Recent content by borderreiver

North East England during the steam era. Post-WWI, diversions are the order of the day on the former Leeds Northern line between West Hartlepool and Sunderland via Seaton Bank Top due to the closure of the Durham Coast Line for repair work. A 3-cylinder Raven S3 4-6-0 has been rostered to take a...

North East England during the steam era. A Worsdell P2 Class 0-6-0 heads a loaded coal train of 11T hopper wagons down the bank from Seaton Bank Top. At this time, approximately 1904, the Rainton and Seaham Railway which crossed the NER line had no regular traffic for its owner, the Londonderry...

A North Eastern Railway Worsdell P2 Class 0-6-0, later LNER Class J26, begins the descent from Seaton Bank Top in County Durham towards Ryhope and on to Sunderland. At this time, around 1904, the Durham Coast line is not yet open, though it was getting close to completion. Lewisner, the only...

The Rainton and Seaham Railway traffic was falling from the mid-1860s and the early to middle 1890s saw a precipitous drop as the collieries around Rainton were closed. Buyers were eventually found for Rainton Meadows and the Adventure drift. The former was gone by 1923 but the latter somehow...

I know the feeling Lewisner. Using TransDEM I have DEMS from York to Berwick based on 2m LIDAR. They are split into "North Yorkshire", "County Durham" and "Northumberland" but are each of a considerable size. Once track is laid I can trim them somewhat, but for me a route is also about the...

As is usual with myself, I have begun to do some reading about the Rainton and Seaham Railway now that it has come on to my radar (thanks Lewisner!), Some sites are available and the first I am reading is at durhamrecordsonline.com. What a start: "In 1813 Sir Henry Vane Tempest of Wynyard, MP...

Seaton Bank Top in the early 1900s as a Worsdell 2-cylinder T Class 0-8-0 brings empty coal hoppers up the bank past the signal box. The Rainton and Seham Railway is still in place at this time but would be gone by 1914. Times were about to also change for the NER line through Seaton Bank Top...

I have gone in to my County Durham TransDEM route and rustled up an interpretation of Seaton Bank Top pre-WWI. A Worsdell T Class 0-8-0 is bringing a trailing load of empty 11, 12 and 17 ton hopper wagons past the signal box. To the left of the screenshot you can see the eastern end of "The Long...

I see from the 1896 25 inch to the mile map in the NLS that "The Long Run" of the Rainton and Seaham Railway was present but that it had gone by the time WWI started, with the 1914 survey being published in 1919. It was not the first, nor by no means the last colliery branch to succumb to...

North East England during the steam era. This route is a work in progress. A North British Railway Drummond D Class 0-6-0 locomotive passes Morpeth South Signal Box on approaching Morpeth off the NBR's Wansbeck Section, which was the branch to Rothbury and the Wansbeck lune between Scots Gap...

North East England during the steam era. This screenshot is almost as far removed in time from the Ivatt screenshot as the current day is from the Ivatt screenshot. An NER Thomas W. Worsdell J Class 4-2-2 with express lights takes a morning NER Passenger train northwards on the down East Coast...

The Queen Alexandra bridge certainly is up there for business decisions which did not pay off, though imagine just how much worse traffic in Sunderland would have been with only one road crossing. However, it escapes me as to how the NER ever expected to make money from it. The Hylton...

North East England during the steam era. This route is a work in progress. During the early 1960s, a BR Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 runs tender first as it brings a short goods off the branch from Rothbury and Scots Gap. Despite the passenger service being withdrawn in September 1952 there was...

Late in the afternoon BR Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 No. 46474 brings a short goods down the 1 in 95 grade at the eastern end of the Rothbury and Wansbeck line at Morpeth some time prior to January 1961. The Middleton press book has a photograph of 46474 at Rothbury station, but unfortunately...

A North British Railway Holmes C Class 0-6-0 gets away from Scots Gap station in rural Northumberland, bound for Rothbury with a branch passenger service from Morpeth.