Brandling Junction Railway (BJR)

The Brandling Junction Railway developed routes south of the Tyne around 1840.   At a time when there was no railway bridge over the Tyne or the Wear, the BJR joined Gateshead to South Shields & Monkwearmouth.   More importantly for TR, the BJR modernised the Tanfield Waggonway with iron rails & standard gauge, and stationary engines replacing some horse-drawn sections.   It operated our TR route on a wayleave basis, ie ownership remained with local landowners.

I have come across a description of the BJR in a reprint of an 1842 edition by Francis Whishaw, a railway civil engineer, which I reproduce below.   This book looks at early Victorian standalone public railways, pre "Railway Mania", in which the relatively small BJR features alongside segments of future UK mainline routes.

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)

Springwell Colliery Railway Bicentenary

The Bowes Railway section from Jarrow staiths to Springwell Colliery became 200 years old in January 2026.   An interesting article about this bicentenary has appeared on North East Bylines.

The kip at the head of the balanced incline from Springwell towards Jarrow
Click Ray Casey's photo for the article

The Springwell Railway was extended past Mount Moor, Kibblesworth, Marley Hill, Byermoor & Hobson to Dipton by the 1850s.   It became known as the Pontop & Jarrow Railway, & was renamed the Bowes Railway in the 1930s.   Marley Hill shed was built by 1854 to serve the loco-worked westernmost 6 miles from Birkheads to Dipton.

Tuesday 5/5

Dave strimming in rain on the slippery slopes of AH cutting

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.

Coal Staiths of the River Tyne - Side

Another excellent film telling a story of working-class industrial Tyneside of the recent past has been released by Side.

A worker on Derwent Staiths in 1973, from the film
(photo copyright Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Side)

Read about & watch  Coal Staiths of the River Tyne 

Sunniside Station, 1982

Courtesy of Colin Waite, an article from the Stanley News for 15 July 1982 about the new-build Sunniside Station:

Volunteers Bill, Bob, Alan, ?, Andrew, Philip. Eric & me posing

Irwell, 1983

Courtesy of Colin Waite, an article from the Evening Chronicle for 29 March 1983 featuring Irwell:

Two of the owners of Irwell - Graham Redfearn did machining & fitting,
Richard painted & lined the loco

Video - 300 Year Old Railway

A recent YouTube video by Jago Hazzard deals with some of the 300 year history of Tanfield Railway:

A still from the video

Sunday Exchange

Angela handing over a painting of Twizell to Paul Jarman of Beamish Museum,
to mark the occasion of the handover of Twizell to the Tanfield Railway Trust

Malleable No.5 Hand Over

Before Marley Hill & Beamish, Malleable No.5 was used at Stockton by South Durham Steel & Iron Co.   It has an unknown builder, but its origins may be with the Stockton Malleable Iron Works.

Malleable No.5 was the first loco to be steamed by Tanfield Railway at Marley Hill.
Alan Thompson, Eric Maxwell, Neil Thompson, Derek Knott & Pete Weightman pose in 1972.
(photo courtesy of Peter Weightman)

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

Armstrong Products

Armstrongs produced a huge range of machinery at Elswick, including hydraulic engines, battleships, tankers, naval guns. tanks, field guns, small arms, shells, railway locos, railcars, motor cars & steam rollers!   I hadn't realised until I glanced through Images of England - Newcastle West End by Ray Marshall & the Chronicle that they also built under contract a large number of Aveling-Barford steam road rollers, complete with Kentish white horse rampant on the smokebox:

An End of the Tanfield Railway

I am interested in the Tanfield Railway & South Shields.   Around 1840 these were linked by the Brandling brothers, who were interested in making their fortune from shipping coal & firing their links to industry in South Shields by establishing the Brandling Junction Railway (BJR).
 

South Shields OS town map sheet 42 surveyed 1855
(from National Library of Scotland)

In the map above, Harton Colliery high staiths are at bottom left,  Trinity Church is near bottom right.   There's a viaduct over Commercial Road near top right, with sidings and a ballast hill, but I've never seen sign of these features on the ground - what are they?

Whistle Up Animation

Following Whistle Up at Tanfield Railway (see post for 1 January), Sarah Hodgson had the thought of showing how the the idea of a loco whistle came about after an early railway accident which killed a horse & forced a railway company to pay damages.

Animation of the invention of the loco whistle following an 1833 accident
(video courtesy of Sarah Hodgson)

Early Days at Backworth

Backworth A Pit with a PW gang & set rider on a rope hauled incline
(artist unknown, TWAM collection)

The rope incline may connect to West Allotment or Shiremoor - if you know more, please comment.

The painting is currently displayed in the Romance to Realities exhibition at the Laing.

A Marley Hill Loco

There are two austerity locos at Marley Hill.   There were two austerity locos at Marley Hill during most of its NCB days, Bowes Railway nos. 17 & 20.   On paper, these were renumbered 28 & 83 in the early 1950s, but were known as & carried their original numbers until the late 1960s, with the 'new' number below, smaller & in brackets - see the photo of Vic & an austerity on Hobson Bank Loco Crew.

Austerity No.83 with empties heading towards MH screens to be loaded, probably late 1960s.
The steep winding bank behind the loco goes to MH colliery, near the pony stables.

Andrews House Colliery Remains

Andrews House Colliery, as re-established alongside Marley Hill Colliery by Bowes & Partners in 1840, was 200 yards south west of MH shed & would be connected to the Pontop & Jarrow Railway.   However, like Marley Hill, it originally spanned several pits in the same area, with coal being taken down the Tanfield Waggonway (read Sunniside History Group web).   AH Colliery closed in 1920.   Remains of the colliery have recently become more evident - photos below.

Stonework from AH Colliery winding house revealed

The Common Room - Marley Hill Colliery

The records previously held by NEIMME (North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers) together with the grade 2* listed Neville Hall at the bottom of Westgate Road, Newcastle, were transferred to the Common Room of the Great North (charity no.1179546) in 2017.   With HLF funding, the Common Room secured the future of Neville Hall & started an online catalogue of NEIMME's records dating back to the 1500s, & digitising these.

Searching the Collections for Marley Hill currently gives 38 results, including:

A document from 1778 looking at the future viability of
Marley Hill Colliery - which was closed in 1815.
In 1700s MH was known as North Banks & worked via several pits.

Bowes & Coals to Windsor

The plaque below led me to look at the Bowes family tree, which I found to be very large with many branches;  I've picked a chain to link the Royal Family to Durham coal, based on details in geni.com

By convention the first-born male took the forename of his father.   If that son died before another was born, the new son also would be named after the father.   Because of repetition of names I've appended dates to differentiate.   Note that the first legitimate male heir would inherit titles, estates, etc, from his father.   Daughters, wives & widows could still be powerful & influential beyond bearing many children.

Sir William Bowes 1656-1707 of Gibside  &  Streatlam Castle  married Elizabeth Bowes 1651-1736.

Plaque commemorating Dame Elizabeth Bowes, John Bowes’ great-great grandmother,
"a pickaxe-wielding firebrand who fought to build the family’s fortune in coal".
She's interred in the chapel of St Mary the Less, on the opposite side of' South Bailey, Durham.
In the family tree, you could start with Dame Elizabeth .....