Meldon Quarry
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Meldon Quarry is a granite quarry in Devon, England. It is at the northern edge of Dartmoor, about 2 miles SW of Okehampton. It was developed from 1897 to supply track ballast and other stone products for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and later for British Rail. It was privatised in 1994.
A small quarry was started to supply local railway requirements in 1874, concurrent with the opening of the LSWR's railway extension from Okehampton to Lydford, part of its route from Exeter to Plymouth on which the quarry lies.
The quarry was considerably developed in 1897 to provide the majority of the track ballast requirements of the LSWR, which at the time amounted to about 100,000 tons per annum. The geology is such that the ballast is harder, and therefore more long-lasting, than stone available in the more easterly parts of the system. The quarry was further extended in 1902, eventually reaching 200 acres (80 hectares). Further developed over the years, by 1953 it was producing 340,000 tons annually. An internal tramway of short and movable 2-foot (610 mm) gauge tramways was provided.
After nationalisation, the ballast quality was considered to be superior to the more conveniently available limestones, but the cost of haulage from the westerly location counted against it, and in the 1980s it proved commercially viable to bring good quality stone from Scotland by coastal shipping to Tilbury, substituting for some of the Meldon output.
As part of the process of privatising British Rail, the quarry operation was sold to ECC Quarries Ltd. on 4 March 1994; at that time the railway from Coleford Junction only served the quarry, and it was sold too.[1]
Staff platform
Because of the remote location, a staff passenger platform was provided. It is described at Meldon Quarry railway station.