The Tyneside Electrics were the suburban railways on
Tyneside
Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt.
The population of Tyneside as published i ...
that the
North Eastern Railway and 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 ...
electrified using the
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway t ...
system. The
North Tyneside Loop
The North Tyneside Loop refers to the railway lines in North Tyneside from Newcastle upon Tyne via Wallsend, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Backworth, Benton and South Gosforth back to Newcastle. Since the 1980s, it has formed part of the Tyne and ...
was electrified from 1904 onwards and formed one of the earliest suburban electric networks; the South Tyneside line to South Shields via Pelaw was electrified in March 1938.
British Rail
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 ...
ways converted these lines to
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
operation in the 1960s: the line to South Shields in January 1963 and the North Tyneside lines in June 1967 when the electrical supply infrastructure (which dated from 1935) and the rolling stock (which dated from 1937) had become life expired. In addition, the system was losing passengers and suffering from costly vandalism. Since the late 1970s, much of the system has been converted to form the
Tyne and Wear Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...
.
Routes
The original lines covered were the
North Tyneside Loop
The North Tyneside Loop refers to the railway lines in North Tyneside from Newcastle upon Tyne via Wallsend, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Backworth, Benton and South Gosforth back to Newcastle. Since the 1980s, it has formed part of the Tyne and ...
from
Newcastle Central ''via''
Wallsend
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...
,
North Shields
North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.
Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...
,
Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...
and
South Gosforth
Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...
back to Newcastle; the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
(ECML) from Newcastle Central to
Benton (providing a short cut to
Monkseaton
Monkseaton is an area of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, in the North East of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is in the north-east of the borough, from the North Sea coast and north of the River Tyne at North Shields. to the north of ...
and Whitley Bay), and the
Riverside Branch
The Riverside Branch was a double-track branch line, which ran between Riverside Junction in Heaton and Percy Main West Junction in Percy Main.
The line opened in May 1879, later being electrified in 1904, as part of the Tyneside Electric ...
from
Byker
Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series ''Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is borde ...
to
Percy Main
Percy Main is a small village absorbed into North Shields, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of Tyne and Wear.
History
It is named after the colliery belonging to the Percy family, which was located just sou ...
''via'' .
At Benton the electrified lines diverged from the ECML to join the Blyth and Tyne line (see below). These curved lines were called the South West Curve and South East Curve based on their disposition looking north. The SE Curve had scheduled electric services running over it from time to time, but the SW Curve was used for empty stock movements.
In 1923 the triangular junctions at South Gosforth were electrified in connection with opening of the new car sheds, but were used only for empty stock movements. In the same year, a route was electrified in the Heaton area. This route left the ECML at Benton Bank and ran through the freight yard at Heaton to connect with the Tynemouth lines at Heaton East Junction. It was used for empty stock movements and as an access route to Walker Gate Carriage Works where heavy repairs and overhaul of the electric stock took place. This route was called the "Heaton Independent Lines".
Finally, a short freight-only line, the Newcastle Quayside Branch left the Tynemouth lines just east of Manors East station at Trafalgar South yard, opposite Argyle Street signal box, and emerged after traversing through three tunnels into the Quayside yard adjacent to the quayside at Newcastle. This route was equipped with both overhead line and conductor rail to enable electric operation in June 1905.
Map
History
History before electrification
The line through
Jesmond
Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city.
H ...
, Benton and on to
Tynemouth
Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon T ...
was opened in the 1860s by the
Blyth and Tyne Railway (B&T), and the line through Wallsend by the
Newcastle and North Shields Railway
The Newcastle & North Shields Railway opened in June 1839 from a temporary terminus in Carliol Square in Newcastle upon Tyne to North Shields. The railway was absorbed by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in November 1844. The Newcastle & Berwick ...
in 1839. The portion of the East Coast Main Line to Benton had been opened by the
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...
in the 1840s. The Newcastle Quayside Branch had been opened by the NER in 1873, and the Riverside Branch in 1879. The junctions at South Gosforth dated back to 1905 and were laid for the Gosforth and Ponteland Branch.
Electrification
In the early 1900s,
tramway competition caused a large and rapid decline in the number of passengers using the
North Eastern Railway's local services in the north Tyneside area. The number of passengers using these services declined from 9,847,000 in 1901, to 5,887,000 in 1903. In 1903, in response to this, and in an effort to win back the lost passengers, the NER decided to
electrify their suburban network north of the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
with a 600
Volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
Defi ...
DC third-rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
system. They hired the electrical engineer
Charles H. Merz as a consultative engineer for the project, and contracted the
British Thomson-Houston
British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...
company to supply the electrical equipment.
The
North Tyneside Loop
The North Tyneside Loop refers to the railway lines in North Tyneside from Newcastle upon Tyne via Wallsend, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Backworth, Benton and South Gosforth back to Newcastle. Since the 1980s, it has formed part of the Tyne and ...
, including the
Riverside Branch
The Riverside Branch was a double-track branch line, which ran between Riverside Junction in Heaton and Percy Main West Junction in Percy Main.
The line opened in May 1879, later being electrified in 1904, as part of the Tyneside Electric ...
, and a short stretch of the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
was electrified in stages between February and July 1904. The original electrified route was not quite a loop however, as the northern leg of the route ran over the former
Blyth and Tyne Railway, whose Newcastle terminus was at ; an isolated terminus with no rail connection to
Newcastle Central, meaning services initially ran from Newcastle Central via Tynemouth to New Bridge Street. In 1909, New Bridge Street was closed, and a connection was constructed to an extended station, in order to create a full loop, however despite this. it was not until 1917 that a full Central to Central loop service began.
The electrified stretch of the East Coast Main Line between Heaton and Benton Junction was used by certain limited stop 'express' services between Newcastle and the coast.
The electrification, and the improved service it enabled, succeeded in the aim of reversing the decline in passengers numbers, which rose steadily, and topped the ten million mark in 1913, exceeding the highest pre-electrification totals. It also substantially reduced the running cost of the service, which was reduced to less than half the cost per train mile of the steam service it replaced.
In 1923, the NER was
grouped into 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). Electrification of the South Tyneside line from Newcastle to was announced by the LNER in 1935 and electric services began in the spring of 1938.
Decline and de-electrification
Falling passenger numbers, rising costs, and the need to renew life expired infrastructure and rolling stock, meant that the Tyneside Electric network was de-electrified in the 1960s under
British Rail
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 ...
, and converted to diesel operation. The Newcastle-South Shields line was de-electrified in 1963, and the north Tyneside routes were de-electrified in 1967.
Successor
In the late-1970s much of the former Tyneside Electric network was incorporated, in modified form, into the Tyne and Wear Metro: The North Tyneside Loop (minus the
Riverside Branch
The Riverside Branch was a double-track branch line, which ran between Riverside Junction in Heaton and Percy Main West Junction in Percy Main.
The line opened in May 1879, later being electrified in 1904, as part of the Tyneside Electric ...
which was closed in 1973), plus the South Shields branch was incorporated into the Metro. A new underground section under Newcastle and Gateshead and new bridges were added, part of the former
Ponteland Branch was also included, and the network was re-electrified with overhead lines.
Rolling stock
North Eastern Railway
![North Eastern Railway Parcels Van](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/North_Eastern_Railway_Parcels_Van.jpg)
The North Eastern Railway began using electric multiple units between and on 29 March 1904 and from 25 July 1904 over the entire route from
Newcastle Central via
Percy Main
Percy Main is a small village absorbed into North Shields, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of Tyne and Wear.
History
It is named after the colliery belonging to the Percy family, which was located just sou ...
to
Tynemouth
Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon T ...
, returning to New Bridge Street via
Jesmond
Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city.
H ...
.
The railway was electrified with a third rail at 600 V DC.
[ One hundred electric multiple unit cars, built in NER's York workshop, were equipped by ]British Thompson-Houston
British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...
(BTH) with BTH and Westinghouse equipment. Two motor parcels vans were used with passenger coaches on workman's trains. In 1909-15 an additional 11 motor cars and 11 trailers were built.[
On Sunday 11 August 1918 there was a serious fire at the original car shed at Walkergate,] which completely destroyed 34 cars and damaged many more. An order for 35 replacement cars was placed and these were built between 1920 and 1922. These were to a different design, with elliptical roofline and more powerful motors.[ a powered parcels van built in 1904 is in the ]National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...
collection and on loan to the Stephenson Railway Museum.
This fire affected rolling stock policy for the rest of the life of the system through to 1967. When the original cars were life-expired in the 1930s, the replacement cars were not, so while new LNER units were built to replace all the stock then in use, the replacement cars were moved on to the newly electrified South Shields line, whose commissioning in 1938 coincided with the arrival of the new LNER stock. In turn, this meant the replacement cars were life-expired in the 1950s, when what was standard electric stock of the time, to the Southern Region pattern with separate compartments, quite different (and to some extent inappropriate) with what had existed before was built. In the early 1960s, the ability to redeploy this quite recent stock to the Southern Region was a significant part of the decision to de-electrify the South Shields line, which they had been principally employed on, leaving the north side lines to run on with the LNER units until they too were life expired some years later and the electric system was closed down.
London and North Eastern Railway
The NER stock remained in service with the LNER after the 1923 grouping
The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
. In 1937 the newest ex-NER stock, built in 1920 to replace those vehicles lost in the 1918 fire, was refurbished for use on the newly electrified South Tyneside line. The other NER stock, some of which dated back to 1903–04 was replaced on the North Tyneside lines by new articulated units built by Metropolitan Cammell
Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. Purchase ...
.
British Railways
The LNER 1937 stock remained in service with British Rail
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 ...
ways (BR) after nationalisation in 1948. In 1955 BR introduced new stock on the South Tyneside line based on the Southern Region 2–EPB stock and was designated "South Tyneside 1951 Stock". They were electrically identical to the 2–EPB but the body on the motor brake cars had a much larger luggage space to accommodate prams. Minor detail differences were route indicating lights and destination blinds. The 1920 stock was withdrawn and was broken up at Simonside Wagon Works near Tyne Dock in the period 1956–58, although some vehicles were retained for departmental use or saw further service as "Pram Vans".
When the South Tyneside line was de-electrified in January 1963, all but one of the 1951 EPB stock was transferred to the Southern Region. The exception was Motor Parcels Van E68000 which was transferred to the London Midland Region's Liverpool — Southport line, renumbered M68000 and used for another five years before being withdrawn in 1968. It thus had a service life of just 12 years.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*{{cite book , last=Hoole , first=K , year=1988 , title=The Electric Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway , publisher=Oakwood Press , isbn=0-85361-367-2 , pages=not cited
Further reading
* Merz, C.H., and McLellan, W. The use of electricity on the North Eastern Railway and upon Tyneside ''The Engineer'' 9 September 1904, 260-262; 16 September 1904, 282-284.
External links
LNER Encyclopedia
Transport in Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear Metro