The South Shields, Marsden, and Whitburn Colliery Railway was a Whitburn Coal Company built twin track branch railway line that ran along the North Sea coast in
County Durham
County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
, England, from in
South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...
to
Whitburn Colliery at
Marsden via two intermediate stations, station (renamed Marsden in 1926), and
Marsden (which closed in 1926).
History
Opening
The line was built in the late 1870s without an Act of Parliament to serve the newly constructed
Whitburn Colliery and was opened as a private railway in May 1879. Apart from the colliery and those working there the line served the Lighthouse limestone quarry, a paper manufactory, and local farms. The line opened to the public on 19 March 1888.
Nationalisation
On 1 January 1947 the coal company was vested in the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...
so the railway became the first nationalised passenger line in Britain.
(Most of the railways in Britain were nationalised on 1 January 1948 under the terms of the Transport Act 1947).
Closure
Passenger service was officially withdrawn on 14 November 1953, but trains ran until 23 November. The majority of the line closed to freight with the
Whitburn Colliery on 8 June 1968 although the section running through to
Westoe Colliery remained open until 1993.
References
* {{cite web, title=South Shields, Marsden & Whitburn Colliery Railway (The Marsden Rattler), year=2013, url=http://www.marsdenbannergroup.btck.co.uk/MarsdenRattler, website=Marsden Banner Group
External links
Whitburn Colliery history
Closed railway lines in North East England
Rail transport in County Durham
Railway lines opened in 1879
Railway lines closed in 1968
Transport in South Shields
March 1888
January 1947 in the United Kingdom
November 1953 in the United Kingdom