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TeamManley | |
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Caradon
Hill Railways
East Caradon Mine |
The remains of the East Caradon Branch loading Bay Summer 2002 Wheal Tor Hotel can be seen behind and on the Skyline Caradon Hill mast. The Granite/Killas boundary crosses at approximately this location in an East-West Direction. |
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East
Caradon Mine lies on the South Eastern corner of Caradon
hill on the Eastern extension of
South Caradon's lodes. Below the mine can be seen three railway lines
that formed formed part of the Liskeard and
Caradon railway network.
When the LCR was originally built in 1846 it was originally intended to build a branch out to this location at Tokenbury corner. The company ran out of capital before the line was commenced and this side of the hill had to wait until 1861 before being connected to the LCR by the Tokenbury branch. This terminated at the complex of buildings and a siding that formed Tokenbury depot. In 1877 the line was extended Northwards by the Kilmar Junction Railway to by pass the incline plane at Gonomena. The line around the Eastern side of the hill then became the "main line " to the on the moors branches North of Minions. At the same time a new branch was built that followed the hillside around to the Mines at Marke Valley and the junction for this is close East of the mine. East
Caradon mine had its own short branch running up from Tokenbury depot
to a loading bay on the dressing floors .A tramway
also appears to have existed within the mine linking the floors with Seccombes
shaft.
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| East Caradon
Weekly wagon loads of Ore
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East Caradon
Traffic
The figures on the left are a rough guide to the scale of ore traffic leaving East Caradon mine siding. It is based on the production figures given in Burt and an assumed wagon load of 6 tons. It only reflects the ore being transported not the coal or other loads being imported to the mine. On average a wagon a day of ore would have left the mine and it made up just under 7% or the LCR freight traffic. East Caradon did not start raising ore until the 1860s over twenty years after its rich neighbour South Caradon. The building of the Tokenbury branch line became financial viable once East Caradon started raising ore but it ceased production in the 1880s when South Caradon finally stopped its pumps. |