Dating back to the 1720s and still partly in use today as the preserved Tanfield Railway, the line has a justifiable claim to be the world’s oldest railway, running on the track bed that 300 years ago was travelled over by horse-drawn coal waggons on wooden rails. In these pages the history of the Tanfield Waggonway is told, from its origins as part of a network of wooden waggonways that ran from coal pits to the River Tyne, its rebuild with iron rails and inclined planes, introduction of ...

After the financial failure of the Stanhope & Tyne Railroad Company in 1841, a new company was set up to operate the coal-carrying eastern half of the railway that ran from the area around Consett down to South Shields. This new company, the Pontop & South Shields Railway, continued to enjoy success in moving coal from pits in north-west Durham to the shipping point on the River Tyne. Through changes of ownership and modifications to the route, the line continued in use up until the early ...

The Stockton & Darlington Railway Company’s takeover of half of the 1834 Stanhope & Tyne route, under the guise of the Wear & Derwent Railway, saw the most interesting period in the history of this part of the line. The route, which ran from the limestone quarries above Stanhope to Consett, was now joined to the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s network, and the new operators wasted no time in converting the line to locomotive working where possible, building deviations to the original route...

Opened in 1834, the Stanhope & Tyne Railroad Company’s line ran from the limestone district of Weardale, via the collieries of north-west Durham to the mouth of the River Tyne at South Shields. This extraordinary railway used horses, steam locomotives, stationary engines and gravity-worked inclines to transport lime, limestone and coal. The company soon found itself in financial trouble, and its downfall almost bankrupted Robert Stephenson, who was consulting engineer for the company. Chan...