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 waggonway was

 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

 Railways around Chopwell Chopwell and Garesfield Railway  The Chopwell and Garesfield Railway was opened in 1899 by the Consett Iron Co LTD, although some parts of the railway date back to earlier waggonways. The railway carried coal from Chopwell Colliery and High Spen/Garesfield Colliery(Bute Pit) to Derwenthaugh Coke works (built 1928) and onto Derwenthaugh staithes on the River Tyne. Today the section of trackbed through the woods is called the “Old Colliery Railway Footpath”, which is where the following pictures were taken. A short section of track has been relayed on the former trackbed and a pair of 21 ton wagons placed on top of it. The wagon closest to the camera is painted in National Coal Board livery and the furthest is painted in Consett Iron Co Livery, to reflect the two owners of the railway. These are located a short distance from the main car park. This wood carving depicts one of the Kitson long boiler 0-6-0 Pannier tanks that used to work the line. This is one of

 Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway   Part one: Cockermouth to Keswick 46458+46426 leaving Cockermouth 02-04-66  John Boyes. Armstrong railway photographic trust. www.arpt51a.com. No authourised use. Introduction The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway ( CK&PR for short)  was a railway in North West England that linked the town of Cockermouth with Penrith on the West Coast mainline. There were 10 stations on the line with one of the most noteble being Keswick.  Permission to build the railway was granted in 1861 when an act of parliament was passed with work starting in May 1862. By the early summer of 1864 inspection trains had ran for the directors of the line. It officaly opened to goods traffic on the 1st of Novemember 1864 and for passengers on  the 2nd of January 1865, although passenger trains for an agricultrial show had ran on the 29th of September 1864. The railway had support from the London & North Western Railway and the Stockton & Darlington rai