Eden Brows: A history of failure

There is little in the way of formal documentation on the geological instability encountered at Eden Brows.

This is perhaps unsurprising, given the reluctance of its builder - Midland Railway - to encourage prospective passengers to question the nature of the ground they would be passing over.

The earliest account of the S&C is F S Williams’ Midland Railway, Its Rise and

Progress (1876) - in which the author records a trip on the new line.

In the book, Williams quotes a witness to the colossal landslip that occurred at Eden Brows during construction of the line, delaying its opening by two years while the formation was repaired and resettled.

He says: “A landslip took place, and the whole ground of some five acres began to move. The ground between the line and the river ‘blew up’ on account of being unable to resist the pressure of the embankment, and the whole thing slid down towards the water. The bank slipped and carried with it trees… for a distance of 150 feet, driving the river sideways actually into the next parish.”

The line was repaired using loose spoil from adjacent cuttings and by driving in vertical shafts filled with rock, connected by horizontal drains.

The Midland Railway North of Leeds (1966) by Peter Baughan reports that Eden Brows continued to give “considerable trouble”, while it is on record that track maintenance teams have been aware of the problems at Eden Brows, and treated the area with caution and respect.

A former ‘ganger’ from Cumbria during the 1980s tells RAIL: “One of the first bits of information passed to me was the story of the construction landslip, how it was resolved, and the effects that emerged from time to time and had to be made good. In those days the vegetation there was less dense and, at the right time of year, the original landslip could be seen from the railway right down to the river.

“Problems have emerged with the Up line and never the Down, while the frequency to attend to make repairs has varied. The introduction of coal traffic in the 1990s produced a re-emergence of the issues there, but the installation of continuous welded rail helped to stabilise the site once again. Coupled with targeted use of a tamper, local tech teams were able to keep the track in the right position.

“I have always been wary of what was done here, and always cognisant of the potential for what might happen in a repeat of history.”