Navvies, Rails, and Cuttings: How The Moor Row Railway Was Built

If you stand in the quiet village of Moor Row today, it is hard to imagine it as the beating heart of an industrial empire. Yet, in the late 1800s, this was the "Spaghetti Junction" of the North. From this single point, railway lines spread out like the tentacles of a great iron octopus, gripping the West Cumbrian landscape to extract its "Red Gold" - the high-grade haematite ore that built the modern world.

The Architects: Planning the Hub

The transformation began in 1854 with the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway (WC&ER). They saw a landscape locked in by hills and mud and envisioned a high-speed mineral corridor. To design it, they hired engineers like John Sanderson, a man who had to solve a complex puzzle: how to merge four major lines into one small village without causing a permanent traffic jam of steam and ore.

By the 1870s, the competition heated up with the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR). This wasn’t just about transport; it was a "railway war" between the mine owners (the Ironmasters) and the established rail monopolies. This rivalry is what forced the construction of even more "tentacles," turning Moor Row into a maze of signals and points.

The Contractors: Men of Iron

The physical burden of building these lines fell to legendary contractors like Harrison Hodgson. Based in Workington, Hodgson was a man who specialised in the "impossible."

When the lines needed to reach the high-altitude mines at Kelton Fell, Hodgson’s men didn't just build a track; they built a mountain-climbing machine. They pushed the rails up to 800 feet above sea level, requiring massive embankments that still dominate the skyline today. Hodgson was paid tens of thousands of pounds - millions in today’s money - just to move the earth for a few miles of track.

The Anatomy of a Cutting: Blasting the Fells

How did they move millions of tons of Cumbrian rock before the age of the bulldozer? The answer was brute force and black powder.

  • The Navvy’s Life: Thousands of "Navvies" (Railway Navigators) descended on Moor Row. They were a rough-and-ready army of Irish, Scottish, and Cornish labourers. They lived in "shanty towns" and later in the brick terraces of Penzance Street - so named because the Cornish miners brought their families and culture with them.
  • The "Jumper" and the Blast: To create the deep cuttings you see on the C2C cycle path today, "shot-holers" used a 6-foot iron bar called a Jumper. They would rhythmically strike the rock to drill a hole, pack it with gunpowder, and run for cover.
  • The "Barrow Run": This was the most terrifying part of the job. Once the rock was shattered, it had to be removed. Navvies would wheel heavy barrows up narrow wooden planks leaning against the cutting walls. A horse at the top would pull a rope to help them up. One slip meant a fatal fall into the rocky abyss below.

​The Material: Wrought Iron vs. Steel

​When the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway (WC&ER) opened its first section in 1854/1855, Bessemer had only just filed his patent. It took nearly another decade for the process to be reliable and cheap enough for mass production of rails.
  • ​The Early Lines: These were made of Wrought Iron. Iron rails were softer and wore out much faster than steel. Many components came from Barrow. ​The Barrow Haematite Steel Company was, for a time, the largest steelworks in the world. Rail chairs were supplied by Hannay and Clark of Barrow.
  • The Steel Transition: It wasn't until the mid-to-late 1860s that railways began a massive program of "re-laying" their tracks with Bessemer Steel.
  • ​World Leader: Workington became the world leader in rail production because of the very iron ore that was being mined around Moor Row. 

​The Weight Problem

​During the iron ore boom, the miners were digging up "Red Gold" so fast that the trains got heavier and heavier. The old wrought iron rails would "delaminate" or flatten under the weight of the massive ore wagons.

​This is why the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (built in the late 1870s) was such a big deal - it was built from the start with high-quality Bessemer Steel from Workington’s Moss Bay works, allowing it to handle the heaviest loads in the district.

​The Local Connection

​The irony is that West Cumbrian haematite was the only British ore pure enough (low in phosphorus) to work in the original Bessemer converter.
  • ​1850s: Moor Row exported ore to be made into wrought iron elsewhere.
  • 1870s: Moor Row exported ore to Workington and Barrow to be made into Bessemer Steel, which was then sent back to Moor Row to replace the old, crumbling iron tracks.

The iron ore dug from the Montreal Mine or Jacktrees was sent to Workington, where it was smelted into steel at the Moss Bay Works.

That steel was then rolled into the very rails that were laid back down in Moor Row. The heavy "chairs" that held the rails to the sleepers were cast in the massive foundries of Barrow-in-Furness, and the complex signal levers and points were custom-made in Manchester and shipped by sea to Whitehaven.

The Keekle Viaduct: A Monument in the Mud

Perhaps the greatest feat was crossing the local rivers. The Keekle Viaduct, built in 1878, was the crowning jewel of the Moor Row network. It allowed the "Ironmasters' Line" to soar over the valley, bypassing the congested lower routes. It required thousands of locally fired bricks and enormous blocks of sandstone, all hauled into place using steam-powered cranes that were the "high-tech" wonders of their day.

A National Effort: Component Origins
Iron Rail Chairs Barrow-in-Furness (Hannay and Clark)
Switches & Points Manchester (W. Barningham & Co)
Signaling Gear Worcester (McKenzie & Holland)
Locomotives Leeds (Hunslet) & Glasgow (Dübs & Co)
Timber Sleepers Baltic Redwood (Imported via Liverpool, from Russia, Sweden, and Norway.)

The Man in the Villa: John Sanderson

While the navvies lived in temporary huts or cramped terrace housing, the "Architect of the Iron Octopus" lived in a manner befitting his status. John Sanderson resided at Victoria Villa, a substantial stone residence in Moor Row built by the railway company specifically for its senior staff.

His home was a command center. Positioned with a clear view of the Moor Row junction and the sprawling engine sheds, Sanderson lived within earshot of the shunting locomotives and the constant clatter of haematite wagons. This proximity was vital - as the Engineer-in-Chief, he was effectively on call 24/7 to manage the crises of a railway built on shifting Cumbrian fells.

The census records of 1871 and 1881 reveal that the railway was truly a family affair. Living with John at Victoria Villa was the next generation of the "Sanderson Dynasty":

  • George Sanderson The eldest son, serving as a Civil Engineer’s Assistant, helping his father survey the terrain for new mineral branches.
  • Charles Sanderson Recorded as a Railway Apprentice, learning the mechanical "black arts" of steam within the Moor Row workshops.
  • John Sanderson Jr. Also recorded as a Railway Apprentice, groomed to follow in his father's footsteps at the junction.

By 1881, John Sanderson had risen to become both Secretary and Engineer of the line. Having his sons living at home while apprenticed to the company ensured that the technical "DNA" of the junction stayed within the family. Today, while the trains have long since stopped, the villa remains as a quiet reminder of the era when the men who designed the tracks lived and raised their families right alongside them.

The Legacy of the Octopus

By the time the boom ended, the Moor Row network was so dense that a train passed through the junction every few minutes, 24 hours a day. The ground literally shook with the weight of the "Red Gold."

Today, the steam is gone, and the "tentacles" have been reclaimed by nature. The deep cuttings that navvies died to dig are now lush green corridors for cyclists and walkers. But if you look closely at the walls of the cuttings, you can still see the vertical drill marks from the jumpers - a permanent scar on the landscape left by the men who built the most important railway hub in West Cumbrian history.

The next time you walk the path near Moor Row, listen for the echo of the jumper - you are walking through a masterpiece of Victorian sweat and steel.

Technical Specifications & Fast Facts
Primary Rail Type Bessemer Steel "Bullhead" (approx. 80 lbs per yard)
Main Contractor Harrison Hodgson (Workington)
Junction Hardware W. Barningham & Co, Manchester
Steepest Gradient 1 in 44 (Rowrah Branch)
Key Structure Keekle Viaduct (7-arch brick construction)
Modern Status Part of the C2C (Coast to Coast) Cycle Route

Creating A Railway Cutting Illustration
Creating A Railway Cutting Illustration
Location: Moor Row CA24, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome. Spam will not be tolerated. Strictly no advertising.

ARCHIVE HIGHLIGHTS

About Moor Row

Image
Hello, and welcome. This Internet site is about the village of Moor Row in West Cumbria. The history of Moor Row is one intrinsically linked to the industrial boom that transformed West Cumbria. While the area's roots stretch back to before 1762, when the homesteads of Low Moor Row and High Moor Row dotted the landscape between Summerhill Mansion and Woodend with Cleator, the true genesis of the modern village lies in iron ore and the mighty railway.  From Homestead to Hub The early landscape was characterised by family landholdings, such as the estate of the Wildridge family at Low Moor Row, located on what would become Church Street. The marriage of Elizabeth Wildridge to the local gardener, Dalzell, and his subsequent inheritance of the estates, is a pivotal local event. This link is preserved today, not just through family lore but in the village's street names, a testament to the enduring influence of the early landowners. The Railway Catalyst The mid-19th century witnes...
Read more

The 100-Fathom Descent: Dual Extraction at Moor Row’s Premier Pit

Image
The Montreal Pit No. 10 at Moor Row was a vital component of the Montreal Mine complex, an enterprise so vast it was famously known as the "Great Moor." Owned by the industrialist John Stirling, Pit No. 10 was a feat of Victorian engineering that defied the standard geological rules of the West Cumbrian "Iron Fever" era. It was the deepest of the Moor Row pits.  As the mining operations moved south and east from the original 1840s outcrop, the shafts had to go deeper to follow the dipping ore bodies. ​ Location : The shaft was situated at National Grid Reference NY 006 142, positioned south of the village near what is now the fringe of agricultural land. Depth : While the average depth for the earlier Montreal shafts was approximately 145 metres, Pit No. 10 was significantly deeper, reaching depths between 190 and 210 metres (approx. 620–690 feet). Strata : It primarily worked the Fourth and Fifth Limestones, targeting massive "flats" (horizontal ore...
Read more

The Genesis of Industry: Summerhill Mansion and the Dalzell Legacy in Moor Row

Image
The story of Summerhill Mansion in Moor Row begins long before the deafening roar of the Whitehaven Cleator and Egremont Railway and the deep excavations of the iron mines. Archival research confirms the property's existence prior to 1762, placing it firmly in the agrarian era of West Cumberland. ​The Mansion was not merely a large house; it was the original, definitive geographical boundary and an anchor for the earliest settlement, which included the Low Moor Row homestead. It was the ancestral seat of the Wildridge family and represented the fixed, respectable wealth of the rural landscape. It is the story of how a single country estate, located on what became Church Street , became the essential financial and geographical launchpad for the entire industrial expansion of this West Cumbrian village. Once established at Summerhill Mansion, the Dalzell family leveraged their land to become industrial pioneers. As the 19th-century iron ore boom exploded, Moor Row rapidly expan...
Read more

Deep History: 6000 Years Of Moor Row

Image
For the modern visitor, Moor Row appears as a product of the nineteenth-century industrial revolution - a landscape of red-brick terraces built to house the miners of the West Cumberland iron ore boom. However, to view this village only through the lens of industry is to overlook a human story that stretches back six millennia. Before the first mine shaft was sunk, this was a "row" of dwellings on the edge of the great Egremont Waste, held by families whose roots reached back to the very foundations of England. Searching Historic Records In historical Cumbrian records, the Bailiwick of Egremont refers to the administrative and judicial division of the Barony of Egremont (also known as the Barony of Copeland). ​Before 1600, a "bailiwick" was the area of jurisdiction for a Bailiff - an officer appointed by the Lord of the Manor (the Percys) to manage the land, collect rents, and enforce local laws.   ​1. Administrative Structure ​The Bailiwick was the "middle ma...
Read more

​The Final Departure: Documenting the Demolition of Moor Row Railway

Image
The industrial landscape of West Cumbria underwent a radical metamorphosis during the nineteenth century, driven primarily by the extraction of high-grade haematite, colloquially known as "Red Gold." At the epicentre of this transformation was the village of Moor Row, which evolved from a collection of scattered eighteenth-century homesteads into one of the most significant railway junctions in Northern England. The development of the Moor Row railway station was not merely a matter of regional transport logistics but was a physical manifestation of the Victorian industrial empire's reach. The station’s buildings, added and modified across different eras, reflected the fluctuating fortunes of the iron ore industry, eventually meeting their demise as the mineral reserves and the accompanying rail traffic vanished in the late twentieth century. The Genesis of the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway The origins of the station at Moor Row are inextricably linked to...
Read more