The Tanfield Railway (1984)

Top: Cochrane with 1 & 2 at the unfinished Sunniside station
Bottom: 21 & Cochrane are runners in a dilapidated MH shed

In 1984 Les Turnbull of the Education Dept of Gateshead MBC produced a couple of interesting & historically accurate 36 page A5 booklets, one about railways of Gateshead & the other focussing on the Tanfield Railway.   Each had a short production run, so there are now very few available. 

About 13 years after starting TR,  The Tanfield Railway  booklet shows what we had done & says something about our aims.

In 1984 we operated a railway on mid year Sundays between Marley Hill & Sunniside.   We had carriages 1, 2, 3 & 4 using locos Cochrane (with original boiler), Irwell, 21, 32, 38 & AW2.

There was no signalbox, signals or telephone.   Gibraltar Bridge had not been rebuilt, & southwards there was an overgrown & damaged formation.   Track, level crossing, footpaths, foot crossings & bridges (at Causey car park & Houghwell Burn) were yet to be reinstated.   There were no station buildings, platforms, clear access or fencing at AH, ET or Causey (although DCC were restoring the arch);  no power, water, water towers, toilets or drainage.   

There was just Marley Hill shed with a holey roof, neither workshops nor other sheds, no electricity from the grid.   There was 1 mile of track & no yard.   Most stock, storage & maintenance was outside.

The railway changed radically once Derek Knott & Ian Cowan started working full time.   They were assisted by Tommy Shield, Vic Gascoigne, Kenny Brewster, John Lennox & many others.   Ian & Derek enabled & oversaw a manpower services scheme for building & trackwork, spurring development & speeding access to Causey & ET.

See Tommy's Flickr album for more views of Early Days.

See also the other Les Turnbull booklet The Railways of Gateshead.