Friday 29/5

Traffic on Beamish new road, ready for the transport festival at Beamish Museum this weekend

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.

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 

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?

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

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 .....

Industrial Tyneside

I discovered this wall map (taken as 2 photos) in South Shields museum.   Since it's by Port of Tyne, it's post 1968, but not by much judging by the level of industry shown.   (In 1968 Port of Tyne took over from the Tyne Improvement Commission, which had significantly altered, developed, commercialised & industrialised the river after it took over from the Newcastle Corporation hostmen in 1850.)

Newburn to Newcastle
(click map to enlarge)

Modernisation at South Shields

A new metro on test on Claypath Lane flyover seen via the soon-to-disappear view through
the hacky front window of an old metro, travelling in the section from South Shields station .....

Christmas Tree

Angela dressing the Tanfield Railway Christmas tree in St Margaret's Church, Tanfield Village
(photo courtesy of Ian Cowan)

The Last Ships

A blog post at the end of 2021 featured photos by Chris Killip, in particular the exhibition The Last Ships at the Laing Art Gallery.   I'd recommend visiting this free exhibition of photos of the final tankers being built at Swan Hunter, showing Tyneside heavy industry & its workers 50 years ago.

Propellor being fitted to the Everett F Wells c1976 at Swans.
with Hawthorn Leslie on the far bank 

Lemington Gut

Compound map of waggonways leading to staiths at Lemington
(map courtesy of Les Turnbull)

Note that this map predates TIC improvements to navigability of the Tyne, which included piers at Shields, removal of sandbars & islands, straightening of the lower reaches, ongoing dredging, & notably for Lemington a cut which removed the meander past its staiths & industry, which were left on a spur or gut   At the same time, Armstrong's swing bridge replaced the low Georgian Bridge at Newcastle.   These improvements together enabled sea going ships to travel nearly as far as Wylam regardless of most tides, although large ships had more limited access to the upper reaches.

So what happened to waggonways, staiths & industry at Lemington?   Read on ......

Thursday

Richard asking Peter (in Horden's firebox) about leaking stays

Scotswood Walk

Walking Tour of Scotswood station site - 1pm Wed 30 Oct 2024
from St Margaret's Church on Heighley Street NE15 6AR

Scotswood is an area of the west end of Newcastle where the population grew rapidly with industrial expansion, notably Armstrong's factory on the riverside at Elswick.   This coincided with railway development. including the first cross country main line between Newcastle & Carlisle.

The Tyne was the main thoroughfare, with heavy industry along its banks, for which workers' housing packed the steep valley sides.   Railways in the area evolved to meet demand within these constraints, leading to condensed, impressive & expensive civil engineering, including the remarkable layout around Scotswood.

Hopetown

The renewed Darlington railway museum uses currently
in vogue electronic presentations & interactive video

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.

Saturday at Thorpe Light Railway

Thorpe Light Railway is a 15" line which started as the Whorlton Lido Railway over 50 years ago.   It was reinstated to use by the current volunteer group 10 years ago.   On Saturday, the volunteers welcomed visitors & ran Heritage Open Day trains & tours.

Ready for departure from Whorlton station behind a steam outline 2-8-0

RSH Husky at AV Dawson

AV Dawson Ltd are transport specialists who operate the Port of Middlesbrough 

An Evening Delivery

Arriving at East Tanfield this evening .....
(photo courtesy of Alex Tyson)