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The West Somerset Mineral Railway was a standard gauge line which operated in the English county of Somerset. The line ran from ironstone mines in the Brendon Hills to the port of Watchet on the Bristol Channel. From there the ore was carried across the Bristol Channel by ship to Newport and thence to Ebbw Vale for smelting to extract the iron. The line included a rope-worked inclined plane long to bring the ore down a vertical interval on a 1 in 4 gradient. The massive inclined plane is a listed structure. The line opened fully in 1861, and for a period passengers were carried, but the mineral extraction declined and the railway, declining with it, closed in 1898. A new mineral venture was attempted in 1907, and the line was partly re-opened, but this also failed and the line closed again in 1910. ==Origins== In the mid-nineteenth century, the proprietors of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works acquired an interest in iron ore deposits in the Brendon Hills on the north side of Exmoor. Iron ore had been known there for centuries but not exploited industrially until the Brendon Hills Iron Ore Company was formed, in 1853.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/encyclopedia_detail.php?ENCid=178 )〕 At an altitude of over and remote from usable roads, the deposits needed a form of transport to get the ore to South Wales. Thomas Brown (1803-1884), managing partner of the Ebbw Vale company realised that a railway to the quay at Watchet was the solution. The line was designed by Rice Hopkins. The Ebbw Vale proprietors formed the West Somerset Mineral Railway for the purpose, and obtained Parliamentary authority on 16 July 1855 for a standard gauge line from Watchet Quay to Heath Poult (or "Exton"). The authorised capital was £50,000.〔Thomas says £65,000; he may be taking the £50,000 share capital with authorised debenture borrowings.〕 Work started on construction in May 1856, and a locomotive was obtained in November 1856; however it was "put out of action" by serious damage to the boiler. The line was ready for traffic from Watchet to Roadwater by April 1857, and for the time being that acted as the railhead for the minerals; the line was extended to Comberow by 1856, making an extent of . However in the interim period another accident occurred when two locomotives collided, killing three men. An Act was obtained on 27 July 1857 to extend the line to Minehead, with a branch to Cleeve; an additional £35,000 capital was authorised. This work was never carried out. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「West Somerset Mineral Railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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