EDIT
Forget this I have found that it really was built as a road. Oops!
Today I was in a part of the Lakes near Shap that I don't usually frequent, too low, too gentle, too wet underfoot but I was recce-ing easy routes for Winter walks.
After a few minutes I realised that I was on an old railway unlike any other I have been on. It had the width of standard gauge but the gradients were unbelievable, steep, long and continued rising at the same rate around curves. The old Cromford and High Peak had massive gradients but the worst ones on that were cable hauled; these gradients looked to be beyond normal traction limits. There are no structures other than a number of double and triple span bridges the construction of which fooled me at first. They were the type of concrete block road bridges common in the 1920s and 30s.
Another look at the map and it dawned on me that the line linked the West Coast mainline at the Shap Blue Rock Quarry just N of Shap Summit with the dam at the end of Haweswater reservoir, Naddle Bridge. The railway was the constructor's line. Both it and the reservoir were built by Manchester Corporation Waterworks and the bridges would be designed by their highway engineers hence their road bridge appearance. (Next time I am up there I must look for the bridge over/under the A6.)
The trains struggling up the fearsome gradients from the reservoir must have been a sight to see. Fortunately the majority of trains ran in that direction - East and SE, would be empty wagons but even so I presume double heading must have been the order of the day.
Imagine the difficulties in Winter, howling wind, rain and ice. The route is in the next valley to Wet Sleddale; if a place in the Lake District has the word Wet in its name then you had better believe it!
On my return I dug out a 1925 OS map of the area - that confirmed it, Haweswater was a mere puddle, no dam and no railway.
I have since found that the dam was commenced in 1929 but I can find no trace of any info' relating to the railway which was around 6 miles long.
<message edited by KeithT on 30/07/10 09:17 PM>