Permission to build a colliery connection help

[Andy873]

I'm trying to find any act of Parliament, proposed bill etc that relates to a colliery connection to the branch line I'm researching but I can't find any clues?

Here is what I know:

The colliery connection is a little over one furlong in length.
The colliery was know as Martholme colliery or the Great Harwood colliery.
The rail connection was opened in 1895.
The connection needed a new embankment coming off the main one.
The L&Y bought land needed for this in 1885 (ten years earlier).
Before 1892 the colliery was owned by the Great Harwood Colliery Company.
In 1892 it was bought by the Altham Colliery Co.

Would the L&Y still need Parliaments permission to build this even though they own the land? if so, I can't find it mentioned anywhere? buried in one of the L&Y acts along with other minor works?
Shouldn't I be able to find some clues apart from what I know?

Help anyone?

 

[Dr Hoo]

Assuming that the colliery owned the land adjacent to the railway the new connection (up to a boundary gate clear of the line) was probably within the ‘Limits of Deviation’ of the original route - so no new powers needed.

 

[ThirteenArches]

An Act of Parliament, or a Light Railway Order, gave the applicant the right of compulsory purchase (with certain limitations - usually the land was acquired by agreement anyway). If the L&Y (or the colliery) owned the land already, there was no need for such powers. Even if the land was owned by another party, a private agreement such as a wayleave (rental to build and run trains on the land) could be negotiated - for an explanation of this, read about the fiasco of the Stanhope and Tyne railway, and how it came close to bankrupting Robert Stephenson. It was the usual way of getting land to build a railway for the first 200 years of railway history in Britain.

I suspect the delay between the land purchase and construction in this case was due to failure of the L&Y and the Great Harwood Colliery Company to agree terms.

 

[Andy873]

Assuming that the colliery owned the land adjacent to the railway the new connection (up to a boundary gate clear of the line) was probably within the ‘Limits of Deviation’ of the original route - so no new powers needed.

An interesting theory regarding the limits of deviation, and the short line coming off the main lines was just inside that limit.

An Act of Parliament, or a Light Railway Order, gave the applicant the right of compulsory purchase (with certain limitations - usually the land was acquired by agreement anyway). If the L&Y (or the colliery) owned the land already, there was no need for such powers. Even if the land was owned by another party, a private agreement such as a wayleave (rental to build and run trains on the land) could be negotiated

The colliery didn't own the land, they simply had a lease from the local landowner to mine and sell the coal. It looks like the L&Y bought the land up to the colliery but didn't have the rights to mine it.

I finally found something that says the colliery and the L&Y signed an agreement 7 August 1894 for the railway company to provide a connection and sidings. This involved a new signal box to control the sidings and was opened some time in 1895 but there's no specific date for it.

I suspect the delay between the land purchase and construction in this case was due to failure of the L&Y and the Great Harwood Colliery Company to agree terms.

Yes, I think you're right with this, I've seen this before where it takes a change in ownership before terms can be agreed and the project can proceed.

What you both seem to be telling me is that the railway company (within reason) can do whatever they want on the land they own. It would have been blindingly obvious to the L&Y at planning stage to have one eye on a rail connection here to the colliery at some stage or other.

This colliery became heavily flooded during the long miner's strike of 1921. it was so bad that it closed 9 July 1921 with a loss of 350 jobs.

Not every colliery had a rail connection of course, if you own a large coal business and own several mines in an area, you find over time these collieries were interconnected underground with coal appearing at one of the larger collieries with a rail connection.

A point to note about the rail workings on the colliery:

A single horse would pull the loaded wagons from the colliery to the sidings attached to the main running lines. Typically, a shunting engine would leave Blackburn station around 1.30 pm (weekdays except Saturdays) and collect the loaded wagons after bringing back empties. The engine would then take the loaded wagons on to Great Harwood and deposit them there for onward delivery.

Thanks guys!