Common Room Talks

There were a couple of interesting talks in the lecture theatre at the Common Room (Mining Institute, Westgate Road) yesterday:

Simple signalling to avoid collisions between trains on the Stanhope & Tyne
and the Brandling Junction at Pontop Crossing (Brockley Whins,
South Shields, where iron ore trains later crossed the coastal route)

Monday Folk at Work

Ian heading out on his mower

ET Again

The photos below are courtesy of Geoff Lowe, except as stated:

Geoff spot painting ET carriage shed doors

Wedding Day

Andrew cleaning No.2 before taking up crossing keeper duties

NPE Day 10 @ ET

No.2 ready for action.

NPE Day 9 @ ET

David at work in the shop.

NPE Day 4 @ ET

Matthew..

Briefly back to Saturday

Post & photos by David Reed

Last Saturday we held a photo evening, a good opportunity for photographers to capture scenes of the railway in hours of darkness. Below is a selection of photos from the preparation for and beginning of the event along with a few other on going projects.

Luke needle gunning 

Heritage Open Days at Tanfield Railway

Tanfield Railway is taking part in Heritage Open Days for the first time in 2016.   This annual national event, sponsored by the People's Postcode Lottery & administered by the National Trust, sees historic & cultural venues open their doors for special & free access by visitors.

Our Marley Hill site will be open to the public from 11 am to 3 pm on Thursday 8, Friday 9, Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 September, as advertised on the Heritage Open Day web site.   Additionally on Sunday, trains & fares will be as normal & advertised.

Talks & tours will start at the carriage shed, where light refreshments will be available, there will be short talks about TR, & Sunniside Local History Group will have a stand,   Large numbers are not expected, but visitors will be interested, so we should be on the lookout for new workers.   We would like current volunteers to take small groups to their favourite exhibit, and talk about it for 10-15 minutes - if you'd like to help, contact Derek, David W, or Angela.

Special Train Hire

Dave signalling the empty stock into Andrews House

Video of the Harpist & his Father's Loco

Video of David Watkins at Causey Yesterday
(courtesy of Dave Dixon)

Around Marley Hill Today

Ryan at the ground frame, young Bob on No.2,
shunting the carriages for today

An Octogenarian's Surprise

A member of the public celebrated her eightieth birthday at Tanfield today .... all photos courtesy of Stu Armstrong:

Fred cleaning windows in No.7 .....

Operations & Photography

This morning on HL No.2: David oiling & Danny checking the fire

Sunday Ops at Causey

The works train with refreshment carriage arrive at Causey this morning
(photo courtesy of Jason Peppercorn)

The Arts at Tanfield

Additional to the animation and acting performances for the public taking place each weekend in June, the railway continues to attract arty folk .....

University of Sunderland students discussing ....

TripAdvisor

Tanfield Railway is one of a few dozen attractions in Gateshead.    I said previously that we are generally rated well by visitors who mention us on TripAdvisor.  See TripAdvisor Gateshead Attractions for our current position.   You may find it interesting to read our good and bad reviews.

• Tanfield Railway

We have been sent the above prestigious award, which places us in the top-performing 10% of all businesses worldwide on TripAdvisor. This is given to businesses that consistently earn high ratings from TripAdvisor travellers.

Camera Club Visits to Tanfield Railway

Many local camera clubs include a visit to Tanfield Railway on their syllabi.   Below are links to some web sites:

Alnwick and District Camera Club

Durham Photographic Society

Map My Photo

Pentax User

Washington Camera Club

Westmoor Camera Club

In addition, several photographers often visit the railway.   I am grateful for the assistance of those who provide photos which feature in our blog posts (eg see yesterday) - more would always be useful!

Forthcoming: 9 June a group of artists will visit; and on weekends this June there will be an animated family adventure as part of the Festival of the North East

Finally, some photographers have their own web sites - there is a link to a list of some of these under the blog title photo - please click the camera icon  at the top of the page.

British Legion

Some shots courtesy of Carl Chambers and Stu Armstrong from the British Legion hire on 16 June:

The gathering (CC)

Opencast Public Exhibition

The first of three public exhibitions about the proposed
opencast to the west of Marley Hill site was held this
evening in the miners' welfare hall at Marley Hill village