Matt Ditch Photography Blog

The Lambton Waggonway  Lambton Works which was the headquarters of the railway. In the background is the remaining headgear of the former Dorothea Pit, but this time-serving only as an emergency shaft.  © Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence The Lambton Waggonway or Newbottle Waggonway as it also appears to have been known was a waggonway that linked the coal fields of Durham with the River Wear at Lambton Staithes. It can trace its roots back to the early 1700s when a horse-drawn waggonway was constructed to link the mines around Fatfield with the River Wear at Cox Green. Sometime in the early 1800s a line was built between Burnmoor and Philadelphia. The latter became the engineering base of the Lambton system. Some of the orignal structures still stand to this day.  A recreated wooden waggonway at Beamish museum. By 1819 the Newbottle waggonway had been acquired and integrated with the Philadelphia and Burnmoor section. A...

 The Wensleydale Railway  - Hawes to Garsdale  History Tucked away in a remote corner of the Yorkshire Dales is Hawes station. Situated on the disused section of the Wensleydale Railway, Which ran from Hawes Junction (later renamed Garsdale) on the Settle & Carlisle railway to Hawes. The station was originally opened in 1878 and was part of the Midland railways "Hawes Branch". There was an end on junction with the North Eastern Railways line from Northallerton at Hawes station. The North Eastern railway, and later LNER ran the majority of the services over the line. The exception being a service to Hellifield nicknamed the "Bonnyface" which ran as a single day return. The line towards Northallerton closed to passengers in 1954. But Hawes was still served by passenger trains from Garsdale till 1959. Freight and goods trains ran until 1964 when the full line was closed. Today the section from Redmire to Leeming Bar and Northallerton is still open as a heritage li...