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 

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

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)

Local Historic Railway Videos

Several interesting videos (with sync'd sound) have appeared recently on YouTube, courtesy of Peter Hutchinson.   They show industrial & main line steam in NE England in the 1960s.   To view them, Google 51A-Darlington

The Bowes Railway video includes runs up to & around Hobson pit.
These pitmen are going to a pit up the line, likely just Marley Hill.
Question - why are these fulls from Blackburn Fell drift heading west?

There are more Hobson Bank photos in an earlier post, including a driver who later became a stalwart Tanfield Railway volunteer.

1990s TR Videos

Dave Dixon noticed a couple of YouTube videos of Tanfield by Nick Tozer:

1990 video - still shows Gamma, FGF, No.16 & MH shed roof in poor condition

This 18 minute video shows operation between Marley Hill & Sunniside, with Andrews House & Causey under construction.   Spot the offloading siding at Bowes Bridge, 3 boards at Terrace Junction, Irwell's shed at the drops, etc

Interview & Glazing Bars

John Cook from Hetton being interviewed by Mark from Lonely Tower 
(photo courtesy of Angela Pickering)

Railways are much older than trains

An interesting YouTube video focussing on Tanfield, link submitted by Luke Griffiths.

Still from the YouTube video "Railways are much older than trains" by Lindybeige

Wednesday's Work

Peter checking HC 38's frame alignment

Heritage Open Days 2020

Mark enthusing about carriage 456 & woodwork in the HOD 2020 YouTube video
(still from video by Dave Dixon)

Tanfield Railway is celebrating Heritage Open Days 2020 on 13, 19 & 20 September with history walks from East Tanfield to Causey, bookable on line with very limited places available - sorry!   

Dave Dixon has produced a video especially to run alongside the walks to showcase our work at Marley Hill, which is currently closed to the public.

End of the Week

Ian planning

NE Miners Talk

NE miners talking in 2014 of their experiences & conditions in a video on Vimeo (2015, 55 mins)
Caution - contains everyday NE dialects, pitmatic, pit humour, tales & technical terms - no subtitles

NEFA

Today at Six - closure of Alston branch (1970, 5 mins)

Signalling Record Society

Thanks to Rob Fallon, who mentioned the interesting web site of the Signalling Record Society which gathers & shares information about railway signalling.


In particular, it presents videos of signalmen & their memories, one of whom is Michael Rising, a Tyneside signalman born in 1937, at work around Tyne Dock, Boldon & Washington from the 1950s.

Michael Rising recording his memories of Pontop Crossing 

The site also contains mainline signalling notices & diagrams for the NE of England. 

Films at British Film Institute

BFI have a few films freely available on line - in your spare moments start from  https://player.bfi.org.uk/search/free

Use the search facility, eg to find  films about NE England  or try :

1901 Herring Harvest at North Shields  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-north-sea-fisheries-north-shields-1901-1901-online

1929 Rocket replica  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-rocket-1929-online

1957 Swan's Launch  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-ship-is-launched-1957-online 

1962 Tyne  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-your-heritage-the-river-tyne-1962-online

1967 Dawdon Colliery  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-dawdon-colliery-1967-online

1970 Big Geordie  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-big-geordie-1970-online

1976 Norman Cornish  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-lifestyle-the-shapes-of-cornish-1976-online  

1984 Metro  https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-metro-the-way-ahead-1984-online

North East Film Archive

Something for the weekend - another few interesting videos examples, this time from NEFA / YFA, featuring several from Tyne Tees TV:

Following the closure of Consett steelworks: 
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/consett-after-blast

Preceding the closure of Shildon Wagon Works: 
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/briefing-shildon-br-works
Sorry - Shildon video not freely available - more from NEFA /YFA next week to make amends ......

Frank Atkinson describes Beamish Museum: 
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/treasures-store-beamish-north-england-open-air-museum

A short film about Beamish, showing much of early Marley Hill preservation at 3mins 50 secs: 
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/beamish 

Sunderland on cup final day 1973: 
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/meanwhile-back-sunderland 

A general search of the archive: 
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/search?field_archive=5&search_api_views_fulltext=&title_field=&field_viewing_notes_value=&field_context_value=&field_year_value2=&field_year_value=&field_colour=All&field_sound=All&field_online_video_file=All&field_video_extract=All&sort_by=search_api_relevance&sort_order=DESC&page=3 

Films at National Library of Scotland

If you have some time to spare, see  https://movingimage.nls.uk/    A few of the videos are available to view on line.   As examples, try:

Scottish Coalmining  https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0496

Industrial Clydesdale  https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1694

North British  https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1276

James Watt  https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0020

A Family Visit to the North Pole

4 generations of a family visit the North Pole on the 2019 Express
(video courtesy of Dave Dixon)

A Video with Vic

YouTube video featuring Vic on RSH 38 plus Alan & Bob on Wellington, September 1997
(The first minute is on the Ratty; the faces on TR locos indicate a children's day)

Film of NE Colliery Locos

A still from the 1970 film showing Horden at Shotton Colliery 

The YouTube video of Industrial Steam at Shotton Colliery in 1970 features Horden, a loco which we aim to have working on Tanfield Railway 50 years later, in 2020.   Also shown at Shotton is the TR loco Stagshaw.

Featured somewhere in Northumberland (anyone know where?) is Hudswell Clarke No.38, yet another TR loco.   This is followed by No.48 at Backworth, a sister loco of our No.49.

Views of TR

A visitor's YouTube video views of TR earlier this week