Links:

R.o.B

 

Presents

 

Kory McLeod

 

Singer/Song writer

 

Please have a listen:

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Last Updated 03/07/2006

R.o.B Railways

The Tyne Valley Railway-The Newcastle to Carlisle Railway

Compiled By John W Grant

Introduction: One of Britain's first conventional railways was constructed across the narrowest point of England at the top of the Pennine hills that run down the centre of the country is the Tyne Valley railway from Newcastle to Carlisle Citadel station. This was the first of the trans-Pennine routes discounting the Cromford and High Peak railway with Isambard Kingdom Brunel having put in a tender to construct the line which was refused. The line passes through the Irthing and Eden valleys with the Pennines to the south and the Scottish lowlands to the north following the path of the Tyne valley making it one of the most picturesque lines in the North of England passing through sparsely populated parts of Durham, Northumberland and into Cumbria stretching for a distance of some (96km) sixty miles. The summit of the line is more of a 6 mile long plateau a lot different to the other Trans-Pennine routes which would see steep climbs and then sharp drops once they were over the hills. Today the railway still sees regular 'Northern' passenger services to and from Newcastle to Carlisle where it meets the West Coast Main line and 'Scotrail' services from Newcastle even go up to Scotland and Stranraer for the Irish ferries, the line can also see diversions from the East Coast Main line should the need ever arise trains to Edinburgh diverted to Carlisle and then round to Edinburgh; The best example of the need for this diversionary route being when the Penmanshiel tunnel in Berwickshire, which had been built by the North British Railway in 1840 as part of their line from Edinburgh to Berwick, collapsed on Saturday 17th March 1979. To allow the increased safe passage of newly introduced Mk3's and HST sets the tunnel was undergoing enlargement as were other tunnels on the East Coast Mainline though in this case the investigation found that preliminary site investigation and tests had not been carried out before work started, after the collapse that saw two workers killed the tunnel was abandoned in favour of a cutting that trains still use today the tunnel being clearly visible from passing trains.

 

The termini: The Tyne valley line as it is now familiarly known was built by the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Company, after gaining Royal Assent on the 22nd May 1829 work starting on the Wetheral viaduct over the river Eden in Cumbria in 1830. The line itself was built in sections from 1834 onwards with the section from Blaydon to Hexham being the first to open on 9th March 1835. Redheugh and the then planned terminus of the line being reached in the March of 1837, ferries taking passengers across the river to Newcastle, as the original bridge connecting Newcastle and Gateshead was some distance from the terminus, the entire route formally opening to passengers on 18th June 1838. It soon became obvious that access to Newcastle by the railway was needed not only for the passengers but to allow the future running of freight traffic through Newcastle itself once railways were built northwards. So a temporary bridge was built at Scotswood to the west of Gateshead and Newcastle and at a suitably low height where the river was not so wide or deep, opening on 21st October 1839. The line then passed along the north bank of the River Tyne through Elswick parallel to the Redheugh branch on the southern bank. With the opening of the bridge in 1839 trains to Newcastle terminated at Forth Bank slightly to the east of the present Newcastle West Junction which is itself just outside the western entrance to Newcastle Central station and at the end of the approach from the High level Bridge. Newcastle & Carlisle Railway trains first using Newcastle Central Station on the 1st January 1851. The Redheugh branch would eventually be connected to the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway (N&DJR) at Gateshead when that line opened between Gateshead and Darlington in 1844, the Newcastle and Carlisle railway having extended their branch as far as Gateshead in 1839. This section of the line also had a connection to the Tanfield Waggonway which was later converted by the North Eastern Railway in to a conventional railway. In 1860 hot ash from a passing train set fire to the wooden structure resulting in another temporary structure being built on the site of the original. Just as the original had been temporary but lasted nearly thirty years the second bridge lasted until 1871 when the present bridge was built. Today's bridge consists of wrought iron 'hog back' girders resting on cast iron cylindrical piers. It closed to rail traffic in 1982, though today it is still in use to carry large water and gas mains across the river.

The lines opening dates were:

 

The line from Carlisle was started separately, from the cities first railway station at London Road, on its eastern edge, to Greenhead, some few miles east in the Eden valley, on 19 July 1836, though there was still some way to go before the two parts of the Newcastle and Carlisle line were to meet up, this not being achieved until the section from Greenhead to Haydon Bridge was completed on 18th June 1837, the N&CR being Carlisle's first railway. A branch for freight only ran from the station to a canal interchange with the Carlisle and Port Carlisle Canal the line opening on the 9th March 1837. The site of the canal basin was to become marshalling and Railway Company goods interchange yards, with the opening of the Port Carlisle and Dock Railway, which had been built on top of the in-filled canal, the latter company later being purchased by the North British Railway company, the North Eastern Railway Company, which was rapidly expanding at the time, absorbing the N&CR on 17th July 1862.

 

The North Wylam loop: The line today once again runs through Gateshead and Redheugh from the High level bridge towards Carlisle via Dunston, The Metro Centre and into Blaydon then carrying on into Northumberland and passing the point where a junction allowed trains access to the north Tyne or Wylam loop from Wylam Junction. The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway Company built a line connecting the areas in its name with the Newcastle and Carlisle railway at Scotswood to the East and in the West at Wylam Junction using an early form of suspension bridge to carry the double track line over the river. The railway followed much of the route of the former Wylam Waggonway, opened in 1748 to carry coal from Wylam colliery and a later iron works to the staiths at Leamington where produce was loaded on to barges to be shipped down river. The Waggonway and later railway passed by the front of the cottage where George Stephenson was born in 1781 and near the colliery where he was to become an engine-wright , the waggonway closed in 1867 iron and coal production having ceased in the 1860's. Before the opening of this line people living in North Wylam who wanted to use the railway had to ford the River Tyne by ferry from the North side of the river to the south side to where Wylam station was, (Three people died crossing over the Tyne on the ferry). The line which ran via Scotswood, Newburn, Lemington, Heddon on the Wall also had a spur that served both the Margaret Pit and the Heddon Brick works. Heddon station was closed in 1958 and was demolished in 1959, with the rest of the line falling under the Beeching axe, closing to passengers on 11th March 1968. From Wylam Junction the line runs alongside the river through shallow valley via Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Riding Mill and Corbridge until it reaches Hexham 20 Miles 68 Chains from Newcastle.

 

Hexham's branches: This is a very large farming market town about 21miles from Newcastle Central station it has a wonderful Abbey in the centre of the Town and is well worth a visit. The station at Hexham, which opened with the line, is still quite a busy station with trains from Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle in the East and trains from Carlisle and Stranraer in the West. There are also trains to Glasgow Central, Dumfries and Girvan. The station now has only two platforms although in the past it also had two bay platforms one for trains to the East and one for trains to the West as well as two large sidings the siding at the West end of the station used mainly for the coal merchants, having four coal drops. The siding at the East end of the station was the largest, it had a large cattle dock along side another three sidings, with some short oil sidings down the back of the yard for the Oil, Petrol and Paraffin tankers that came to Hexham for the outlying country areas. At the back end of the station where the East bay platform was sited there was also another set of sidings that were used for other local traffic. Just west of Hexham a branch line veered to the right over the River Tyne towards the border town of Hawick. This line was known as the Border Counties Railway and was opening from Hexham to Chollerford in April 1858 with the line completed via Plashetts and Kielder to Riccarton Junction, on the Waverley route, by the July of 1862, as with many lines in the area its primary role was to carry coal traffic from Plashetts in the Northumberland Hills.

 

Another branch ran south towards Allendale sited on the Allen River. The area surrounding the small town is moor-land though at one time it was a good source of lead, iron, coal with some silver found in places. So it was not surprising that the local landowners wanted a railway connection to the Newcastle and Carlisle railway at Hexham 13.5 miles to the north-east the main line having passed the settlement. A bill was placed before parliament on the 29th November 1864 for the construction of a single line railway to a Junction with the N&CR at Hexham. The line was to have 3 intermediate stations at Elrington, Langley on Tyne, and Staward. The railway received Royal assent on 19th June 1865 and though the line was privately built it was operated by the North eastern Railway from the outset. Each of the stations had a name change at some time during the railways short life. Elrington Halt was Elrington until 1st September 1926, Langley on Tyne was Langley until 29th July 1936 and Staward Halt was Staward until 1st April 1939, even Allendale being known as Catton Road until 1st May 1898. The first section of the line to open was that from Hexham to Langley for freight trains moving lead from the mines and the smelting works at Langley on 19th August 1867. The line did not open to Catton Road (Allendale) until 13 January 1868 with the passenger facilities and stations not completed until the 1st of March 1869 due to the company running out of money to complete the work. At Allendale was sited a turntable and relief road along with multiple sidings, along with a goods shed behind the platform and a Creamery. The line struggled on with its freight trains and few daily passenger services until the NER took over control on the 13th July 1867, the line remaining part of the NER and LNER until the days of British Railways though the LNER ceased passenger services from the 22nd September 1930 freight services ceasing under British Railways on the 20th November 1950. Amazingly the station building at Langley has been converted in to a tourist attraction known as the Garden station.

 

Haltwhistle's Branches: From Hexham the main line carries onto Haydon Bridge via Warden Bridge and a bridge where the line crosses back over to the North side of the River Tyne arriving at Haydon Bridge station, 28miles 34 chains from Newcastle before continuing on to Bardon Mill, 32 miles 32 chains. Upon leaving Bardon Mill the line passes through the 202 yard long Whitchester Tunnel before approaching the staggered platforms of Haltwhistle station, 37 miles 13 chains from Newcastle. At one time this was the Junction station for the branch to Alston, the highest village in the country. The Alston branch was a busy freight and passenger line as far as Lambley, where a freight only branch led off towards Lambley Fell, this resulted in the Alton branch seeing up to 48,560 tons of Coal, Coke and limestone in 1895. Haltwhistle had a turntable as it had to cater for all kinds of locomotives, the station handling passengers as well as having its own large coal sidings that served the area as well as one or two small industries and local factories including a large paint manufacturer at the time called Hadrian Paints after the name of the Roman Emperor that built the Roman Wall that is nearby. The 13 1/2 mile long branch from Haltwhistle to Alston was built by the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway in 1846 with trains leaving Haltwhistle bay platform, sited on the south side of the mainline, and passing behind the typical NER signal box which was sited at the end of the platform looking across the main line. They would then follow a sweeping curve eastwards before crossing over a bridge taking the line south towards the Pennines. Proposals to close the branch were first sounded in 1963 but due to local opposition and a lack of all weather roads closure was held off. Over the last few days of operation by the DMU's that had been a regular operator of the line for many years, extra units were added to form four coach train instead of the regular two to cater for those that my want to take a last ride on the line. Sadly the last train to run on the branch was on the 3rd May 1976. In 1983 the South Tynedale Railway Society was formed to try and save some of the branch. They succeeded and today narrow gauge steam trains run from Alston as far as Kirkhaugh the line having reached there in 1999.

 

The Brampton branches: After leaving Haltwhistle the line then proceeds onto Brampton passing over 10 level crossings on the way. The sites of stations long since closed such as Greenhead, Gilsland, Low Row and Naworth are hardly visible today, before dropping down into Cumbria at Brampton station, 49 miles 21 chains from Newcastle though it is about a mile from the original town it was built to serve. From here there were branches off to Lambley and also into Brampton town these branches are also long since closed. This is the same Lambley as in the one to on the Alston branch, as a private railway built by the Earl of Carlisle and based very much on the routes of the waggonways that had followed the same routes previously to connect the iron and lead mines to the river. The Lambley branch of the waggonway was built in 1798 connecting the town with the Tindale Fell mines of the Earl. The railway saw a passenger service start in 1836 from Milton to Brampton along part of the freight line by horse drawn carriages. On 4th July 1881 steam services started though it was withdrawn nine years later on 30th April 1890 due to 'safety reasons' and not resuming again until 1st August 1913 though only from Brampton Junction to Brampton town. Services ceased totally from on 29th October 1923.

 

Carlisle Citadel: After leaving Brampton station the line proceeds onto Wetheral passing the sites of a further two long since gone stations one at Howmill the other at Heads Nook, the line then going passing over the high bridge and River Eden into Wetheral station. From here the line drops down to Carlisle, London Road site of the original terminus of the railway before passing another long since closed station at Scotby. The line then passes by Petteril Bridge sidings before climbing up in to Carlisle Citadel Station, where trains from the N&CR reached in 1864, thus ending the journey from Newcastle to Carlisle a distance of some 61 miles.  This station was built in 1847 by the London and Carlisle railway though was soon joined by Carlisle's other railway companies, The Maryport and Carlisle which had reached Bog street in Carlisle in 1843 from the Coal shipment town of Maryport. The Caledonian meeting the London &Carlisle head on when it opened its line from Carlisle to Beattock in 1847. As the N&CR route to the docks crossed the London & Carlisle on the level with the N&CR station someway distant, it was decided it would be beneficial for Carlisle Citadel to be the primary station with the Midland arriving in 1876.