Railways and Songs
David Ramshaw, local historian joined us again today along with the children from a local school. We heard more about the railways coming to Carlisle and how it was build on top of the route for the canal. The canal was drained or filled in to allow this to happen. It was then much faster and much cheaper to move goods in and out of the city and therefore made the local mill industries much more lucrative. Coal was one of main goods moved around and it was this that powered the mills. There had been coal available nearby before this, in places like Hallbankgate but it had been too expensive to move it to Carlisle. Hallbankgate for instance had many coal mines around it and eventually this was also linked up by train and in fact Stevenson's Rocket was used on this line.
There was also a line built from Bowness on the Solway up to Glasgow. This was known as the Solway Junction Railway was used to shorten the route from ironstone mines in Whitehaven to ironworks in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It opened in 1869 and involved a 1.8km viaduct over the Solway Firth from Bowness to Annan Waterfoot. At that time, the general winter temperature must have been much colder, as there was a lot of floating ice sheets in the solway causing damage and the constant need for repair. Eventually these rising cost led to the viaducts closure in 1921. Remains of the bridge can still be seen in Bowness. And remains of where the canal and the railway were can still be found in various places between Carlisle and Bowness.
Marypost also had a train line built to it and from there coal from the north of the UK was shipped around the world. Workington too had a train line and it was from here that some 3,011 tons of railway lines were shipped out to Chili to build a railway out there. This really shows how the arrival of the railways really increased peoples ability to move around goods and resources and build infrastructure and industry on a scale not seen before. This is how the Mills in Carlisle became a source of great wealth for the owners and made Carlisle generally a more accessible and industrious city.
We finished the day creating beautifully colourful trains with the children.
There was also a line built from Bowness on the Solway up to Glasgow. This was known as the Solway Junction Railway was used to shorten the route from ironstone mines in Whitehaven to ironworks in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It opened in 1869 and involved a 1.8km viaduct over the Solway Firth from Bowness to Annan Waterfoot. At that time, the general winter temperature must have been much colder, as there was a lot of floating ice sheets in the solway causing damage and the constant need for repair. Eventually these rising cost led to the viaducts closure in 1921. Remains of the bridge can still be seen in Bowness. And remains of where the canal and the railway were can still be found in various places between Carlisle and Bowness.
Marypost also had a train line built to it and from there coal from the north of the UK was shipped around the world. Workington too had a train line and it was from here that some 3,011 tons of railway lines were shipped out to Chili to build a railway out there. This really shows how the arrival of the railways really increased peoples ability to move around goods and resources and build infrastructure and industry on a scale not seen before. This is how the Mills in Carlisle became a source of great wealth for the owners and made Carlisle generally a more accessible and industrious city.
We finished the day creating beautifully colourful trains with the children.
 |
| Working Together |
 |
| Train Station! |
Comments
Post a Comment