Mitchell, W.R.: "Men of the Settle-Carlisle: Railwaymen talk to W.R. Mitchell" (Dalesman Books, 1985)
Pages 56-57
Steam trains used dry sand, fed directly on to the rails to obtain a grip in "slape" conditions. The sand at Lazonby was clean and coarse enough to provide grip and was of such a quality as to run freely from the sand boxes to the discharge pipe. Lazonby Sand Hole was therefore a famous feature of the line. When Norman Dobson started in 1925, sand was despatched only to Midland Locomotive depots, but during the 1939-45 War, certain supplies on the former L.N.W.R. were not available because anti-tank mines had been laid too freely. From then on, the staff at the Sand Hole was increased from a basic two men to such a strength as would meet the new requirements.
"Years ago, Joe Blenkinship and a man from Culgaith, Joe or Tommy Faulder, worked in the Sand Hole. Joe was in attendance until he was 74. He gave up his retirement pension to enable him to do so. Joe wheeled his barrow loads up the planks as though he was a boy playing in a backyard. The Sand Hole provided safe employment for the deaf or partially sighted and, as such, was a very useful asset to the Carlisle District. The accounts were in tons, not money. While the small teams were on the go I never remember a complaint as to quality. As the demand was stepped up, we did have complaints from Crewe, who had a hefty monthly order. The LocoSupt., once of Carlisle, sent his complaints in the form of a New Year's card — 'Dear Nelson — wishing you all the best in 1946, and I hope the supplies of sand are free of sods, stones, soil, clay, and other foreign objects.' A cocoa tin would accompany the card, containing samples of the various objects."
Eventually, a steam crane made the task of "getting" and loading the sand much easier, as the depth of the quarry increased. "Tommy Brayton and I were discussing the possibility of supplies of Lazonby sand running out in the foreseeable future. Tommy said he understood that an alternative site was already under consideration, possibly at Baronwood."
Pages 93-94
A hitherto untold story of the Settle-Carlisle war effort concerns sand. "In 1938, Munich crisis time, we were loading at Lazonby Sand Hole for sandbags to be used at Leeds City." This work proved too hard for Jack Robbins, who became ill and went home to Cudworth. I was relieving at Carlisle and the gang time sheets had already gone in early, made up to Saturday dinnertime. After a brief palaver, I said: I’ll remember when Jack comes back; leave it.' Jack didn't come back unfortunately. He died. He had every appearance of one suffering from T.B., at all times. Charlie said: 'Now what, — he's got 2½ days pay.' I replied: 'It would have been a big enough job convincing him if he were alive, and he's entitled to an explanation. Say nowt!"
Acknowledgement
During the course of his long career as a journalist and prolific author, W.R. (Bill) Mitchell spent hundreds of hours talking to people associated with the Settle & Carlisle Railway and he recounted many of those conversations in his related publications. The world has changed significantly over the past few decades and the memories & stories he recounted provide an invaluable record of - and a fascinating insight into - a way of life that was very different to the lives we lead today. On 20th March 2014, Dr Mitchell kindly granted Mark Harvey permission to reproduce a small selection of these accounts to help future readers interpret and understand the sites & structures associated with the Settle - Carlisle Railway Conservation Area (SCRCA). We are extremely grateful to Dr Mitchell for collecting & publishing this material and for allowing us to upload these extracts to the SCRCA Project web-portal.