Matt Ditch Photography Blog

  Hunsley Austerity "Repulse" runs round its train at Haverthwaite on the lakeside & Haverthwaite railway. 

  Austerity No.49 returns to steam at the Tanfield Railway Austerity 0-6-0ST No.49 returned to steam for the first time in 14 months at the Tanfield Railway during the late May bank holiday. Here are some shots of the loco at work along the line and a brief history of it. 49 was built in 1943 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn in Newcastle for the MOD. It's unclear as to where 49 went immediately after leaving the works. In the winter of 1943 she was put into store at the Melbourne Military Railway in Derbyshire. From here it was moved into WD storage in Essex before returning to the MMR in the Autumn of 1944. The loco was loaned to the Ministry of Fuel and Power's Swannington opencast disposal point in Leicestershire from May 1946 to Bennerley disposal point in Nottinghamshire in February 1947. It had a relatively short stay there and by April of that year it had moved North to Backworth in Northumberland, which would become the locos home. And, where she eventually bec...

  Andrew Barclay 0-6-0ST "Horden"  On Sunday I was fortunate enough to see my first steam loco of the year. It was also my first opportunity to see newly restored Andrew Barclay "Horden" in steam. The engine has been painstakingly restored over the past several years by the volunteers at the Tanfield railway, where the loco will be based.  "Horden" was built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co in 1904 with the works number 1015. It was built for the Horden Colliers LTD in County Durham. During Horden's working life it was based at the companies collieries at Horden, Shotton and Blackhall. She was also the only Durham area locomotive to be sent to the Ashington Central workshop for repair. To avoid paying the North Eastern Railways' movement charges the loco was once moved by road using four track panels.  Horden became a National Coal Board engine in 1947 while it was based at Shotton Colliery. It was at Shotton where Horden took on a  Q6 0-8-0 and won...

 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...

 

  Tanfields Railways 2017 "Legends of Industry" gala. featuring visiting locomotives, Hawthorn Leslie 3931/1938 ‘Linda’ and Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 7673/1950 “Ugly” "Linda" and a mixed train leave Marley Hill yard. "Ugly" at Bowes Bridge with a demonstration coal train The full gallery can be found here Please consider supporting this website on Patreon. Their are exclusive perks for those who do. Or alternatively visit my Ko-Fi page by clicking here.

The Owd Ratty - History & the line to Boot History of the “Owd Ratty” I’ve long been fascinated with the history of the orignal Ravenglass & Eskdale railway, or “Owd Ratty” as it is now known. Originally the line was built to 3 foot gauge and opened in May 1875 to transport Iron Ore from mines around Boot to the Furness Railway at Ravenglass, a distance of around 7 miles. During the winter of 1876 a passenger service was added after the locals campaigned for it. This made the railway the first public narrow gauge railway in England. Unfortunately the cost of upgrading the line for passenger use left the railway in serious debt, which resulted the railway declaring itself bankrupt a year later in 1877. This, however wasn’t the end of the “Owd Ratty”. The railway continued on under the control of the the receivers. The railway was dealt another setback when the Iron Ore mines it was built to serve closed. Thankfully local traffic (passengers and local goods) managed to keep th...