The Tanfield Wagonway

For centuries the North-East was the main coal-producing area of England because of its easily-accessible seams and navigable rivers. As the demand for coal increased during the eighteenth century, new collieries had to be sunk further away from the rivers, and wagonways built to carry the coal to staithes on the river for shipment. Such expansion was only possible through the investment of large sums of money and to obtain these local landowners sometimes joined in partnership. One of these was that made between the families of Wortley, Ord, Liddell and Bowes, known locally as "The Grand Allies", which was dated to run for ninety-nine years from November 1726. From its beginning this partnership dominated the coal trade, with collieries in both Durham and Northumberland. In our immediate area the wagonway names of Bowes, Jarrow and Pontop were familiar, but most familiar of all was the Tanfield wagonway.

In c1830 the area of north-west Durham between the River Tyne and the Pontop- Tanfield Beamish region some eight miles to the south was traversed by a number of wagonways engaged in moving coal from mines to riverside staiths. Some focused on the Tyne but the Beamish wagonway connected the mines in that district with staiths on the River Wear. There were two major lines running to the Tyne. One of these was the Main Way from the Pontop-Dipton district to Derwenthaugh staiths (pictured above left), via Bryan's Leap at Burnopfield, Rowlands Gill and the valley of the River Derwent. The other was the Tanfield wagonway, or Old Way, from the Tanfield Moor region to Dunston staiths via Tanfield Lea, Marley Hill and Lobley Hill. Both were over a century old for much of their routes, and in the middle of the eighteenth century they had been linked together by a branch from Tanfield Moor colliery running north-westwards to join the Main Way. The Main Way itself, north of Bryan's Leap, dated from about 1710, while most of the Tanfield line dated from 1725-7. The latter had originally extended across the Beckley Burn near the Causey by means of the 103ft span Causey Arch, or Dawson's Bridge (pictured above right), to reach Dawson's Drift colliery. The arch was of stone, carried two lines of rails and was built in 1727; it was often referred to as the world's oldest railway bridge. A diversion of the line some thirty to forty years later made the bridge redundant, but it still stands today. Nearby, the line also included some notable cuttings and an embankment 100ft high and 300ft broad at its base.

By the early years of the nineteenth century the Main Way south of Rowlands Gill had fallen into disuse but it had extended its Thornley branch from Winlaton Mill eastwards to Spen (Garesfield). Garesfield colliery developed here after about 1837 and the mining village of High Spen grew up. The Tanfield line reached to South Moor and Pontop and had a short branch to Marley Hill colliery, with the Tanfield Moor colliery probably the most productive over a long period of the collieries served by the line. The Beamish wagonway, running approximately east to west from Fatfield staiths, reached Beamish South Moor, and had long branches to Pelton Moor and to Deaney Moor near Sacriston. This latter branch was known as the Waldridge wagonway. By 1830 most of the coal from the Pontop, Tanfield and surrounding districts went to Dunston, while the Beamish, Pelton and Waldridge areas sent most of their coal to the Fatfield staiths. The former Main Way had become the Garesfield wagonway, serving a limited area near Rowlands Gill.

Tanfield Wagonway Changes

Changes inevitably took place on the Tanfield wagonway from the 1830s. Mention must be made of its acquisition by the Brandling Junction Company who began relaying it southwards from Dunston in 1837, reaching Tanfield Moor Colliery in 1840. The line had a 1 in 40 ruling gradient, and there were several inclined planes on it. Lobley Hill self-acting incline just south of Dunston was fifty chains long. There was a relatively level section before the Fugar incline, also called Sunniside incline or Baker’s Bank, (pictured above left), which was one mile four chains in length, (one chain equals 66 feet) this also was a self- acting incline. At the southern extremity of the line was the Tanfield Moor incline between Tanfield Lea and Tanfield Moor. In 1843 the southern section to the Stanhope & Tyne via Harelaw was reopened, while in 1854 a line was opened from Tanfield Moor, north westwards to Lintz colliery. There were also three inclines worked by stationary engines on the Tanfield branch. Pictured above right is an example of a gravity haulage incline in operation.

One engine was at Bowes Bridge near Marley Hill, which hauled sets of wagons up and down northwards to Fugar bank top and also worked the section southwards, named Causey east bank. Another engine worked the moderate Causey west bank which extended northwards from Tanfield East. Horses worked the traffic on the intermediate sections until July 1881, when the stationary engines were closed, and the inclines worked by them, and the horse haulage sections changed over to locomotives. Bowes Bridge locomotive depot was erected on the site of the stationary engine there. Near here was also the branch to Marley Hill colliery, which linked there with the Pontop & Jarrow Railway, shortly to be mentioned. Bowes Bridge shed housed two locomotives and operated all the traffic between Tanfield Lea and Fugar bank top. The branch rose from about fifty feet above sea level at Dunston beside the Tyne to 500ft at Tanfield Lea in six and a half miles, then to almost 800ft at Tanfield Moor (one and a half miles).

On 16 June 1842 the Brandling junction Railway began to operate a passenger service on the Tanfield branch. This was between Tanfield Lea and Gateshead, and there were four recognised stations at Tanfield Lea, Bowes Bridge, Fugar Bar and Redheugh, and an unofficial stopping place by the Whickham turnpike at Lobley Hill. It operated only on Saturdays and the journey took an hour. At first a passenger coach was used, but later coal wagons were provided; all in all not a good service for the 2,6oo inhabitants of Tanfield chapelry. This service did not last long, and disappeared when the Brandling junction disappeared into George Hudson's empire.

There were several branches of the Tanfield line besides those mentioned. A short branch came to serve Watergate colliery not far from Lobley Hill, while the wagonway branches from the Tanfield Lea district southwards to Shield Row and Stanley appear to have closed by the end of the nineteenth century, this area being well served by the Stanhope & Tyne line and the improved route of the 1890s.

End of the Tanfield Branch

Traffic on the Tanfield branch slowly declined after World War 1. By 1945 it amounted to only a third of the 1907 figure. In 1947 the Tanfield Moor colliery ceased production after several centuries of operation, and the LNER closed the Tanfield Moor incline. This was not lifted until 1957 by which time it was in an advanced state of dereliction. The remaining sources of significant traffic following this closure were Tanfield Lea (Margaret) pit and East Tanfield colliery, (pictured above right). The latter ceased using rail transport in 1955, after which usually only one locomotive was needed on the line to handle traffic. On 24 August 1962 the death knell of the line sounded when Tanfield Lea colliery was closed. The railway was then closed south of Watergate colliery, near Lobley Hill (pictured above left). The remainder succumbed on 18 May 1964 when Watergate colliery switched to road transport. The northern part of the branch then fell into disuse and was eventually dismantled, although even in early 1969 parts of the rusting lines remained near Teams crossing, Dunston, just north of the embankment carrying the Dunston Extension Railway. A few forlorn NER signal gantries and other relics also remained, but in 1970 construction of a new road on the course of the line had removed some of these mementoes, now line and locomotive have gone.

That neighbour of the Tanfield branch, the Pontop & Jarrow (Bowes Railway) also followed the path of decline. The major closure here was in 1968 when Burnopfield (Hobson) and Byermoor collieries were closed. The railway was closed and lifted west of Marley Hill in 1969. Marley Hill colliery remained in production until March 1983 but this did not prevent the closure of the line between there and Kibblesworth, lifted early in 1970. This left a railway 'island' at Marley Hill, where a single engine shunted coal wagons about before road transport carried the coal away. The Marley Hill lines closed on 13 August 1970. The line east of Kibblesworth colliery remained, including the two inclines in the Team valley which met at a point beneath the east coast main line railway beside Tyne yard, combining the old and the new.

AN INEVITABLE DECLINE

The growth of motor traffic on the roads made the decline of the railways of north-west Durham inevitable. Road haulage lorries played a part in the decline, but the most significant factor was the doomed coal industry. Following the destruction of the coal mining industry in the 1980’s little trace remains of the wagonways, even the most recent one from the Dipton Delight Colliery through to Dunston Staithes is now almost untraceable. The wagonways and the staiths are all consigned to history, with the exception of a small section of Tanfield railway acting as a scenic and historic journey for visitors and ending at Sunniside.

Pictured above is a section of the old Tanfield wagonway gradually being reclaimed by nature and the derelict remains of Dipton Delight colliery.

Reference: The Bowes Railway, C.E.Mountford

The Railways of Consett and North West Durham,G Whittle.

The archive material of The Sunniside & District Local History Society

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