Matt Ditch Photography Blog

For a while now I've been working on a Hunslet heavily inspired by those used on the Howrah-Amta Light Railway. And I've very pleased to finally be able to share the model. Website eBay

 Today I walked part of the "Tyne Dock to Consett" route from Washington to near Pelton. Obviously, this got me thinking about what the line must have been like back in the day and how I wish I could've seen a 9F thunder through South Pelaw on its way up to Consett. The above shots is of 9F No.92134 taken last year on the NYMR during their steam gala.

  Last night the South Tynedale Railway published an image on their social media of the completed work to radically alter the appearance of historically important Thomas Green 0-6-2 "Barber".  The loco, pictured above  was built in 1908 by Thomas Green & Sons of Leeds and spent its entire working life on the Harrogate Gas Works railway. It was even used during the construction of the railway. "Barber" was named after Francis Barber who was the chairman of the gasworks. It is also thought to be the only Thomas Green locomotive left in this part of the world "Barber" was built with a cut-down cab to allow it to fit through a tunnel with a reduced clearance, hence the somewhat squat appearance. Prior to 2015 "Barber" was last steamed in the 1940s by which time it was worn out. The rear of the frames were extremely weak due to the lowered cab. And there were also issues with its regulator. The engine had been rebuilt a number of times during its...

  River Esk's 100th centenary gala 29/04/23 Here are my pictures from River Esk's 100th centenary gala on 29/04/23. As always the whole gallery  can be found here . But, below are a few of my favorites.

 

  Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST No 14 (Works No 3056) the last steam loco to work on the HCR returns to Hetton on the 18/06/22.  Full gallery

Looking back to a cold and grey day in February this year. Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST “Illingworth” creeps under the old Wallsend road bridge with a short freight train on the North Tyneside Steam Railway Full gallery >> https://www.mattditch.photography/rail#/north-tyneside-steam-railway-freight-demonstration-day-260223/

It's been a little while since I posted any new models. Well, today I'm very pleased to be able to share my latest creation.  Going back several years one of the first 009 kits I designed was for a Pre-War Sentinel. The model quickly became outdated as I learned new skills and improved my offerings. However, I always intended to re-release it at some point in the future. Over the last several weeks I've designed a completely new model from scratch, which I'm now happy to share with everyone. The attached photo shows my very work-worn-looking Pre-War sentinel trundling along with some wagons. The model is designed to fit a shortened Kato 109 or 108 chassis (Not included)  If you'd like your own the kit can be purchased on either of the below links Website  Ebay

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

  Return of the blog It has been over a year since my last post on my blog. And I recently found myself wondering how to bring it back. I initially stopped posting because of creative burnout. And looking back I feel like I was limiting myself to only posting certain things that were very time-consuming to make. My idea now is to post shorter posts on a more regular basis. My ideas are things like; * Updates on when I have a new gallery on my website. Possibly including a brief review of the event/railway. These posts would contain my favorite pictures as well along with a link to the full gallery. *Disused railway walks * Photo of the day - a way to maintain near-daily posts. The first one of these is now up. * Modeling - updates on my various modeling projects. I may return to writing more longer posts in the future. But for now, these are my ideas for easing myself back into blogging. I've already made several new posts, which can be found by following the link below. I d...

  One of my many ideas for bringing this blog back from the dead is to have a daily "Picture of the Day" post.  To kick things off here is a picture from the 2019 Tanfield Railway "Legends of industry gala". The photo shows both visiting gala guests outside Marley Hill shed. These are Backworth Collieries No.12 and Stephen Lewin No.18.  The full gallery can be found here 

  Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Steam Gala. 10/03/23 This was my 4th trip to the railway for their annual steam gala. And, my first visit with snow! I haven't had too much experience with photographing steam trains in the snow. And, I was very excited at the prospect of doing that. Although that did bring some challenges. Namely getting to some of the more remote photography locations. And, I'll openly admit I did fall on my arse several times! ha. The bad weather had affected the day's timetables so trains were either running late or canceled, which was an understandable shame. However, it was still an enjoyable event and a railway I would highly recommend and visit again. Below are some of my favorite images from the day. LMS Jubilee "Leander" crosses Mytholmes viaduct with a mid-morning service to Oxenhope. "Bahamas" shortly after leaving Haworth 52044 & No.85 double head a train away from Haworth. The full gallery can be found here YouTube...

 Head, Wrightson & Co No.21/ Seaham Harbour Dock Company No.16  No.21 was built in 1870 by Head, Wrightson & Co as No.21 at their Teesdale Ironworks in Stockton-on-Tees for the Londonderry Railway to work at Seaham Harbour in County Durham, just south of Sunderland. In 1899 the Londonderry Railway became part of the North Eastern Railway. And in 1900 the Seaham Harbour Dock Company Ltd was formed and the locomotive passed into their ownership, where it became No.16. It remained at Seaham until 1959 when it was sold back to Head, Wrightson & Co. Who restored it to how it would have looked when built. Today the loco is on static display in Preston Park near Stockton. Sister engines No.33/17 and No.1 are based at Beamish museum. No.1, which is nearly identical to 21 is operational and steamed regularly (pictured below).

  North Tyneside Steam Railway Freight demonstration day 26/02/23 Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST “Illingworth” is currently visiting the North Tyneside steam railway from its current home, The Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway in Yorkshire. “Illingworth” was built in 1916 for use at the Ministry of Munitions at Gretna Green, during the First World War. In 1922, it was sold to Bradford Corporation for use on the Nidd Valley Light Railway, where it was initially named “Mitchell”. In 1930 it was named “Illingworth” after William Illingworth, who opened the Nidd Valley Water Supply Scheme. The engine was sold again in 1936 to Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd who renamed the engine “Harold”. It was used in the construction of Ebbw Vale steelworks in Wales. 4 years later in 1940 it was again sold, this time to Mowlem’s who renamed it “Swynnerton”. Following sale to them, the locomotive was used at a variety of industrial locations. Including, Workington breakwater project and Mowlem’s Braehead power st...

 Event Recap:  North Tyneside Steam Railway 30th anniversary gala Featuring Bagnall "Vulcan" from the home fleet, J27 No. 65894 (NELPG/NYMR) and Austerity No.49 (Tanfield Railway) "Vulcan" with a freight train bound for Middle engine lane. The J27 on a short passenger train. No.49 on the freight train a short while later. Kitson Long boiler "A.No.5" on display outside middle engine lane. Video

Peckett 1370 Beamish museum aren't running trains at their Rowley station site this year so Peckett 1370 "May", which normally operates these trains, has been moved across to the colliery railway. It was built in 1915 and is an R2 class 0-4-0ST. It worked at  Yates Duxbury & Sons papermill at Heap Bridge in Bury, Lancashire along with 2 other locomotives. Peckett "Annie" now preserved at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre and an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST also named "Annie".  1370 had been relegated to spare loco by the 1970s and was eventually sold into preservation first moving to Wigan with  Bryn Engineering. It later moved to the East Lancashire Railway with its current owners the  Jubilee Locomotive Company who Beamish hire her off. The above shot shows 1370 doing what it usually does at the museum, hauling passenger trains from the rebuilt Rowley station along the short passenger line they have. The below video captures the  Yates Duxbury & S...

  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...

 Askham Hall - The forgotten Avonside. Askham Hall in Whitehaven in 1976.  © George Woods   Anyone who has visited Threlkeld Quarry in recent years may have spotted the unrestored and sad looking 0-4-0 saddle tank sitting in the lower storage area. This is Avonside No.1772 of 1917 “Askham Hall”. Built by Avonside locomotives works, Bristol. The engine was originally named “Sella Park" a name it carried until Hawthorn Leslie rebuilt it during 1935. The engine spent its working life on the Cumbrian coast, spending time working at industrial sites in Workington & Whitehaven. In the early 1970’s it ran over BR metals under its own power moving from Solway colliery Workington where it saw little use, to Whitehaven where it worked coal trains along Whitehaven harbour, transporting coal from Howgill incline to ships that would then take the coal to Ireland and the Isle of Man. Askham Hall finally became surplus and was donated to Copeland Borough Council who transferred the ...

  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...

 Tanfield Railway "North Pole Express" 19/12/20 Keighley corporation gas dept. no. 2 & Santa!! at Causey No.2 & "Sir Cecil A Cochrane" taking the empty stock to East Tanfield at the start of the day. Please click here for the full gallery.