Tomlinson 1915

The official history of the North Eastern Railway, Its Rise & Development, was written by the eminent historian William Weaver Tomlinson in 1915.   David & Charles published an edition of the 800+ page book in 1967 which may be available second hand for about £40; there is also a 2015 edition from Andesite Press.   However, the first edition is freely available on line, including as a pdf download of 110 MB, with the further advantages of being much lighter and machine searchable.

Tanfield Gradient Profile - Tomlinson p343

Tanfield Railway - an Early Day

The photos below are courtesy of Chris Shearer.   They were taken around the time of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in June 1977.   TR trains had started running between a temporary platform at Marley Hill & a temporary loop at Bowes Bridge.

Alan running 32 round the train at Marley Hill.   The low buffer beam matched the 'glass carriage' **

Tanfield Branch Crossings #2

Another angle at Sunniside level crossing

Tanfield Branch Crossings #1

N10 69100 passing over Lobley Hill crossing
(photo Armstrong Trust)

Cumbres & Toltec

The 64 mile 3 foot gauge Cumbres & Toltec Railroad connects Chama in New Mexico over the 10000 feet high Cumbres Pass & runs along the edge of the Toltec Gorge to Antonito in Colorado.

The photographs below are courtesy of Dave Hewitt:

Chama shed with 3 Baldwin built mikados, 483, 484 & 463

Ten K-36 class 2-8-2 locos were supplied to the Denver & Rio Grande in 1925, nearly all of which are operational on either the Cumbres & Toltec or the Durango & Silverton.   There's some K-36 detail on Wikipedia.   463 is a rarer & older Baldwin K-27 class - see Wikipedia for detail & screen appearances.

Steamtown NHS

The photos below are courtesy of Dave Hewitt, & date from September 2018:

A mainline freight passing through Steamtown station in Scranton USA

Minor Railways

Progress rounding Marley Hill curve on its way to Sunniside with a 7 carriage train in the 1990s
(Derek Knott firing, photo courtesy of Ian Cowan)

This is a recreation of a minor railway train on the Tanfield Railway.   Many minor railways of NE England were similar to statutory light railways elsewhere in Britain, except that wayleaves were used instead of parliamentary powers.   The Tanfield Waggonway used wayleaves, & this was continued throughout the life of the Tanfield Branch.   Today's Tanfield Railway uses a light railway order.

Light railways recently featured on TR Facebook.

Colin Mountford

Dr Michael Bailey, President of the Stephenson Locomotive Society, presenting the first SLS Literary Award to Colin Mountford for his book Rope & Chain Haulage in 2016