Tanfield Railway

Starting Point - River Tyne side path, beneath Redheugh Bridge, Gateshead. Finish Point - Tanfield Railway, Marley Hill. Distance 5.1 Miles.

South of Newcastle the Tanfield Railway is the oldest railway still in operation. Now a heritage railway, the line operates on a section of waggonway built to move coal from mines in the area to the River Tyne that dates back to the 1720s. The abandoned section between the Tyne and the heritage railway is now a foot and cycle path.

Google Map

It might have been logical to start where the mines were and finish at the river where the coal finished its railway journey as it was loaded in to boats for onward travel, though it is far easier to get to Gateshead by public transport where it's a short walk to the path along the riverside. Now a popular footpath and cycle path along the river it is not apparent that this was once a rail route primarily to bring coal to the river.

1919 Map

Just west of the modern Redheugh Bridge (the abbutment of the original bridge can be seen) the Tanfield Route branched off from the later routes running along the Tyne that also ended up becoming part of the North Eastern Railway.

The route from the mines around Tanfield was built by the "Grand Allies" a group of coal owning families who teamed up to establish a route in order to overcome difficulties transporting coal across land owned by rivals. (A similar problem in Middleton, Leeds was overcome by legally establishing a route with the first act of parliament for a railway in 1758 resulting in the heritage railways at Tanfield and Middleton having similar sounding "world's oldest" claims.) Originally operated using horses, with the addition of gravity inclines and stationary steam engines, it eventually became part of the North Eastern Railway who converted the route for steam locomotive operation in 1881. The line remained in use until 1964 when the last colliery it served at East Tanfield closed.

More about the history of the route can be read on the Wikipedia article 

1898 Map

In the built up and still quite industrial area south of the Tyne, though the course of the railway is largely intact there is little to connect it to the past. In a couple of places there are slight detours off the course of the railway where the land is privatelly occupied. The first of these detours is at Ropery Road, which as the name suggests was the site of a rope works seen on the above map.

We pass under the railway bridge that once carried the line to the Dunston Staith (this will be a future walk), shortly followed by a bridge carrying the surviving line from Newcastle to Carlisle. Though these bridges cross Forge Road today (named after the nearby Dunston Forge) they originally carried their respective railway lines over the railway route to Tanfield here. Another detour is neccessary where the A1 and modern housing have obliterated the former trackbed, picking the trackbed up again on the corner of West Way. The tree lined path of the former railway route takes us through an area since redeveloped with modern housing until we reach Watergate Forest Park.

1947 Map

Watergate Forest Park was previously the site of Watergate Colliery. In the photograph below the path along the railway route passes the site of the pit head and its sidings.

1945 Map

Below - Approaching Street Gate a surviving bridge carries a farm track over the former rail route.

 

Below - As the route crosses Pennyfine Road remnants of coal staiths can be seen

1947 Map

Once we cross the A6076 we reach Sunniside, the southern terminus of the heritage railway. Though the trackbed is now still occupied by track, the footpath runs alongside the railway to Marley Hill. 

Below - Sunniside station, terminus of the preserved section of Tanfield Railway.

Below - The footpath crosses over the heritage line.

In the above map Bowes Bridge junction and an engine bridge can be seen. The footpath along the railway skirts the line to the east of these and the pit of the turntable shown on the map can be seen.

1896 Map

The Tanfield route crossed the Pontop and Jarrow (or Bowes) route almost at 90 degrees on a flat crossing with a signal box on the corner which can still be seen today.

To the left on the above photo is the Tanfield Railway's Marley Hill sheds. The complex incorporates the original two road stone shed that served the local collieries and was built some time before 1854 making it now the oldest engine shed still in use. Although the shed is on the former Bowes route a chord has been built to connect it to the Tanfield route.

The Tanfield Railway's main site is around Andrew's House station. There wasn't originally a station here, the name was derived from the nearby Andrew's House Colliery. The railway's car park occupies the site of the Gibraltar pit village. In the photo below the locomotive stops near the water tower, this has been constructed using two former colliery boilers to hold the water, a practice commonly seen at colliery locomotive servicing facilities. Old boilers were often either reused as water tanks or compressed air receivers.

1861 Map

From here it is possible to continue to East Tanfield by train. More details are at the Tanfield Railway website. At Causey Arch a branch went off to Dawson's Drift, this crossed over the Causey Arch bridge which was built between 1725 and 1726 and is the oldest surviving single arch railway bridge in the world and at the time was the longest single span bridge in the country. More about the bridge can be found on the Wikipedia article. Though a fire at the colliery it served in 1739 has seen this route long abandoned as a rail route there is still a footpath across the bridge.

Having quite an epic railway route walking day I didn't continue to East Tanfield (though have visited the heritage railway on a number of occasions) but instead continued my walk on the Bowes route all the way to Jarrow.