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The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway is a 15 inch gauge railway located entirely in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, a county in the United Kingdom. The line is famous for once being the smallest public railway in the world, and a popular Lakeland tourist attraction, travelling from the Roman port of Ravenglass, around the base of Muncaster Fell, through the village of Eskdale Green to Dalegarth, near the village of Boot.

Steam engines haul trains for the majority of the year, and only January is considered to be a "closed" month. During high summer, there can be as many as sixteen trains a day in each direction, with seven or eight coaches on each train, capable of carrying many passengers to the heart of the Lake District.

The Line was built in 1875 to 3 foot gauge, but was closed in the 1910s. W.J. Bassett-Lowke found the line and decided to re-open it as a tourist attraction, to the 15 inch gauge that he pioneered, and from 1915, trains have never ceased running, except during the second world war.

In 2000, the railway celebrated its 125th anniversary with Ratty 125, and the following year, 125 years since the first passenger train was celebrated.

The Railway and its assets are owned and staffed by the R&ER Co. Ltd., but two locomotives and the majority of the workforce is provided by the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society Ltd, which was formed in 1960 to save the railway when it was put up for auction.

Contents

Stock List

The Current Locomotive Fleet

Locomotives of the Past

Coaching Stock Fleet

  • Bassett-Lowke 4-wheel open coach - 10.
  • Dawson 4-wheel semi-open coach - 32.
  • Teak open bogie coach - 627.

Departmental Stock Fleet

  • 4-wheel Flat Wagons - B, D, E, F, H, J, L, M and N. Wagons A and K are currently not in traffic.
  • The Rail Bender - I.
  • The Santa Sleigh - S.
  • The Water-carrying Tank Wagon - T.
  • The Permanent Way Van - U.
  • Anita, the Flail Mower - Anita.
  • The Man Rider - X.
  • The Bogie Flat Wagon - W.
  • The Mess Coach - 105. 102 is also being used as a mess coach for Track Week.

The engineering workshops have four wagons - a boiler flat, a flat wagon, a diesel engine overhaul frame and a hydraulic wheel press frame.

Rolling Stock of the Past

The Route

  • Ravenglass (0 miles)
  • Raven Villa (1/4 miles)
  • Barrow Marsh (1/2 - 1 mile)
  • Black Bridge (1 mile)
  • Muncaster Mill (1 1/8 miles)
  • Mill Race (1 3/8 miles)
  • Mill Wood (1 1/2 miles)
  • Miteside (1 5/8 miles)
  • Miteside Loop (1 3/4 miles)
  • Katie Caddy (2 miles)
  • Wet Cutting (2 1/8 miles)
  • Murthwaite Ground Frame (2 1/2 miles)
  • Murthwaite Oak (2 1/2 miles)
  • Murthwaite (2 3/4 miles)
  • Horsefalls (3 miles)
  • Rock Point (3 1/4 miles)
  • Walk Mill Summit (3 1/2 miles)
  • Tom's Crossing (3 3/4 miles)
  • Black Bridge (3 7/8 miles)
  • Irton Road (4 - 4 1/4 miles)
  • Long Yocking (4 1/2 miles)
  • The Chicken Run (4 5/8 miles)
  • The Green (4 3/4 miles)
  • Hollin How Bank (4 7/8 miles)
  • Fisherground Crossing (5 1/4 miles)
  • Fisherground Loop (5 3/8 miles)
  • Fisherground (5 1/2 miles)
  • Spout House Curve (5 3/4 miles)
  • Little Cutting (5 7/8 miles)
  • Gilbert's Cutting (6 miles)
  • Beckfoot Smithy (6 1/8 miles)
  • Beckfoot Quarry (6 1/4 miles)
  • Big Stone (6 1/4 miles)
  • Beckfoot (6 1/2 miles)
  • Beckfoot Bank (6 5/8 miles)
  • Dalegarth Cottages (6 3/4 miles)
  • Dalegarth (6 7/8 miles)
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