British Trains of Yesteryear

I was recommended the Ian Allan 1960s book British Trains of Yesteryear by C Hamilton Ellis.      While the focus is UK mainline pre-grouping (pre-1923) railways, there is much of interest, as exemplified below:

SECR New Cross shed in the early 1900s - brimming with Twizell's peers
(Twizell was a large loco for 1891, needed for lengthy NE colliery railways)

New Book & Talk

Coxlodge Waggonway viaduct over the Ouse at Gosforth (by TH Hair)

His latest book  Doon the Waggonway  will be the subject of a free talk by Tyneside historian Les Turnbull at the Mining Institute on Thursday 23 April.

This early 19th century waggonway traversed the whole of Newcastle from Coxlodge across Gosforth, past the RVI,, through Heaton to the Tyne at Wallsend.   It is also linked to people behind much of the mining & railway development on Tyneside - Blenkinsop, Brandling, Brunton, Buddle, Stephenson, etc.

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. 

The Railways of Gateshead

Top: A1 60147 North Eastern at Gateshead Greenesfield shed
Bottom: Cochrane at MH station with MH colliery behind

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.   We received a copy of The Railways of Gateshead among several donated books (which are available for sale in Andrews House Station bookshop on train running days).

Selling Steam Sentinels to Steelworks

In 1950 Ken Judkins, who had had a working life pre WWII with steam road traction, began a late career as a demonstrator for Thomas Hill of Rotherham.   Thos. Hill was an agent for Sentinels of Shrewsbury and all were concerned in selling steam over diesel.    Ken made an impact in this role, selling new steam locomotives to industrial concerns around Britain.   He later became associated with Chasewater Railway and wrote a couple of books, a story from "My Life in Steam" (Oakwood Press, 1970) being reproduced below.

Ken Judkins at Chasewater Railway
(Courtesy Chasewater News 1994)

Thursday

The photos below are courtesy of Peter Weightman:

Steve making more mower parts

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 .....