River Irt

The River Irt is a river in the county of Cumbria in northern England. It flows from the south-western end of Wast Water, the deepest lake in England, leaving the lake at the foot of Whin Rigg, the southern peak of the famous Wastwater Screes.

On its short journey to the coast, the Irt is crossed by the Cumbria Coastal Way long distance footpath, at Drigg Holme packhorse bridge. The Irt flows through the Drigg Dunes and Irt Estuary Nature Reserve before joining the River Esk and River Mite at Ravenglass.

In the 19th Century the River Irt was famous for the extremely rare black pearls that grew in its fresh-water mussels. Poaching of the pearls is thought to have led to the mussels becoming extinct in the River Irt.

Settlements

Tributaries

Coordinates: 54°22′N 3°25′W / 54.367°N 3.417°W / 54.367; -3.417

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway locomotives

This article gives details of the locomotives used on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a 15 inches (380 mm) narrow gauge preserved railway line running for 7 miles (11 km) from Ravenglass on the Cumbrian coast to Dalegarth near the village of Boot, in Eskdale.

Steam locomotives

No. 1 Sans Pareil

The first 15" gauge locomotive operated on the line, built by Bassett-Lowke of Northampton in 1912 as Prins Olaf for a railway in Cristiania (now Oslo), Norway. It arrived for the line's opening in 1915 to Muncaster Mill. It was a Bassett-Lowke Class 30 4-4-2 locomotive and was painted in the dark blue livery of Narrow Gauge Railways. It was withdrawn from traffic in the mid-1920s and parts of it were incorporated into River Mite of 1927. Its leading pony truck was reused under the Passenger Tractor of 1929 for many years. An identical locomotive, Synolda, now resides in Ravenglass railway museum.

No. 2 Colossus

A Bassett-Lowke Class 60 4-6-2, built in 1913 for Captain JE Howey, later of Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway fame, and named John Anthony. It arrived at the same time as Katie in 1916 and was nearly destroyed in a collision with Muriel in 1925. However, it ran after overhaul until 1927, when it was dismantled and utilised as part of the new River Mite 4-6-0-0-6-4 four-cylinder locomotive.