The Quarries
Waltham Quarries
Waltham Iron Ore Co. developed their new quarry at the terminus of the GNR Eaton Branch, which was in production by 1885. Unusually, a metre gauge quarry line was used to transport the ore to a tippler gantry over a standard gauge siding on the Eaton Branch. A weigh-bridge was sited just to the south of the gantry, and there were holding sidings to the north at the terminus.
Two Staveley designed vertical cylinder locomotives were used in the early years, very similar to the two used at Eastwell Quarries. By 1910, these had been replaced by a new 0-4-0ST locomotive called ‘Dreadnought’ (Makers: Manning Wardle & Co., Leeds, No.1757, 1910), later converted to 0-4-2ST. Four other locos were used over the years, including ‘54 Nantes’ (Makers: Veuve Corpet & L. Louvet, No.936, 1903) and ‘Cambrai’ (Makers: L. Corpet, No.493, 1888) both second-hand locos imported from France.
The ore was under relatively light overburden, and it was not until 1934 that a steam navvy arrived. Two relatively small diesel shovels were introduced during WW2 to aid production, one of which was converted to a dragline in 1944, and both worked at Waltham Quarries until closure.
The system developed in an easterly direction over the years, with the latter quarries opened at High Leys, Granby Wood, and finally Harts Quarry, adjacent to Belvoir Sawmill. The Waltham company merged with Eastwell Iron Ore Co. in 1957, before Waltham Quarries were closed in February the following year.
Eaton Quarries
Eaton Quarries were opened up by the Holwell Iron Company in 1885. The initial workings were in the area bounded by the Belvoir Road, the Stathern to Eaton lane, and the quarry interchange sidings on the newly completed Eaton Branch, known as Eaton Wharf. It is likely that the quarry rails were transferred from the quarry near Waltham Station, and continued to be worked by horses.
It was not until 1890, that the first steam locomotive ‘Holwell No.6’ (Makers: Hudswell Clarke & Co., Leeds, No.375, 1890) arrived new, coinciding with extension of the three foot gauge quarry railway to access new quarries north-west of the Belvoir Road. These were named Duke of Rutland’s Pit – known as Dukes Pit, and Hursts Pit, both named after the landowners.
In 1920, the Holwell Iron Co. came under control of the Stanton Ironworks Co. who assumed management of Eaton Quarries, and they became a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewarts & Lloyds in 1939.
In 1929, a bridge was constructed under the Stathern to Eaton lane to access further land on the Hurst’s lease. By 1935, quarrying had been completed in the original Dukes and Hursts pits, leaving only the area adjacent to Eaton Lodge in production. The narrow gauge railway remained in use until January 1946, when Muir Hill dumpers took over. Dennis tippers followed in 1947, followed by AEC lorries in 1956.
As quarrying progressed to the south-east adjacent to Eaton Lodge, the overburden became increasingly deep, and resulted in the introduction of a 43RB diesel dragline in 1938.
Just prior to the First World War a new quarry was opened up to the east of the Eaton Branch near Sherricliffe Farm, and in 1914 a small area next to the Eaton road bridge known as Bagshaws Quarry, which lasted until 1928.
At the beginning of 1918, Stanton Ironworks Co. Ltd. had taken control of all the Holwell quarries at Eaton. They continued to develop this area, where a standard gauge railway system was employed to connect to the Eaton Branch. This was worked initially using horses, then steam locomotives from about 1924. Beastalls Quarry, as it became known, was named after Thomas M. Beastall the landowner (from 1920). The quarry followed ironstone deposits near to the surface along several ‘fingers’ of higher ground running to the south-east. The standard gauge system at Beastalls closed in September 1957, by then under control of Stewarts and Lloyds Minerals.
Stewarts and Lloyds opened up Eaton No. 4 Quarry in 1957, which operated until October 1959, and No. 5 opened in October 1960 and ran through to December 1965.
Quarrying continued in Hursts (or Shipmans) Quarry to the east of Eaton Lodge including introduction of a Ransom & Rapier W80 walking dragline. It was delivered new and erected on site in 1941 to handle the deeper ore deposits to the east and north-east of Eaton Lodge.
Hursts South quarry was opened up in 1961, and was worked into the following year.
Production from all these later quarry areas was handled by the Dennis, and later AEC trucks. No. 5 was transferred to Staveley Minerals in June 1963, and the trucks then delivered to Stathern Ironstone Sidings at the bottom of Harby Hill, rather than Eaton Wharf as before.
In 1914, the Holwell Iron Co. opened up a new quarry system at Windmill Hill to the south of Eaton, remote from their main site. This area had not been developed earlier due to the problem of transporting the ore over the River Devon valley, which was finally solved by construction of a single-cable ropeway over to an interchange with the Eaton Branch line. In this arrangement the single cable was in continuous motion, the buckets were hooked onto the carrying cable which transported the loaded buckets to the interchange point, and the empties back again.
Quarrying was suspended here in 1917, as the cable system was unreliable. In about 1923, the old aerial ropeway system was replaced with a twin-cable arrangement that could handle 38 tons per hour. With this system the buckets ran along two fixed carrying cables, hauled by a lighter continuous cable. Windmill Hill Quarry resumed production, and a new face opened as Hubbards Quarry.
Grange Quarry was opened up to the east of Eaton Grange in 1941, and worked into the post-war period.
The twin-cable aerial ropeway remained in production until it broke sometime around May 1948, and the remaining three years’ production was transported by Stanton’s Dennis lorries to Eaton Wharf.
Basic Quarry
The Basic Quarry – pronounced Baasic Quarry – started production in 1915 adjacent to the GNR viaduct. It was run by the Staveley-backed Basic Ironstone Co. The name probably derives from the poorer quality ‘limey’ ore at this location, which only required a royalty payment of 3d a ton, as opposed to the 71/2d per ton for ore from the other Eaton Quarries. At this time Basic Quarry only required a short length of standard gauge line, worked by horses and connecting to the Eaton Branch.
Management of the quarry transferred to Parkgate Iron and Steel Co. in around 1921, for which Staveley still had a managing interest. In 1927 work began on a deep cutting to the north of the original workings near the viaduct, to access a new quarry area which was worked until the end of operations in 1961.
Standard gauge track was again used to link into the Eaton Branch, and initially an ex. War Department loco fitted with a 40hp Dorman petrol engine was used in the quarry (Makers: James & Frederick Howard, Bedford, No. 950, 1929). This was later fitted with a Ruston diesel engine by quarry fitters from Eastwell, and it left to work at Warsop Sand Quarries in 1949.
It was replaced by a Fowler 52hp diesel locomotive named ‘Douglas’ (Makers: John Fowler & Co., Leeds, No.21086, 1936).
Eastwell Quarries
The Eastwell Iron Ore Co. had put pressure on the GNR to remove their standard gauge Eastwell Branch in 1901. After removal in stages, the Eastwell company were able to use the redundant trackbed to gradually extend their main quarry line to a new interchange siding on the Eaton Branch by about 1906. This siding was not intended for ore traffic, but did allow delivery of other supplies and machinery to this point, two miles from the incline at Eastwell.
New leases in 1911 to the Staveley, Oaks and Bestwood Iron Companies enabled Eastwell Iron Ore Co. to extend their operations into the area south of Eaton, and this section of the quarry line was called the Branston Extension. This involved construction of a bridge under the GNR Eaton Branch, a viaduct over the River Devon valley, and a bridge under Waltham Lane from Eaton.
Initial work was mainly in West Branston and Branston Quarries, and after WW2 Compressor and Branston Quarries were in production. In 1952, the line was extended under the Branston Road and Baulk Quarry was opened up, which closed when it had reached the outskirts of Branston village in 1957.
The Eastwell Company opened up Mill Hill Quarry, starting production east of the Eaton Branch in mid-1957, transferring to the west side in July 1961 to work adjacent to the existing Basic Quarry.
Use of steam locomotives on the company’s narrow gauge system was destined to end in October 1959, to be replaced by lorry working, but use of steam did not completely end. A standard gauge Peckett, (No. 1952, 1938) had been purchased second hand from the Tyne Improvement Commissioners in October 1956 by Eastwell & Waltham Iron Ore Co. Ltd. to operate in their completely separate Mill Hill Quarry. It continued in use until 1963, when it was replaced by lorry transport until closure of Mill Hill Quarry at the end of 1965.