by Robert Western

As featured in R&ER Magazine Number 188 (March 2008)

Lake Coniston, with its undoubted beauty, might well have been the obvious destination for a railway; a line to provide access for visitors to come and enjoy this special area of the Lake District. Certainly Coniston did get a railway but providing a facility for visitors was not the primary reason for building it. Industrial commerce was the driving force, copper being the prime consideration. By the time the Coniston line was opened in 1859, copper was being increasingly resourced from foreign sources. Even so the mines would remain in business into the next century.

Nevertheless, the carrying of passengers was soon seen as a vital role and as well as providing a local service, it was also realized that measures should be taken to enhance the tourist potential of the line. The railway decided they needed to 'push the boat out', and by the end of 1859 had launched the steam vessel Gondola, much later to be joined by The Lady of the Lake.

Passenger services on the railway survived for 99 years and freight services until 1962. Happily a trip on Gondola can be experienced today, and with the use of a little imagination, might well transport the traveller to a bygone era and, for a short time, the past can be rolled into the present and a taste of those halcyon days savoured with the relish of the smell of steam!

A5 format, 96 pages, 80 illustrations and is printed on high quality art paper.

Contents Beginnings, The Romans to 1856 Setting up the Company and Building the Line, 1856-1859 The Opening, Brief Independence, then the Take Over,1859-1923 Post-Grouping and NationaIisation, LMS and British Railways, 1923-1962 Finale Chronology Timetable of Gondola Sailings, 1895 and 2006 Sources and Acknowledgements Index