Both Waldridge Inclines

Tom Hartley recently sent me photos of railway artefacts which he'd spotted while walking his dog at Waldridge (which is immediately SW of Chester-le-Street).   This sent me searching for history & connections with Tanfield Railway.

Pulley wheels in the Cong Burn, 80' below the Waldridge Waggonway
(photo courtesy of Tom Hartley)

A wire hauler rope in the undergrowth alongside the Waldridge Waggonway
(photo courtesy of Tom Hartley)

The rope close up
(photo courtesy of Tom Hartley)

Waldridge A pit (bottom of map) had Margaret (AB 1005 of 1904), built alongside
Horden by Barclays, which had many orders from NE England around 1900

Tom's Waldridge Incline (highlighted in purple on the map below) is on the waggonway route from Stella Gill sidings (near top right of map) past Waldridge D & A pits to Sacriston:

Tom was where the Waldridge Waggonway Incline (purple) runs alongside the Cong Burn (blue)
(OS Map segment c 1890 courtesy of the National Library of Scotland)

The other Waldridge Incline is shown in yellow on the map.   This is on the alignment of the Stanhope & Tyne Railroad, which went bankrupt in the 1830s to be resurrected as the Pontop & South Shields Railway.   There were 4 inclines (Waldridge, Eden Hill, Twizell, Stanley) in succession between Stella Gill & Stanley, so the NER built the Annfield Plain Branch as a bypass (part shown at map top right), later used by Tyne Dock - Consett iron ore trains.

Looking down from the head of Waldridge Incline (S&TR)
Note the rope down to the empty set on the right; the open catch point on the left, behind which fulls will be standing with the rope attached at their rear; the meetings in the distance, half way down the incline

At the top of the S&TR Waldridge Incline was Pelton Level, a subshed of Tyne Dock.   An N10 loco (as used on the Tanfield Branch) was based here.   Roseberry Grange Golf Club now covers the shed site - one of the many changes covering railway routes, industry & housing in the area since the 1960s.   (Info from Alan Thompson)    

In 1968, Twizell stands in steam at Stella Gill yard (empty due to pit closures), having descended the S&TR Waldridge Incline en route from Handenhold to Morrison Busty - so it's waiting for a pilot before heading up the Annfield Plain deviation curving away to the right

Further reading:

Chester le Street Heritage web has interesting coverage of  Waldridge A & Waldridge D pits.

(Tom's) Waldridge Waggonway is covered in a Wordpress blog.

There is an excellent web site covering Stella Gill / South Pelaw Junction.

Rob Knox found a very useful interactive map of the area.

 

PS It would have been helpful if the S&TR Waldridge Incline was named Newfield or Pelton, because it isn't as near to Waldridge as that heading to Sacriston.   I found the clue to there being two Waldridge Inclines in Rope & Chain Haulage, CE Mountford, IRS 2013.