About West Somerset Mineral Railway

The West Somerset Mineral Railway, constructed under an Act of 1855, was one of the more unusual of Britain's minor railways. The line was opened in stages from Watchet on the Somerset coast to Comberow, a hamlet some six miles to the south at the foot of the Brendon Hills. In order to reach the ironstone mines at the top of the hill, to serve which the line had been principally envisaged, an incline was constructed. This was 1008 m. (1100 yds) long on a gradient of 1 in 4, lifting the railway 243 m. (800ft) to the top of the hill.

Although not completed until 1861, the haste to despatch iron ore along the railway was such that the incline was opened to traffic in May 1858. Ore was sent to the Ebbw Vale Ironworks in South Wales, the Ebbw Vale Company being closely associated with the railway.

From the top of the incline, the railway was extended westwards in 1864 to serve other ironstone mines. But recessions in the demand for ore, due to imports of cheaper foreign ore and a general fall in production of the industry, caused a reduction in the activity on the railway after 1883. In 1898 the railway was closed, most of the locomotives and rolling stock going to Ebbw Vale. There was a brief reopening of the mines by a syndicate between 1907 and 1910, using the lower section of the railway, the incline and a yard close to the head of the incline. The westward extension was not resuscitated but remained derelict.

The Angus system of automatic train control was demonstrated on the line near Watchet in December 1911. The Ministry of Munitions commandeered the line between 1917 and 1919. After an Act of Parliament abandoned the line, the land and property was auctioned in 1924 and the company was wound up in 1925. 

Elements of the line are still visible, although some of it is private property. It runs parallel to the West Somerset Railway from Watchet to Washford, then curves south west, partly in the form of a road, past Cleeve Abbey and Roadwater village to Combe Row. The yard that was at the foot of the incline can be identified at Comberow, to the west of the bridge that carried the incline.

The OS map shows a public footpath crossing the incline about two-thirds of the way up and the remains of the summit winding house are reasonably accessible with care, immediately west of the junction of B3190 and B3224 where the chapel built for the miners and their families still stands.

Exmoor National Park Authority is leading a consortium of local and national partners - including West Somerset District Council, the Forestry Commission, Somerset County Council, Watchet Town Council and English Heritage - to to conserve this remarkable legacy of Victorian industry, both within Exmoor National Park and along the West Somerset Coast.