The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway was a railway company that built the North Wylam branch or North Wylam loop on the former

Newcastle & Carlisle Railway The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (N&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between ...

. The loop line opened between 1871 and 1876 and followed the former Wylam waggonway past the cottage where

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...

was born. The company was taken over by the North Eastern Railway in 1883. Following

Dr Beeching Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 – 23 March 1985), commonly known as Dr Beeching, was a physicist and engineer who for a short but very notable time was chairman of British Railways. He became a household name in Britain in the ...

's report in 1963 it was proposed that the original Newcastle & Carlisle line should close between Scotswood and Wylam. However, this was unsuccessful, and it was the Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam line that closed in 1968. Today, the route is part of the

Hadrian’s Cycleway National Route 72 of the National Cycle Network, in Northern England is also called "Hadrian's Cycleway". It starts at Kendal and makes its way around the Cumbria, Cumbrian coast via Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven to Silloth, and then across ...

Opening

The

(N&CR) built a line from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

on Britain's east coast, to

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, on the west coast. The railway began operating freight trains in 1834 between Blaydon and Hexham, and passengers were carried for the first time the following year. The rest of the line opened in stages: from Hexham to Haydon Bridge and isolated section in the west from Carlisle to Greenhead opened in 1836, the eastern section was extended to Redheugh on the south bank of the Tyne in 1837, and the two sections of line were linked allowing trains to operate between Redheugh and Carlisle in 1838. A bridge at Scotswood allowed a temporary station to open in Newcastle, north of the Tyne, in 1839, although Newcastle Central did not open until 1851. The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway became part of the larger North Eastern Railway in 1862. Cottage in which George Stephenson was born (crop)

Cottage in which George Stephenson was born (crop)

The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway & Dock received permission on 16 June 1871 for a loop line on the north side of the Tyne between and N&CR stations and a dock at Scotswood. The route of the line followed the Wylam Waggonway for a mile (1.6 km), past the cottage in which

was born. Work officially started on 17 May 1872 and from the station at Scotswood to Newburn opened on 12 July, worked by the NER. The company was permitted to abandon plans for the dock in April 1876, dropping "& Dock" from its name. A single line opened between Newburn and Wylam opened on 13 May 1876. A second track opened on 24 August, and the wrought iron single span long

Wylam bridge Wylam Bridge is a road bridge in Northumberland, England linking the residential area of North Wylam and neighbouring villages of Heddon-on-the-Wall, and Horsley with the railway station in South Wylam as well as west Gateshead, including the ...

opened in October. The bridge was designed by William George Laws, an adaption of a design of a bridge over the

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...

at Leeds. On 6 October 1876 the bridge was tested with two tank and four tender locomotives, weighing at total of 333 tons.

Operations

Stations opened on the line at , , and . North Wylam, just across a bridge from Wylam station, served as a terminus for local trains from Newcastle. The railway was absorbed by the North Eastern Railway in 1883. As a result of the ''Railways Act 1921'', on 1 January 1923 the North Eastern Railway became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

(LNER). In the 1930s the service between Newcastle Central and North Wylam was operated by Sentinel steam railcars; these were replaced by

LNER Class G5 The NER Class O (LNER Class G5) was a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotives of the North Eastern Railway, designed by the company's Chief Engineer, Wilson Worsdell. They all survived into British Railways ownership in 1948 and their BR numbers were ...

0-4-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-4 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles. This type was only used ...

T locomotives with a push-pull unit. Britain's railways were nationalised on 1 January 1948 and the line was placed under the control of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

Diesel Multiple Unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s began to replace trains propelled by steam locomotives from 1955.

Closure

Lemington, Newburn, Heddon-on-the-Wall stations closed in 1958. In 1963

published his report "The Reshaping of British Railways", which recommended closing the network's least used stations and lines; both Wylam and North Wylam stations were included. In 1966 British Railways proposed that North Wylam station remain open and that September suspended services over the line south of the Tyne for engineering works, but this proposal was rejected and services restarted in May 1967. The following year BR proposed closing the line to the north of the Tyne, this was successful and passenger traffic withdrawn on 11 March 1968.

Legacy

The

now follows the route of the former railway between Scotswood and Wylam, using the former railway bridge to cross the Tyne.

References

Notes

Sources

* * See also * * * *

External links

{{commons category
Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway Company, 1871–1883
at the National Archives North Eastern Railway (UK) Railway companies established in 1871 Railway companies disestablished in 1883 British companies disestablished in 1883 British companies established in 1871