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Description:
Undated. Old view of Middleton Broom Colliery which closed in 1968 and had been a large source of employment in the area. Middleton Park now occupies the site, separating Middleton from Belle Isle. Middleton Colliery had been sinking into a decline in 1811, during the Napoleonic Wars, but its fortunes were revived by John Blenkinsop's rack and pinion system in conjunction with Matthew Murray's lightweight steam locomotive, Salamanca. These two innovations enabled heavy loads of coal etc. to be taken to and from the mine without the need for horses (the fittest of which had been seconded to the wars.) In the late 1950s the line, which had fallen into a state of disrepair, was truncated and, by 1960, the rail traffic had been diverted on to a B.R. line. Middleton Broom Colliery was owned by Middleton Estate and Colliery Co. Ltd., Leeds in 1918.
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