Regulations for Working the Swannington Incline Page added 14/5/2024
The Leicester and Swannington Railway was built to transport coal from mines around Swannington to a wharf at Leicester, where the coal could also be transferred to canal boats on the national canal network. Loaded wagons of coal had to hauled by cable up a single track incline at Swannington to reach the main line of the railway near Coalville. The cable was wound round a drum driven by a steam engine. The coal mines here were exhausted by the 1870s but the operation of the incline was reversed and coal was lowered to power a steam pumping engine at the old Calcutta mine to prevent water from the abandoned mines flooding the workings of adjacent operating mines.
The railway incline was closed in 1949 when electric pumping was installed at the Calcutta mine. The historic incline engine was then removed from the engine house at the top of the incline and was eventually installed in the National Railway Museum at York.
I have long been interested in the Leicester and Swannington Railway since seeing the trains from a family allotment garden near Fosse Road in Leicester, and then into the mid-1960s often seeing the ancient ex-Midland Railway 2F 0-6-0 locomotives hauling wagons back to Coalville in the late afternoon. There are some photographs of the Leicester end of this line on the Leicester West Bridge Branch page on this site.
Having explored Swannington Incline on various occasions, from it being very overgrown to it being opened up by the Swannington Heritage Trust, I was delighted to acquire a yellowed printed sheet titled ‘Regulations for Working the Swannington Incline’.
The document is a very yellowed, flimsy sheet of paper of size 21ins x 8žins (535mm x 210mm), dated ‘Derby, January, 1914’. The rear has deep impressions of the printing, showing that it is an original document that was letterpress printed. I am not aware of this interesting document being displayed anywhere so decided to put it on the internet where it can be read by anyone interested.
This is the start of the document, click on it or here ‘Regulations for Working the Swannington Incline’ for the full document in pdf format.
The 25in. map of the period at the National Library of Scotland shows this area at maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=52.74357&lon=-1.38170&layers=168&b=1&o=100
The conserved foundations of the Swannington incline engine house at the top of the incline.
The site of Calcutta Colliery which was on a short branch off the bottom of the incline. Photographed here in 1976 from a nearby public footpath, a recent photograph shows an extension added to this side of the building.
Coal mining here had finished by the 1870s, but there were problems with flooding of the continuing mine workings in the adjacent area. To overcome this flooding problem a steam-powered pumping engine was installed here in 1877 and was used to pump water out of the mine workings of the surrounding area. To provide for this the operation of the incline was reversed with wagons of coal being lowered down to the boiler. However, in 1947 the steam-powered pump here was replaced by an electric pump and the incline became redundant.
Old photographs of the incline and engine can be found on the Swannington Heritage Trust website and the Coalville Heritage website.
Photographs of the remains of Swannington Incline
The top of Swannington Incline looking towards Coalville, showing the conserved foundations of the demolished haulage engine house and a representative length of track that has been relaid.
Standing at the end of the relaid track and turning round shows the fenced-off engine house foundations and the start of the incline heading down beyond the two stout posts.
The steam engine from the Swannington Incline engine house installed as an exhibit in the National Railway Museum in York.
The Science Museum description of the engine reads: “The Swannington incline stationary steam engine was built in 1833 by the Horsley Coal & Iron Company to a design of Robert Stephenson. It drove a winding drum which carried a long rope for hauling coal trains up the 1 in 17 incline on the Leicester & Swannington Railway for supplying coal to Leicester.
In 1892, the Swannington engine saw a complete reversal of role. It was then used to lower coal down the incline to supply the boilers of the pumping engine which prevented flooding of operational collieries in the area. The engine ceased work in 1947 when the steam pumping engines were replaced by electric pumps.
The Leicester & Swannington engine is unusual for the period in that it is horizontal rather than vertical, and is fitted with an early form of piston valve gear later used extensively on locomotives. In the 1830s it was thought that gravity would cause the weight of the piston to wear the cylinder bore oval. To overcome this a substantial tailrod arrangement with slidebars and slippers was fitted.”
Looking up the abandoned Swannington Incline from about half way down. No more than three loaded or six empty wagons, coupled together, were allowed to be moved by the cable on the single track of the 1 in 17 incline at a time.
The incline is now under the supervision of the Swannington Heritage Trust and the track bed down the incline has been opened as a permissive path with information boards.
Photographs of the top of Swannington Incline as it was in 1932
The top of the incline, seen here in 1932, with Swannington at the bottom of the incline way down on the left, and Coalville about a mile away behind the photographer. The haulage rope is round the drum in the centre which is driven from the the steam engine in the engine house on the right. The control cabin with brake is behind the gentleman and has a semaphore signal operated from the bottom of the incline to indicate whether they are ready there for haulage to commence. Note the rollers between the rails to guide the haulage rope and hold it above the sleepers.
The regulations above explain the operation of the incline here. There is only one track on the main incline but with points at the top to select one of two “Loop Lines”. The track with the drum is referred to as “the Loop Line nearest the Engine House” and is the track to which wagons are drawn up the incline, except if the rope is to delivered to the bottom of the incline when it is attached to a single empty wagon and is lowered down from this track. On the left can be seen one rail of the “Loop Line farthest from the Engine House” from which wagons are lowered down the incline. A maximum of three loaded or six empty wagons are allowed on the incline at any time.
A view of the top of the incline from the other direction showing the engine house and chimney behind a dwelling house for the incline operators and families. From the wild state of the washing on the line it would appear to be a very blustery day.
Many of the photographs in these railway photograph galleries are available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Attribution should include a link to www.nigeltout.com.