North East England - Steam Days Screenshots - Large Screenshots Possible

Hello Hotshot Jimmy. A passenger train could leave from the east end of Newcastle Central station, cross the River Tyne by the High level Stephenson bridge, run via Gateshead West station, take the ECML through Bensham, Low Fell, Lamesley and Birtley, and switch to the Consett Branch at Ouston junction. From Ouston junction the passenger train would reach Consett via Pelton, Beamish, Shield Row, Annfield Plain and Leadgate. From Consett, the train would leave to the southwest, taking Consett East and Comsett North junctions to reach the Derwent valley branch. The train would then use the Derwent Valley branch to reach Scotswood, running via Blackhill, Shotley Bridge, Ebchester, High Westwood, Lintz Green, Rowlands Gill and Swalwell. From Scotswood the Newcastle and Carlisle branch would take the train through Elswick to the west side of Newcastle Central station. Of course passenger trains could, and did, run in the opposite direction.

The principal station on the route (other than Newcastle) was at Blackhill rather than at Consett, even though Consett station was closer to the town centre. Up to 1896 the usual branch passenger traffic to Blackhill was on the Newcastle to Durham service using the Derwent valley and Lanchester Valley branches, with several trains only running between Newcastle and Blackhill. Once the branch passenger service could run from Newcastle and back via Consett and Blackhill this became the principal operation. Terminating trains from Newcastle, Durham and Darlington would do so at Blackhill.

One of the aberrations which did not help traffic levels was that an afternoon passenger train from Darlington via Crook and Tow Law arrived at Blackhill mere minutes after the branch passenger train for Newcastle via Rowlands Gill had departed Blackhill! Also, despite a line already existing prior to 1896 between Hownes Gill Junction and Consett East junction, the introduction of the Newcastle loop service did not result in a diversion of the Darlington passenger service to Consett. Arguably, if the company did not think it necessary to provide a connection to the north for passengers from Crook, Tow Law, Burnmoor, or Rowley one could have assumed that it was because passengers preferred to do business, shop or socialise in Consett, yet the train would still deposit them in the vicinity of the lesser facilities near Blackhill station.

Addition: - technically, the lines existed to permit a Newcastle to Newcastle run via Gateshead East, Felling, Pelaw, Usworth, Washington, Pelton, Consett, Blackhill, and Scotswood but no such service ever existed and would have been a long slow run. One could also have run from Newcastle to Sunderland, then to Durham via Leamside, and then back to Newcastle via Lanchester, Blackhill and Scotswood. The latter may have happened in the carriage working roster, as three different local passenger train services operated by one carriage set. Some passenger sets had very long workings over their operating day and many did not finish the day at the same place they started. As an example, the nineteen "Main Line" sets of local passenger carriages took nineteen weeks to return to the place they started Monday morning "week one", including a week out of service for maintenance and standby.
 
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As an example, the nineteen "Main Line" sets of local passenger carriages took nineteen weeks to return to the place they started Monday morning "week one", including a week out of service for maintenance and standby.

Wow that is impressive. I'm trying to look at the towns on google maps to get an idea. When you say Beamish is that any relation to the museum's land as it is now?
 
Beamish The Living Museum of the North is built to the north of the site of Beamish station. If you look at where "Station Cottages" crosses the C2C cycle way, that is the site of Beamish station. Quite a length of the A693 road is now built on what was the Beamish Wagonway, which originally took coal down to the River Wear, then later joined the Stanhope & Tyne route near where the line crossed the Great North Road (now the A167 Durham Road), approximately at the site of "The Wheatsheaf Inn". During the mid-1950s the NCB diverted the Beamish wagonway to join the former S&T line and built a new coal washery on what is now the Roseberry Grange Golf Course. This allowed the NCB to close the lower section of the Beamish Wagonway to the east of High Handenhold.
 
1958 Pontop & South Shields branch Coal Empties

North East England during the steam era. A Class Q6 0-8-0 hauls a train of empty 21 Ton steel bodied Diagram 100 hoppers from Tyne Dock to Stella Gill yard.








 
1958 Stella Gill Yard and South Pelaw Junction

The ex-NER Raven Q6 0-8-0 after dropping off empty hoppers from Tyne Dock is rostered to take out a heavy coal train for Dunston Staithes.




At the eastern end of Stella Gill Yard the Q6 takes the route set for the outbound line #1 through Stella Flats to South Pelaw junction. The warehouse is the NCB Stores Depot for the area.




Running along outbound line #1 past the loaded train it is to haul, standing on outbound line #2. A yard N10 0-6-2T has already placed the brake van at the rear.




Slowly approaching the train and preparing to couple up to the head of the train bound for Dunston Staithes. The line off to the right is the branch for Consett through Pelton and Beamish. By the time of this screenshot's setting the branch passenger train has been discontinued for several years.
 
Thanks kcwright. FYI - the railway depicted at the location in the shots dates back to 1834. It was originally built by the Stanhope & Tyne Railway to bring limestone from the area around the town of Stanhope and coal from the district around Stanley down to the banks of the River Tyne. From there the coal could be tipped directly in to seagoing vessels for shipment down the east coast of England to London.
 
1914 - 1440 Class 2-4-0 at Rowley

A veteran N.E.R. 1440 Class 2-4-0 at Rowley station to the south west of Consett. This site is on the route of the 1834 Stanhope & Tyne line between Stanhope and South Shields, though the passenger service owes its existence to the later Stockton & Darlington ownership of the western part of the line, which occurred due to the Consett Iron Company selling it to them. They had taken over the western part of the former S&T following that company's failure in 1841. The S&DR sponsored the building of a line from Crook, in south west County Durham to a point just to the south west of Rowley station. The train service, from Darlington to Blackhill was never a busy service between Tow Law and Blackhill, there being a very sparse rural population in this high northern countryside. The screenshot has rather more visible than would normally have been there, even on a Saturday. I'll have to tweak that setting. The passenger service was withdrawn north of Tow Law as early as May 1939.




The 1440 class was never a regular visitor to the line. Small 4-4-0 locomotives were the norm, with one on shed at Waskerley, which was not actually on the Tow Law to Blackhill route! However, I am justifying the 1440's appearance due to a running in turn following a visit to Darlington works. Alternatively, the Waskerley 4-4-0 may have had a problem and the 1440 is all that the section passenger business can find to stand in.
 
1914 - ECML - Kings Cross to Scarborough and Whitby Summer Service

North East England during the steam era. Early summer before WWI looms large over everone's lives and the London Kings Cross to Scarborough and Whitby service heads north on the down line of the ECML between Selby and York. It is in the hands of a G.N.R. Atlantic as far as York.




This service was an allocation of the second N.E.R. corridor carriage set and was worked jointly with the G.N.R. One day the set was provided by the N.E.R. and on the other by the G.N.R. This working evolved despite the existence of G.N.& N.E.J.S. carriages on the London to Newcastle route. According to the August 1910 issue of RAILWAY MAGAZINE the service began in July 1909 and N.E.R. set consisted of eight carriages. Six ran to Scarborough while two (TK & BCK) ran to Whitby.

D.153 BFK(4)
D.158 FO
D.170 RT
D.155 TO
D.156 TK
D.159 BG
D.156 TK
D.174 BCK(2-3)

The summer service required space for baggage accompanying the passengers on holiday, so the BG would have been well loaded. The Whitby passengers (12 First and 80 Third Class) were not so well served, with only the rather limited space provided by the BCK available for their use.




Above, viewed from the rear, is the Whitby portion, separated from the Scarborough portion by the BG. Passengers bound for Whitby who wished to dine had to negotiate their way past the baggage in the BG.

I was surprised to learn that the N.E.R. had a set of its own carriages which regularly found their way to Kings Cross. So, not every train was in teak at Kings Cross! Another unusual sight was the provision of an FO-RT dining twin set to provide the catering service and then augmented by the inclusion of a TO to produce a FO-RT-TO triple. This was an extravagent provision for an eight carriage set, especially where one was a full brake. I believe that there was a strong demand from the passengers on this particular service.
 
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1947 - ECML - "The Flying Scotsman" Post-WWII

North East England during the steam era. During the summer of 1945 after the end of WWII in europe the L.N.E.R. was in no position to re-introduce the streamliners and the non-stop Flying Scotsman. They set to on a building program to renew rolling stock, starting with carriages for the 10 am Kings Cross to Edinburgh and Aberdeen but it took until the summer of 1947 to relaunch "The Flying Scotsman" with new Thompson carriages. Even at this date the service was a limited stop one rather than a non-stop one and the catering vehicles were not yet available due to material shortages. There was no buffet and the Gresley articulated dining triplets from the 1938 Flying Scotsman set were pressed in to service.




The summer 1947 trailing load ran to 13 carriages on departure from Kings Cross, including a Gresley BG which ran as far as York.

BTK(4) and CK Kings Cross - Aberdeen.
BTK(4), five TKs, Gresley RTS, two FK and BG Kings Cross - Edinburgh.
BG Kings Cross - York

I have been working with Paul Mace of Paulztrainz to update and upgrade the Thompson corridor carriages I originally commissioned from him way back in 2014.
 
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1948 - ECML - "The Flying Scotsman" Post-WWII

By the summer of 1948 the Thompson catering carriages were ready to run in the 10 am "The Flying Scotsman" for the first summer timetable of the recently nationalised British Railways. Non-stop running was restored between Kings Cross and Edinburgh.




The summer 1948 trailing load remained at 13 carriages on departure from Kings Cross, including a Thompson RB along with the Thompson triple dining set of FO, RK and TO.
The Aberdeen portion was increased to three carriages at the head of the train.

BTK(4) CK and TK, Kings Cross - Aberdeen.
TK, TK+ with ladies retiring room, two TKs, RB, TO, RK, FO, FK+ with ladies retiring room and BG Kings Cross - Edinburgh.

Despite the existence of British Railways the 1948 sets assigned to "The Flying Scotsman" (and later "The Capitals Limited") would remain in teak livery until the spring of 1953.
 
1913 - ECML Northumberland - Leeds to Glasgow

North East England during the steam era. A N.E.R. R1 Class 4-4-0 hauls the down Leeds to Glasgow N.E.R. express passenger train south of Chevington.




At the head of the train is the single example of 3-compartment Brake Third to Diagram 194 built in September 1912. This differed from the other N.E.R. 3-compartment corridor Brake Thirds in having external doors to the compartments. It is not clear why the company retained the doors at the end vestibule, though it was an easier redesign from the previous Diagram 157 BTK(3) of 1908 by retaining them.
 
1946 - ECML - D49 on a Secondary Express

A Gresley D49 hauls an up local express passenger for Doncaster south of York on a summer's evening. With a count of four, there are more full brake vans in the consist than there are passenger carriages. Added at both ends, this was the normal way of moving parcels along the ECML, particularly on the G.N.R. and later the G.N.Section. Vans added and detached to secondary expresses and local trains moving along the route. Timings on such trains were necessarily generous since there was usually shunting to do at several stations.




At the head of the train is an unusual 58ft 6in BG to Diagram 44. Seven were turned out of Doncaster in 1926, re-using the bowstring underframes of former pre-grouping ECJS sleeping cars which had been built at York. it is also riding on 8ft Fox bogies. A photograph of E70032E taken in 1960 is on Steve Banks' website and shows it in good order with the Fox bogies. Behind the Diagram 44 is a 61ft 6 in Diagram 43 with turnbuckle trussing and dating from 1924. Within a couple of years BR would swing the axe on the great majority of wooden bodied pre-nationalisation carriages and vans.
 
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Yes definitely an interesting screenshot Rob.

#813 with that one-off diagram 194 brake coach is interesting too.
 
Thanks Rob, and thanks Annie. After some thought I have a couple of N.E.R. corridor diagrams in the works with Paul. The 1912 D.193 TK and 1913 D.200 BFK(2).
I have also finally tracked down a photo of the clerestory roof 1905 D.105 Dining Compos which will mean modifying some D.27 BCLs to work with them.
 
Hello Jack

1926 Carriage Roster codes - V indicates vacumm brake (dual braked NER carriages), L indicates lavatory.


Diagram 27 BCL(2-3) XBCL or XBCLV 9 first-class seats 15 third-class
Diagram 105 RC DC or DCV 10 first and 15 third
Diagram 193 TK XTC or XTCV 56 third
Diagram 200 BFK(2) XBFL(2) or XBFLV(2) 12 first

Technically the 1926 codes are aligned to accomodate non-vestibule carriages. The table entry for a 52ft Third Class carriage with corridor and Lavatory was XTCL.
Now "corridor" in this instance means a corridor inside the carriage and not a vestibule connection between carriages.
So, while you might expect that a Diagram 193 58ft 6in long corridor third class compartment with lavatory should be XTCL the roster lists XTCV in set 313, the Leeds and Glasgow Corridor set.
Unlike Third Class and First Class carriages which had a code to assign to internal corridor non-vestibule carriages, there was no code assigned to Composites to identify the same configuration Corridor Lavatory or Brake Composite Corridor lavatory (which might have looked like XCCL/XCCLV or XBCCL/XBCCLV).
The prefix X covered 52ft NER carriages but had no further code letter for carriages longer than 52ft. In practise X means 52ft or longer.

There is a twist too.
The Diagram 27 Brake Composite Lavatory carriage, code XBCL or XBCLV had a long internal side corridor and two lavatories, one for first-class and one for third-class passengers.
Three were modified by the NER with a vestibule corridor connection at the compartment end only so that they could be paired witht he Diagram 105 to form a dining pair.
This meant, like the ECJS Diagram 50 Brake Third that you could pass between carriages at only one end.
The N.E.R. did not issue a new diagram for these three carriages and did not alter the weight either.

It has been a challenge to find information about the Diagram 105s and it was by correspondence with the N.E.R.A. that I was told of unpublished notes by the late John Dawson.
That revealed the modification to the three Diagram 27s.
 
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LNER - 1924 - 5.03 pm Hull to Retford

North East England during the steam era. Post-grouping circa 1924 and I am representing a journey from Kingston Upon Hull. The 5.03 pm departure from Hull was bound for Retford, an relatively rare out of area working for a N.E.R. carriage set, especially since it would spend the night at Grantham. In the 1926 Carriage Roster it was set No.361 the Hull and Grantham set and it would depart Hull with set No. 470 attached. In the roster set No. 470 was a G.N.R. Corridor set and it was a two-carriage portion of through carriages which would work all the way south to Kings Cross, arriving there at 9.25 pm.




Lamped as an express, stopping only at Goole between Hull and Doncaster, the train stands in Hull Paragon station. A Class D22 4-4-0, formerly N.E.R. R1 Class is rostered for the service.




Attached at the head of the train is a new Gresley 61ft 6 in Bogie Full Brake to diagram 43, one of seven built in 1924 with the numbers 10233J - 102339J (from 1926 Nos. 140 - 146). This indicates that they were in the East Coast Main Line pool for Anglo-Scottish traffic and for destinations north of York, but here 102338J finds itself at Hull being returned to London.

Set 361 was made up of former N.E.R. non-vestibule carriages. It provided 37 First and 154 Third Class seats)

XBLV x2 (52ft 3-compt Brake Third, dual braked).
XCLV (52ft Lav Compo with 5 First and 2 Third compartments, dual braked)
XTV (52ft 8-compt Third, dual braked)

It was rostered to depart Hull at 5.03 pm with an XCV attached (52ft Compartment Composite, no lavatory, dual braked).
With it occurring daily it is unclear why it was not officially included as part of set 361! Perhaps on a day where ticket sales were low it could be left out of the train with the District Passenger Manager's approval.

Set 470 was made up of former G.N.R. corridor carriages. It provided 12 First and 48 Third Class seats)

WBCV (45ft 49ft or 52ft Brake Composite with vacuum brake)
WBV (45ft 49ft or 52ft Brake Third with vacuum brake)

While the former G.N.R. corridor stock was likely to be over 52ft there was no NE Area telegraphic code prefix to suit that, so X (52ft or longer) and W (any suitable length of the 3) was used.

In this session I have the District Passenger Manager approving the attachment of the Diagram 43 BG (code XVV in 1926). In my scenario he is responding to a call from the D.P.M. at King's Cross following the BG being pressed in to use earlier that morning with the 10.10 am through carriages from Kings Cross to Hull due to an especially heavy load of baggage, mails and parcels being booked for passage to Hull. The 61ft6in length was new to the L.N.E.R. and E.C.M.L. The typical length of BG in use to that date was 56ft6in and had been the standard since about 1905 after Gresley's arrival in post. The Kings Cross D.P.M. would have preferred an 56ft6in or even an older 46ft6in BG to be utilised but some "wag" has sent one of his new 61ft6in BGs instead!
 
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1924 - The 5.03 pm from Hull passes Welton LC

The 5.03 pm train from Hull passes Welton level Crossing box at speed on its way to the next stop at Goole.




In the session I am running late due to a signal check. The electronic signalman (me) had left a trainling switch set against the train at Ferriby, so the train had fallen to 27 mph by the time I fixed that. In the real world a signal check would have resulted in a telegram or phone call from the district controllers to get to the root of the whys and wherefores behind it.

The N.E.R. certainly kept a record of staff infractions. An old copy of the N.E.R.A. Express magazine has a member relating some infractions by his grandfather, who was a driver at Hull Dairycoates shed. One fine was due to taking the wrong road on a bank holiday, heading for Dairycoates rather than Hull Paragon, disrupting the holiday timetable! It seems he may have sounded the wrong whistle signal on approaching the box. On another occasion he hit the buffers at Hull Paragon and that got him a week's suspension.

Signal box by John Whelan, signals by Chrisaw and train by Paul Mace of Paulztrainz with some reskinning experimentation by me. The route is a clone of the built-in Kings Cross to Edinburgh route with a minimal amount of tinkering on my part so far.
 
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