acting on behalf of North Lincolnshire Council applied for permission to rebuild 9 spans of an existing overhead 11kV power line supplying adjacent housing, on 7 May 2019. This provided a 3-phase supply at 150kva, to power workshop machinery. [20] In June 2019, the railway received £107,000 from North Lincolnshire Council, to fund a visitor centre, education facilities, a shop, toilets and a cafe. Crowle Moors are part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and the visitor centre will help people to appreciate the social and industrial heritage of the moors. [21] The railway have constructed some 550 yards (500 m) of track running onto the moors, on which the locomotives can operate. [22]
Between 1947 and the demise of commercial working, 23 internal combustion locomotives worked on the moors. All were 4-wheel vehicles, and they came from a variety of manufacturers. Nine locomotives were bought for preservation between 1992 and the close of the system. They were regauged to 2 ft 6 in (762 mm), and eight of them are in private collections, [23] while one Lister, works number 53977, built in 1964, was loaned to Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery in 2007. [24] One locomotive was abandoned at Bank Top around 1996, and it was this that sparked the idea for the railway. It was a 40 hp (30 kW) Simplex, manufactured by Motor Rail in 1967, with the works number 40s302, and bought new by Fisons. [25] When new, it had a fairly low cab, but a number of locomotives had their cabs extended upwards, to allow the drivers to stand up and see over the top of the wagons, and 40s302 was running with an extended cab and exhaust pipe by May 1992. [26] During restoration at North Lindsey College, the main bearing journals were found to be completely worn out, which was probably the reason for it being abandoned on the moors. [15] College members were unable to reassemble the locomotive at Crowle due to the Covid pandemic, and it was assembled by volunteers. This work was completed by 19 June 2021, when it ran under its own power again. [27] The restoration was shortlisted for the 2023 Heritage Railway Association awards, in the diesel and electric locomotion category. [28]
In 1990, Fisons bought two new Schoma locomotives from Christoph Schőttler Gmbh, of Diepholz in Germany. They were rather bigger than previous motive power, weighing around 5 tonnes and were fitted with engines developing 86 hp (64 kW). They were 4-wheel diesel hydraulic machines, and each was supplied with a slave unit, looking like a flat truck, which weighed a similar amount and had hydraulic motors which could be driven from the locomotive. [29] Works numbers were 5129 and 5130, with the slave units numbered 5131 and 5132. [25] The following year, Fisons bought a third locomotive, number 5220 with slave unit 5221. From February 1993, this locomotive was named The Thomas Buck, after a retired worker, with the nameplate fitted to the front of the bonnet. [30] In the late 1990s, Alan Keef designed a 125 hp (93 kW) bo-bo locomotive to replace them, but the project did not proceed due to the costs, and instead, two of the locomotives were rebuilt with 6-cylinder 105 hp (78 kW) engines and better air conditioning units. Conversion of the third locomotive, number 5220, did not occur, again because of costs. [31] After rail operations ceased on the moors, 5130 was mounted on a plinth at the front of Hatfield Works, with the nameplate from The Thomas Buck, and the other two locomotives were stored at Hatfield until at least 2008. [32]
The two remaining Schomas and all three slave units eventually arrived at Ray King's site in Norfolk, to be purchased by Crowle Peatland Railway and moved to Crowle on 10 May 2016. [16] The third Schoma locomotive was donated to the railway by Evergreen Horticulture, who manage Hatfield Peat Works, in June 2019. [33]
In June 2020, the railway purchased a Lisbon tram, number 711, which had been imported to Britain and stored at Walton-on-the-Naze for some years for a project that did not materialise. They received a grant from the SSE Keadby Wind Farm Fund to allow them to buy the vehicle. They intend to retain the interior in authentic condition, but it will not run under its own power at the railway. [34]
The Rail Trolley Trust loaned a Wickham trolley and an unpowered trailer to the railway in 2021. The powered vehicle is a type 17A trolley, works number 4091, which was built in 1961 for the Lochaber Railway at Fort William, Scotland. It was rescued for preservation in 1978 and spent some time at Gloddfa Ganol in Blaenau Ffestiniog and at Statfold Barn Railway in Tamworth before being moved to Crowle. The trailer was also originally a type 17A trolley, but was dismantled and no details of its works number or early history are known. [35]
Following closure of the Born na Mona system of peat railways in Ireland, the railway purchased a Hunslet Wagonmaster, number LM336 in June 2024. It was transported to Crowle, and was being serviced before being put into operational use. [36]
Crowle is a market town in the civil parish of Crowle and Ealand, on the Isle of Axholme in the North Lincolnshire unitary authority of Lincolnshire, England. The civil parish had a population at the 2011 census of 4,828. The town lies on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal.
Thorne is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It has a population of 16,592, increasing to 17,295 at the 2011 Census.
The Axholme Joint Railway was a committee created as a joint enterprise between the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y) and the North Eastern Railway (NER) and was established by the North Eastern Railway Act of 31 July 1902. It took over the Goole and Marshland Railway, running from Marshland Junction near Goole to Reedness Junction and Fockerby, and the Isle of Axholme Light Railway, running from Reedness Junction to Haxey Junction. Construction of the Goole and Marshland Railway had begun in 1898, and by the time of the takeover in early 1903, was virtually complete. The Isle of Axholme Light Railway was started in 1899, but only the section from Reedness Junction to Crowle was complete at the takeover. The northern section opened on 10 August 1903, and the line from Crowle to Haxey Junction opened for passengers on 2 January 1905.
The Isle of Axholme is an area of Lincolnshire, England, adjoining South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is located between Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, both of which are in the traditional West Riding of Lindsey, and Doncaster, in South Yorkshire.
Belton is a village and civil parish in the Isle of Axholme area of North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A161 road, and approximately 6 miles (10 km) west of Scunthorpe. To the north of Belton is the town of Crowle; to the south, the town of Epworth.
Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (NNR) which straddles the border between England and Wales, near Whixall and Ellesmere in Shropshire, England and Bettisfield in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It comprises three peat bogs, Bettisfield Moss, Fenn's Moss and Whixall Moss. With Wem Moss and Cadney Moss, they are collectively a Site of Special Scientific Interest called The Fenn's, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem & Cadney Moss Complex and form Britain's third-largest lowland raised bog, covering 2,388 acres (966 ha). The reserve is part of the Midland Meres and Mosses, an Important Plant Area which was declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1997. It is also a European Special Area of Conservation.
The Stainforth and Keadby Canal is a navigable canal in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England. It connects the River Don Navigation at Bramwith to the River Trent at Keadby, by way of Stainforth, Thorne and Ealand, near Crowle. It opened in 1802, passed into the control of the River Don Navigation in 1849, and within a year was controlled by the first of several railway companies. It became part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, an attempt to remove several canals from railway control, in 1895. There were plans to upgrade it to take larger barges and to improve the port facilities at Keadby, but the completion of the New Junction Canal in 1905 made this unnecessary, as Goole could easily be reached and was already a thriving port.
Swinefleet is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of the town of Goole on the A161 road from Goole to Crowle. It lies on the south bank of the River Ouse. According to the 2011 UK census, Swinefleet parish had a population of 787, an increase on the 2001 UK census figure of 748. The main centre of population is at the extreme north of the parish, close to the River Ouse. The southern part of the parish is part of Swinefleet and Reedness Moors, and is characterised by drainage ditches and a few farm buildings.
Reedness is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the town of Goole and lies on the south bank of the River Ouse.
Goole Fields is a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Goole town centre and lies at both sides but mainly south of the A161 road, covering an area of 1,980.59 hectares. It is bordered to the east by the Swinefleet Warping Drain, to the south by the Blackwater Dike, and to the west by the railway line from Goole to Doncaster.
Reedness Junction railway station was a railway junction near Reedness, East Riding of Yorkshire, England on the Axholme Joint Railway. Immediately to the west of the station, the Fockerby Branch, which continued eastwards, turned off from the main line to Epworth, which curved to the south.
Schöma is a company based in Diepholz, Germany, specialising in the construction of small diesel locomotives.
Peat has been extracted from the Somerset Levels in South West England since the area was first drained by the Romans, and continues in the 21st century on an area of less than 0.5% of the total geography. The modern system in recycling land back to farm use and conservation has resulted in the creation of numerous Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Thorne and Hatfield Moors form the largest area of lowland raised peat bog in the United Kingdom. They are situated in South Yorkshire, to the north-east and east of Doncaster near the town of Thorne, and are part of Hatfield Chase. They had been used for small-scale extraction of peat for fuel from medieval times, and probably much earlier, but commercial extraction of the peat for animal bedding began in the 1880s. The peat was cut on the moors and, once it had dried, transported to several works on 3 ft narrow gauge tramways, always called trams locally. The wagons were pulled by horses to works at Creyke's Siding, Moorends, Medge Hall, Swinefleet and Hatfield. There was also a network of canals supplying the Moorends Works.
Thorne and Hatfield Moors Peat Canals were a series of canals in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England, which were used to carry cut peat from Thorne and Hatfield Moors to points where it could be processed or exported. There were two phases to the canals, the first of which lasted from the 1630s until the 1830s when coal imported on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal reduced the demand for peat as a fuel. The second started in the 1890s when peat found a new use as bedding for working horses and lasted until 1922 when Moorends Mill which processed the peat was destroyed by fire.
Warping was the former practice of letting turbid river water flood onto agricultural land, so that its suspended sediment could form a layer, before letting the water drain away. In this way poor soils were covered with fertile fine silt, and their rentable value was increased.
William Bunting was an amateur naturalist and eco-warrior who is credited with saving the wildlife habitat of Thorne Moors from the planned dumping of 32 million tons of fuel-ash, peat-cutting and drainage, and for campaigning for the reinstatement of public footpaths on maps of the same Moors.
The Hull and Doncaster Branch is a secondary main railway line in England, connecting Kingston upon Hull to South Yorkshire and beyond via a branch from the Selby Line near Gilberdyke to a connection to the Doncaster–Barnetby line at a junction near Thorne 8 miles north-east of Doncaster.
Over the past four decades, extensive research has been conducted on the Archaeology of Hatfield and Thorne Moors, resulting in the discovery of important Bronze Age and Neolithic trackways. These investigations have been carried out as part of wider initiatives to understand the complex and intertwined social-ecological-climatic systems that has shaped this region over the Holocene. The current landscape has been heavily altered by humans, notably though drainage by Cornelius Vermuyden in the 17th century. This area is notable for its extensive palaeoecological work and serves as a model for other studies in environmental archaeology.
Swinefleet Warping Drain is an artificial waterway in the English county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, which was built to allow silt to be deposited on the peat moors, but now functions as a land drainage channel. It was constructed by Ralph Creyke, and the first section was completed in 1821.
Media related to Crowle Peatland Railway at Wikimedia Commons