Gateshead

Starting Point - Newcastle Central Station. Finishing Point - Dunston Staiths. Distance 2.7 Miles

In this walk I explored some items of railway history around Gateshead. Once home to the North Eastern Railway's engine works and coal staiths on the River Tyne.

Google Map

1919 Map

An obvious place to start as it was also my way of getting there from Newcastle Central station was the High Level Bridge. Built to a design by Robert Stephenson and opened in 1849, more can be read about the High Level Bridge on the Wikipedia article. Prior to this bridge opening Gateshead was as far north as the trains from London could run, passengers would have to transfer to ferries to cross the River Tyne. As well as the railway tracks on the top deck of the bridge the lower deck had a roadway, the toll charges for which were seen as a nice extra source of revenue. Footpaths were also provided and these can still be used to cross the Tyne on foot today.

A couple of terminus stations were built at Gateshead, first was the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway's Redheugh station in 1837, the riverside site of which can be seen in the above old map beneath the Redheugh Bridge even though it closed to passengers in 1850 shortly after the High Level Bridge opened. The Newcastle and Darlington opened a temporary station at Oakwellgate in 1839, replaced by a station at Greenesfield in 1844 which I'll come to later. 

With the opening of the bridge Gateshead would be served by through trains to Newcastle. There is now a triangular junction on the approach to the bridge from Gateshead but at first the line came in from the east. Originally the main line from the south being the Leamside route through Washington. In 1868 approaches from the west were added and with the opening of the Ferryhill route from Durham in 1872 that became the direction from which main line trains from London would come. Platforms were built on the diagonal sides of the triangle, the other side of the triangle being for the freight trains that didn't need to cross to Newcastle. The stations were referred to as Gateshead West and Gateshead East, though they were connected and shared facilities so were effectively one station. In 1906 a much bigger bridge over the Tyne was built to the west to increase capacity in to Newcastle, the King Edward Bridge. The mainline trains then approached Newcastle from that bridge with just local trains approaching through Gateshead. Gateshead West closed in 1965 while Gateshead East continued to be served by local trains to South Shields and Sunderland until the Tyne and Wear Metro took over most of the local journeys in the 1980s. The Metro had a new underground station in Gateshead connected by its own bridge across the tyne to an underground station at Newcastle Central and on to suburban lines across the north of the tyne. Gateshead East station closed in 1981, though the Network Rail lines are still in place and are used by Northern Rail services to Sunderland, Hartlepool and Middlesborough but these pass through Gateshead without calling. More about the stations, and plenty of photos can be found on  Disused Station's page about Gateshead East and Gateshead West.

Below - The Arch with two doorways (in to what is now a takeaway) is the former street entrance to Gateshead East Station. The metalwork of the bridge entrance can be seen further ahead and the other side of the triangle on which Gateshead West stood.

Below - The East side of the triangle and the freight only south side. Note the wide abutments on the bridge to the left for the platforms that it once carried.

Below - The former access road off Hudson Street to Gateshead West station.

Alongside Gateshead West station to the west was the former locomotive works of the North Eastern Railway. The first building related to the works we see after crossing under the railway bridge are some former office buildings.

These buildings were adapted from buildings associated with the Greenesfield station and it's adjoining hotel that pre-dated the through platforms on the lines on to the High Level Bridge. The tracks in to the station came in from the east behind the buildings.

Below - Blue plaque dedicated to North Eastern CME Vincent Raven on the above building.

Below - Though many of the former works buildings have been demolished some of the buildings survive including this building on High Level Road 

Below - The same building from the higher Fletcher Road (named after another NER engineer).

Below - One of the works buildings on Fletcher Road still in a derelict state but earmarked for development.

Below - Another view of the buildings along High Level Road from further west along the road.

Below - More old works buildings along Rabbit Banks Road

Below - The same buildings seen from the higher level of Worsdell (another NER engineer) Drive. These buildings are also yet to be adapted for new uses.

From Rabbit Banks Road the foot and cycle paths along the Tyne can be reached. After passing under the modern Redheugh Bridge which carries the A189 the abutment of the smaller original bridge can be seen. Around here was the site of the early station for trains to Carlisle and the ferry jetty mentioned earlier. There is nothing to see of these today. 

At the site of Redheugh Junction a path goes off to the left, this follows the course of Tanfield line, I did this route as an earlier walk and details can be found here.

A short way further along the Tyne in the former Dunston Coal Staith. Said to be the largest wooden structure in Europe this was also built by the North Eastern Railway and opened in 1893. The staiths were used to load train loads of coal from collieries across the area straight on to sea going ships. The staiths were closed in 1980. In 1990 they were refurbished to form the backdrop to the Gateshead Garden Festival. In the years since they have been a target for arsonists. There is now a section of the staith missing. Dunston Staiths website explains more about the staiths and their history.

1938 Map  1947 Map

Below - Towards the land end of the staiths where there was a smaller lower level.

Below - Former railway bridge that took the North Eastern's lines along the Tyne across the River Team. 

 

South Yorkshire Railway, Meadowhall to Wombwell

Starting Point - Meadowhall Interchange. Finishing Point - Wombwell station. Distance 15 Miles

Google Map

To those with an interest in diesel shunters the name South Yorkshire Railway may bring back memories of the yard at Meadow Hall that through the 1990s housed a comprehensive collection of shunter types. The group had aspirations of running trains on the disused line towards Chapletown but faced an uphill battle against vandals. In the end they moved in 2001 to a new more secure site at Rowsley on Peak Rail where they operate to this day under the Heritage Shunter Trust name. More about this preservation scheme can be read on the Heritage Shunter Trust history.

That disused freight line to Chapeltown was itself a stub of a through route of the South Yorkshire Railway. The original South Yorkshire Railway was in fact a network of several lines in the area that became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and subsequently the Great Central Railway. This route linked Meadow Hall with Wombwell on its route through Barnsley to Doncaster. The line closed as a through route before the Beeching cuts. With the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 British Railways were operating several duplicating routes in the area and this line lost its passenger service in 1953, it survived for freight in to the early 1960s with stubs at either end lasting in to the 1980s. More about the route can be found on the Wikipedia article.

1937 Map

My walk of the line began at the modern Meadowhall Interchange built to serve the Meadowhell, sorry, Meadowhall shopping centre. From a corner of the station car park the Blackburn Valley Trail begins and crosses over the bridge over Barrow Road. This was once the access to the preservation group site, where the hut was that sold the "day membership" tickets to visit the site is now a Travellodge hotel.

 

Below - The bridge over Barrow Road.

Just after this bridge another line crossed above us on a higher level, the Wincobank North Curve that connected the former Midland line to Barnsley to the line through Rotherham (Masborough). Though the viaduct is gone an abutment survives on the left.

Below - A look along the former Meadow Hall Yard

Below - The site back in 1994, only the wall on the left links the two images.

To the right of the former yard is an industrial building that has another connection with industrial shunting locomotives as it is the former Meadow Hall works of the Yorkshire Engine Co. The company produced steam locomotives and later diesel locomotives at the site between 1865 and 1965. Many of their locomotives were employed by the steel industry and some can still be found in use in steelworks around the country. More about the Yorkshire Engine Co can be read on the Wikipedia article.

Below - The former Yorkshire Engine works. Looking at Google's arial views the rails are still in place through the two middle doors. When the preservation group were based in the sidings here any locomotives arriving or departing by lorry were unloaded or loaded in the former Yorkshire Engine Co yard.

Below - A pair of Yorkshire Engine Co shunters at nearby Aldwark near Rotherham.

On the left hand side of the yard stood a gas works. The gas holders have been removed in recent years but some of the pipes and the filled in footprints of the gas holders can still be seen.

Below - Another 1994 view of the site with the gasworks in the background.

1937 Map

After the former Yorkshire Engine works a line came in on the right, this was the connection to Sheffield Victoria station. This being a former Great Central route the passenger trains would have gone to Victoria station and the short stretch from the modern Meadow Hall station (on the former Midland route) would have just served as a freight connection.

At this point the line to Sheffield Victoria is overgrown but on the other side of the existing line to Rotherham the trackbed at the foot of the motorway viaduct is used by the Supertram. 

After crossing over Fife street the South Yorkshire Railway's Meadow Hall station can be seen. The former station master's house seems to be occupied but the station buildings are boarded up.

On the left there was a connection in to the Trubrite works. The gates at the entrance to the works complex survive.

Though the works has been demolished the footbridge that spans the site still stands, though is fenced off.

1936 Map

The line follows Blackburn Brook, giving it the Blackburn Valley trail name. Where it crosses Grange Lane was the next station. The station master's house survives but the station buildings have been demolished.

Below - Former station master's house of Grange Lane station.

Below - A bit of Grange Lane's Wombwell bound platform edge visible in the vegetation.

1936 Map

Below - Surviving bridge carrying Butterthwaite Lane over the former line.

Approaching Ecclesfield we reach the end of the southern stub of the line that remained in use for freight in to the 1980s it served a works on the right hand side which has now been demolished. I seem to recall it was a concrete works but haven't been able to confirm this.

Below - Piles of sleepers from the former sidings in the works site.

Below - As the line crossed Loicher Lane was once the site of Ecclesfield station. The bridge survives but remnants of the station have gone.

There's a bit of a detour where an industrial estate is being constructed on the site of Smithy Wood Colliery but the Blackburn Valley Trail continues and a connection to the roundabout at Smithy Wood Drive and Cowley Way leads back on to the trackbed.

Below - Bridge carrying Cowley Hill over the trackbed.

1931 Map

The Blackburn Valley Trail ends at Coppice Rise, a street of modern houses built on the former Chapeltown goods yards. From here much of the route is on footpaths rather than paved cycle route. On the other side of Station Road a footpath runs alongside the former site of Chapeltown Central station. The station building has recently been bought and restored as a home.

Below - Section of wall and platform of Chapeltown Central station.

Below - Chapeltown Central station.

The footpath now runs through some quite thick woods for some distance and the trackbed is easily lost. On a few occasions I had to use the Google Maps app on my phone to pinpoint my location and compare old and modern maps. Also useful is Open Street Maps which better shows the paths through Parkin Wood.

Below - View from the south portal of Tankersley Tunnel with the former Midland line below. Over the top of the tunnel sidings fanned out into Thorncliffe Colliery and the Newton Chambers factory which once had it's own extensive railway system. 

Part of the site is now in other industrial uses. There are footpaths in the woods on various levels that would have been railways in to the work. I eventually found a path following the perimeter of the surviving works site that would have been the main railway trackbed, the standard BR concrete fence posts being a clue.

Below - After a bit of hunting around in the woods, the railway trackbed to the left in a slight cutting, marked by the concrete fence posts. The fence in the background is the edge of the industrial site.

1931 Map

On the other side of Thorncliffe Road the trackbed is shown as a cycle track on Google maps, running parallel to Churchill Way. This route continues in to Westwood Country park, again the woods have taken over the trackbed and surrounding industry so it was necessary to check location and compare maps a couple of times. The abutments of the bridge at Bridge Houses on the above map survive where the track following the former railway crosses the unmade road through the woods.

There has been some landscaping around the clearings in Westwood Country Park. The railway ran roughly where the woods end and the clearings begin. Occasionally it is clear that the path is following an old railway but some features have disappeared, most notably the site of Westwood Station which was on an embankment with a bridge next to it. Some of the embankments seem to have been levelled.

Below - Next to the roundabout on Westwood New Road (Westwood Main Road on the old map) a filled in railway bridge can be seen where the path pops out from the country park.

On the other side of the bridge a footpath follows the trackbed for a few yards before veering left and popping out on Maple Road. Following Maple Road as it turns right it passes the former railway route again. South of Maple Road the trackbed hasn't been built on but is private land, north of Maple Road it is lost under Wentworth Industrial Park. I followed a path through Potter Holes Plantation to New Road, where New Road meets Lidget Lane I found the trackbed again.

1931 Map

Below - Looking like it was a bridge carrying the road over the railway, this is in fact the bottom of a former abutment of a bridge that carried the railway over the road. On the opposite (west) side of that bridge was Birdwell & Hoyland Common Station, the site of the station was in the process of having housing built on it to form Rockley Grange. 

 

In the old map a footpath can be seen alongside the railway after New Road. The footpath still follows the former rail route towards the Motorway but unfortunately a bridge wasn't built where the motorway crossed the former railway, instead the old footpath can be followed as it turns left and crosses under the motorway in a subway further up. The overgrown path pops out near the corner of The Walk and Sheffield Road.

Below - Obelisk near the corner of the Walk and Sheffield Road where the footpath leads to on the old map and still does today. This 1775 built Obelisk marks three miles to Wentworth Castle, details are shown on the British Listed Buildings website.

The railway has disappeared in housing development around Birdwell. To pick up the trackbed again I went to Alverley Way, which was actually built on the former Midland Wharncliffe Branch and on to the path to the north of the industrial units off Rockingham Roundabout. A path turns right following the course of a link between the Midland and South Yorkshire Railways up to a subway under Dearne Valley Parkway. From that subway a path shown as a cycle track on Google Maps heads north east following the railway route.

Below - Back on former railway after the redevelopment around Hoyland and Birdwell. The trackbed looking from Shortwood Way.

1931 Map

After all the detours where the railway had been lost to redevelopment it is a relief to know that footpaths now follow it for the remainder of the route, though some of it has been landscaped since the railway closed with some of the embankments and cuttings levelled off. There is a slight dog leg in the path where Warwick Ward Machinery's yard occupies the former trackbed near Blacker Hill.

Below - A former stone window surround of a Methodist Chapel at the side of the former railway trackbed. Looking at the old maps I couldn't see where this had come from.

1932 Map

The path comes out on Station Road where it meets Wentworth Road, on the south side of the road was the site of Dovecliffe station. Today just a bit of platform edge in the vegetation survives.

From the site of Dovecliffe station we are on the northern stub of the line that survived in to more recent times. Just before the station a line went off to Barrow Colliery, though the site of that mine has been landscaped since. The colliery remained open until 1985 and the line between the colliery including the former SYR line remained open until 1986 to take coal to Wath sidings on the Barnsley to Doncaster line. Barnsley to Wath yard closed at the same time with the yard itself closing in 1988.

Below - Former platform of Dovecliffe station.

Below - Looking along the line at the site of Dovecliffe station.

On the north side of Station Road are remnants of a concrete building that stood alongside the railway, this is marked on the old map.

Below - Another small brick building that stood alongside the line survives.

1931 Map

The SYR route crossed over the Midland route near Wharncliffe Branch Junction. The bridge is no longer there and the path ends in the fencing at the abutment where the bridge over the Midland line once stood.

Below - looking towards the missing bridge over the Midland line. 

The path resumes on the other side of the Midland line, to reach it it is necessary to head back to Station Road. Heading North on Station Road, the road crosses the former Great Central route from Silkstone Common which also closed in 1986 and is now a cycle route.

Below - On the way along Station Road passing the abutments of the Midland Railway's Wharncliffe Branch. 

Below - The Great Central trackbed passing under the Midland Railway's viaduct.

At the site of Wombwell Main Junction a path leaves the tarmaced cycle route on the right and this leads to the path along the route we have been following back towards the site of the other side of the missing bridge over the Midland line. An old bridge survives crossing what was Crawshaw Lane on the old maps but is now a diverted Smithley Lane.

Below - Looking towards Wombwell Main Junction from the footpath between there and the site of the bridge over the Midland line.

Doubling back again to Wombwell Main Junction and another path goes to Smithley Lane following the Wombwell Main Railway. South of Smithley Lane the line and the colliery it served are all landscaped over and are now a farmer's field. The footpath shown on the old map leading to Aldham House Lane is still there though and from there the roads can be followed to Wombwell station on the former Midland route for a train home.