The Mineral Train of Bédar

The Mineral Train of Bédar, Los Gallardos and Garrucha:

The mineral train between Bédar, Los Gallardos and Garrucha made its first journey at the end of the 19th Century. The journey of 17.5 kilometers was covered in forty minutes. In 1923 the line was taken out of service and was dismantled nineteen years later. This article describes its history.

INTRODUCTION:

In 1825 trials began in England that would lead to the development of the first railways. By the end of the nineteenth century railways would encircle the world.

In Almeria, a province generally forgotten, this invention did not arrive until late. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Almerians were busy re-inventing this modern form of transport. This is shown by the publication of several papers written by local authorities in 1885 putting forward the idea that this year, Almeria, Tervel, and Soria were the only areas in the whole of Spain without a single railway between them.

However, to achieve a stake in the growing exploitation of iron mining there was an urgent need for a railway on the peninsula, to allow the profitable extraction of iron ore. This required a form of transport that could move large quantities of mineral, at a reasonable price, from the mining site to the seaports. It was for this reason that aerial runways and railways were built to transport the ore to the coast, to be loaded into the holds of what were at the time, modern steamships.

The first railway built in Almeria was in the region of Axarquia, more specifically between Palomares and Herrerias. This was opened on the 10th August 1885. Amongst the many lines built in the area, the most ambitious is claimed, was planned to link Garrucha with Zurgena, by linking with the main Lorca to Baza line. However, this plan was never fulfilled. Notwithstanding this failure, what were achieved were lines linking Herreria to Villaricos, Lucainina to Agua Amarga, and Bédar to Garrucha. This article describes the remains of the latter that can still be seen today.

The Beginnings of Iron Mining in Bédar;

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the industrialist Ramon Orozco could be found in Bédar mining ore. In 1857 he founded La Sociedad Ramon Orozco y Compañia with the objective of smelting the ore in Garrucha. To this effect, the San Ramon Foundry, known locally as El Martinete, was established. However the Foundry quickly failed because of the high cost of imported coal from England, and the high cost of transporting the ore from Bédar, using packhorses, as there were no alternative methods available.

Later Holway & Brothers arrived from England and continued ironworking in the region. They established the position of Vice Consul of Great Britain in Garrucha, the first appointee being Clifton Pecket. Sadly, the business also quickly failed, due to transport difficulties.

The Compañia de Aguilas began to operate the Bédar mines in 1885, via a subsidiary called the Sociedad de Exploitation de las Minas de Hierro de Bédar. An aerial runway of 15 kilometers linking Bédar to Garrucha solved the transport problem. This runway, in its day, was the biggest in the peninsula. In Europe, only the runway that linked Vojda Hunyad and Vadudobry exceeded it. The German engineer Karl Bahlsen, who had settled in Garrucha, carried out the design and construction.

Victor Chavarri who established the Sociedad de Chavarri, Lecoq y Compañia, bought the mines owned by Holway & Brothers in Bédar in 1894. From the first moment, he decided to build a railway that would closely link all the mining sites with the loading dock in Garrucha. To do this he had to prepare all the land where the railway was to be installed. In 1896, he ordered the construction of a metal loading boom for the loading dock, and by the first of January 1897, the railway was completely finished and ready for the inaugural journey. However such were the financial problems facing the Sociedad that production slowed down. Victor Chavarri died in 1900, and the Sociedad became Chavarri, Lecoq y Cia.

In 1916, a merger between Chavarri, Lecoq y Cia and La Sociedad de Explotacion de la Minas de Hierro de Bédar, created La Union Bédarena. Shortly after this merger, the aerial runway belonging to the Compañía de Aguilas was dismantled, and the railway became the sole method of ore transportation between Bédar and Garrucha.

The total length of the line was 17.85 kilometers, with an incline of 234 metres, and the journey took approximately 40 minutes. To cross the various riverbeds and ravines several bridges were constructed, strongly made from stone blocks. Many had fine decorative details, for instance at Moro Manco where the line crossed the Mojacar road. Other fine examples are to be found at the crossing on the Almeria road, at the riverbed at Los Burgos and at the crossing at the Bédar road. Other ravines of less importance are El Portugues, La Cueva de la Barrilla and La Tegera, which is crossed with a wall 17 metres high. Last to be built was a tunnel 43 metres long, which led to the station at Tres Amigos.

The signalmen were based in seven signal boxes built specially to oversee all the line. At the start of the line was a bunker to hold up to 12,000 tonnes of ore, buildings for the management, and a garage-workshop for the locomotives. At the station at Tres Amigos were built huge bunkers which were filled from the service road above, and from which the rail wagons were filled. To the North there was a branch line that led to a large waste heap from previous mining activities. Two further branch lines led to the mines at Mulata and Santa Catalina, and these were also linked to the waste heap.

The locomotives, five in all, had been built in Belgium in 1895. Three of them did work on the main line. These were model 030T and were named Mojaquera, Garruchera and Bédareña. The other two were model 020T and did work only on the branch lines. They were called Mulata and Catalina. Each locomotive was capable of pulling twenty wagons and there was also an open carriage for transporting workers, which was coupled to the train if needed. Usually each train made two journeys in each direction daily, although this did depend on demand for the ore.

At the beginning of the 1920´s a crisis affected the whole iron mining industry, including Bédar. When the mining eventually stopped, the railway was taken out of service in 1923.By this time road transport had become more cost effective. The railway was totally abandoned until 1942 when it was sold for 1 million pesetas and dismantled. The rolling stock was included in the sale, and some of the locomotives did service during the construction of the Port of Garrucha. They were later sold ion to another mining Company.

What remains of the railway line?

At the Coast

The journey begins at the beach at Marina de la Torre, where can be found the terminus of the railway. The metal boom, which connected the loading platform to the barges that were filled with ore, can no longer be seen. It is the same for the remains of the supporting pillars, which are now submerged. They can be seen underwater, and the local skippers know full well to avoid this area with their boats, as damage could easily be sustained from the structures firmly attached to the seabed.

The loading platform itself remains intact, but the same cannot be said for the buildings near the station, which have suffered various levels of deterioration. Some have recently experienced partial demolition, with roof tiles neatly stacked alongside. Others have been totally demolished by the new owners of the land, and only rubble remains.

The large workshop/garage for maintaining and parking the locomotives, which was strongly constructed in stone, remains more or less intact, although the roof has caved in following a recent fire. It is a pity that this building was never converted, for instance, into an indoor sport facility. If that had been done it would have ensured that at least a small part of the history of local mining would be preserved, at a time when little stands in the way of the advance of tourism.

Further up the line can be found the walls of a fruit store for the loading and unloading of produce. This secondary enterprise was organised by Chavarri who created farms and orchards nearby to grow oranges, grapes and other produce. These were sold under the names El Aguechar, El Caldero and La Marina de la Torre. These fields were irrigated with water pumped out from the mines of Bédar, which flowed down to Garrucha through pipelines and aqueducts alongside the railway line.

Across the plain:

The next part of the line that runs alongside the Garrucha to Los Gallardos road towards the motorway is relatively ordinary. A bank raised between three and five metres above the surrounding land marks the way. Several small bridges allow rainwater to flow beneath the line to prevent the line becoming inoperable through flooding. The way passes through the old tip for rubbish from Garrucha, Mojacar and Turre, now thankfully closed down. Later is passed the sewage treatment plant installed by Galasa to serve the three towns.

From here the way has been tarmaced in places to allow easy access to ploughed fields and large greenhouses used to grow produce. For a while the path is difficult to trace and a plan is needed to work out the way. Next to be seen is a most special building, surrounded by a small copse of eucalyptus trees. It is a large house with several outbuildings and yards, all in a derelict condition. This building had two distinct functions. The first was as a signal box for the line. The second was to oversee the storage of water from Bédar that had flowed alongside the railway, and was stored here in a vast pond with an aqueduct. About 100 metres of this are still preserved.

Passing to the south of Puerto Coronel (at 93m altitude) the peak of Alboluncas is reached at 150m. Later the Autovia is reached near the small cortijo of La Perulaca. Here stood a great bridge that crossed the old main road from Murcia to Almeria. This fine bridge, made from large stone blocks, was destroyed recently during the construction of the Autovia. A way can be found under the Autovia through one of the nearby ramblas.

Into the mountains:

From here the way is more beautiful and interesting, and winds through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, from La Perulaca to the station at Tres Amigos.

From the start the way climbs steadily, quite suitable for a hill walker or mountain biker. Much of the way is well preserved and this is testimony to the strength of its construction, particularly in this area fully exposed to erosion.

The first obstacle reached is the Rambla de la Costillas which is crossed on a bridge, 15 metres high, and which is extraordinarily solid. It is good the all the bridges on the line were stone built, as metal ones would surely have been stripped out when the line was dismantled. Crossing the Ramblas today would have been extremely difficult.

Next is reached the El Barranco de la Tejera, where is found the stonewall over which the rail passed. This is a solid stone structure, with a culvert passing through to allow water to flow under, and four great stone buttresses to provide strength. The way passes dizzily over the vertical walls, and this structure is probably the best preserved of the whole railway. On the other side can be seen one of the signal boxes. Two more are to be found before Tres Amigos, although all are without roofs.

If the first ravine was crossed on a stonewall, later ravines demonstrate various surprising solutions to the problems encountered. From here are seen more stonewalls supporting the way, or great earth embankments many metres high, made in a similar way. It must be remembered that these have been in place for over 100 years, and were built when there was no heavy earth moving equipment available. All the material used was moved into place using manual labour or packhorses. The method used was as follows:

Soil from above the ravine was moved down to fill it, and in this way the need to move material was minimized. Culverts were also built to allow the passage of rainwater down the ravine. These drainage systems can be found in perfect condition and are built in stone in perfect proportion to the amount of water that was likely to pass. Finally the embankment was adjusted to allow the railway to proceed in exactly the right direction. In other complicated situations, special internal stone walls were included in the embankment to prevent access of rainwater which could cause erosion.

Alongside the railway can be found evidence of the water pipeline from Bédar to Garrucha. There are ceramic pipes fixed in cement, no longer serviceable, and in certain places only covered by the effects of rain, which has washed away the red soil alongside the stone chippings of the railway itself.

The last bridge reached is La Barilla, similar to the ones before, and this leads to the loading station at Trinchera Alta. This was built in 1919, when the combined mining Companies dismantled the aerial runway leaving several mines without adequate transportation. To solve this problem, a new aerial runway was built linking El Pinar to this loading station.

150 metres on from Trinchera Alta there can be seen a tunnel 43 metres long which goes under a hill. Regrettably there is no access to this as it is used as a shelter for livestock, and one end has been blocked up with soil. It is possible to bypass the tunnel along a track that skirts the hill. At the other side there is a door to keep the animals secure. By travelling along the road to Bédar, the final bridge is reached which crossed the Rambla.

Lastly the loading station at Bédar is reached where the wagons were filled from huge bunkers above the railway tunnel. This too in recent times has been used as an animal shelter.

By following the Rambla through a luxuriant orchard to oranges, the Engineers House can be reached, which housed the Engineers who oversaw all the local mining activities. Only the walls remain.

Conclusion

Much remains of the railway and there is a great opportunity for the Town Hall sin the area of the railway (Garrucha, Mojacar, Los Gallardos and Bédar) to create a wonderful walkway for hikers and mountain bikers, This could be done at very little cost, using small wooden bridges where needed to span gaps. At the same time this would ensure that at least a small part of the mining history of the area was preserved.