By Howard Quayle

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

Today's visitor to Whitehaven sees a planned town of 18th Century houses, a pedestrian promenade running the length of the old port, colourful sailing craft moored in the South Harbour, and, to the north, the distinctive hills of south-west Scotland. He or she may have arrived by rail, from either the Carlisle or Barrow directions, at Bransty's modest but still staffed station, having enjoyed a journey over what is undoubtedly one of Britain's most scenic coastal routes.

A walk alongside the South Harbour towards the Old Quay, however, reveals another side of Whitehaven, as the monumental chimney of Wellington Pit, known locally as "The Candlestick" comes into view. Coal, mined locally since the 13th Century, was the fuel on which Whitehaven's prosperity was founded, but few traces of this industry now remain, although less than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the last Whitehaven coal mine was in production and since coal was being shipped by sea to Ireland from the harbour.

Railways or waggonways have always played a significant role in the transport of coal, with Whitehaven being among the earliest of the pioneers, a crude wooden track being recorded in the Ginns as early as 1683. Later lines, such as the Whitehaven Junction and the Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railways, while undoubtably having been built to transport the mineral wealth of the area, were instrumental in providing new and faster links to the rest of the country, and played a role in lessening the isolation of this corner of north-west England.

Specific books on Whitehaven's harbour, coal mining and chemical industries, and architecture have been published at various times over the years, but this is the first publication to focus on the area's railways and industrial waggonways.

Softback A4 format, 101 pages, so many photographs I gave up counting