Howick Quarry Railway

Howick Quarry, located a short distance from Little Mill Quarry was another source of whinstone for road building which was opened in the first decade of the twentieth century but remained small until the 1920s. It had an internal narrow-gauge railway system for bringing the stone from the quarry faces to stone crushers from which the stone was transferred to standard gauge wagons.  There was a siding, leading from the main line into the quarry and the stone was taken away by the southbound local goods train. Within the quarry the narrow gauge tipper wagons were moved around by a small Lister-built locomotive between 1935 and 1954 when the rail system was taken out of use and the stone was despatched by road vehicles. Fortunately the Lister was bought and preserved by an enthusiast and is now kept in Devon.

The small Lister locomotive lay out-of-use, off the rails and exposed to the elements at Howick Quarry until, in 1961, it was bought and restored to working order.  Some surviving tipper wagons survived at the quarry until 1968 but in that year they were sold for scrap.
This photograph of the Howick Quarry was taken in 2010 and shows the huge plant, elevators, hoppers and stone crushers, now operating on-site.   The original building which carried out these processes survived at that time.