The 7-mile (11.3 km) line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District.

Intermediate stations and halts are at Muncaster Mill, Miteside, Murthwaite, Irton Road, The Green, Fisherground and Beckfoot.

The oldest locomotive is River Irt, parts of which date from 1894, while the newest is the diesel-hydraulic Douglas Ferreira, built in 2005.

It is shown as 3 feet in records but is quoted as 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) in some books such as the ABC of Narrow Gauge Railways.

[5] This figure was believed for many years until the present company discovered a sleeper from before the line closed, with spacings between holes made by track spikes confirming the gauge was the wider one.

[3] However, the cost of upgrading the line for passengers left the railway company with substantial debts which it was unable to pay off.

[3] Nonetheless, in 1880 a tramway was built connecting the line near Beckfoot railway station to newly opened mines across the River Esk at Gill Force.

Goods trains continued to run whilst attempts were made to raise money to rebuild the railway.

[3] In 1915, the abandoned railway was taken over by the model maker Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke and his business partner Robert Proctor-Mitchel.

However, the gradients on the final section of the line proved to be too steep for the smaller locos, and the railway was cut back to Beckfoot in 1918.

When World War II broke out in 1939, passenger trains were suspended for the duration of the conflict, and the steam locos were mothballed.

However, due to the lack of investment since the 1920s, much of the equipment in the quarry and crushing plant was worn out and in need of replacement.

Rather than make the required investment, Keswick Granite chose to close the quarry in 1953, but kept the passenger trains running in the summer months.

Locals and railway enthusiasts formed Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society to save the line, with financial backing by Sir Wavell Wakefield, Member of Parliament (MP) for Marylebone and owner of the Ullswater Steamers, and Colin Gilbert, a stockbroker.

These efforts were successful, and at the auction in September 1960, the society made the winning bid and saved the railway from closure.

Control of the railway passed to a new private company, with the backing of the preservation society, an arrangement that is still in place.

[10][11] Other significant locomotives include Bonnie Dundee, built in 1900 as a 2 ft (610 mm)-gauge tank locomotive before being donated to the R&ER by a member and converted to 15 in (381 mm)-gauge,[12] later converted again from tank to tender configuration; Synolda, (renamed Prince Charles) a twin to the original 15 in (381 mm) loco Sans Pareil, built in 1912,[12] saved from Belle Vue Zoo in 1978 and now in the railway museum; Shelagh of Eskdale, a 4-6-4 diesel built in 1969[12] incorporating parts of the Heywood loco Ella; Perkins, a rebuilt 0-4-4DH locomotive, which started as a quarry shunter before being rebuilt into the steam-outlined Passenger Tractor and then again in 1984 into its current guise; Douglas Ferreira, a B-B diesel loco constructed in 2005 and named after the general manager of the R&ER from 1961 to 1994.

[13][14] In early 2020, the railway was forced to temporarily suspend all trains due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent UK-wide lockdown.

Until 1964, trains were forced to follow a sharp curve along a contour in order to avoid steep gradients.

Using "opencast gelignite" to blast through the rock, the cutting was constructed to a 300-foot radius ten feet wide at rail level with steep sides exposing Eskdale pink granite on the inside curve.

Its construction alleviated the sharp curve at Holling Head of 145 foot radius which caused excessive wear and tear on the locos and track.

On Friday 27 March 1964, the 11:20am train from Ravenglass hauled by River Irt and driven by the managing director of the Railway Company Colin Gilbert, stopped at the Western entrance to the cutting.

Today, the railway is a popular visitor attraction in the Lake District, with the majority of its annual passenger numbers coming during the summer months.

Passengers can choose between open and covered seating, with some saloon coaches being fitted with heaters for the winter months.

[15] There are over a hundred regular volunteers that help with the running of the railways, which include guarding the trains, carriage shunting and selling tickets at the major intermediate stations along the route.

Outside Ravenglass station, the line is single track with passing loops at Miteside, Irton Road and Fisherground.

To leave the loop, the driver contacts control to gain authorisation to enter the next single track section.

Both companies form part of the Lake District Estates group, which also owns various tourist oriented properties in the area, and is controlled by Lord Wakefield's descendants.

Dalegarth for Boot is a few yards short of 7 miles or 11.3 kilometres from Ravenglass and is the eastern terminus of the railway.

The line features in The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams; the canine protagonists evade the force of paratroopers searching for them by riding from Eskdale to Ravenglass on an empty train.