This photo today is of a railway rather different to that at Pickering seen in the shots posted over the last two days. The Rosedale Railway was a purely freight railway constructed to exploit the iron ore reserves in Rosedale. It consisted of two branches, one on each side of the valley, built high up on the valley side and linked to several mines, and forming a U shaped route. A route branches off from this line over Blakey Ridge and it meanders across the moor tops to a rope worked incline descending from Ingleby Moor, where wagons were lowered and could then be transported to Middlesborough so the iron ore could be used in the iron and steel industry there.
This shot was taken from near Thorgill, looking towards the end of the eastern branch of the Rosedale Railway, which is higher up the hillside than the houses. There are waste tips there, along with the remains of buildings linked to the processing of the iron ore.
The old railway was closed in 1929, and the track bed now makes an excellent walking route with super views over the valley. It was actually the first walking route that I completed after travelling on the Moorsbus, back in 1995.
Much work has been done recently to preserve the old mining remains and the railway trackbed, so already on my list for 2022 is a walk along the old railway around the head of the valley (assuming the Moorsbus organisation raises enough money to run the bus services in 2022).
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
It is quite remarkable how nature has transformed what was an industrial landscape into a place of beauty. Industrial remains are still there but softened as grass and other plants have grown over the waste heaps. It is quite a contrast to the way mining areas are treated now. Near where my mum lived there were several coal mines, with their associated waste tips, a huge coking plant and a railway marshalling yard and maintainance depot. Today the whole area has been landscaped, part of it transformed into an industrial estate, but most of it is a massive country park, with all signs of its past removed (the transformation largely funded by the EU).
Ian
October 1st, 2021
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Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
It is quite remarkable how nature has transformed what was an industrial landscape into a place of beauty. Industrial remains are still there but softened as grass and other plants have grown over the waste heaps. It is quite a contrast to the way mining areas are treated now. Near where my mum lived there were several coal mines, with their associated waste tips, a huge coking plant and a railway marshalling yard and maintainance depot. Today the whole area has been landscaped, part of it transformed into an industrial estate, but most of it is a massive country park, with all signs of its past removed (the transformation largely funded by the EU).
Ian