82-781: The Leamside Line , originally part of the Durham Junction Railway , is a disused railway line, located in the North East of England . The alignment diverges from the East Coast Main Line at Tursdale Junction, travelling a distance of 21 miles (34 kilometres) north through the Durham Coalfield and Washington , prior to joining the Durham Coast Line at Pelaw Junction. The Leamside Line closed to passenger traffic in 1964, under
164-721: A central passenger station in Newcastle , the High Level Bridge across the River Tyne , and the viaduct across the River Tweed , that was later named the Royal Border Bridge . These were prodigious undertakings. George Hudson's business methods had always been uncompromising, and eventually serious irregularities in his financial dealings were exposed, which led to his disgrace and resignation from
246-537: A Newcastle terminus at Carliol Square (close to the present-day Manors station , but immediately west of the Central Motorway viaduct) and using that company's line as far as Heaton. Morpeth had hitherto been placed on a branch in the planned route, due to the topographical difficulties there, but as part of the matter of gaining support for the N&;BR line, the route was changed to run through Morpeth, at
328-470: A continuous railway between London and Edinburgh. At this stage the London terminal was Euston Square (nowadays called Euston) and the route was through Normanton. This was the genesis of the East Coast Main Line , but much remained to be done before the present-day route was formed, and the London terminus was altered to King's Cross . The YN&BR completed the plans of its predecessors, including building
410-537: A high embankment near Chevington was unstable during construction. The Board of Trade Inspecting Officer visited on 14 to 17 June 1847, but the works were still incomplete; he permitted opening on 1 July 1847 on the basis that the company would complete construction by then, and the central section duly opened on that date. More challenging was the crossing of the River Tyne and the River Tweed, and that work
492-671: A lot of stations in County Durham which included the closure of the Washington Line, which happened on 9 September 1963, though by this time the few remaining services on the Pelaw to Fencehouses route did not actually stop at Pelaw. There were little to no objections to the line closing. The station closed to passengers on 4 May 1964, with the withdrawal of passenger services between Sunderland and Durham , and closed to goods traffic on 30 April 1981. This article on
574-791: A number of potential uses, including a regional suburban rail service linking Tyneside and Teesside , a diversionary freight route for the East Coast Main Line , and an extension to the Tyne and Wear Metro network. Part of the Durham to Sunderland Line , which diverged from the Leamside Line to the south-east of the Victoria Viaduct , re-opened in March 2002, following the Tyne and Wear Metro 's extension to Wearside . The line terminates at South Hylton , around 3 miles (4.8 km) from
656-636: A railway connecting their interests with quays at South Shields and Wearmouth , and in 1835 formed the Brandling Junction Railway. It opened in 1839 from a Gateshead station at Oakwellgate, to South Shields and Wearmouth. The company also acquired the Tanfield Waggonway and modernised it. Its terminal on the Tyne at Dunston required the use of keels to convey the coal downstream to shipping berths, requiring transshipping, and
738-448: A railway from York to Newcastle, by 1841 it had spent all of the £1,330,000 of capital that had been authorised to build the line to Darlington and could not start work on the extension to Newcastle. At the time Parliament was considering the route of a railway between England and Scotland and favouring a railway via the west coast. Railway financier George Hudson chaired a meeting of representatives of north-eastern railways who wished such
820-582: A railway to be built via the east coast, and Robert Stephenson was engaged to select a route between Darlington and Newcastle using the existing railways as much as possible. Stephenson's proposed route differed from the GNER route slightly in the southern section before joining the Durham Junction at Rainton and using the Pontop & South Shields from Washington to Brockley Whins, where a new curve onto
902-417: A return journey over the line. Public services started the next day with rolling stock leased from the GNER; a journey from London took 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours, of which 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 hours was spent at stops on the way. Intermediate stations opened on the newly built line at Aycliffe , Bradbury , Ferryhill , Shincliffe , Sherburn , Belmont and Leamside . Stations also opened on
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#1732775909334984-640: A temporary station at Bank Top , near Darlington. In 1845 the Royal Commission 's speed trials ran speed trials between York and Darlington as part of its comparison between lines built with Great Western Railway 's 7 feet (2.1 m) gauge track and the 4 feet 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (1.435 m) gauge track used by other British railways. A locomotive reached speeds of up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), and reached 43 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles per hour (69.6 km/h) hauling 80 long tons (81 t). Trials with locomotives built for
1066-500: Is currently under development, with plans to construct an Amazon warehouse and fulfilment centre – leading to the potential creation of over 1,000 jobs. The site of the former open-cast coal mine at Wardley is also now under private development. Since the line's closure in the early 1990s, a number of proposals to re-open the Leamside Line have been put forward, including plans by AECOM, ATOC , Durham County Council , Railtrack and Tyne and Wear PTE . The line has been considered for
1148-650: The Durham and Sunderland Railway Act 1834 ( 4 & 5 Will. 4 . c. xcvi) on 13 August 1834 for a 13 + 1 ⁄ 4 -mile (21.3 km) line from the South Dock in Sunderland to Murton , with branches to Durham and the Hartlepool Dock & Railway at Haswell, although there was initially no connection between the lines as they were at different levels and at right angles to each other. The line
1230-484: The Newcastle and Berwick Railway Act 1845 ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. clxiii), on 31 July 1845, . The authorised capital was £1,400,000. Branches were included in the authorisation, to Blyth , Alnwick , Kelso , Warkworth , and adoption of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway. The first hurdle had been passed: the line was authorised. The Newcastle and North Shields Railway was to be acquired, so no construction
1312-675: The 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (5.6 km) to the Durham & Sunderland Railway at Shincliffe. This service was withdrawn in February 1842; from May 1842 Newcastle could be reached in 3 + 1 ⁄ 4 hours via South Church station , south of Bishop Auckland , from where a four-house omnibus connected with Rainton on the Durham Junction Railway. Although the Great North of England Railway had authority for
1394-526: The P&;SSR line, in association with the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway, the Durham Junction Railway, and the Brandling Junction Railway. The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway acquired the Pontop and South Shields Railway on 1 January 1847. John and Robert William Brandling had extensive mining interests in the area east of Gateshead and in the Tanfield area. They took steps to build
1476-666: The Beeching cuts . The first section of the Leamside Line was opened in August 1838, by the Durham Junction Railway , between Washington on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway , and Rainton Meadows. In September 1843, the Durham Junction Railway was acquired by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway ahead of the opening of the company's planned route between Newcastle and Darlington . The planned route involved operating over
1558-605: The Croxdale link, became part of the East Coast Main Line . Thereafter, the Leamside Line continued to carry local passenger services and freight traffic, as well as serving as a diversionary route from the East Coast Main Line . In 1941, passenger services between Ferryhill and Leamside were withdrawn, resulting in the closure of stations at Shincliffe (in June 1941), and Sherburn Colliery (in July 1941) to passengers. Leamside
1640-535: The Durham Junction Railway on the north side of the railway bridge over Station Road. It was initially a stop on the passenger service between Rainton Meadows and Oakwellgate in Gateshead but on 19 June 1844, southbound services to were diverted to Gilesgate and Ferryhill along the newly constructed Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway , allowing through running to London Euston to commence. Further extensions to this route ultimately led to creation of
1722-490: The North Eastern Railway . To the east of the station, there were goods sidings and a goods warehouse. To the south of the warehouse was a cattle dock reached by a dead-end siding. As traffic declined the station was demoted to an unstaffed halt on 14 August 1961 and it was shown as an unstaffed stating on the timetable from 18 June 1962, although it was not referred to as a halt. The Beeching Report dealt with
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#17327759093341804-528: The River Tyne and serving Newcastle while avoiding interference with urban areas was also difficult. Viewed from Scotland it was by no means obvious that a connection to England had to pass through Newcastle, although any western route, through Carlisle, faced equally difficult terrain in the Scottish Southern Uplands . On 1 March 1839 plans were deposited for a Great North British Railway from Newcastle to Edinburgh. The English part of
1886-475: The Brandling Junction Railway opened a connection from the Tanfield line to Oakwellgate too, to bring the Tanfield coal to deeper water. This required the use of a short section of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway near Redheugh. From 1840 passenger trains from London to Gateshead used the Brandling Junction line from Brockley Whins to Gateshead. The Brandling Junction Railway was taken over by
1968-578: The Brandling Junction would allow direct access to Gateshead. This required the construction of 25 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (41.0 km) of new line, 9 miles (14 km) shorter than the GNER route, but trains would need to travel 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (12.1 km) further. However, this bypassed the S&;DR, even though the railway ran parallel to the S&DR for 5 miles (8.0 km). Joseph Pease argued that it should run over its lines as this would add only 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km) to
2050-621: The Clarence Railway's Sherburn branch and returned to Parliament after failing to come to agreement with the Clarence. Royal assent was given to an act of Parliament in 1843 for a bridge over the line, but the Clarence Railway still refused to cooperate building it, so it was 1846 before the railway was completed. The York & Newcastle Railway leased the HD&;R and GNEC&HJR from 12 August 1846, and both were amalgamated with
2132-436: The Durham Junction Railway at Fencehouses and Penshaw , and at Boldon on the Pontop and South Shields. For three months, until the new curve opened in August, trains reversed at Brockley Whins; this was done by detaching the locomotive from a moving train about 1 ⁄ 2 mile (0.80 km) from the junction, steaming ahead past it and reversing to take the loop line to allow the still moving carriages to pass. In
2214-639: The English network. For some time it was taken for granted that only one route was viable, and numerous schemes, many of doubtful practicality, were put forward. (Some of the proposals would build a direct route across mountainous terrain, with steep gradients and prodigiously long tunnels.) A Government commission, referred to as the Smith-Barlow Commission, was set up to determine the best route, but its slow deliberation and indecisive conclusion encouraged promoters to disregard it. George Hudson
2296-406: The Leamside Line from Pelaw Junction remained in operation, serving the open-cast coal mine at Wardley , which has also since closed. Following the line's closure in the early 1990s, the double track was reduced to a single line in some places, with the track severed at some level crossings along the line. Initially, the line's engineering features remained intact. However, the embankment carrying
2378-493: The Leamside line. On 20 February 1852, the N&DJR opened a branch from the Leamside line, slightly to the north of Penshaw station, to a junction with the Durham & Sunderland Railway at Sunderland although passenger services between Penshaw and Sunderland Fawcett Street did not commence until 1 June 1853. The original station was replaced by a new one situated south of the bridge over Station Road on 1 July 1881 by
2460-542: The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway in 1844. A subsequent act of Parliament in 1845 legalised the purchase. The Hartlepool Dock & Railway (HD&R) was built to take coal from central County Durham mines to the docks at Hartlepool . A private bill was presented to Parliament seeking permission to build the railway and royal assent was given to the Hartlepool Dock and Railway Act 1832 ( 2 & 3 Will. 4 . c. lxvii) on 1 June 1832. The line
2542-475: The North British Railway and thereby control the entire route connecting York and Edinburgh. So was created the proposals for the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. North of Alnmouth the proposed route intersected part of the lands owned by Earl Grey ; he had been Prime Minister but now was retired. He decided he would not accept the interference with his lands, and his son Viscount Howick took up
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2624-412: The S&DR had a plan for a line north from York to Newcastle that ran over 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km) of the S&DR between Darlington and Croft-on-Tees . To allow both sections to open at around the same time, permission for the more difficult line through the hills from Darlington to Newcastle was to be sought in 1836 and a bill for the easier line south of Darlington to York presented
2706-629: The York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway that year. On 13 October 1835 the York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was formed to connect York to London by building a line from York to a junction on the planned North Midland Railway at Normanton . Two weeks later the Great North of England Railway (GNER) was formed during a meeting of representatives of the York & North Midland and Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR). Joseph Pease of
2788-654: The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway on 22 July 1848. On 16 June 1834 the Durham Junction Railway (DJR) received permission to build a railway to transport coal from Moorsley in the Houghton-le-Spring area and the Hartlepool Dock & Railway to the River Tyne at Gateshead. Leaving the Stanhope and Tyne line at Washington , the River Wear was crossed by Victoria Viaduct , 811 feet (247 m) long and 135 feet (41 m) above high-water mark, which
2870-544: The area of County Durham and Northumberland led early on to the construction of waggonways to convey the heavy ores to watercourses for onward transit, or to other means of reaching a point of sale. Although there appear to have been earlier waggonways from the high ground around Tanfield, the most notable line was the Tanfield Waggonway of 1725, from Tanfield Moor to Dunston, on the Tyne. This line had several rope-worked inclines, with more moderate gradients operated by horse traction. The rails were timber. In commercial terms it
2952-550: The basis that Parliament was now unsympathetic to obstruction of large projects beneficial to the public interest, on purely personal grounds. When Viscount Howick became persuaded that his objections to the Newcastle and Berwick Bill in Parliament were unlikely to prevail, he instead proposed a rival line, the Northumberland Railway , which would pass clear of the estate, to the west. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
3034-614: The chairmanship of the YN&;BR in 1849. Co-operation with other railways in the YN&BR area led to a traffic sharing agreement, and then to amalgamation; on 31 July 1854 the North Eastern Railway was formed by the merger of the YN&BR with the Leeds Northern Railway and the York & North Midland Railway , as well as the Malton and Driffield Junction Railway three months later. The abundant mineral deposits in
3116-462: The engineer Thomas Storey was replaced by Robert Stephenson. At York a joint GNER and Y&NMR terminus was built in the city, trains entering through a pointed arch in the city wall. On 4 January 1841 the railway opened for coal traffic using S&DR locomotives, but by the time the railway opened to passengers on 30 March its own locomotives had arrived from R & W Hawthorn . From York, trains called at stations at: before terminating at
3198-404: The existing alignment, owned by the Durham Junction Railway , which was operating at a loss, and therefore unable to upgrade the track. Upon completion, passenger services commenced in June 1844, between Darlington and Greenesfield, near Gateshead . The station at Greenesfield was subsequently closed, following the opening of Newcastle , in August 1850. The line between Washington and Pelaw
3280-620: The expense of the sharp reverse curve there. The people of Alnwick too wanted to be on the main line, but the difficulty of achieving that prevented it, and Alnwick was relegated to a branch line. In May 1845 the House of Lords Committee considered the Newcastle and Berwick Railway proposal and the Northumberland Railway scheme. The atmospheric principle was still a proposal for use on the South Devon Railway and
3362-409: The fatal operational problems which caused its removal after much expenditure on that line were still in the future. The supposed attractiveness of the Northumberland Railway scheme was weakened by its being proposed as a single line only, nonetheless costing considerably more than the double track N&BR line. Estimation of expected traffic volumes was fairly sophisticated by this time, and attention
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3444-433: The fight to protect the estate. A deviation was put forward by him to put the railway out of sight of the residence, but it would have substantially increased the cost of construction, and Stephenson, and later Hudson, attempted to negotiate acceptance of the original route. Howick remained implacably opposed to the routing of the railway, and the promoters of the N&BR line decided to go ahead with their original route, on
3526-472: The first decades of the nineteenth century, attention turned to the possibility of a railway connection between the developing railways of England, and central Scotland. The topography of the region presented obstacles: the Cheviot Hills stood in the direct line between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and a more gentle course following the low-lying coastal strip appeared to be unreasonably circuitous. Crossing
3608-542: The following year was necessary to secure the deviations from the GNER route in the south recommended by Stephenson. The section from Rainton to Belmont and the 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (4.0 km) long City of Durham branch opened on 15 April 1844. The line was carried on three timber viaducts, including one 660 feet (200 m) long over the Sherburn Valley, and terminated at a new Ionic order station at Greenesfield in Gateshead. The directors travelled over
3690-446: The following year. Pease had specified a formation wide enough for four tracks, so that freight could be carried at 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and passengers at 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), and George Stephenson had detailed plans by November. The act of Parliament for the 34 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (55.5 km) section from Newcastle to Darlington, the Great North of England Railway Act 1836 ( 6 & 7 Will. 4 . c. cv),
3772-636: The former junction with the Leamside Line. In early 2020, discussions between councils began, looking into the potential extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro network to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park in Washington , using the former alignment of the Leamside Line. In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating
3854-504: The junction with the modern East Coast Main Line, remained open for a further three years, closing to passengers in March 1967. The station closed to goods in the 1980s. Coal and other freight continued to be carried for some years but declined due to the gradual demise of the Durham Coalfield between the 1970s and 1990s. In the late 1980s the line was used at weekends for East Coast Main Line trains that were diverted due to electrification of
3936-687: The line back into use as part of the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington. The plan would expand the Metro network from its current endpoint in South Hylton through to Washington, the fourth biggest town in the UK without a railway station, then onto Follingsby and rejoin at Pelaw. However the opening of a 'Washington Metro Loop' would still be years away and would require an estimated £745 million funding to be found. York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR)
4018-489: The line between Newcastle and Darlington, especially in 1989 to avoid Durham when there was a major remodelling of the track through Durham station. In the early 1990s, and following the closure of the Freightliner terminal at Follingsby, near Wardley , the Leamside Line was mothballed almost entirely – the terminal being the recipient of most of the line's traffic during the final years of operation. A short section of
4100-421: The line over Moors Burn, located around 500 yards (460 m) from to the north of the former station at Fencehouses , had partially collapsed, leaving the former down track suspended. Substantial parts of the line and infrastructure were also missing from around the former station at Usworth , which has also become severely overgrown. In January 2003, a large section of track, located to the south of Penshaw ,
4182-685: The line. This bid was unsuccessful. From being elected in 2019 the North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll , campaigned for the reopening of the line. At the Conservative Party conference in 2023, The Party announced plans to re-open the line as part of its "Network North" programme. However, the following day the Government backtracked and said they were only "looking into it". In July 2024 North East mayor Kim McGuinness announced that around £8 million would be spent planning to bring part of
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#17327759093344264-459: The original East Coast Main Line route from London to Edinburgh , until 1872, eventually being incorporated into the North Eastern Railway . The line's main source of revenue, as with most of the early railways, was mineral traffic, principally coal from the Durham Coalfield . The line was linked to many private colliery branch lines and waggonways . In 1872, the North Eastern Railway line between Bishop Auckland and Gateshead , as well as
4346-488: The owners of Moorsley and Littletown collieries that they would use the line to send coal to Hartlepool. Services ran between Thornley pit and Castle Eden after January 1835; on 23 November that year the first train ran the 12 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (19.7 km) between Haswell and Hartlepool. By the end of that year there was 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (23.3 km) of line operational. The Great North of England, Clarence & Hartlepool Junction Railway (GNEC&HJR)
4428-420: The passenger service was unpunctual and the carriages subject to jolts whenever the trains started. Permission was granted by the Durham and Sunderland Railway Act 1837 ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. lxvii) on 30 June 1837 to divert the line in Durham south to Shincliffe , and this opened on 28 June 1839. The D&SR was taken over by the York & Newcastle Railway on 1 January 1847, and became part of
4510-401: The process of gaining support (and of reducing the attractiveness of Howick's Northumberland Railway) Hudson agreed on the crossing at what became the High Level Bridge and a general, "Central" station in Newcastle. These works would cost about a third of the total cost of building the railway. Some saving was made by the agreement to purchase the Newcastle and North Shields Railway , which had
4592-465: The railway for the first time in March 1840 as one of the series of connecting services between Newcastle and Darlington. On 14 September 1843 the company was bought by N&DJR , as its planned route between Newcastle and Darlington involved running over the railway and the DJR was operating at a loss and unable to upgrade the track. The Durham & Sunderland Railway (D&SR) received permission in
4674-423: The route declining to use the line, and the heavy operating costs of the inclined planes lead to poor profitability. When it was discovered that the directors had been overstating the profitability of the concern, a financial crisis was precipitated. In 1842 it became obvious that the Stanhope and Tyne company could not continue and a new company was formed to take on the debt and operate the railway. The new company
4756-464: The route had been designed by George Stephenson , and the Scottish end by the established Scottish railway engineers Thomas Grainger and John Miller . The Great North British Railway did not proceed to being authorised; the money market was not amenable to financing the scheme at the time. At the Scottish end, huge public debate was generated about the route from central Scotland to what was becoming
4838-418: The route on 24 May 1844 in advance of the official opening date of 18 June 1844, when a train with nine passengers left London Euston at 5:03 am, and travelling via Rugby, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield and Normanton, reached Gateshead at 2:24 pm. Three trains ran from Gateshead to Darlington to meet Hudson travelling on a train from York, before three locomotives hauling 39 first class carriages made
4920-460: The route. The bill was presented to Parliament in 1842, it was opposed by the S&DR and the Dean and Chapter of Durham, who were asking for £12,000 for land with the N&DJR offering only £2,400; eventually a jury valued this land at £3,500. The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway Act 1842 ( 5 & 6 Vict. c. lxxx) received royal assent on 18 June 1842, but a second act of Parliament
5002-513: The weight of a locomotive and its fuel and water in the train formation, and was in use without apparent difficulty on the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway . The relevant railways connecting with the proposed Newcastle and Berwick Railway reached Gateshead, on the south bank of the Tyne, and it was necessary to cross the Tyne by a bridge. For some time it was not clear that the bridge needed to be in Newcastle itself, but as part of
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#17327759093345084-543: The wider gauge showed them to have better performance, but the Commission recommended that new lines should be built using the more common 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in gauge track. In 1841 it was possible to travel between Newcastle and Darlington by taking a train to Stockton , transferring by omnibus to the other railway station in the town and catching another train to Hartlepool. After changing trains at Hartlepool and at Haswell, at Sunderland an omnibus
5166-479: Was 14 miles (23 km) long with 9 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (14.9 km) of branch line, and 65 acres (26 ha) of land for docks; a later act of Parliament, the Hartlepool Dock and Railway (Durham Branch) Act 1834 ( 4 & 5 Will. 4 . c. lvi) gave authority for a branch to the City of Durham and the use of stationary engines. The line was not built beyond Haswell after no assurances could be obtained from
5248-574: Was a 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (13.7 km) extension of the HD&;R from Wingate to the Great North of England Railway at Ferryhill and the Clarence Railway at Byers Green. An act of Parliament, the Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway Act 1837 ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. xcv), was obtained on 3 July 1837 and the line opened to Kelloe Bank in 1839. The GNEC&HJR had neglected to obtain powers to cross
5330-415: Was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway as well as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interests controlled by George Hudson , the so-called Railway King . In collaboration with the York and North Midland Railway and other lines he controlled, he planned that the YN&BR would form the major part of
5412-496: Was designed by Harrison and built in two years. The bridge was officially opened and named in honour of Queen Victoria on her coronation on 28 June 1838, and the railway opened to mineral traffic on 24 August 1838. The 4-mile-70-chain (7.8 km) long line was only laid as far as Rainton Meadows , 2 miles (3.2 km) short of Moorsley, and the Houghton-le-Spring branch was not built. Passengers were carried over
5494-507: Was developing the network based on the York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) and the Great North of England Railway , to reach Gateshead. Meanwhile, Scottish interests had decided that a line from Edinburgh to Berwick could be financed, and in 1843 a provisional North British Railway was formed. George Hudson agreed to subscribe £50,000 through the Y&;NMR. He saw that if he built a line from Newcastle to Berwick, he could gain control of
5576-662: Was drawn to the limited capacity to handle the anticipated demand, especially for goods trains. Moreover, the Northumberland Railway was not planning to make connections with other railways in Newcastle and Gateshead, whereas the N&BR scheme had committed to building the High Level Bridge. During the hearings it became increasingly obvious that the Northumberland Railway Bill was going to fail, and its promoters withdrew it. The Newcastle and Berwick Railway obtained its authorising act of Parliament,
5658-422: Was engaged to engineer the line, and he decided to adopt the atmospheric system . This involved the laying of a tube between the rails; a partial vacuum was created in the tube by static pumping stations, and each train was headed by a "piston carriage" which carried a piston running in the tube. A leather flap sealed the necessary slot in the tube before and after passage of the train. The atmospheric system avoided
5740-419: Was formally opened on 30 August and after October passengers travelled in carriages with three compartments attached to coal trains; compartments for first class were enclosed whereas those for second class passengers were open on the sides. In 1838 The railway carried over 77,000 people on trains that travelled at an average speed of 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles per hour (13.7 km/h); Whishaw (1842) reports
5822-408: Was given royal assent on 4 July 1836, but little work had been done by the time that the 43 miles (69 km) from Croft to York received permission on 12 July following year. In August a general meeting decided to start work on the southern section, but construction was delayed by poor labour relations with masons building the bridge over the River Tees at Croft, and after several bridges collapsed
5904-536: Was made to advance the date of opening of the line, while construction of the permanent structures continued underneath. The section from Heaton Junction (on the North Shields line) to Morpeth, ( 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (23.3 km)), was opened on 1 March 1847, and on 29 March the northern section from Tweedmouth (south of the Tweed near Berwick) to Chathill , ( 19 + 3 ⁄ 4 -mile (31.8 km)),
5986-689: Was necessary from their Newcastle terminus at Carliol Square to Heaton. From there the line was to be in open country and contracts were swiftly let. However, there were several significant structures to be built on these sections, requiring viaducts at Plessey over the River Blyth , north of Morpeth over the River Wansbeck , over the River Coquet south of Warkworth, and crossing the River Aln . Extensive use of temporary wooden structures
6068-703: Was opened in September 1849, by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway – the successor of the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway. Prior to the opening of this line, trains travelled via Brockley Whins . The stone arch Victoria Viaduct , constructed between 1836 and 1838, is inspired by the design of the Alcántara Bridge in Spain . The line travels 135 feet (41 metres) over the River Wear , carried on four arches, spanning between 100 and 160 feet (30 and 49 metres). The Leamside Line constituted part of
6150-404: Was opened. Four passenger trains ran each way every weekday between Newcastle and Morpeth, and between Chathill and Tweedmouth. Road coaches filled in the gaps for the time being, and a four-hour transit from Newcastle to Berwick was achieved. The central section between Morpeth and Chathill posed some engineering challenges. There was a moss at Chevington which proved difficult to build over, and
6232-459: Was remarkably successful, although wayleave charges (imposed by landowners) were heavy. The Stanhope and Tyne Railroad Company was formed in 1832 as a partnership to build a railway between limestone quarries near Stanhope and the coal mines near Medomsley , and to connect to quays at South Shields. The line was opened in 1834. There were several rope-worked inclines on the route. Traffic levels did not reach expectations, some collieries on
6314-409: Was stolen over a six-day period. In late 2012 and early 2013, around 16 miles (26 kilometres) of track was lifted, with Network Rail insisting that this would have no effect on any future re-opening plans, as track renewal would be necessary. The line is currently safeguarded from development, with no sales of land attached to the line. The former Freightliner terminal at Follingsby, near Wardley ,
6396-470: Was taken across the Wear to Monkwearmouth to a Brandling Junction train to Redheugh, where the Tyne was crossed by omnibus to Newcastle. There were three services a day and the journey took about six hours, about the same time as a horse and coach, but cheaper and more comfortable. From November 1841 a Stockton & Darlington service was introduced between Darlington and Coxhoe, where an omnibus took passengers
6478-672: Was the Pontop and South Shields Railway (P&SSR) of 1842. The south-western part of the line from Stanhope to Carrhouse was sold to the Derwent Iron Company , which operated at Consett. It formed an alliance with the Stockton and Darlington Railway and in time a railway connection through Bishop Auckland and that section became part of the Stockton and Darlington Railway system. From 1840 passenger traffic increased when through trains from London to Gateshead ran over part of
6560-568: Was the next station on the line to close, in October 1953, to both goods and passengers. Usworth and Washington followed around 10 years later, closing in September 1963. Penshaw and Fencehouses subsequently closed to passengers in May 1964. This marked the line's closure to passenger traffic, which occurred contemporaneously with the Penshaw–Sunderland line . Ferryhill station , being at
6642-456: Was to take much longer. The Newcastle and Berwick Railway acquired the Newcastle and North Shields Railway (N&NSR), and used its line between the Newcastle terminus and Heaton. Penshaw railway station Penshaw railway station served the village of Penshaw, Tyne and Wear , England from 1840 to 1964 on the Leamside line . The first Penshaw station was opened on 9 March 1840 by
6724-400: Was worked by eight stationary engines at Sunderland, Seaton, Merton, Appleton, Hetton, Moorsley, Piddington and Sherburn. Rated at between 42 and 85 horsepower (31 and 63 kW), these pulled trains using ropes up to 2,450 fathoms (14,700 ft; 4,480 m) long and between 4 and 7 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (100 and 180 mm) in circumference. Services started on 5 July 1836, the line
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