Ironstone Railways
The significant deposits of iron ore in the Jurassic strata in the area had remained largely untouched since pre-medieval iron-making days. Construction of railways in the East Midlands during the latter half of the 19th century was the key to development of these ore fields, as they provided the means to transport ore to the furnaces.
The discovery of workable ironstone in the Marlstone rock-bed near Holwell, during survey work on the new Midland Railway from Melton to Nottingham in 1873, started a chain of events that led to the development of the ironstone industry in the area.
1875-1879
It was Lt. Col. Richard Dalgleish that discovered ironstone in the Marlstone rock-bed near Holwell, whilst surveying for the new Midland Railway.
This lead to the purchase of a farm at Holwell and formation of the Holwell Iron Company in 1875, but access to the railway network was vital for the venture to succeed. In 1876 the company constructed a three-foot gauge tramway, part of which is shown in red, to connect their quarry to the new Midland Railway, and started supply of iron ore to Staveley Coal & Iron Co. and other ironworks.
By 1878 Holwell had started construction of their own furnaces near Asfordby to the south-west, which were operational by the end of 1881.
Stanton Ironworks Company followed by opening up quarries at Holwell and Wartnaby in 1879 – Wartnaby Quarries using a narrow gauge quarry railway to transport their ore to the Midland Railway at Old Dalby.
1879-1881
Meanwhile, Staveley influenced the route of a new Great Northern Railway and London & North Western Railway (GNR & LNWR) joint line to run close to the escarpment near Eastwell. The joint line was completed in 1879, and by 1880, Staveley in partnership with Bestwood Coal and Iron Company, had formed Eastwell Iron Ore Company to develop a quarry on top of the escarpment.
There still remained the need to get quarried ironstone down the hill to new railway in the Vale of Belvoir, and a narrow gauge incline was constructed which was operational by 1881.
Also in that year, James Oakes & Company Limited surveyed the site for a quarry adjacent to the Melton to Grantham road near Waltham, and went into partnership with Staveley to form the Waltham Iron Ore Company to operate the site.
Holwell Iron Company also obtained a lease from the Duke of Rutland to open a quarry on the other side of the lane to Eaton at this location.
1881-1883
For it’s part, the Great Northern Railway (GNR) constructed the Waltham Branch line from a new junction with the GNR & LNWR joint line at Scalford, running to a new station adjacent to the two Waltham Quarry sites. Both quarries started production in late 1882 on completion of the branch line.
Waltham on the Wolds Station, which was officially opened in April 1883, was mainly used to manage ore traffic from the quarries and never had a regular passenger service.
In the event, ore from the two Waltham quarries was found to be poor quality, and the two concerns looked to the area north-west of Eaton to open new quarries as replacements.
1883-1884
In anticipation of ore traffic from the lands newly leased by Holwell Iron Company near Eaton, the GNR extended the line from Waltham Station to the north-west of Eaton village as the Eaton Branch. Note also the Eastwell Branch running off the Eaton Branch, constructed in anticipation of ore traffic from Eastwell Quarries, but never used for this purpose and from 1901 the track was gradually removed in sections.
Revised plans were filed on 29th November 1883, to extend the Eaton Branch further to run under the Eastwell to Belvoir road to terminate on land leased by the Staveley and Oakes partnership from the Duke of Rutland only four days previously for their new Waltham Quarries. This clearly shows close coordination between the iron and rail companies.
Also in 1883, the Midland Railway (MR) had leased the tramway to the quarries at Holwell and replaced it with their standard gauge track. Work on the new MR Holwell Branch was started by February 1884 and completed later that year.
1884-1887
At the same time that the GNR was proposing its Eaton Branch line, the Midland Railway had also tabled a competitive proposal for its planned Holwell Branch to terminate in the ore fields north of Eaton village, but in the event the Duke of Rutland preferred the GNR proposal.
An agreement was reached with the MR whereby they would withdraw their proposal, and their Holwell Branch would be extended to connect with the GNR Waltham Branch and they would hold running rights over the GNR to the north-west of Eaton.
This extension of the Holwell Branch was constructed during 1885 to 1886 and looped round to join the Waltham Branch at Wycombe Junction. The extension opened in April 1887, and enabled the Midland Railway to transport ore from Holwell’s new quarry west of Eaton, to Holwell Works and the MR Nottingham to Melton line.
All the quarry systems that were to develop in this area used either narrow gauge tramways to transport ore from the ever-changing quarry faces to their interchange points with the national rail companies, or standard gauge lines running directly to sidings on the Eaton Branch. Steam locomotives were used from the beginning by some quarries, but horses were used in others, to be replaced by steam later as the distances to the interchange points became greater. By the late 1940s, lorry transport started to replace some, but not all of these quarry railways.