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 

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?

Reyrolle's No.2

In Hebburn library, browsing through the book "Arcs, Sparks & Engineers - A Centenary History of A.Reyrolle & Co.Ltd (1901- 2001)", I came across the photo below:

TR's Armstrong Whitworth D22 of 1933 in original guise as Reyrolle No.2
seen in 1937 outside Hebburn short-circuit testing station No.2

One of the next photos in the book shows an explosion as new switch gear is tested to short-circuit destruction!   

Like Andrew Leslie's shipyard (which started in the mid19th century), Reyrolle's complex was a major  industrial employer in Hebburn.   Reyrolle rode the turn of the century surge on Tyneside in electrical design, development, production, use & export.   Business was good, enabling the company to invest in employee development, help to improve housing, & set up welfare facilities such as large sports fields & parks.

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)

Steetley Pier - a Modern Industrial Relic

A view of Steetley Pier approaching from Hartlepool Headland.
(Note the small sea coal, but a very clean beach cf Horden, Dawdon, etc.)