West Somerset Mineral Railway 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Pontypool (Locobase 20351)

Data from "West Somerset Mineral Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XX [20] (15 July 1914, pp. 196-197. See also the informative, heavily illustrated website of the West Somerset Mineral Railway, last accessed 25 February 2018 at [] . Works numbers were 995-996 in 1866.

More than thirty years later, the WSMR returned to Sharp, Stewart for a second pair of saddle tanks. Over the decades, design trends had led to a longer boiler and saddle tank on a single frame, inside bearings on the drivers, and all coupled axles placed ahead of the firebox. Both the tanks and the bunker had grown, but the wheelbase had shrunk slightly.

Class Rowcliffe (Locobase 20350)

Data from "West Somerset Mineral Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XX [20] (15 July 1914, pp. 196-197. See also the informative, heavily illustrated website of the West Somerset Mineral Railway, last accessed 25 February 2018 at [] . Works numbers were 995-996 in 1857.

These double-framed saddle tanks were the first to serve the lower portion of the short line that opened in 1857. They were equipped with a steam drier in the smokebox.

Iron ore discoveries in the Brendon Hills in Somersetshire led to a migration of workers that prompted construction of a 11 1/2 mile railway from the mines to Watchet's harbor. A steeply banked barrier divided the railway into two sections. One was the high level portion at the top of the bank at Brendon Station and running 3 1/2 miles (5.6 km) to Gupworthy near the mine, The low level portion ran from Combe Row 7 1/2 miles (12.1 km) to Watchet Harbour.

The WSMR website said the Rowcliffe was returned to the Ebbw Vale in 1883 and rebuilt in 1896. After more that 45 years on the line, the Rowcliffe retired in July 1903 and auctioned off in May 1904.

Connecting the two sections were inclined planes up to 1/2 mile (0.8 km) long scaling 1 in 4 (25%) grades. The only traffic legally allowed to traverse the inclined planes were the ore trains. Individual passengers could ride up and down the planes at their own risk and the high-level stations at Brendon, Langham HIll, and Gupworthy never actually opened. Passenger service (four trains a day) starting serving the lower section in 1865.

In the mid-1880s, the Brendon Hills ore suffered from heavy competition from cheaper Spanish ore. Obligated by a lease signed between Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Company and the WSMR for 55 1/4 miles to provide at least one passenger train a day, the Ebbw Vale's declining fortunes caused it to seek a release from its lease in 1898.