The Brendon Hills were known to be a source of iron ore from Roman times, so it was not surprising that a landowner with an eye for profit should try to mine it again when its price began to rise. The fortunes of the West Somerset Mineral Railway were recounted by Peter Jessop at the History Society talk in May.

Sir Thomas Lethbridge, who also had interests in the South Wales iron industry, issued a lease for a mine on his land, and the Brendon Hill Mining Company was formed in 1849. He had proposed a railway to transport the iron ore to Watchet Harbour so that it could be shipped to South Wales, but it was not until 1855 that a private Act of Parliament paved the way for its construction. Sadly, he had died, almost bankrupt, in 1849.

The line opened in April 1857. Whereas the rest of Somerset was broad gauge, the West Somerset Mineral Railway, like the railway at its destination in South Wales, was standard gauge. Its most unusual feature was a steep incline, which had a gradient of 1 in 4 for part of its 11 mile length. The line was extended in the 1860s and opened to passenger traffic.

The Ebbw Vale Company, who leased the mine, needed iron ore to produce wrought iron rails for the expanding railway system. Unfortunately, iron ore in the Brendon Hills proved to be both expensive to extract and of disappointing quality. In the 1870s imports of foreign ore made production increasingly uneconomic, and the mines closed in 1879. Less than a year later the price of iron ore rose, and the mines re-opened, but in 1883 they closed again. The railway line continued to operate for passengers and goods, but closed down in 1898, when the equipment was moved to Ebbw Vale.

Rising steel prices in 1907 lured another enterprising mineral syndicate into reopening part of the mine and installing a new locomotive on the railway to transport the iron ore. However, this too fell victim to falling prices, and the business failed. A few years later, taking advantage of the fact that the railway tracks were still in place, an enterprising Australian, Arthur Angus, demonstrated his invention of an automated train safety system. Despite its success, he was unable to persuade railway companies to buy the system. Eventually, in 1917, the tracks of the West Somerset Mineral Railway were taken up to help with the war effort. This presumably meant that they were returned, with some poetic justice, to the form of the very goods that they had been built to transport.

For more information see http://www.westsomersetmineralrailway.org.uk