Tyneside electrics

[New Haven Neil]

A stolen shot of EE 14, on Mowbray road bridge, the southend of Westoe Crown pit.  NHN's family home was 100 yards from here.

 

A much later shot of 11 at Mill Dam, at the end of her career, waiting to be taken away for scrap #sniff#

 

And a curiosity to end - the weedkiller tank, half an old air receiver on a tender chassis from one of the old 0-6-0 tender locos that the Harton Coal Company used on the line to Whitburn, near Sunderland, which was where the line in the first shot above originally went to.

 

That's all folks, sorry about the diversion to your thread, Michael, I hope these were of some interest.

[Michael Delamar]

no diversion at all, id like to know what street it was that NHN lived on so I can see the area on google earth

[New Haven Neil]

Thanks Michael.

 

Kingsway, South Shields, off Mowbray Road. 

 

edit - tried to post a google maps link, but it reverts to my home setting for some reason. 

 

The bridge with 14 on it was on the 'Y' of Mowbray Road, the building under 'ION Electricals' is built on the trackbed.  Hardly anything left to see....#sniff again#

 

edit:  The Hutton Row street is built on where the shed was.

Edited April 5, 2013 by New Haven Neil

[Mallard60022]

Classic shots of something I never saw and didn't even know existed until I joined this 'club'. Think I might have seen the layout though?

P

[New Haven Neil]

That'll be Harton Gill.    It sort of cherry picks little scenes and buildings from the system, very well I might add, but does not represent the layout of the system in any way.  I wonder if they could be persuaded......

[simon hudson]

Re the weedkiller tank,there is a picture of the original loco taken about 1900,  in "Industrial locomotives of Durham" plus a few of the electrics at Shields.The bible tells the tender loco was a former Blyth and Tyne loco.For anyone interested in industrial railways of the North East the aforementioned book is a must.Long out of print I aquired a v,g,c copy a couple of years  ago from Amazon.I had been trying to get a copy for years.Every time I visited Tanfield I always missed a copy I think one of the authors had a lot to do with Tanfield when it started

[Clive Mortimore]

Ok, more rubbishy photos....

 

A view into the shed at Westoe, 10, 9 and I think 4, and a diesel interloper.

09-02-08 (42) (Medium).jpg

 

13, one of the trio of later EE/Baguley Bo-Bo's (11 - 15), at Crossgates yard, Billy Dunbar driving, another bloke that was always good for a cab ride.  13 was my personal favourite, together with 9.

09-02-08 2 (4) (Small).jpg

 

A view from 13's cab at the staithes, sorry the windows were dirty.....the track layout here was complex, almost a spiral to gain height then the wagons were run down by gravity.  To get up the gradient, (to the right here as we look at it) the curve at the bottom as you emerged from a steep downgrade tunnel had to be taken at what felt like breakneck speed, actually about 25, with the controller full open in parallel.

09-02-08 2 (6) (Medium).jpg

 

This is another EE emerging from said tunnel, screeching around the ridiculous curve.....

09-02-08 2 ( 8) (Small).jpg

Hi Neil

 

Thanks for these. I love the shot from the cab of number 13. As for the one taken from in front the wagon repair shops of the screeching loco....wow.

 

Was number 13 returning from pushing some wagons up to the teeming shed as there appears to be none in front of her?

Edited April 5, 2013 by Clive Mortimore

[New Haven Neil]

No Clive, 13 was on a light engine jolly for me and my pals benefit!   We had a system wide tour that day, as things were quiet and Freddie was bored.  It was the summer of '76, and it was absolutely roasting hot, so I think any excuse to get out of the office was used.  Happy days.  I loved those locos, the whole system was incredibly interesting.

[Clive Mortimore]

No Clive, 13 was on a light engine jolly for me and my pals benefit!   We had a system wide tour that day, as things were quiet and Freddie was bored.  It was the summer of '76, and it was absolutely roasting hot, so I think any excuse to get out of the office was used.  Happy days.  I loved those locos, the whole system was incredibly interesting.

Wow!!!!Lucky you.

[New Haven Neil]

I had many trips around, the drivers were always happy to oblige if management wasn't about, and management usually obliged if they weren't too busy!

 

The '76 photos were about the last I took bar the odd ones of the locos at the very end, as in '76 I went off to college (Riversdale in Aigburth, Liverpool, Michael!) as a Merchant Navy engineer officer cadet.  My life ceased to be my own!

[Norm81]

Thanks Michael.

 

Kingsway, South Shields, off Mowbray Road. 

 

edit - tried to post a google maps link, but it reverts to my home setting for some reason. 

 

The bridge with 14 on it was on the 'Y' of Mowbray Road, the building under 'ION Electricals' is built on the trackbed.  Hardly anything left to see....#sniff again#

 

edit:  The Hutton Row street is built on where the shed was.

All I can see that's left is presumably the cap of the mine shaft just towards the coast from the school.

[New Haven Neil]

Yeah, I suppose that's what that octagonal shape is ... Sad.

[byron]

_{A very interesting topic. I remember taking some video of the system in 1985. We have lost so much.}

 

_Mike

[keefer]

thank you to all contributors to this very interesting topic!

not my area or era, but i love reading about lines/systems that were once busy and important, but of which there is little trace of now

 

apologies if these have been linked to before, but i've yet to read through the first 10 pages!

 

26510 at ilford (artcile about the shenfield line with some good detail shots of the 306s in 1500V dc form) - scroll down to last pic:

 

http://dewi.ca/trains/london/br_trains.html

 

some pics of the NER locos at science and society

(put 'electric locomotive and north eastern railway' into search box - couldn't get the results to link properly. i'm sure there are more pics of tyneside stock, but the search engine seems a bit hit or miss)

Edited April 7, 2013 by keefer

[Arpster]

Great photos, Neil. They're not poor quality at all; what they capture is fascinating and never to be seen again. The tight curve you mention features on the Railscene video I mentioned earlier and the speed with which the little electrics barrel around it is hair-raising (not to mention the deafening squeals). The video is now available on DVD here and the Westoe segment is about 5-10 minutes long if I remember correctly: http://railwayrecollections.com/products-page/railway-recollections-railscene-magazine-collection-dvds/railscene-no-16-dvd-autumn-1988-2/

 

Is the diesel shunter in the shed the one that would have been used to travel along the coast to the quarry at Whitburn? There are few photos of it on this page here: http://forum.southshields-sanddancers.co.uk/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21278

 

Oh, and the octagonal thing is almost certainly the cap for the pit shaft. The NCB seemed to have a penchant for those (there's a few at Marley Hill too!).

 

Arp

[New Haven Neil]

Hi Arp.  I wouldn't like to say it's the same loco, as the Whitburn branch closed years before my photos were taken.  It's the same class though, I would say.  I think they used to come and go, I'm sure I recall Barclay and Hunslet diesels there, and possibly a Sentinel years ago, in the Whitburn days. 

 

I even recall steam, Austerities and big Hawthorns, like the one at Tanfield, when I was a nipper.  There was a footbridge a bit higher up, we used to try to drop stones down the chimney as they went under, the drivers of course used to open right up to blast us back...great fun.  Going home covered in soot was less fun....ahem.

 

The photo of 9 in blue was taken on the remains of the line to Whitburn, (at the back of our house) which then was the headshunt for the south end - ended up with 56's on HAA's coming up there at the end, which was odd to say the least, but I had moved away by then.

[New Haven Neil]

Keefer, that is the first photo I recall of 26510 actually 'in electric' and working!  Great find!

 

Edit - the Science & Society captions are a bit duff - iron ore wagons?  Whaaatt???

Edited April 8, 2013 by New Haven Neil

[Michael Delamar]

Colour rail have a colour shot of a Tyneside 2epb.

http://www.colour-rail.com/Preview.aspx?ImgRef=DE641

[New Haven Neil]

Looks like that is South Shields station, Michael.  Nice find!

[Norm81]

Just found this pic of Harton staithes while looking to see if Class 26's ever made it round these parts:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23983516@N05/6848052652/

[keefer]

looking through the RAILSCOT site i came across something i only recognised because of this thread!

 

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=42671  (it's a fairly recent image, so i don't think it's been linked to already)

 

the older 'image 21419' leads to a set of pics of the harton coal company at westoe: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Westoe

 

(clicking on anything clickable will open a new window)

[Michael Delamar]

Newcastle Central 1954

 

 

East end of Newcastle Central Station from Castle Keep, with northbound empties

View west, above the famous crossover; ex-North Eastern ECML. The train is heading probably for Heaton Yards, with J27 0-6-0 No. 65781. (For details see NZ2463 : The panorama at the east end of Newcastle Central Station from the Castle, with the 'North Briton' express leaving for Edinburgh).© Copyright Ben Brooksbank and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

 

[Porcy Mane]

Mr Brooksbank has some great images.

If you modelled trains this close someone would say, "Nah! Never happened".

 

Up train from Alnmouth, trailed by a local Electric, approach Newcastle Central from Manors

© Copyright Ben Brooksbank and 
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

 

P

[Michael Delamar]

E68000/M68000M

 

why was it scapped at Choppington, a few miles from the Tyneside system in August 1967? not long after the Tyneside electric system finished in June 1967.

 

why wasnt it scrapped at a scrapyard closer to Liverpool? it just seems strange to send it so far and within such a short distance of its original system.

 

I have a theory that because the baggage car service was withdrawn from the Liverpool-Southport line late 1965 early 66. that they later sent it back to Newcastle. who then scrapped it when the Tyneside system was stopped.

 

There is a shot of it still at Meols cop Southport in March 1967.

 

but was it seen back in the Newcastle area in that short period? March- August 67?

[Arpster]

Have we had this photo before? Must have been a powerful beast!

 

http://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p150240017/h33CF46E7#h33cf46e7

 

 

Arp