Horse-worked transport connecting inland minerals with Newquay’s existing harbour.
This was a working route for minerals, with horses hauling wagons along rails. The East Wheal Rose branch brought an early thirty-ton cargo to Newquay Harbour in February 1849.
Today’s Lappa Valley railway follows part of the old route. Steam replaced horse traction on the mineral network in 1874. Those dates matter: a horse tramway carrying ore in 1849 is not evidence that miners caught a passenger train to work.
The ore arrived at Newquay’s existing harbour. Treffry’s separate proposed refuge at Towan Head never became its destination.
Sources
https://www.lappavalley.co.uk/heritage/minerals-railway/ https://newquaymuseum.org/museum-archive-collections/discover-newquay/newquay-harbour-tramway/
Connected subjects
Read on
- There Was a Railway Running Out of Newquay Harbour
A load of ore could reach Newquay and still have a cliff to get down. Follow the horses, miners and winding machinery that completed the journey.
- The Harbour That Would Have Turned Towan Head Into an Island
Meet the man behind Newquay’s unfinished harbour, follow the cargoes that made it worth attempting, and imagine the town that might have grown around it.
- When Ships Sailed Up the Gannel
The families who built ships, the merchant who fought the mud, and a working river with very little interest in anyone's timetable.
- Joseph Thomas Treffry: The Man Who Joined Cornwall’s Businesses Together
Most of us, faced with an awkward delivery, complain about the delivery company. Joseph Thomas Treffry’s approach was rather more expensive. He became involved in mines, harbours, waterways and tramways.