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Harton Electric Railway

A history of an industrial electric railway compiled by Mr. John Grant

 

Introduction: The realm of electric traction is not focused only on main line railways but was utilized by some industrial railways as a means to haul heavier trains as well as to keep costs to a minimum. One of the more extensive railways of this nature is the above mentioned that operated in a colliery area around South Shields in the former Tyne and Wear. The topic is long but it all ties in with the railway history of the north of County Durham famous for its collieries. In fact there is enough info that could make this four times as long but I have compressed it as much as I can to keep the history of the Harton Electrics and the South Shields, Marsden & Whitburn Railway's together as they are one of the same all run by the same companies.

 

The South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Colliery Railway

and the Harton Electric Railway.

 

Below is the Introduction of the above railway taken from a book by William J.Hatcher:

The South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Colliery Railway (SSMWCR), this grand rather over-explanatory title was bestowed upon a section of track just two and three quarter miles from end to end. The SSMWCR was originally built as a mineral branch serving a coal mine on the North-East coast, and this it did successfully for almost a century. Indeed here it would have ended, for at face value this was no different from hundreds of other branch lines which served pits in this industrial corner of the country. 

Scratch beneath the surface however and it soon becomes apparent that there was much more to the SSMWCR than the humble coal truck. The railway had its own passenger service which (although not unique for a colliery branch line) nonetheless boasted well-equipped termini and block signaling. Passenger trains (which ran at a loss for much of their existence) were capable of taking the public back in time, leaving Westoe Colliery at one end of the branch, with its 20th century electric railway, and traveling down to Whitburn Colliery at the other end, firmly set in the 19th century with steam as the staple power.

 

Then there was the rolling stock. This bewildering menagerie was raked in from all corners of the land, mostly via the second-hand market and spent a twilight existence on the branch line long after similar main line stock had been dragged to the scrap yards. The Locomotives (and there where 40 of them) represented a full cross-section of early mineral designs from tiny Manning, Wardle industrial tank engines up to the hefty ex-North Eastern Railway (NER) 'C' class tender engines which were so indigenous to County Durham.

 

The most remarkable aspect of the railway, however was the state of almost constant change it underwent throughout its history. It was built under way leave as a mineral line, re-opened by an Act of Parliament as a railway in the full sense of the word, and re-opened yet again as an official Light Railway. The original stations were demolished and rebuilt, signal boxes appeared on the railway, only to disappear again and be replaced by other boxes, while at one stage, and even part of the railway was lifted and re-aligned. In fact so frequent were the changes that an enthusiast visiting the railway could return within a decade and find little to remind him of his previous visit. Although the SSMWCR is remembered for its little  passenger trains, it was coal, of coarse, which brought about the existence of the line.

  

The Formative Years: Coal had been mined in South Shields since the Roman occupation, and the land pitted over the centuries by small scale operations. Industrialization did see the establishment of one or two larger undertakings, but it took the formation of the Harton Coal Company (HCC) in 1842 to bring about an integrated coal industry to South Shields. The brainchild of Nicholas Wood and Christopher Blackett, the HCC leased a vast contract of land from the existing land owners (the 'Dean and Chapter of Durham') and this gave the company exclusive rights to extract coal from a triangle of land formed by the north-eastern tip of County Durham,  Jarrow Slake on the edge of the Tyne, and Whitburn on the coast.

 

The year 1874 saw the Harton Coal Company cleave its empire (on what was to be a temporary basis) into two separate businesses overseen by a parent company. The Harton & Hilda Coal Company managed the established pits at Harton, St Hilda, and Boldon, while the Whitburn Coal Company (WCC) was to instigate the construction of the new coastal mines.

 

 

The Harton Coal Company and its Railways 1841-1889

(Taken from the Railways of South Shields book)

 

 In 1841 the sinking of Harton Colliery was begun by Robert and William Brandling and their new partners William Anderson, Nicholas Wood and Ralph Philipson. Soon afterwards the Brandlings sold their South Shields Coal interests and by the time Harton Colliery opened in 1844 both it and St Hilda colliery were owned by Anderson, Wood, Philipson and William Blackett. The partners traded as the (Harton Coal Company).

 

Coal from Harton Colliery reached the company's staiths by a line on the coarse of the Biddick branch and then over the BJR to High Shields. Here the St Hilda’s wagonway was joined near the staiths. After the Biddick branch was re-opened by the North Eastern Railway in 1867 the junction with the line from Harton Colliery was made close to the pit rather than at Tyne Dock station. In 1869 the Company opened Boldon Colliery, south of Brockley Whins. Coal trains traveled to the HCC staiths by running over the NER's Stanhope and Tyne line to the junction at High shields.

In 1873 the HCC announced plans for two new collieries at the Bents (Westoe) and at Whitburn. The former was not achieved for many years, but in 1874 Belgian mining engineers began to sink Whitburn Colliery. four miles south of South Shields. This turned out to be a difficult and costly operation and it might possibly have to protect the Harton Company that the Whitburn Colliery and its railway were transferred to the Whitburn Coal Company. As the majority of  Directors of the WCC were also Directors of the HCC, and members of the controlling Wood, Philipson and Blackett families, the transfer was largely a paper transaction. The colliery opened in 1879 and twelve years later the Whitburn Company was absorbed by the parent Harton Company.

 

A railway three and a half miles long was built from Whitburn to join the NER's Stanhope and Tyne line near Dean Lane in order that coal could reach Tyne Dock for shipment. Limestone and Lime were also transported from the WCC Marsden Quarry. The line, known as the Marsden Railway carried miners from South Shields to Whitburn Colliery. From about 1885 it also conveyed members of the public, but because this had not been approved for passenger traffic by the Board of Trade, each traveler had to sign an indemnity form. The practice soon ceased but following an upgrading of the line and an inspection by Major Gerard Hutchinson of the Board of Trade a public passenger service was introduced on the 19th March, 1888. The stations for the public were at Westoe Lane, South Shields, and at Marsden, near the Rock and Grotto on the sea front which provided one of the main attractions for visitors to the area. The final section to the Colliery remained solely for the use of workmen.

Modernization of the Harton System 1890-1913: From the late 1880s to the outbreak of the First World War the Harton Coal Company undertook a major programme of improvements to its collieries, railway network and staiths which by 1914 were among the most modern in the country. The pithead buildings at St Hilda, Harton, Boldon and Whitburn were rebuilt in a handsome style and electricity replaced steam as the power for the winding gear.

 

The improvements to the Harton Collieries were accompanied by the major extension and electrification of much of the railway system. In 1890 only St Hilda Colliery was linked with the Harton Company's staiths at High Shields by a horse drawn line. Coal wagons from the pits at Boldon and Harton reached the HCC staiths at High Shields over NER lines while coal from Whitburn was handed over to the NER at the Deans for shipment through Tyne Dock.

 

The Harton Company's modernization programme resulted in a new railway system which linked St Hilda, Westoe, Harton and Whitburn Collieries to new staiths at Mill Dam and the original staiths at High Shields. The HCC thus became independent of the North Eastern Railway, apart from Boldon Colliery where trains still had to use the main line company's lines to High Shields. 

 

The key to the expansion of the Harton Railway was the acquisition in 1892 of the glass works at Mill Dam, which had closed a year earlier, along with the ballast and waste railway which ran to the Bents close to the site of the new Westoe Colliery. The railway tunnels from Mill Dam and the bridges were rebuilt to take standard 10 wagons and most of the glass works buildings were demolished and the Harton Low Staiths built on their site.

 

Harton low staiths were opened in 1904. They differed from all others in the North East in that the coal was transferred into the ships by steam cranes. By 1914 another new method of loading coal - by electric ally powered conveyer belts was being introduced. The original Harton High Staiths were also modernized.

 

The glass works ballast railway was linked at the Bents to the Marsden Railway enabling coal from Whitburn Colliery to reach both sets of staiths. Harton Colliery was linked into new system in 1910 by a completely new line to the Deans which included three bridges. The original wagonway route from St Hilda Colliery to the High Staiths was also improved by the replacement of the level crossing over Station Road by a tunnel although six other level crossings remained. Steam locomotives took over from horses on this line in 1906, but only as a temporary measure prior to the electrification of the Harton Colliery system apart from the Marsden Railway and Boldon Colliery. Trains from Boldon Colliery were worked by HCC steam locomotives with running powers over the NER both to the original High Staiths and also to the sidings at the Deans where they could be handed over to electric locomotives for shipment through the Low Staiths.

The Harton Railway electrification of 1908 was the first carried out by a colliery company in Britain and followed the Company's early use of electricity for its colliery equipment. Both these projects reflected the policy of the HCC in making capital investment in developments which would reduce working costs and produce long-term savings.

  

The benefits of electric trains included the ability of electric locomotives to haul greater loads particularly on the section between St Hilda Colliery and High Shields where the sharp curves meant only small wheelbase engines could be used. the replacement of steam by electric almost doubled the amount of coal wagons locomotives could work on this section. Electric engines could also take greater numbers of empty wagons on the steeply graded former ballast railway to the Bents which had been designed for stationary engine haulage.

 

Electric traction provided environmental benefits by reducing the amount of noise and dirt caused by coal trains in South Shields. It also removed the difficult conditions for train crews on steam locomotives  working through tunnels/ In addition there were times when wagons had  to be left in the tunnels  so that the locomotives could be coaled and watered.

The HCC purchased its electric equipment and locomotives from Germany where several colliery systems had already been electrified. It has been suggested that a possible reason for electrification was due to German investment in the Company. No clear evidence for this has, yet been found and the controlling interest in the HCC seems to have remained with the Wood and Philipson families. Power came from the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company's power station at Carville through the supply line of its subsidiary the Durham Electric Supply Company of which Sir Lindsay Wood, the Harton Company's Chairman, was a Director. The HCC adopted the German standard 550v dc overhead system. 

 

In spite of its name, the Harton Coal Company was also involved in lime trade through its quarries at Marsden. In 1896 it sought to extend its limestone operations by leasing the Tyne Improvement Commissioners Trow Rock Quarry and the Railway to their staiths; the TIC's use of the quarry was declining as the piers neared completion. The proposal was strongly opposed by the South Shields Town Council who saw trains of limestone passing close to the beach as a major threat to the development of the Borough as a seaside resort. The HCC dropped the proposed lease as a result of the great public outcry and concentrated instead in expanding Marsden Quarry.

 

On the Marsden Railway the HCC opened Marsden Cottage Halt to serve the increasing number of visitors to the Bay and Grotto. The lines full title became the South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Colliery Railway although its original shorter title remained in popular use.(The Marsden Rattler).

The Harton Electric Railway ran from 1908 to 1989, the last Electrically-hauled train on the Harton Railway ran on the 19th July 1989 the Engine was British Coal no13 (English Electric. 1957) driven by Driver Jimmy Holman with a load of empty stone waste wagons which were handed over to BC 0-6-0DH 659 for the final part of the journey to Westoe Colliery. (A sign on the front of the Electric loco read the end of 81 years of Electric Operation.

 

Footnotes:

The outbreak of the war in 1914 meant that coal exports from Tyne Dock and Harton Staiths to the continent ceased. Although the amount of coal shipped began to rise again from 1918, the underlying problems for the coal industry remained, and decline set in from the mid 1920s.

 

The economic outlook was probably a contributory factor to the decision by the shareholders in the HCC (of whom the Philipsons and woods were still the most prominent) to sell the Harton Company Collieries and Railways in 1927 to Stephenson Clarke, coal factors, who traded in and shipped coal. In1928 Stephenson Clarke became in its turn part of the large Powell Duffryn mining group.

 

The return of wartime conditions in 1939 again halted shipments to the continent and St Hilda Colliery and its shaft at Westoe closed in 1940, Tyne Dock and its railway sidings became more important as it handled large quantities of material for the war effort and in 1942 a new deep-water quay was opened on the river bank, (later this quay was used for the iron ore shipments to Consett Steel Works).

 

In 1947 Nationalization meant the Harton Coal Company became part of the National Coal Board. The LNER was absorbed by British Railways in 1948.

 

The Harton system went through major modernization between 1950s and 1960s the first modernization programme since the 1890s and 1900s, the improvements included new sidings to serve Westoe Colliery, and the tunnel to the Low Staiths was enlarged to take 21 ton in place of 10 ton.

 

The Harton system reached its maximum extent in 1965 when a new electrified link was constructed on the coarse of the former Stanhope and Tyne link line between Deans and St Hilda sidings.

 

The improvements to the Harton system included the introduction of new electric locomotives in 1951, 1957and 1959. Diesels began to replace steam locomotives on the lines to Whitburn and Boldon Collieries in 1959 and steam had disappeared by 1965.

 

The contraction of the Harton Railway began when the lines to Whitburn and Harton Collieries closed with their pits in 1968 and 1969. The Harton Staiths and the line from St Hilda Sidings closed in 1975 and pit waste was then taken out through the Low Staiths.

 

On the British Railways system the major modernization project in the South Shields area was for the transport of iron ore carried from Tyne Dock to Consett Steel Works. In 1953 the Tyne Improvement Commissioners constructed new unloading cranes on the war-time deep-water quay.

 

The coal staiths at Tyne Dock closed in 1967 along with the locomotive depot. This was one of the last BR centres of steam operation in North East England.

 

The Closure of the SSMWCR (The Marsden Rattler):  In October 1967 a rumor spread like wildfire amongst the Whitburn colliers that both Harton and Whitburn pits were earmarked for closure as part of the general rundown of the coal industry. Then in January 1968 NCB management warned the workforce that a weekly target of 6,500 tons of coal had to be reached to avoid closure. By 21st May the miners managed to exceed the target by 41 tons. Two weeks later the pit shut down and 819 men were put out of work.

 

The last shift came up to the surface on Friday 7th June, 1968 with both the pit and the Marsden Railway officially abandoned on the 8th June pending the removal of the last train loads of coal up the branch to Westoe. The news spread fast and two enthusiasts' bodies of the day, the Manchester Locomotive Society, and Stephenson Locomotive Society, hastily arranged a rail tour to take in not just the Marsden Railway but the entire Harton System. The 'Durham Rail Tour' thus arrived in grand style behind the FLYING SCOTSMAN at Tyne Dock station with 250 enthusiasts and then transferred into a train of open wagons at Dean Road sidings headed by an English Electric locomotive for a tour of the electrified system, The NCB electric was exchanged with a pair of NCB diesels at Westoe (in 'top and tail' formation) for the journey down to the deserted Whitburn Colliery. Thus no 505 (the leading Hunslett) became the last locomotive officially to run down the coast to Marsden, although subsequent locomotives were used of coarse in later track clearing operations.

 

Over the years following the remaining remnants of the railway were removed, the Lighthouse bridge was removed in 1969, and the Redwell Lane bridge in 1974. All the signaling equipment including the boxes of course soon disappeared as did the little platform at Marsden Cottage. By the end of the 1970s, only Westoe Lane still stood, Continuing in its roll as offices, it remained curiously detached from the electrified remains of the Marsden Railway until it too was demolished circa 1980.

 

A lot of what remains can be sought out as there is still a lot of remains tucked away and a lot of references to the railway, the whole area reeks of railway history.

 

Bibliography and Thanks:

 

The South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Colliery Railway

and the Harton Electric Railway.

By William J.Hatcher

Published by the Oakwood Press & W.J.Hatcher 2002

 

My thanks to William J Hatchers book on the South Shields, Marsden & Whitburn Railway, also Niel T. Sinclair and Ian S.Carr's book Railways Of South Shields for some of the information and photo's used in this topic.  Also to the EASTBANK MODEL RAILWAY CLUB for some of the photo's from their website.