Marley Hill Engine Shed

Marley Hill engine shed was built in 1854, at a key time of expansion of the surrounding collieries from 1845, as part of a new railway to take coal directly to a deep water berth at Jarrow.   At the same time water transport was being modernised by new bridges at Newcastle, spouts & drops to eradicate transhipment in keel boat, the advent of sea-going steel steam colliers built on the Tyne, and the take over of control by the Tyne Improvement Commission, which dredged the river & later built the Shields piers.

Marley Hill Engine in NCB days c1950

There are no known 19th century photographs or drawings of Marley Hill shed, but it would have been a typical practical building of the industrial revolution - it uses stone, and originally would have had a timber roof covered in slate.   The modern equivalent would have a steel portal frame with insulated metal sheeting.

MH Shed in early NCB days

There is an earlier (1829) shed showing some similarity of construction at Springwell Bank Foot, which (like Marley Hill} is on what became known as the Pontop & Jarrow Railway.   Sringwell shed has had major alterations & additions so that it no longer shows much of its original form, it has lost all rail connection & use, and is surrounded by new housing.

The shed interior in Bowes Railway days

There is evidence that Marley Hill shed was refurbished during the depression in the early 1930s, with a new, lighter, steel truss & asbestos sheet roof.   A the same time there would have been modernisation of the collieries & railway, which became known as the Bowes Railway.

The interior of the shed c1960

After the nationalisation of the coal industries on 1 January 1947, the National Coal Board (NCB) took over all production & colliery railways.   Marley Hill engine shed appears to have had a new floor & pits, and continued with some newer steam locos.

Malleable No.5 being steamed by volunteers in 1971.   The shed roof needs repair.
(photo courtesy of Alan Thompson)

By both planning & good fortune Marley Hill engine shed became the base of the fledgling Tanfield Railway around 1971, immediately following the closure of the shed & nearby part of the Bowes Railway.   The local colliery continued in production until 1984, but its output was redirected by underground railway to Clockburn Drift in the Derwent Valley.

The blacksmith's forge in 2019

Like most colliery engine sheds, Marley Hill would have been used for all but the heaviest of maintenance & repairs of steam locos.   For significant boiler & other work locos would have been sent to one of NCB works, which were at Philadelphia, Whitburn, Ashington, etc.

MH Shed as part of the Tanfield Railway in 2019, before refurbishment work
(photo courtesy of Ken Snowdon)

Replacing the roof in 2019
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)

The Tanfield Railway Trust has the freehold & considers the shed to be the most important part of our collection.   Volunteers have maintained the shed & constructed other buildings since 1971, but by about 2015 it became obvious that major works were necessary, so we started by rebuilding the eastern gable, which was leaning outwards.   While we had replaced the roof sheeting around 1990, the trusses (made by Dorman Long in the 1930s) which support the sheets were starting to rust through.   So we made new trusses & replaced the entire roof & installed smoke chutes.

MH Shed in use by Tanfield Railway, still being refurbished in 2025
(photo courtesy of Peter Weightman)

In keeping with our principle of presenting Tanfield Railway in the period 1920-50, our work on the shed has been to show it as it would have looked at that time.   Marley Hill shed has now outlasted all others, to become the oldest standard gauge shed in the world which is still in use for its original purpose of operating & maintaining steam locos.