On my list of places I must get to was the obscure 'Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum' near Keswick in the Northern Lakes district of Cumbria in England. The Hilltop quarry mined principaly the hard granite of the area. The museum is an insight into the rugged existence of these sort of workings with a selection of 2ft gauge locos and rolling stock but also a huge ( and I Mean huge!) collection of excavators spread around the site. As the preserved railways come out of lockdown and the public are allowed back in they held a steam gala recently so it was a perfect time to make a visit Greeting us we arrived was Hudswell Clarke built 0-4-0ST 'CSR Co, No 19' works number 1056 of 1914 This was in charge of the first train of the day up the steep incline to the workface of th quarry At the top the diminutive Kerr Stuart 0-4-0ST ( 3128 of 1918) Roger was shunting the quarry as a demonstration Lots of original rollin stock dating back to the earliest twentieth century are dotted around including many products built by Hudson and Decauville Brooklyn fell in love with this Shovel loader hopper more in a mo' Kev
The Quarry owner has all but ceased working it commercially as the licencing and planning permissions have become too onerous to work out but he happily told me if I ever wanted any granite it was not problem, he has got a lot! He is concentrating on the museum side for the future. Bagnall 0-4-0ST 'Wendy' was built as works no. 2091 of 1919 Diesel and battery electric locos are also present but I need to go back and identify which ones are which As well as the hoppers and tippler wagons Another Bagnall product is 'Sir Tom' WB 2135 of 1925. The locos in steam were a mix of resident engines and locos loaned by Statfold barn
The Excavators Where to start? Small Bigger Classic much more research needed with these And finally An old friend which has seen better days and deserves better. Standard gauge 0-4-0ST Avonside 1772 of 1918 'Askham Hall' was formerly based at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway and really needs some TLC Kev
