Raw Power: The Tank Engines of Moor Row Shed

Forget the sleek Pacifics and the record breaking expresses. The true heart of Britain's railways lay in the tank engines - the compact, tireless workhorses that spent their lives covered in grime, shunting wagons, and hauling local trains.

• The LMS Shunter (No. 8263): The locomotive dominating the foreground in the illustration below, LMS No. 8263, might look like a standard London, Midland and Scottish Railway machine, but its pedigree is pure Midland Railway (MR).
• A Victorian Legacy: This 0-6-0T was designed by the celebrated Samuel Waite Johnson back in the late 1800s. Its primary virtue was simplicity and phenomenal strength. With six coupled wheels and the water and coal carried directly on the main chassis (hence 'Tank'), it was perfectly balanced for the brutal pushing and pulling required in goods yards.

• The Cumbrian Local (No. 11628): Just peeking out, shrouded in smoke, is the No. 11628. While 8263 was a company man from Derby, 11628 is a true local, born and bred on the tracks of the Furness Railway (FR).
• The 'Cleator Tank' Tradition: Known locally as a 'Cleator Tank' (likely an FR Class L2), this engine was built for the unique demands of the Furness area. Its 0-6-2T wheel arrangement is the clue: the extra trailing wheels gave it the stability required to handle both heavy iron ore traffic and secondary passenger services across the often-challenging Cumbrian landscape.

The Melting Pot

Before 1923, an engine built for the Furness Railway would rarely be seen near a Midland Railway locomotive. Their merger under the LMS (London, Midland and Scottish Railway),  brought them together at regional depots like Moor Row.

No. 11628, with its high-mounted boiler and smaller dome, proudly displays the aesthetic of the smaller, independent lines that fought to carve out routes through the North West. Its survival until 1946 shows the LMS knew better than to scrap an engine perfectly suited to its unique, local duties.

The railway world post-1923 was a rich tapestry of regional designs and corporate identity, working shoulder-to-shoulder, keeping the goods and people of West Cumbria moving.

Moor Row Engine Shed
The engine shed at Moor Row wasn't just a place to park trains; it was the essential, smoky heart of West Cumbria's vital industrial railway network. Its history is completely intertwined with the region's greatest natural resource: iron ore.

Here is a closer look at the engine shed's role and its transformation over the years:

• Original Company: The shed and the village itself owe their existence to the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway (WC&ER), which opened its lines in the mid-1850s.
• A Strategic Hub: Moor Row rapidly became the most important junction and goods yard in West Cumberland.

It was the crucial point where lines split off, heading South towards Egremont and later Sellafield. North-east towards the iron ore mines at Frizington and Rowrah. A third route later established connections via the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR), earning the C&WJR network the nickname the “Track of the Ironmasters.”

The village of Moor Row was literally built to house the railway workers needed to operate this complex network, with streets like Penzance Street reminding us of the Cornish tin miners who moved to the area to work the iron ore seams.

The Great Railway Mergers
Like the two engines depicted in the illustration below, the ownership of the Moor Row shed was a product of mergers and joint ventures long before the 1923 Grouping:

•  WC&ER Absorption: The original WC&ER was taken over in 1878 by a joint committee of the Furness Railway (FR) and the London & North Western Railway (LNWR). This meant the shed had to be ready to service engines from both companies, explaining the presence of different locomotive types in the region.
• The LMS Era: When the FR, LNWR, and Midland Railway (MR) were all swept into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923, Moor Row continued to operate as an LMS sub-shed. It was allocated the shed code 12E in the British Railways (BR) system after nationalisation in 1948, confirming its importance right up to the end of steam.

The shed's longevity was directly tied to the fortunes of the local industry.

• Subsidence and Adaptation: The area was heavily mined, and at one point, the shed was reportedly reduced in size to just two roads due to mining subsidence, showing the constant challenges of building and maintaining a railway depot on top of an active iron ore field.
• End of the Line: Moor Row's decline began after World War Two as road transport grew and the iron ore industry started to shrink. The locomotive shed eventually closed at midnight on 31st July 1954, marking the end of its operational role as a steam depot. The passenger station itself closed a decade later in 1965.

The engine shed at Moor Row, represented a historical crossroads: a vital piece of infrastructure that facilitated the explosive growth of the West Cumbrian iron industry, survived two major railway takeovers, and ultimately faded away only when the industry it served did.

The Track of the Ironmasters
The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was perhaps the most uniquely Cumbrian of all the region's lines. It was not built primarily for passengers, but for iron, making it the purest example of an industrial railway in the area.

Known colloquially as the "Track of the Ironmasters," the C&WJR was a competitive, rugged line that was crucial for the survival of the iron-producing area served by engines like the Furness Railway's 'Cleator Tank' (LMS No. 11628).

The Purpose: Breaking the Monopoly
The C&WJR was conceived and built in the late 1870s and early 1880s for a very specific reason: to break the near-monopoly held by the established railways (primarily the Furness Railway and the LNWR) on transporting ore and finished goods.

• The Ironmasters' Solution: Local iron producers, who felt the rates charged by the existing lines were crippling their profits, decided to build their own railway. This independent spirit is key to the line's history.
• The Route: The main line ran from the junction at Moor Row, northwards towards Workington Dock. Its most critical function was providing a direct, competitive outlet for the vast amounts of haematite ore mined around Cleator Moor, Frizington, and the surrounding fields.

The Route's Distinctive Features
The C&WJR was a challenging line to build and operate:

• Engineering Challenges: The route was marked by steep gradients and tight curves, necessary to navigate the rugged, mining-heavy terrain. This demanded powerful, flexible locomotives.
• The River Derwent Bridge: One of the most significant engineering feats was the bridge built over the River Derwent estuary near Workington. This proved to be a constant maintenance challenge due to the harsh coastal environment.
• Heavy Traffic: Despite being a short line (only about 15 miles), it carried extraordinary volumes of heavy freight. The trains were long, slow, and loaded with iron ore destined for the blast furnaces at Workington, Maryport, and farther afield.

Final Chapter: Absorption and Closure
While the C&WJR achieved its goal of providing cheaper transport, it could not escape the fate of the wider British railway network.

• The Grouping (1923): Like the other local lines, the C&WJR was absorbed into the LMS, though it maintained a semi-independent existence for a time. The LMS quickly streamlined operations, consolidating the C&WJR's rolling stock and infrastructure.
• Post-War Decline: As the iron ore industry began to decline after World War Two, the need for the C&WJR's intense level of service faded. The line gradually saw services cut.
• Closure: The bulk of the C&WJR network closed to passenger traffic in the mid-1930s, and the last of the key goods lines were finally lifted in the early 1960s, marking the definitive end of the 'Ironmasters' own railway.'

The trains at Moor Row, especially No. 11628, were the very engines that hammered up and down the C&WJR's challenging gradients, powering the industrial engine of West Cumbria for over 80 years.

The Merging Illustration