Tanfield Waggonway with Horses

1983 recreation of a waggonway at Causey Arch,
to be recreated again for our 2025 tercentenary
(from Pit Ponies by John Bright, Batsford 1986)

There was always horse work above ground, but it gravitated underground as pits developed .....

A very early reference for the Dyke Pit at Tanfield Moor in the Journals of John Watson on 14 February 1750 states "their winnings are 8 yds, boards 3 yds, & pillars thickness 5 yds & length 40 yds. Breadth of the heads abt. 1 3/4 yds, the height of the coal is 4 ft 4 ins and they put the coal with Poney Galloways."

A sweaty pit pony at Marley Hill Colliery in 1971, where ponies worked until 1983 closure
(from Pit Ponies by John Bright, Batsford 1986)

The First Tanfield Railway by Les Turnbull, NEIMME 2021, soon tba