Lee Moor Tramway 0-4-0ST No. 'Lee Moor No1'
St. Austell, Cornwall, UK 		Location: Wheal Martyn Museum
Status: Display
Posted: Jun 13, 2003 @ 06:06:07 by Steve Frost
This looks like a standard gauge 0-4-0ST shunter, but is isn't quite standard gauge. At 4 feet 6 inches, the Lee Moor Tramway was close, but not close enough for inregration with the national network, although it did cross the Great Western main line on the level. Like many early railways, the Lee Moor Tramway was built to serve mines and quarries and link them to the coast. Isolated systems paid little heed to any need to share a gauge with other lines. Most lines in South West England started out like this, but most others were regauged sooner or later, sometimes twice. Not the Lee Moor, though. No1 sits at the China Clay Museum, Wheal Martyn, near St. Austell, which is worth a visit in itself, and is a cosmetic restoration.