North East England - Steam Days Screenshots - Large Screenshots Possible

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Croft Spa station.

J22 0-6-0 passes through with race day special.

Built by McDonnell for the N.E.R. in 1883-85.
Despite his short tenure being because his designs did not impress the N.E.R's Directors his Class 59 0-6-0 went on to have a relatively long life, making it past the grouping and even being given a LNER Classification as J22.

 

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North East England During the steam era.
A screenshot modified to represent an early colour photo postcard.

I have started on a series of commissions with Paul Mace of Paulz Trainz to produce six-wheeled carriages with luggage compartments and lavatories.

The first is the Diagram 9 Luggage Composite, with two First and two Third Class compartments with a centrally placed luggage locker.
One hundred and ninety-five were built at York between 1884 and 1893. However, according to the NER Carriage stock book one hundred and six of them had been converted to Diagram t by 1912
The stock book noted that no drawing was made for Diagram t, but this may be because the conversions were merely removing First Class interior fittings and replacing them with Third Class interiors, along with relettering of the doors. Looking at the stock book, typewritten entries indicate that fifty-eight Diagram t conversions were accomplished by December 1906, with handwritten entries showing a further forty-eight were carried out between 1907 and 1912. I believe that conversions started in 1896 as fifty-two foot bogie clerestory Luggage Composite carriages to Diagram 7 began to appear, displacing the Diagram 9 from the N.E.R's three long distance express train sets.

With One hundred and ninety five built there were far too many around to have merely been employed on the Leeds-Glasgow, Newcastle-Liverpool Exchange and Newcastle-Liverpool Lime Street sets.
Just how they were employed is unclear, since the first carriage roster we have for the North East is the 1926 LNER NE Area Carriage Roster, by which time the six-wheel type was gone apart from the luggage vans to Diagrams 21 and 171. With many 19th century long distance passengers, particularly First Class ones, tending to take a substantial amount of baggage with them then space was required to stow it. The early four wheel train carriages carried on the coaching tradition of the 18th century by stowing baggage on the carriage roof, where it was overseen by a guard sitting at the carriage end, but this practise gave way as carriages evolved, with both the guards and the baggage moving inside, out of the weather. There was just not the space to stow baggage trunks and hat boxes inside the compartment, so the guard's van was the natural place to put it.

Crime may have prompted passengers to desire their baggage to be stowed close by, where it was easier to keep their eyes on it. The archives show that stealing baggage from busy stations was done by even outwardly respectable people, such as Doctors and military officers!

It may be that the N.E.R. also deployed the Diagram 9 Luggage Composite on its "main line sets", of which the LNER had twenty in the 1926 Carriage Roster. There were possibly twenty-one of them in N.E.R. days pre-grouping. These were not the express trains to Glasgow and Liverpool but rather the passenger sets which the NER ran along the East Coast Main Line and some the branches connected to it. York was the operational limit to their range in the south, with Tweedmouth/Berwick at the north, though one set, number seven reached Edinburgh on its daily travels. All twenty sets rotated through different daily set diagrams (set 7 did not correspond to a single physical "main line" set of carriages, it was a different one each day).

During the 1880s and 1890s of their operating heyday the Diagram 9s likely also appeared in timetabled passenger trains between Leeds and Hull, York and Scarborough, Hull and Scarborough, Newcastle and Middlesbrough as well as Newcastle and Carlisle. In other words serving the busiest stations on the N.E.R. where long distance travellers changed in and out of long distance express trains.

After 1896, they followed the established pattern of railway use of its carriages. In the beginning they would have been kept in good condition to act as substitutes and strengtheners, covering for failures and extra demand respectively. Evidently, as time progressed the company felt that they had too many of the composite type on its hands and began to convert them to all Third Class. At that time it was not the later BR practise of just declassifying a carriage but rather the replacement of First Class seating with Third Class benches, along with the removal of such things as curtains and the plush carpets. Still, the extra legroom remained, which the regular Third Class passenger will have not failed to notice, which likely made them attractive for a more spacious journey.

As enough of the new bogie carriage types were deployed a further decline down the pecking order was inevitable. The N.E.R. had a substantial excursion, special train and charter business to cater for and some of that business required First Class seating. Race Day specials were one kind of demand and Premium Excursions/Charters were others. A works, church or association/club trip might require several First Class seats for senior managers/church officials/association leaders and the like. One business, that of Party Trains ( Charters moving Theatre Groups and Music Hall companies around) might also want some First Class seating for the Group owner and leading artists.

In the end though, the six-wheeler became an anachronism and would not satisfy any passenger. Just when that came about is unclear. By the grouping, or at least 1926 they had disappeared from timetabled passenger trains, which put the N.E.R. ahead of many of its competitors. I have said before that the former G.N.R. passengers in rural Lincolnshire could still find themselves boarding an old Holden six-wheel banger as late as the end of WWII.

 

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North East England During the steam era.
A screenshot modified to represent an early colour photo postcard.

I have started on a series of commissions with Paul Mace of Paulz Trainz to produce six-wheeled carriages with luggage compartments and lavatories.

The second is the Diagram 8 Luggage Composite, with three First and one Third Class compartments with a centrally placed luggage locker.

Only three were built at York, in 1893.
With a thirty-four foot length all four compartments were of First Class size, of seven feet two inches in size. However, with one of them being classified as Third Class it is unclear when they became a Composite.
Their entry in the 1906 Stock Book, which was issued in December 1906, has all three as typewritten entries showing as 1893 build and classified as Luggage Composite. The procedures at the time were that they entered their classification at the time of the stock book issue and retained their original build dates, whatever they later became. Handwrittem amendements, which in the case of the 1906 book carried on until 1912 recorded alterations for 1907 through 1912, but again, kept the original build dates.

Therefore, it is unknown if the Diagram 8 ever ran as Luggage Firsts or not. If they did, then all were converted to Luggage Composite by 1906. Given that the first N.E.R. carriage book with the Diagram 8 in it as a Luggage Composite is dated 1897 then the conversions, if any, were done by then. There is no note on the drawing of any conversion, so the carriages may have left the works brand new in the configuration, with the decision to turn them out with one large Third Class compartment taken after building had begun but before leaving works.

With only three being built they hardly represented a large increase in the type built by the N.E.R. though the Three First Class compartments might have placed one in each of the three of the N.E.R. express train sets. If they required removal for repair or mainenance, so long as the train met the required total of First Class seats noted in the carriage roster then another Luggage Composite, such as the Diagram 9 could be used instead. The carriage rosters were never "set in stone" but were merely the minimum advised by the passenger managers. There were never enough Diagram 8s to assign to the "main line" sets, so it is unlikely they were deployed there. These carriages would have been built for a particular identified traffic reason and the decision would have been in 1892. Unless one trawls through any surviving passenger committe minutes or director's meeting minutes I do not know what may have occurred to change their minds in 1893 when the carriages were being built. Perhaps they were meant for a premium traffic flow, such as found between Harrogate and Bradford or that between Beverley and Hull. perhaps Scarborough-York or Harrogate-Leeds.

In any event, by 1897 the Diagram 7 52ft Bogie Luggage Composite in company stock had reached twenty three of its eventual one hundred and thirty-four examples built, so cascading had either already happened or imminently beckoned. The Diagram books have no conversion to Luggage Third recorded and nor is one recorded in the 1906 Stock book for the period up to 1912. therefore I think it reasonable to believe the Diagram 8s soldiered on as Luggage Composites until their final disposal, probably in the pool of carriages catering to excursion, special and charter trains. If there was a military charter train, taking troops from Newcastle, Leeds, York or Hull to a training camp in the 1890s, 1900s or 1910s then if the trips were relatively short distance then perhaps they were used.

 

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Looking through the NERA archives I have stumbled across a NER booklet concerning special trains over the weekend of Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th of February 1910.
It runs to fourteen pages.

Multiple Theatrical Companies are on the move. Some are moved by ordinary passenger train, with reservations being made on their behalf. An example for Saturday being "The Slater Family", where a compartment is to be reserved for them between Newcastle and Carlisle on the 1.18 pm, though their journey is noted to begin at Middlesbrough at 11.00 am. Their destination is Dumfries. Presumably there are not more than ten of them if they are to be accommodated in a single compartment, unless some are children. Further down they return from Dumfries the following day, sunday February 20th, leaving Carlisle at 12.20pm and travelling on ordinary passenger trains via Newcastle and Darlington. Some theatrical groups and artistes travelling by ordinary passenger train have a van or carriage truck, sometimes sent by a different train to the destination.

For Theatrical groups moving by special train numbers, where listed vary between 11 and 90, with quite a few of them between 30 and 40.

One of them, The Royal Italian Circus moved on the Sunday from South Shields to Ednburgh, with empty stock running from Newcastle to South Shields at 7.30 am. the train is made up of an engine fitted with water scoop, a Brake Third Lavatory with dual brake, Third Lavatory with dual brake, 8 Horseboxes and four vans. This carried 37 passengers, an elephant, a zebra, 13 ponies (as 6 1/2 horses), 19 ponies (as 38 dogs) 4 goats and 31 dogs. The N.E.R. had six 52ft bogie Van Lav Thirds in stock in 1910, all 1906 slab sided matchboard type from 1906. They had a small Guard's van at one end, a Lavatory at the other and a compartment running from the Lavatory past five compartments to compartment six. Diagram 113 and built specifically for excursion traffic. This was certainly a better carriage than many Third Class passengers had to travel in even if it lacked end gangway connections.

Also travelling from South Shields to Edinburgh on the same train were "The Davis Trio". There were 10 passengers and they occupied the TLV, which was a six-wheeler.

The four vans may well have been hound vans given the numbers in the Circus, unless the circus wanted them to be able to travel with their handlers in the passenger carriages. In that case the vans could have carried baggage, set items etc.

There was probably not a "big top" ten to accommodate as, in 1905 "The Royal Italian Circus" was the name for the site we know as the London Palladium. At some point after that, but before 1910 it had closed, since the London Hippodrome circus was more successful and the London Palladium opened as a new building in December 1910. The group at South Shields may have used either a theatre or a music hall to perform in.

 

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Some more information about the set provided for the move of the Royal Italian Circus and The Davis Trio on Sunday February 20th 1910.
The special train notice lists: BTLV, TLV, 8H, 4 Vans, but the breakdown for the two groups are as follows;

The Royal Italian: BTLV, 8H, LCK, 3 LK and 2V.
The Davis Trio: TLV and LCK

I have unearthed a document in the NERA archives, the Coaching Stock research newsletters 1, 2 and 3 by J.B. Dawson no less and dating back to 1963.
His research also included N.E.R. telegraphic codes.

BTLV: The code listing table has no BTLV! A 6-wheeler Lavatory Third TL/TLV (the V indicating dual braked Vacuum/Westinghouse) and if it had a corridor was TC/TCV . A 6-wheel Brake Third (non-lavatory) was B/BV.
A 52ft Van Lavatory Third was XBL/XBLV. A 52ft Corridor Third Lavatory was XTC/XTCV. Whatever the BTLV was, it had vacuum brake. I am presuming that BTLV is either a typo or known company "shorthand" for an unusual carriage, the 52ft Van Lavatory Third with Corridor, the Diagram 113.

FYI - The N.E.R. did not evolve a category or prefix letter for its vestibule/gangway end connector carriages which were longer than 52ft. The standard NER length for these was 53ft6in. Catering stock could be even longer.

TLV: 4 or 6 wheel Lavatory Third with dual vacuum/Westinghouse brake. ( A Third Class Corridor Lav 4-wheeler was TC or TCV). The N.E.R. never built a six-wheel Van Lavatory Third "BTLV" or six wheel Van Lavatory Third with Corridor "BTCV". There were no such codes in the newsletter table. Was that an oversight by JB Dawson writing in 1963? He was writing 40 years after the grouping, though he was the son of Eastgate's Stationmaster and wrote about personal recollections as far back as 1917.

H: Horsebox
LCK: Covered carriage Truck 21ft.
LK: Open carriage truck 21ft.
V: Van, Westinghouse brake

Hounds vans had the NER codes HN and HNV, so no hounds vans were provided. The dogs therefore travelled either in the horse boxes or in the BTLV.

In any event, there are two carriages and twelve trucks/vans listed in the stock for the 7.30 empty stock working out of Newcastle but there are two carriages and fifteen trucks/vans departing South Shields, with only two vans for the Royal Italian. I might be correct in assuming that the Three LK and single LCK were already at South Shields, with two empty vans being left behind as not required.

 

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The NERA archive has multiple examples of "Programme of Special Trains". During 1910, Easter fell on Sunday March 27th and the booklet for the week to Friday March 25th runs to 88 pages. Many sets, including the Main Line sets, Newcastle and Carlisle, Newcastle and South Shields, Sunderland sets, Darlington Link A, Link B and Leeds Link A sets were all strengthened to some degree for the period March 24th through March 29th.
In the case of the Main Line sets the wording is "to be made up to summer strength", while for Newcastle and Carlise sets the wording is "to be made up to 6 bogie vehicles". The Darlington Link A and Link B sets are explicitly strengthened by a six-wheel Third carriage (a Diagram 15) , with the Link A sets gaining a bogie Luggage Composite too (a Diagram 7). Sunderland sets were "to be made up to 4 bogies and 3 six-wheel Thirds". Leeds Link A sets were to gain a bogie Luggage Composite and to be located within the brake in the set. The programme also instructed all passenger guards for the period March 24th to 29th to record in their journals whether their trains were underserved or overserved for the traffic, and to what degree.

On Saturday March 19th England were playing Scotland at Rugby Football in Edinburgh as part of the Five Nations Tournament. A special train was laid on from Newcastle to Edinburgh with five saloons, five Thirds and two Brakes (bogie corridor lavatory, steam heated in the notes, so some carriages were evidently NOT steam heated in 1910, the six-wheelers?). The saloons were for North Durham FC, Mr Sinclair's party (2 saloons), Mr Wallace's party from North Shields and the Rev. Wardropper's party. Passengers for this train from stations other than Newcastle had to get to Newcastle Central by ordinary train. It left Newcastle at 9.48 am with only two stops in Northumberland, at Morpeth and Alnmouth. While there was no stop at either Tweedmouth or Berwick there was a seven minute stop at Dunbar. If you were travelling in an odinary carriage without lavatory then that was where you had to make the most of that stop for a bathroom break. Southbound, the train left Edinburgh at 7.35 pm and did not stop at Dunbar in the up direction. The train stopped at Alnmouth and then stopped for seven minutes at Morpeth (10.08-10.15 pm). Newcastle arrival was 10.42 pm. England won the match 14-5.

On the same day, a half-day excursion was run from Amble to Newcastle and Sunderland. The engine was from Alnmouth and the passenger carriages were from Alnwick. The train set was eleven Thirds and two Brakes and must have been six-wheel stock as the Amble platform was not long enough to take thirteen bogie carriages. The working timetable allowed ten minutes for the empty stock from Alnwick to move on to the branch at Amble Junction and for the locomotive to run around the train before proceeding onwards to Amble. The train departed Amble at 12.45 pm, stopping at Broomhill, Chevington, Widdrington, Longhirst, Pegswood, Morpeth, Heaton and Manors East with arrival at Newcastle at 2.07 pm. After a five minute stop it departed for Sunderland, stopping at "Football Platform" (probably for Roker Park) and Monkwearmouth, arriving Sunderland at 2.51 pm. Sunderland were at home to Blackburn that Saturday, drawing 0-0, but Newcastle were away at Tottenham Hotspur, winning 4-0. The train laid over at Ryhope Grange Junction. The return journey from Sunderland began at 8.31 pm, stopping at only Monkwearmouth before departing Newcastle at 9.07 pm after a ten minute stop. Stops were at Heaton, Morpeth, Pegswood, Longhirst, Widdrington, Chevington and Broomhill. Amble was reached at 10.27 pm. The empty stock left Amble at 10.40 pm, reaching Alnwick at 11.25 to drop off the carriages. The Locomotive reached Alnmouth at 11.42 pm, which was a long day for the footplate men.

I have put the Amble excursion in the hands of an R Class 4-4-0, several of the class being on shed at Alnmouth.
The screenshot is modified to reflect the platinum developing process in use between the early 1900s and 1920.

The R Class takes its train through Township Crossing between Broomhill and Amble Junction. The train would have offered around 600 Third Class seats and I wonder how many people from Amble and the five stops before Morpeth took the chance for a cheap ticket in order to go to Newcastle or Sunderland for the afternoon and evening? The match at Sunderland, the shops in Newcastle and Sunderland, the pubs, bars, theatres, music halls, cinemas and dance halls in both places too.

 

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A screenshot reproduced from my thread on the N.E.R. BTP Steam Autocars in the Prototype Talk Thread.

Northeast England during the steam era.
Maunday Thursday, March 24th 1910.
Durham Horse Fair is on.
The Programme of Special Trains booklet issued for Saturday March 19th through Friday March 25th had instructions for both the Horse Fair, working of horse boxes and strengthening of services, including the strengthening of steam autocar services.
The 4.25 pm from Sunderland for Durham was explicit, strengthen the steam autocar with a composite, two thirds and a brake third.
Given that the Programme also limited the addition of horse boxes to four per passenger train I have had Sunderland add four spare horse boxes to the train, rather than send them via Newcastle.
The horse boxes will be empty, with the fair drawing to a close with the afternoon and they must be dropped off, possibly by the station pilot and placed in one of the southern UP bays or docks.
They won't be going forwards with the steam autocar since the train departs Durham at 4.58 pm for Barnard Castle via Bishop Auckland. It will end its day at 6.55 pm at Darlington, moving as empty stock today, departing Barnard Castle at 6.20 pm.
Normally, the 5.20 pm steam autocar from Bishop Auckland to Barnard Castle departed for Darlington as a passenger train at 5.57 pm. but changes are effective in the week prior to and following Easter.

Passing Frankland Junction and brickworks.

 

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I have returned to the Programme for Special Trains booklet for Sunday February 20th 1910.

The special trains have a requirement for thirteen "BTLV" type carriages (van lavatory with corridor) across ten different theatre/circus/music companies and using seven different special express trains from Newcastle to York, York to South Shields, Newcastle to Edinburgh and Newcastle to Carlisle.
I must look in to the 1906 stock book to try and work out which carriages they actually were, since the Diagram 113 52ft bogie van lavatory with corridor ran to just six examples.
The NER stock book lists the following as being 52ft Van and Lavatory (corridor).

Diagram 113 - six built in September 1905 for excursion traffic with matchboard sides and round roof.
Diagram 165 - thirteen built between November 1907 and 1909 (six in 1907, seven in 1909). The stock book lists them as for Immigrant Traffic, not excursion work, which would have placed them at Hull for workings to Liverpool, not in the newcastle District.

That gave them nineteen of the non-end gangway type to utilise on moving charter parties in special trains.
Perhaps immigrant traffic was not year-round, or was significantly lower during the winter months, which could explain the availability of the Diagram 165s during February 1910.

There were also the 53ft6in Van Thirds with corridor and end gangway connectors to Diagram 157 of 1908 (three built) but the Diagram 194, (single example built) did not appear until 1912.
However, they were meant for the premier traffic on long distance N.E.R. expresses and so very unlikely to be pressed in to excursion or charter services during 1910..

Just why the Programme for Special trains uses BTLV rather than XBTLCV I do not know, unless having that C in there could be misread as a Composite rather than as a corridor.
perhaps the NER codes JB Dawson looked at had evolved between 1910 and whichever list of codes he worked from.

There also existed Lavatory carriages with locker and corridor.
These were the 52ft Diagram 114 (5 built in 1906) and Diagram 164 (5 built in 1907). The stock book explicitly states the latter was for Theatrical Traffic. In the stock book the Diagram 114 has lavatory struck through, replaced with corridor, though the diagram shows the locker, the corridor and the lavatory.
I am beginning to think that the code system was straining to reflect the six aspects to a Diagram 114 (52ft length, Third Class, presence of a luggage locker, presence of a lavatory, presence of a corridor and possibly vacuum brake added to make it dual brake).

Why some of the theatrical groups have three BTLV allocated when a BTLV and two Diagram 114s would have made for an adequate through portion for working on foreign metals I do not know. There is something I am still missing about the enigmatic BTLV. I have looked at former ECJS carriages cascaded to the N.E.R. but none fit either the type or date of cascading for the Programme in 1910. Conversions of ECJS stock to saloons appears to have been happening, but not to a van with third class compartments, a lavatory and corridor.

 

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The BTLV type has just become even more enigmatic for me.

One of the train sets for an excursion on Saturday August 21st included a TLV (3575 type) and BTLV (832 type). This was in the Programme of Special Trains booklet for the Northern Division applying from Friday August 19th through Saturday August 27th 1910. The excursion was to Scarborough from Shotley Bridge on the Newcastle - Blackhill Derwent valley branch. It was a 4.15 am departure so the passengers had to be "up with the larks". The route taken was Shotley Bridge, Scotswood, Newcastle, Gateshead West, Durham, Darlington, York, with stops at all stations between Shotley Bridge and Chester-le-Street, then stops at Durham, Ferryhill and Darlington. Arriving Scarborough Washbeck Excursion Station at 8.46 am the passengers got twelve hours in the resort. Departing at 8.50 pm and reaching Shotley Bridge at 1.35 am. Up to twenty-two hours out of the house!

I assume that 3575 and 832 are carriage numbers, since they do not match either a diagram number nor a drawing number in the Diagram books. The 1906 Stock Book listings identify the TLV (3575 type) as a Diagram 117 six-wheel Lavatory Third with short corridor and was an ex-ECJS carriage. However, the same stock book listings identify BTLV (832 type) as a Diagram 163 Lavatory Third with corridor! No Guard's van. Therefore, what qualified to be a BTLV? The Diagram 163 52ft bogie Lavatory Third with corridor, like the Diagram 165 52ft bogie Brake Lavatory Third with corridor is noted as being for immigrant traffic. There were 53 diagram 163s on the company's books in 1910.

This train ran in August, at the height of summer, so presumably immigrant traffic was at high levels. Now I am wondering to what degree the carriages officially designated for immigrant traffic were actually used in that role?

The excursion train had five saloons allocated, along with five Thirds, two Brake Thirds, the TLV (3575 type) and the BTLV (832 type). With the two Brake Thirds having Guard's Vans the "BTLV" did not operationally need a Guard's Van, so did that unofficially bestow some latitude on what was provided? Like the Saloons, the TLV and BTLV were reserved for named parties and not for general use. Birtley Iron Works party (Birtley - Scarborough) for the TLV, Mr Speed's party for the BTLV (Lamesley - Scarborough).

 

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The Northeast during the pre-grouping steam era. I was spending some time today looking at the N.E.R.'s coke wagons following a query by someone.

Here, at Shildon Yard, the largest coal yard in England at the time, a Worsdell C Class 0-6-0 is preparing a train of "Cumberlands" for a journey to Workington, in Cumberland to feed Coke from Durham;s Coke Ovens in to the maw of Cumberland 's Blast Furnaces. This traffic had been running since the mid-19th century and was a major factor in making the bleak route across the Pennines via Stainmore a viable proposition. A "Cumberland" was the nickname for the Diagram R5 Coke wagon, which was essentially a company P4 Coal Hopper with extra rails to accomodate the volume that 10 1/2 Tons of coke took up compared to the same weight of coal.

I am adding this on May 21st - NERA Express Magazine Supplement XXXX No.4 has a letter dated July 1962 from J.F. Mallon with a table of NER wagons running on January 1st 1911. The number of "Cumberland" 10 1/2 Ton hoppers is listed as 700, which is higher than Tatlow's figure of 533 at the census of December 31st 1922. I think that an attrition of 167 hoppers over eleven years is not inexplicable, especially with the hard use war years of 1914-18 to consider.

The route from Shildon Yard will be via West Auckland, Barnard Castle, Bowes, Kirkby Stephen, Appleby East, the chord avoiding Penrith and Keswick. This will keep the footplate crew busy for their whole twelve hour shift, out and back.

There is a loco coal wagon at the head of the train, possibly for the shed at Kirkby Stephen. The coke wagons have been marshalled from various coke ovens at Collieries in the Southwest Durham coalfield on the Central Division, as far away as Crook and Tow Law.

Nearby, in other roads in the yard stand various empty wagons, while in the background are some loaded hoppers waiting for the journey east towards Newport Yard on the Tees.

 

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Shildon, in Northeast England during the pre-grouping steam era.
A veteran N.E.R. Fletcher 0-6-0T brings a rake of wagons down the bank from Mason Arms crossing towards Shildon yard, from where they will go out to their allocated destinations.
By the time of this screenshot, Shildon Works had been active for around eighty years, though it would be the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the generation working there who would live to see its closure in 1984.

I have had to use the Trainz Odeon building from the DLS to stand in for the old ESSOLDO cinema, which was an example of an early-20th century small town "picture house". The ESSOLDO would close in 1969 but was still around at the time of the 1975 Stockton & Darlington 150 celebrations. The footbridge over the line is visible in the background.

The stone terrace housing is by Masontaylor, though in this case I reskinned his medium brick terrace house in stone for Shildon. Fletcher's 124 Class 0-6-0T is a near-contemporary of his Bogie passenger Tank (BTP) 0-4-4T. As one can expect with Fletcher's work there were two different size of wheels across the class and the last was even built as a saddle tank, which it did not lose until 1919. The class lived long enough to gain a LNER Class number (J76) post-grouping, but they were all gone before 1930.

Shildon's goods depot is on the loco's left side, to the right in the shot. Timothy Hackworth's Soho cottage was sited beyond the tracks of the Surtees Railway, with his Soho Works behind, though by the time of this screenshot it had been vacant for close on thirty years, when the workforce had been moved by the N.E.R. up the bank to the Wagon Works.

 

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Northeast England during the N.E.R. Raven Electric era. In the immediate years prior to WWI Sir Vincent Raven, who had succeeded Wilson Worsdell had persuaded the board to electrify the Stillington branch running from a junction to the east of Shildon to the yard at Newport on the south bank of the River Tees. The electrification included Shildon Yard and track up to Shildon Shed, which was immediately to the north of Shildon Wagon Works. The efficiency of the electric locomotives would permit trailing loads to be increased as well as the locomotives being available for longer each day, therefore reducing the overall number of locomotives required to meet the traffic demands, which were large. electric operations began in 1914.

An EF1 Class electric loco brings a rake of new and recently overhauled wagons past Shildon goods depot, destined for Shildon Yard. Once deposited, the loco will couple up to a heavy rake of coal hoppers and haul the train to Newport Yard. Timothy Hackworth's Soho Cottages are in the bckground, as well as the vacant Soho works.

Unfortunately, while the electric locomotives undoubtedly reduced the need for steam locomotive haulage moving coal out of Shildon and SW Durham there was no money available to renew the electric infrastructure when it became life-expired in the mid-1930s. The LNER dismantled the overhead wires, scrapped the electric locomotives and reverted to steam haulage. A similar fate would befall the other electrified lines in the North East , on Tyneside a generation later. In the mid-1960s British railways did not have the money to renew the life-expired third-rail system in the 1960s and reverted to DMU haulage, causing the timetable to be changed since the DMUs could not match the performance of the old 3rd-rail electrics. It would be over a decade later, in 1980, before electric trains returned to Tyneside in the form of the Metro.

 

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Northeast England during the pre-grouping steam era.

Out of ninety-three Diagram 10 Ordinary Composites, twenty-two were converted to Diagram v Ordinary Thirds prior to the end of 1906, with a further eleven converted between 1907 and 1912.
Diagram v had no drawing in the drawing book, probably because the conversion consisted merely of taking out the First Class fittings, inserting Third Class benches and relettering the compartment doors.
The six-wheelers had been cascaded down the pecking order since the 52ft bogie clerestory carriages began arriving in 1895, around the same time as the final Diagram 10s left the shops.
The cascading process accelerated when the 49ft bogie carriages arrived in 1899.
As the Diagram 10s descended through the pecking order the demand for First Class seating diminished and conversion to Third Class was a cost-effective way of meeting Third Class demand for strengtheners, on excursions, specials and party trains.

The length of 34ft6in would have been obvious when marshalled alongside the usual 32ft Thirds and whilst the First Class interiors had been removed, the leg room remained that of First Class.
That would make for a better journey experience for the passengers who embarked and no doubt regular Third Class travellers would head for them as soon as they noticed one or more was assigned to their train.
With three compartments of the larger size in a Diagram v this was quite a bonus for a day out.

Issue two of the North Eastern Railway Association Express magazine had some information on the numbers of 6-W carriages on the North Eastern.

In the census of December 1922 the NER was turning over 465 6-W Thirds of all types to the NE Area of the LNER. Some 257 of them were the Diagram 15 Third, which was the most common design.
There had been 939 Diagram 15s running in 1910, falling by almost half to 505 in 1919 and almost half again by the start of 1923. During 1926, between January and December, the numbers fell from 105 to 77,
At December 1929 the Diagram 15 had just 31 examples running, while a year later, at December 1930, none remained at all.

The remaining 108 6-W Thirds were all other types of Third Class 6-W carriage, that is Brake Third, Lavatory Third and Luggage Third. I presume that the Brake Third type would have made up the majority, due to the prevailing practise of book-ending trains with Brake Thirds. How many of the total were Diagram v is unknown to me, but as they were early/mid-1890s veterans, and as such among the last 6-W carriages turned out of works, one or two of them may have lingered until the end.

Further reading in to the Diagram V reveals a more complicated picture than I initially thought.
In 1891, the company built eight 34ft Ordinary Composites to Diagram f, which the 1906 Carriage Book lists as lacking a drawing but states "Similar to Diagram 10" That is, 3 First Class and 2 Third Class compartments.
With the Diagram f being 34ft and the Diagram 10 being 34ft 6inches, I assume that each First Class compartment was 2 inches less than those in the Diagram 10.
A further sixteen Diagram f emerged from works in 1892 along with the first twelve Diagram 10s.
A final diagram f left works in 1893, meaning that the Company had two different carriage lengths in the 6-w Ordinary Composite class of the same (3-2) configuration.

Some Diagram f carriages were destined to also become Diagram v Ordinary Thirds, with three of the 1891 build being converted before the end of 1906, one of the 1891 build being converted between 1907 and 1912, while five of the 1892 build were converted between 1907 and 1912. How many were converted after 1912 I do not know.

Just what happened in 1891/2 regarding the Diagram 10 and f interests me. The normal process was that the Passenger Committee would decide what carriages to recommend building and the Board would sign off on what it considered appropriate, telling the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the time, Wilson Worsdell what new builds he was required to provide in the following year. The Passenger Committee, made up of the District Passenger Managers was a decidedly conservative group and at the start of the 1890s the age of unbraked four-wheelers was less than twenty years in the past. It could be that, while the Composite design was being worked on for 1891 and 34ft was deemed adequate for the provision of three First and two Third Class compartments something went wrong when the carriages emerged. That could possibly have been when a director took a seat in one of them, perhaps the first to leave works and if dissatisfied with the legroom he would not have kept that opinion to himself. The Diagram 10's First Class compartments were 7ft1in, compared to a 30ft Diagram 2 First's 7ft3 3/8in and 34ft Diagram 68 First's 7ft8 1/2in, so I believe that a Diagram f's likely 6ft 11in just did not meet with contemporary First Class expectations. In comparison a First Class passenger on the ECJS could expect 7ft2in, so changing to a Diagram f's 6ft11in would be a noticeable reduction for a group who fiercely defended their entitlements.

Why there was an overlap of seventeen Diagram f in 1892 and 93 with the Diagram 10 is, for now, impenetrable to me. The 34ft legth would suffice for the Lavatory first, the Luggage Composite and a Saloon, so it cannot simply be just because 34 ft solebars for bodies had already been commissioned. If it was an altogether inadequate carriage then surely all of them would have been converted to Diagram v, but they were not. My speculation in this case, and it is speculation, is that the Diagram f's possibly went straight to the pool of carriages available for special, excursion and charter/party trains and lived a relatively long life in that role. As time went on, they would have become less acceptable to First Class passengers and so some were converted to ordinary Third Class carriages to Diagram v. So, some Diagram v were 34ft6in long and some were 34ft long and no differentiation between them when it comes to the Carriage Book.

 

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Northeast England during the pre-grouping steam era.
A TW Worsdell C Class 0-6-0 on the Down East Coast Main Line immediately south of Croft Spa station with a race special from the Richmond branch to Killingworth, north of Newcastle.

Killingworth was the nearest station to Gosforth Racecourse, which we now know as Newcastle Racecourse. The station had three terminal platforms for race traffic to the west of the main line station, each with its own run around loop, plus a long siding. This facility remained in use for race traffic for several years after the main line station closed. There was a mile and a half long walk between the station and the race course.

First Class tickets were available for race specials. In this train the First Class provision is a 32ft Diagram 68, with four compartments and a 34ft6in Diagram 10 Composite with three. The diagram 68 offered a spacious 7ft8 1/2in, while the diagram 10 offered 7ft 1in. While these six-wheelers had started cascading out of express and main line sets from 1895 as bogie carriages were introduced, they remained acceptable for replacements and substitutes on those trains for several years, with an even longer period when they were suitable for strengtheners if kept in clean condition. However, this screenshot is set around fifteen years after cascading began, when there were sufficient bogie carriages to 49ft and 52ft lengths in regular timetabled service to make the appearance of a six-wheeler rather old-fashioned, particularly so on a winter's day since these carriages tended to lack heating and remained largely lit by oil lamp. However, on an excursion or special train there was rather more flexibility from passengers due to the cheap fares.

The NER knew that when carriages were cascaded to lesser services that the demand for First Class seating diminished, especially so on more rural lines and on excursions, though demand did hold up quite well on race specials due to the nature of the clientele prepared to travel to follow horse racing. In consequence here we have a view of two carriages converted to all Third Class. This was not the declassification seen during the nationalisation era under British Railways but a removal of First Class interior and replacement with Third Class bench seating, which retained the First Class size of compartment. Leading is a former Diagram 10 Composite converted to Diagram v Ordinary Third offering five compartments, three of which were formerly First Class. The adjacent carriage is the single example of a Diagram p Ordinary Third converted from Diagram 68 Ordinary First offering four compartments, which were all very spacious at 7ft 81/2in. Anyone in the know with a Third Class ticket would have been sure to look out for its presence in a train.

This shot shows the Diagram p Ordinary Third, in which the Third Class traveller had seven and a half more inches of legroom than a First Class traveller seated in the Diagram 10 Composite. Behind the Diagram p is a diagram t Luggage Third, which was converted from a 32ft Diagram 9 Locker Composite, which had two First Class and two Third Class compartments. Some 106 of the 195 Diagram 9 had become Diagram t by 1912.

 

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Northeast England during the pre-grouping steam era.
A T.W. Worsdell C Class 0-6-0 gets away from the eastern end of the Shildon Yard complex on the Up Stillington Branch with a rake of twenty new Diagram S4 20 Ton Iron ore Hoppers.




While this is the same class of locomotive as the one hauling the Race day Special in the preceding post No.31 is a rather humbler member of this extensive NER class, which became LNER Class J21 at the grouping.
She is saturated rather than superheated, so has a shorter smokebox, with a "piano" style cover above forward end of the inside cylinder ends.
No. 31 also has three-link loose couplings, no automatic train braking equipment and earns her living moving unfitted goods trains around the network.
There once was a time when she and her sisters moved goods trains up and down the East Coast Main Line to York but that was around 25 years before the setting of this screenshot, being displaced by larger evolutions of the 0-6-0 such as the P Class and P1 Class, which were, in their turn displaced by the 0-8-0s, starting with Wilson Worsdell's T Class.
The class was often plying its trade along the Stainmore line to Kirkby Stephen and then onwards to Penrith, Workington or Tebay.
it is apt that the sole survivor of the Class is at Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria and is being restored to her compound conditon, representing a late Victorian locomotive.

A three-quarters shot showing the head of the train with its sequentially numbered wagons newly turned out of the shops.
The train's destination is Newport yard on the south bank of the River Tees but the wagons will be taken forwards by a locomotive from a local shed to Battersby, where they will eventually be worked up the incline to the Rosedale Branch, whose existence is centred on mining Cleveland Iron Ore.

The NER built 500 S4 wagons up to WWI, so around 100 a year in each of the 5 years 1909-1914.
When I had Paul mace originally build the S4 I never had him built the pre-grouping wagons, so I am rectifying that oversight, with a significantly upgraded wagon letterd for the pre-1911 and post-1911 periods.
Number 48426 was built in 1910, so, since Paul Mace has provided automatic numbering I have had him set the numbering range as 48000-48100.

The S4 is a complicated wagon, with narrow steel solebars necessitating the axle irons having to curve inwards to be affixed. The density of iron ore also required substantial lower side stanchions to translate the load on the lower hopper to the solebars.

No. 31 and its train "in the landscape" heading east from Shildon on the Stillington Branch.
The North Eastern Railway Association Digital Archive has several shots of a train of 20 ex-works Coke Hoppers in the hands of an 0-6-0.
Unfortunately, the resolution is not good enough to determine what the numbers were, but I expect the N.E.R. also moved the S4 steel hoppers out of the works in similar batches.
This would have meant five trains like this departing in 1910.
The S4 was built to replace the older, smaller wagons of diagrams S1 and S2, so, given that the earlier wagons had to negotiate tight radus curves at mines and ironworks the S4 had to be able to accomplish the same work.

I imagine there was a sustained traffic between Rosedale and "Ironopolis", the common nickname for Middlesbrough in the mid-19th Century, but there were other destinations in the North East, such as Hartlepool and Consett. By 1909 the Consett Iron Company had already begun sourcing iron ore from abroad, including a joint venture with Krupp at Bilbao in North West Spain. That joint operation is four years away from difficult times at the time of this screenshot. Consett was being supplied from the port of Sunderland, though the traffic would move to Tyne Dock. What I have no evidence of is whether that traffic was in the hands of the 30 Ton S3s, the 20 Ton S4s or both. I have a shot of the ore gantry at Consett, which was built during the grouping era but the wagons in that shot are the LNER steel type dating to the 1940s. This screenshot is set thirty-five years or more before that photograph.

Open countryside is still all around as Number 31 continues east and reaches the location where the NER Stillington and Bishop Auckland branches diverge. The Stillington branch, built by The Clarence Railway will cross the East Coast Main Line to the north of Aycliffe station, though at a significantly higher level and reach the Stockton area. The Bishop Auckland branch will follow the original Stockton & Darlington route, passing North Road station before either crossing the ECML on the level or turning south to reach Darlington Bank Top.

 

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Northeast England during the pre-grouping steam era.

Still with the S4 hoppers but three years on. in 1913.

During 1911 the N.E.R. changed its lettering for goods wagons, ditching the small N.E.R. lettering with points for large NE lettering without points. This was continued under the L.N.E.R. until 1936, when the company reverted to small lettering, but just NE without points rather than the long superseded small N.E.R. with points.

Also in shot is a N.E.R. 10 Ton Brake Van to Diagram V1. This one is an outside framed variant. Inside framed ones were also built, as were horizontal and vertical planked styles. In all cases the birdcage and sliding doors were present. Some V1 Brake Vans gained guard's duckets to supplement the birdcage.

A three-quarter view of the head of the train.

The train "in the landscape" as it takes the Stillington Branch.

 

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North East England during the pre-grouping steam era.
The delivery of new NER Diagram S4 Ironstone Hoppers has moved to Picton in North Yorkshire, closer to the destination of the wagons, the Rosedale Branch, which joined the rest of the NER at Battersby Junction on the NER's North Yorkshire and Cleveland Branch.

Passing through Picton station on the Up Leeds Northern Branch to Northallerton.
Picton station originally has low platforms, typical of the 1840s, though while the NER installed higher platforms it did not raise the whole length of the station platforms.
After arriving at Newport Yard on the south bank of the River Tees to the east of Thronaby, the Shildon locomotive and brake van departed, leaving the next stage of the journey to the District Goods Superintendent for Middlesbrough. The S4s were to replace old Diagram S1 wagons of a mere 8 tons capacity, which could be up to fifty years old in 1912. Therefore I doubt that he let them lie for long in the yard taking up siding space.
A P2 Class 0-6-0 of Newport shed has been allocated the task of taking the rake via Eaglescliffe Junction, Yarm and Picton Junction to get to Battersby. The North Yorkshire and Cleveland Branch line was double track from Picton Junction to Battersby Junction, while the lines from Middlesbrough and Rosedale with the eastwards continuation of the NY&C from Battersby to Grosmont all being single lines. This double track section was entirely down to the volume of iron ore traffic moving out of Rosedale for Hartlepool, Consett and Workington in Cumberland.

Passing the goods yard, which was to the south of the station on its down side. NER coal hoppers on coal drops, with a generous seven cells provided for such a rural location. A machinery wagon stands in the up spur.
The trackway in the foreground is around 400 yards long and connects the station to the railway houses located around 350 metres/400 yards to the south. Long walks were a way of life in early 20th-century rural life, with around a half mile between the station and the village of Picton. A bicycle would have been a desired item for someone making either walk on a daily basis.

At Picton Junction taking the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Branch, bound for Battersby Junction line. Between the branch line and the Leeds Northern lay a relief line "which was also used as a weigh siding". The Up North Yorkshire and Cleveland Branch at this location had a trailing connection between here and the Up Leeds Northern several hundred yards away to the south. A loop with a long headshunt connected to this relief line, lying to the east of the Up Leeds Northern. Trains on either line would have to set back into the relief line. In the case of setting back via the trailing connection on the Up NY&C Branch a light engine could easily do so but a train would have to draw forward on to the Down Leeds Northern, fouling both Up and Down LN lines while it moved forward and reverse, somewhat negating the relief facility unless there was a significant lull in traffic on the LN.

 

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Northeast England during the pre-grouping steam era.
The summer of 1913 and a seven-year old 0-6-0 is in charge of 20T ironstone wagons to Diagram S4 which were steel built wagons and were either new or up to four years old at this point. The oldest vehicle in the train is the forty year-old 8 Ton birdcage Brake Van of the Shildon pattern bringing up the rear.
This train consists of S4 hoppers now put to work by the Rosedale branch to get ironstone to the iron and steel works in the region.

A Wilson Worsdell P3 Class, No.814 of Newport shed is on the Down North Yorkshire and Cleveland Branch from Battersby Junction and approaching the junction with the Down Leeds Northern Branch. Whilst the NER had 30 Ton steel built ironstone hoppers with automatic train brake those wagons were crossing the Pennines via the Stainmore route to meet the demand of blast furnaces in Cumberland. The 20T unfitted S4s were built to replace old S1 ironstone hoppers, which had been built since the mid-1860s, so they were almost as old as the NY&C. The S1s were able to negotiate the tight curves of the ironworks and the S4 had to be capable of doing the same work.

Leaving the NY&C at Picton Junction.

Almost completely on to the Down Leeds Northern, No. 814 is passing Picton station;s goods yard in the foreground.

Passing through Picton station northbound for Yarm and then Eaglescliffe Junction. The train may need to pause there for inspections and checks while awaiting a path for Newport Yard. Train services from Darlington to Saltburn crossed those running north and south on the Leeds Northern, while slightly further north trains from Middlesbrough would head for Newcastle, coal trains came down to Newport yard from the Stillington branch and slow goods traffic between Ferryhill on the ECML and Northallerton could be sent via Sedgefield, Stockton, Eaglescliffe and Yarm to keep the East Coast Main Line clear for passenger trains. If this train had been bound for Consett it would go up to Shildon yard via the Stillington branch, continue on through Bishop Auckland and take the Lanchester Branch at Deerness Junction, keeping clear of the ECML altogether.

Here, to the north of Picton, you can see the different lettering arrangements on the wagons. The NER's unfitted wagons were in freight grey livery with small N.E.R. lettering up to 1911, which meant that the first S4s in 1909 and those which followed in 1910 left works in this style. At some point during 1911 the wagon lettering changed to large NE lettering while remaining in freight grey. Both styles inevitably mingled when in traffic and continued to be seen together for at least a decade, since wagon painting was not as frequent as carriage painting. It took the LNER until the mid-1930s to repaint all its pre-grouping wagons and vans in to their livery, by which time the LNER was to change its own lettering policies. Some wagons did not get the change to the 1936 small NE lettering before British Railways took over at nationalisation. As is so often the case with the railways, Liveries were nearly always in transition.

The P3 is back in to its stride as it crosses the Picton Stell.

By 1913, the steel works at Consett no longer relied solely on Cleveland ore, bringing in supplies at Sunderland from foreign mines such as the joint Consett Iron Company-Krupp mines at Bilbao in northwestern Spain. That traffic was about to move to Tyne Dock on the Tyne, which would culminate forty years after this screenshot with the legendary 9F 2-10-0 trainloads of ore running from Tyne Dock. However, at this time there was still demand from works on the River Tees and as far away as Hartlepool.

 

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North East England during the pre-grouping steam era.
A T.W. Worsdell B Class 0-6-2T No.1168, one of the original 1886 "simples", in a class which old TW predominantly built to the Worsdell Von-Borries system of compounding.
She is standing in the colliery sidings by South Pelaw Junction. This was where the original Stanhope & Tyne line passed through on its way to the staithes at South Shields and was later met by a line from the Eat Coast Main Line at Ouston Junction, with the final one, the 1896 Diversion to Annfield Junction via Beamish completing the four-way South Pelaw Junction.

No. 1168 carries lined black N.E.R. livery with side tanks lettered N.E.R. and a large brass number plate on the coal bunker and is typical for the period 1905 - 1916. By 1916 she was already a thirty year old veteran loco, but still doing hard daily work, since the North Eastern Railway liked its money's worth from it locomotives.

Wilson, T.W.'s brother succeeded T.W. in 1890, but several years elapsed with T.W. in the role of "Consulting Engineer" and only after he retired did Wilson fully become his "own" man. Wilson did not tinker much with No. 1168, limiting alterations to raising the side tanks and coal bunker in order to carry more water and more coal, 1500 gallons and 3 Tons compared to the original 1240 gallons and 2 Tons. Who initiated fitting two coal rails around the bunker is unknown, but T.W.'s original build of 1886 did not have them in works photographs but I photo I have seen of No. 238 compound 0-6-2T with original size side tanks and coal bunker did have the rails and I believe that could have been as early as 1895. No. 1168 kept her original Joy gear and slide valves, indicated by the rectangular bolted access covers below the smokebox door.

Wilsson did tinker a lot with his brother's compounds though, and all fifty-one B1 Class compounds (B1 to distinguish them from the eleven "simple" B Class) were all converted to B class simples between 1902 and 1912. In all cases they gained Stephenson gear and Piston valves, since Wilson was not impressed with his older brother's love of either Joy Gear, Slide valves or Compounding. Wilson had on his side that most of TW's compounds had slid down the motive power pecking order. The B Class had moved for the most part to trip work and shunting work, where the compounds were not efficient, lacking the long runs to maximise their economy. That compounds could be difficult to start if the gear was at the wrong point in the cycle became more evident on short trips and shunting work.

So, despite the decision being made in the mid-90s to convert them, the work did not start until cylinders fell for renewal. Over the course of the next ten years the conversions started with 19x24 in cylinders, moved on to fit 19x26in cylinders which required a new crank axle and following some more 19x24in conversions ended up with some with the simples' original fitment of 18x24in cylinders. All got Stephenson Gear and Piston valves.

With boiler, wheel size and even wheel spacing akin to the C Class 0-6-0 the B Class was thought to be able to haul at least as much trailing passenger load as an O Class 0-4-4T over a similar distance. Therefore, in 1899 Wilson Worsdell began fitting Westinghouse brake gear and steam heating pipes, with fifteen so fitted by 1902. Another was added in 1906, with three more rounding out the total to nineteen after the grouping.

I originally had Paul Mace build me the B Class in its superheated LNER and BR forms, but not in its NER form. I have changed that, having Paul build me examples in saturated form for 1905-1916 as well as saturated form and superheated form for 1917-1922. By grouping there were three essential outlines, The original slide valve saturated engines, the compounds in simple saturated conversion form (the "tell"a being the "paino lid" piston valve cover beneath the smokebox) and the former compound engines in superheated form with extended smokebox. Late in the pre-grouping around half of the original simples also gained Stephenson gear and piston valves but some were withdrawn having slide valves to the end. Whenever they went in to works, Darlington would provide whichever new parts were required. Westinghouse gear fitting adhered to no policy, with each of the three main types having Westinghouse gear on some of its examples. Yeadons clained that there were enough variations to qualify for N8 to have five parts N8/1 through N8/5 but it was never done.