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Good shots Lewisner. Welcome back Evilcrow. Regarding post #2891 - the Alexandra Bridge did not just offer a direct route to the coal staithes at Sunderland for coal trains from the Consett district but for the Stanley, Craghead, Burnhope, Grange Villa, Pelton Fell, Waldridge, Edmondsley and Sacriston collieries, which all ultimately had an outlet to the main NER network at Stella Gill yard. The collieries around Beamish had their own wagonway prior to NCB days, which joined the former Stanhope & Tyne route at the old Great North Road and then the colliery at Harraton to the west of Washington station also had an outlet towards the coast.
The traffic volume from these other districts was larger than that from Consett, since the blast furnaces of the steel works consumed most of the coal produced at Consett, Medomsley, Eden Hill and (on the Lanchester valley branch) Malton and Langley Park. The peak traffic was achieved in 1913 but WWI constrained the coastal collier trade and the export trade disappeared entirely. Post-WWI the export coal traffic from the East Coast ports did not revive and demand for the coastal collier trade remained depressed. This meant that what coal traffic there was emanating from Stella Gill yard and the Beamish waggonway for coastal shipment could be accomodated at Tyne Dock and Dunston.
As for WWII traffic if the bridge had been retained it could have been used as a diversionary route if the direct line from Penshaw North was put out of action but it would not have helped when Sunderland station itself was bombed. The lack of a north to east chord to the north of the Washington - Brockley Whins line and the loss of the west to south chord at Brockley Whins meant that the bridge could not act as a diversionary route for Newcastle to Sunderland trains in the event of a severing of the line at East Boldon or Monkwearmouth. During the 1840s and 50s there was a west to south chord between the Newcastle to Sunderland line and the Tyne Dock to Washington line at Brockley Whins when it was part of George Hudson's first main line between York and Gateshead's Greenesfield station and seems to have still been extant in 1912, but it was long gone by WWII. The north facing connection at the junction south of Sunderland would also have worked against it, though routing past the north end of the Alexandra bridge via Monkwearmouth would have given a south facing connection while the rail bridge over the Wear remained intact, that option would not have helped the Alexandra bridge of course.
Sadly, I have to conclude that the NER took a bold and expensive gamble on an ever-increasing coal traffic to the coast at Sunderland and it "lost its shirt" with the Alexandra bridge since it could not forsee what would happen in 1914.
Hi Lewisner,
The 25 inch map for Brockley Whins has it lifted in the 1941 survey (published 1947). there is a stub present at the western end, to the south of Boldon Colliery Station. The bridge over Old Mill Race is gone and the track is lifted south of there. The 1939 25 inch OS survey of the adjacent map panel for Boldon Colliery shows track present at the southern end of the chord. So, a bit of a conundrum. The Middleton Press 2009 book by Roger Darsley "Consett to South Shields" is silent on it, the photographs being the popular spot of Pontop Crossing with the Tyne Dock to Consett ore trains represented. Now I have "an itch" which requires scratching to resolve the history of this chord. It does not make it any more likely that a "what if" scenario would have saved the Alexandra bridge but I now want to find out when a short stretch of line which had once been so important, if only for a rather brief spell, in the evolution of the earliest existence of East Coast Main Line.
Do most of you have cameras setup on your routes?
I particularly like your second screenshot lewisner.
Cameras? I've never been able to figure out how to set them up. Some of the routes I downloaded from the DLS that have become favorites of mine have them, but I hardly ever use them.
What you using for capture Lewisner?
Re posts #2898 KotangaGirl, #2901 BOGIEMAN and #2902 klambert.
Many thanks to you all for the compliments.
"One for the road"
Cheers, evilcrow