The Tattenhall Railway - a profile

The top half of the railway from above



The Peckforton Hills from near the top of the railway

I thought it useful to shed some light on the Tattenhall Railway, which keeps cropping up in the blog. What it is not is a typical railway track. It has never seen a passenger in the conventional sense, indeed there's precious little about this little gem that you can call conventional.

It is actually a narrow gauge track (a "hauled tramway") rising 105 metres vertically up a wooded slope to the top of Bulkeley Hill in the Peckforton Hills south of Chester. It was built to enable the construction of a hilltop covered reservoir in the 30's and has since provided a terrific training resource for runners. It is a favourite amongst Tattenhall Runners' fellrunning contingent and is surely hated amongst most of its roadrunners...

It is the feature of dread for most of the competitors in Tattenhall's annual Tough Team Race, a 9.5 mile multi terrain race held on the nearest Friday to midsummer which is done in teams of three and is a very popular race.

For me though, it's my outdoor gym, the place for a 'power' workout. As well as doing lots of hillrunning, I think training for a round needs to include some strength work on your legs, similar to lifting weights. Something that's not about pacing or time on your feet but a session that is all about working so hard you can barely stay upright. The railway is perfect and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get stronger. Whatsmore, there's no costly monthly subscription.

But what it is like?

Well the photos do not do it justice. It's a narrow, rapidly steepening corridor amongst the trees. It looks terrifying from the bottom and the top! It has a series of mini-'sleepers' which provide the footing you need to get up and it is so steep that running is nigh-on impossible. The best I can manage in the steep uppoer stages is a run-shuffle where you have a lead leg and you bring the other to meet it. This is slower that walking though. At its steepest, it's about 45 to 50 degrees.


Garmin profile - four railway ascents....

The profile shows four ascents (ignore the first peak) as captured by a GPS. The run between them is a wider loop which acts as recovery, although I usually just pick my way straight down.

A steady plod up takes about 4.5 mins. My fastest ever just before my summer BGR was 3:06, running all the way. Two guys in my club who are faster than me have broken 3 mins by running the first section hard and then walking the top section - a tactic I will try out when i'm a bit fitter.

So when you see reference to railways, this is what I mean. If you're ever around Chester, try it!