North East England - Steam Days Screenshots - Large Screenshots Possible

North East England during the age of steam.
In my Prototype Talk thread titled "Keeping the Balance" I referred to J.B. Dawson's two articles, "Recollections of Country Station Life" for the North Eastern Railway Association's "Express" magazine back in 1982, when he was 70.
The station was Eastgate on the Wearhead extension from Stanhope to Wearhead, extending the NER's Weardale Branch, which began at Wear Valley Junction to the west of Bishop Auckland.

This line forms part of my County Durham route but had zero work done on it until this week.
So, while it is a work in progress I have decided to do some screenshots based upon what I have read of J.B. Dawson's articles and various NERA reference publications.

The screenshot is pre-grouping and uses information from the 1926 Carriage Roster, which is the oldest one so far discovered, and therefore the closest to NER practise, despite being 3 years after the grouping.

At 6.48 am, the first up branch passsenger train of the day, the 6.30 am from Wearhead stands at Eastgate bound for Stanhope, Wolsingham, Wear Valley Junction, Bishop Auckland and Darlington.
This was the start of Stationmaster Dawson's day. he was the father of J.B. Dawson and became Stationmaster at Eastgate in 1905. he would stay there in post until retirement in 1932.

The 3-set behind the Worsdell O Class 0-4-4T passenger loco is set No. 162, a Darlington Link B one (Sets 155 - 163 in the roster). It is listed as being YC (3-4) and 2 YB(5). This provided 24 First and 140 Third seats.
In this set on the morning the YC is provided by an old arc roof Diagam 64 (13 built 1901-02) rather than a "matching" elliptical roof Diagram 146 (14 built 1907).
Sets were not ordinarily modernised as a unit but carriages were inserted and removed as maintenance and repairs required.
Switching out a YB(5) to Diagram 151 would not be especially difficult since 26 were built and the 6-inch wider Diagram 133 which followed in 1908 ran to 12 carriages.
If by some twist of fate a YB(5) was not available then there were around 54 Diagram 53 Arc roof YBT(4) to draw on, though risking the ire of the traffic staff.

It is not a Monday, since Mondays Only, set 162 was strengthened by a WT until arrival at Darlington at 8.20 am.
WT means that either a 49ft Third (YT) or a 52ft Third (XT) would suffice.
On a Monday, as J.B. Dawson explained, the first train out of Wearhead had good connections at Bishop Auckland (8.03 am) for Tyneside and Wearside, so any weekend visitors could get themselves to their desks at a reasonable time (Darlington arrive 8.20 am, Durham arrive 8.35 am, Newcastle 9.11 am and Sunderland 9.40 am).
Of course I am relying on J.B. Dawson's recollections to justify that strengthening carriage, since the reason for it is not mentioned in the roster!

A closer shot of the train.

At 7.28 am the first down branch passenger train of the day prepares to depart Eastgate station for the terminus at Wearhead.
This is set No. 161, which starts its day at Stanhope, departing as empty stock for Wear Valley Junction at 5.40 am, which it reached at 6.10 am.
The next 26 minutes were spent repositioning the set and loco for the down turn with the furious loading of newspapers and mails (the 5.40 am down train from Darlington to Crook departed Wear Valley Junction at 6.27 am hauling Darlington Link-A set No. 151 (made up of 3 carriages XBC(2-3), XCG (3-4) and XB(4) with 36 First and 110 Third seats).

A Worsdell O Class 0-4-4T stands at the train's head and is likely to be from Stanhope's small shed.
The branch train is a matching set of 49ft ordinary elliptical roof carriages.

J.B. Dawson remembered that this train meant a busy spell for the Stationmaster and staff, since the Stationmaster's newspaper sale business meant many newspaers had to be labelled, stamped and swiftly despatched to the post office to make the morning delivery. The Porter would also be sent to make hand deliveries (of what J.B. Dawson did not elaborate - since he later said that the second down passenger train of the day brought parcels). perhaps those hand deliveries were of some type of premium rate parcel, or maybe invoices?

At 8.15 am there is a minute to go before the 8.0 am from Wearhead departs for Wear Valley Junction.
This is the second up branch passenger train and was important for the dale's schoolchildren who went to school at Wolsingham.
the set is No.161 which formed the first down branch passenger train and the same loco, the O Class 0-4-4T of Stanhope shed.
While Wearhead had a turntable at the southeast corner of the station site, I think that the crew did not use the 13 minutes between arrival and departure to do more than run around the train.

While J.B. Dawson recalled there being "extra coaches attached, some of which were reserved for schoolgirls", the 1926 carriage roster does not reflect that.
The only morning strengthener in the roster is the MO WT attached to set 162 on the first up branch passenger departure of the day.
Would a country branch terminus Stationmaster have the authority to hold on to one, or even two 49ft carriages for strengthening without official permission?
I doubt it from reading the Mortimer's Turnips E-Book by the NERA.

The world evolves. By the time of the 1932 carriage roster there were changes afoot.
Several of them apply to the second up branch passenger train from Wearhead at 8.0 am.
First of the changes is that the set is now No.192, one of Darlington's Link C sets. (How the mighty are fallen, from Link B to Link C)
However, at least Wearhead still had a passenger service.
The Amble branch and several others had lost theirs in economies during 1931 and the service was not provided by a Sentinel or Clayton Steam railcar.
Having written that, Wearhead and mid-upper Weardale was a very different proposition to Amble and a longer, quieter, harder route for a motor bus to travel, especially in winter.

Second is that the composition is now down to two carriages, BC(2-3) and BT(5), providing 12 First and 80 Third seats.
Third is that daily there is a strengthening Third attached
Perhaps that strengthener is because of the schoolchildren, or rather, with the set now providing only 80 Third seats it is just not enough to service the morning's traffic demand and, if any First Class passengers are travelling they would not tolerate Third Class passengers in the form of schoolchildren invading their compartment.
I believe that J.B. Dawson remembered the strengthening (especially the reserving of compartments for the girls!) but not the train length reduction.
J.B. was 11 in January 1923 at the time of the grouping but by May 1932 had just turned 21 (born May 1911) so spent his teenage years in the mid-late 1920s.

I am not sure what Diagram the BC(2-3) was, as the NER Diagram 132 had only 3 examples (1908-10) yet there were 5 Darlington Link C sets.
I will have to delve in to the Carriage Register.

Oh, I forgot to mention, in 1932, the first up branch passenger train, while also just a Darlington Link C 2-set, still got that strengthening MO WT, so the LNER still hoped to take those weekend visitors to Weardale back to their workplaces or homes come Monday morning.

I have looked at the NER Carriage Register, which is available from the NERA. It was a typed NER document for 1906 but had handwritten updates to 1912.
Unfortunately, we do not have a similar document for the period 1913-22, but some carriages are identified for that period in the NER carriage drawings books from the NERA and (for corridor stock) from Isinglass on the drawings available there.

J.B. Dawson mentioned that when the LNER began to shorten the branch passenger trains the carriages which arrived to form the sets were older clerestory roof examples. Given that the 1932 Carriage Roster book no longer specified whether the carriages are 49ft or 52ft long then I have included 52ft types in my search. Perhaps being almost 30 years old was sufficient reason to cascade the type to Link C work.

Darlington Link C required five BC (2-3) carriages for daily use, so there may well have been a sixth maintenance spare "in the system".

Diagrams: - 49ft BC (2-3) Five in the register by 1912.

D115 was an arc roof design.
Two were built in 1906. No. 3 and No. 593.

D147 was an elliptical roof design with toplights.
One built in 1908. No. 648, and two built in 1909, No. 834 and 1968.

That is the sum total of 49ft stock built to BC (2-3) up to 1912.

Diagrams: - 52ft BC (2-3) Twenty in stock on the register to 1911, then nineteen in 1912.

D75 was a clerestory roof design.
Four were built. One in 1902 (the year before the diagram drawing! No. 1403. Three were built in 1903, Nos. 3167, 3168 and 3169.

D75A was a clerestory roof design
Seventeen were built* Seven built in 1904, Nos. 3393 - 3399, Nine built in 1905, Nos. 3547 - 3555.
* - The NER Carriage Register lists twenty "Diagram 75" in stock between 1906 and 1911, dropping to nineteen in 1912 due to the conversion of 3393 to Diagram 195. I therefore presume that seventeen were of the 75A style, though probably they were never identified as 75A when in traffic, just 75.

No. 3393 was built as Diagram 75, but on conversion that was struck through and handwritten entry changes it to Diagram 195. That had one of the First Class compartments converted to a (wide) Third Class one (In other words lost curtains and the First Class seating) but I expect that wherever it was allocated after its 1912 conversion the regular Third Class passengers made a bee-line for it due to the extra ten inches of legroom.

There were more than enough Diagram 75 carriages available to supply the Darlington Link C sets.

While the compartments were no different between the Diagram 75 and Diagram 75A, the van arrangement did differ. Where the 75 had a set of double doors and a separate guard's door the 75A had just a set of double doors each side, with one of the double doors on each side having the Guard's droplight, located in the same position as on the 75. A similar change happened about this time to the BT (3) type.
Probably driven by the requirement to make economies in carriage building.

Darlington Link C required five BT (5) carriages for daily use, so, like the BC (2-3) there may have been a sixth maintenance spare "in the system".

Diagrams: - 49ft BT (5) Thirty-nine in stock on the register by 1912.

D104 was an arc roof design.
Two built, both in 1906, Nos. 1878 and 3640.

D133 was an elliptical roof design with toplights.
Eleven built in 1908, Nos. 309, 416, 775, 821, 1058, 1071, 1460, 1500, 1503, 1908 and 1909.

D150 was an elliptical roof design with toplights.
Twenty-six built in 1907, split between a batch of twenty-two in the first half of the year with electric lighting and a batch of four in the second half of they year with gas lighting.
With the build for 1907 being listed in two halves (presumably up to June 1907 and from July 1907) it can be duduced which is which. The Diagram book lists "Built May 1907 with Electric Lighting" and "Built July 1907 with Gas Lighting". The third note, "Built Mar 1908 with gas lighting 8' 6" wide" may in fact be Diagram 133 since the carriage register shows a typewritten entry 150 for 1908 but it is struck through and 133 handwritten instead. Just when that change was implemented in the register is unknown. The twenty six of May 1907 were Nos. 31, 117, 695, 803,1085, 1156, 1707, 1712, 1886, 1916, 2245, and 3677 - 3687. The four of July 1907 were Nos. 248, 810, 1142 and 1879.

The 133 and 150 differ in van door arrangements, similar to that seen with the 52ft Diagram 75 BC (2-3), though this time it is the 133 which has just one set of double doors, with one door each side having the Guard's droplight, while the 150 has a separate Gurad's door with a set of double doors towards the end of the carriage. The 150s were built before the 133s and why this variation led to a new Diagram number from further back in the sequence and not (like the Diagram 75) issuing "150A"! When I also consider that the 52ft Diagram 18 BT (3) had van door and guard ducket variations without any diagram change at all It makes me think that there were multiple people making decisions about carriage diagram drawing numbers!!

In any event, there were more than enough 49ft BT (5) carriages to fill Darlington Link C IF they were not clerestories. However, with J.B. Dawson saying that he recalled they were clerestories I have to look at the 52ft Bt (5) type.

Diagrams: - 52ft BT (5) Ninety-eight in 1912.

D77 was a clerestory design.
Eighty-seven built. Eleven built in 1902 (the year before the diagram drawing), Nos. 203, 345, 521, 597, 710, 732, 766, 1055, 1391, 1400and 1568. Forty-two built in 1903, Nos. 171, 347, 541, 743, 1040, 1060, 1567, 1575, 1577, 1580, 1706, 1715, 1812, 1818, 1852, 1857, and 3114 - 3139. Thirty-four built in 1904, Nos. 3374 - 3391, and 3425 - 3440.

D161 was an elliptical roof design with toplights.
Nine built. Two were built in 1907, Nos. 3698 & 3699. Two were built in 1910, Nos. 1999 and 2003. Five were built in 1912, Nos. 470, 487, 492, 856 and 3571.

There were sufficient 52ft Diagram 77 BT (5) carriages to fill Darlington Link C.

That's so detailed and interesting! How can the average Trainzer keep up with all the rolling stock details? I think Paulz is going to be kept busy .... and certainly in profit!

Rob.