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 as well as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interests controlled by
George Hudson
George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the Railway Mania, railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a ...
, the so-called ''Railway King''. In collaboration with the
York and North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840, extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton railway station, Norma ...
and other lines he controlled, he planned that the YN&BR would form the major part of a continuous railway between London and Edinburgh. At this stage the London terminal was Euston Square (nowadays called Euston) and the route was through Normanton. This was the genesis of the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
, but much remained to be done before the present-day route was formed, and the London terminus was altered to
King's Cross.
The YN&BR completed the plans of its predecessors, including building a
central passenger station in Newcastle, the
High Level Bridge High Level Bridge may refer to:
* Detroit–Superior High Level Bridge, road and former tramway bridge over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.
* High Level Bridge, River Tyne, road and railway bridge between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead ...
across 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, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...
, and the viaduct across the
River Tweed
The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...
, that was later named the
Royal Border Bridge
The Royal Border Bridge spans the River Tweed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed railway viaduct built between 1847 and 1850, when it was opened by Queen Victoria. It was designed by Robe ...
. These were prodigious undertakings.
George Hudson's business methods had always been uncompromising, and eventually serious irregularities in his financial dealings were exposed, which led to his disgrace and resignation from the chairmanship of the YN&BR in 1849.
Co-operation with other railways in the YN&BR area led to a traffic sharing agreement, and then to amalgamation; on 31 July 1854 the
North Eastern Railway was formed by the merger of the YN&BR with the
Leeds Northern Railway
The Leeds Northern Railway (LNR), until 1851 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, was an English railway company that built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk. In 1845 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission fo ...
and the
York & North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840, extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its first ...
, as well as the
Malton and Driffield Junction Railway
The Malton and Driffield Junction Railway, later known as the ''Malton and Driffield branch'' was a railway line in Yorkshire that ran between the towns of Malton, North Yorkshire and Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The line was for ...
three months later.
Early railways
The abundant mineral deposits in the area of County Durham and Northumberland led early on to the construction of
waggonways to convey the heavy ores to watercourses for onward transit, or to other means of reaching a point of sale.
Tanfield Waggonway

Although there appear to have been earlier waggonways from the high ground around Tanfield, the most notable line was the Tanfield Waggonway of 1725, from Tanfield Moor to Dunston, on the Tyne. This line had several rope-worked inclines, with more moderate gradients operated by horse traction. The rails were timber. In commercial terms it was remarkably successful, although wayleave charges (imposed by landowners) were heavy.
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway
The Stanhope and Tyne Railroad Company was formed in 1832 as a partnership to build a railway between limestone quarries near Stanhope and the coal mines near
Medomsley
Medomsley is a village in County Durham, England. It is about northeast of the centre of Consett, south of Hamsterley and southeast of Ebchester along the B6309. Leadgate lies a further mile to the south east.
Medomsley is about above sea ...
, and to connect to quays at South Shields.
The line was opened in 1834. There were several rope-worked inclines on the route.
Traffic levels did not reach expectations, some collieries on the route declining to use the line, and the heavy operating costs of the inclined planes lead to poor profitability. When it was discovered that the directors had been overstating the profitability of the concern, a financial crisis was precipitated. In 1842 it became obvious that the Stanhope and Tyne company could not continue and a new company was formed to take on the debt and operate the railway.
Pontop and South Shields Railway
The new company was the Pontop and South Shields Railway (P&SSR) of 1842. The south-western part of the line from Stanhope to Carrhouse was sold to the
Derwent Iron Company, which operated at Consett. It formed an alliance with the
Stockton and Darlington Railway
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near with ...
and in time a railway connection through Bishop Auckland and that section became part of the Stockton and Darlington Railway system.
From 1840 passenger traffic increased when through trains from London to Gateshead ran over part of the line, in association with the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway, the Durham Junction Railway, and the Brandling Junction Railway.
The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway acquired the Pontop and South Shields Railway on 1 January 1847.
Brandling Junction Railway
John and Robert William Brandling had extensive mining interests in the area east of
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...
and in the Tanfield area. They took steps to build a railway connecting their interests with quays at
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 ...
and
Wearmouth, and in 1835 formed the Brandling Junction Railway.
It opened in 1839 from a Gateshead station at Oakwellgate, to South Shields and Wearmouth. The company also acquired the Tanfield Waggonway and modernised it. Its terminal on the Tyne at Dunston required the use of keels to convey the coal downstream to shipping berths, requiring transshipping, and the Brandling Junction Railway opened a connection from the Tanfield line to Oakwellgate too, to bring the Tanfield coal to deeper water. This required the use of a short section of the
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway
The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) (formally, the ''Newcastle upon Tyne and Carlisle Railway'') 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 co ...
near Redheugh.
[
From 1840 passenger trains from London to Gateshead used the Brandling Junction line from Brockley Whins to Gateshead.
The Brandling Junction Railway was taken over by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway in 1844. A subsequent act of Parliament,
the ]Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway Act 1845
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 as well as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business i ...
( 8 & 9 Vict. c. xcii) legalised the purchase.
Hartlepool Dock and Railway
The Hartlepool Dock and Railway (HD&R) was built to take coal from central 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 ...
mines to the docks at Hartlepool
Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...
. A private bill
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or are ...
was presented to Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
seeking permission to build the railway and royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
was given to the ( 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. lxvii) on 1 June 1832. The line was long with of branch line, and of land for docks; a later act of Parliament, the ( 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. lvi) gave authority for a branch to the City of Durham and the use of stationary engines. The line was not built beyond Haswell after no assurances could be obtained from the owners of Moorsley and Littletown collieries that they would use the line to send coal to Hartlepool. Services ran between Thornley pit and Castle Eden after January 1835; on 23 November that year the first train ran the between Haswell and Hartlepool. By the end of that year there was of line operational.
The Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway (GNEC&HJR) was a extension of the HD&R from Wingate
Wingate may refer to:
Places
New Zealand
* Wingate, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt
United Kingdom
* Wingate, County Durham
* Wingate Quarry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham
* Old Wingate, County Durham
* Wingate ...
to the Great North of England Railway at Ferryhill and the Clarence Railway
The Clarence Railway was an early railway company that operated in north-east England between 1833 and 1853. The railway was built to take coal from mines in County Durham to ports on the River Tees and was a competitor to the Stockton and Dar ...
at Byers Green. An act of Parliament, the ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. xcv), was obtained on 3 July 1837 and the line opened to Kelloe Bank in 1839. The had neglected to obtain powers to cross the Clarence Railway's Sherburn branch and returned to Parliament after failing to come to agreement with the Clarence. Royal assent was given to the ( 6 & 7 Vict. c. lxxxii) which included powers for a bridge over the line, but the Clarence Railway still refused to cooperate building it, so it was 1846 before the railway was completed. The York and Newcastle Railway leased the and from 12 August 1846, and both were amalgamated with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway on 22 July 1848.
Durham Junction Railway
On 16 June 1834 the Durham Junction Railway (DJR) received permission to build a railway to transport coal from Moorsley in the Houghton-le-Spring
Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county.
It lies betw ...
area and the Hartlepool Dock & Railway to the River Tyne at Gateshead. Leaving the Stanhope and Tyne line at Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
, the River Wear
The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...
was crossed by Victoria Viaduct, long and above high-water mark, which was designed by Harrison and built in two years. The bridge was officially opened and named in honour of Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
on her coronation on 28 June 1838, and the railway opened to mineral traffic on 24 August 1838. The long line was only laid as far as Rainton Meadows, short of Moorsley, and the Houghton-le-Spring branch was not built.
Passengers were carried over the railway for the first time in March 1840 as one of the series of connecting services between Newcastle and Darlington. On 14 September 1843 the company was bought by , as its planned route between Newcastle and Darlington involved running over the railway and the DJR was operating at a loss and unable to upgrade the track.
Durham and Sunderland Railway
The Durham and Sunderland Railway (D&SR) received permission in the ( 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. xcvi) on 13 August 1834 for a line from the South Dock in Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
to Murton, with branches to Durham and the Hartlepool Dock and Railway at Haswell, although there was initially no connection between the lines as they were at different levels and at right angles to each other.
The line was worked by eight stationary engines at Sunderland, Seaton, Merton, Appleton, Hetton, Moorsley, Piddington and Sherburn. Rated at between , these pulled trains using ropes up to long and between in circumference. Services started on 5 July 1836, the line was formally opened on 30 August and after October passengers travelled in carriages with three compartments attached to coal trains; compartments for first class were enclosed whereas those for second class passengers were open on the sides. In 1838 the railway carried over 77,000 people on trains that travelled at an average speed of ; reports the passenger service was unpunctual and the carriages subject to jolts whenever the trains started.
Permission was granted by the ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. lxvii) on 30 June 1837 to divert the line in Durham south to Shincliffe
Shincliffe is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. The parish population (according to the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census) was 1,796. It is situated just over to the south-east of Durham, England, Durham city centre, on ...
, and this opened on 28 June 1839. The D&SR was taken over by the York and Newcastle Railway on 1 January 1847, and became part of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway that year.
East Coast Main Line
Great North of England Railway
On 13 October 1835 the York and North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840, extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton railway station, Norma ...
(Y&NMR) was formed to connect York to London by building a line from York to a junction on the planned North Midland Railway
The North Midland Railway was a railway line and Great Britain, British railway company, which opened a line from the city of Derby in Derbyshire to the city of Leeds in Yorkshire in 1840.
At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby J ...
at Normanton. Two weeks later the Great North of England Railway
The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the ...
(GNER) was formed during a meeting of representatives of the York & North Midland and Stockton & Darlington Railway
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near with ...
(S&DR). Joseph Pease Joseph Pease may refer to:
* Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), railway owner, first Quaker elected Member of Parliament
** Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet (1828–1903), MP 1865–1903, full name Joseph Whitwell Pease, son of Joseph Pea ...
of the S&DR had a plan for a line north from York to Newcastle that ran over of the S&DR between Darlington and Croft-on-Tees
Croft-on-Tees is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It has also been known as Croft Spa, and from which the former Croft Spa railway station took its name. It lies north-north west of the county town of Northallerton.
Hi ...
. To allow both sections to open at around the same time, permission for the more difficult line through the hills from Darlington to Newcastle was to be sought in 1836 and a bill for the easier line south of Darlington to York presented the following year. Pease had specified a formation wide enough for four tracks, so that freight could be carried at and passengers at , and George Stephenson had detailed plans by November.
The act of Parliament for the section from Newcastle to Darlington, the Great North of England Railway Act 1836
The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington, and originally it was planned to extend to Newcastle.
Mergers
Under the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxlii) it ...
( 6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cv), was given royal assent on 4 July 1836, but little work had been done by the time that the from Croft to York received permission on 12 July following year. In August a general meeting decided to start work on the southern section, but construction was delayed by poor labour relations with masons building the bridge over the River Tees
The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...
at Croft, and after several bridges collapsed the engineer Thomas Storey was replaced by Robert Stephenson. At York a joint and terminus was built in the city, trains entering through a pointed arch in the city wall. On 4 January 1841 the railway opened for coal traffic using S&DR locomotives, but by the time the railway opened to passengers on 30 March its own locomotives had arrived from R & W Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, from 1817 until 1885.
Locomotive building
Robert Hawthorn first began business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam engines. In 1820 ...
. From York, trains called at stations at:
*Shipton, renamed in 1898
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Croft, renamed in 1896
before terminating at a temporary station at Bank Top, near Darlington.
In 1845 the Royal Commission
A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...
's speed trials ran speed trials between York and Darlington as part of its comparison between lines built with Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
's gauge track and the gauge track used by other British railways. A locomotive reached speeds of up to , and reached hauling . Trials with locomotives built for the wider gauge showed them to have better performance, but the Commission recommended that new lines should be built using the more common 4 ft in gauge track.
Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway
In 1841 it was possible to travel between Newcastle and Darlington by taking a train to Stockton, transferring by omnibus to the other railway station in the town and catching another train to Hartlepool. After changing trains at Hartlepool and at Haswell, at Sunderland an omnibus was taken across the Wear to Monkwearmouth to a Brandling Junction train to Redheugh, where the Tyne was crossed by omnibus to Newcastle. There were three services a day and the journey took about six hours, about the same time as a horse and coach, but cheaper and more comfortable. From November 1841 a Stockton & Darlington service was introduced between Darlington and Coxhoe, where an omnibus took passengers the to the Durham and Sunderland Railway at Shincliffe. This service was withdrawn in February 1842; from May 1842 Newcastle could be reached in hours via South Church station, south of Bishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham.
M ...
, from where a four-house omnibus connected with Rainton on the Durham Junction Railway.
Although the Great North of England Railway had authority for a railway from York to Newcastle, by 1841 it had spent all of the £1,330,000 of capital that had been authorised to build the line to Darlington and could not start work on the extension to Newcastle. At the time Parliament was considering the route of a railway between England and Scotland and favouring a railway via the west coast. Railway financier George Hudson
George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the Railway Mania, railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a ...
chaired a meeting of representatives of north-eastern railways who wished such a railway to be built via the east coast, and Robert Stephenson was engaged to select a route between Darlington and Newcastle using the existing railways as much as possible. Stephenson's proposed route differed from the GNER route slightly in the southern section before joining the Durham Junction at Rainton
Rainton is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated about north of Boroughbridge, north-east of Ripon and south-west of Thirsk. The area has a village green and a maypole. There are approximately 120 houses in Ra ...
and using the Pontop & South Shields from Washington to Brockley Whins, where a new curve onto the Brandling Junction would allow direct access to Gateshead. This required the construction of of new line, shorter than the GNER route, but trains would need to travel further. However, this bypassed the S&DR, even though the railway ran parallel to the S&DR for . Joseph Pease argued that it should run over its lines as this would add only to the route. The bill was presented to Parliament in 1842, it was opposed by the S&DR and the Dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
* Dean Sw ...
and Chapter of Durham, who were asking for £12,000 for land with the N&DJR offering only £2,400; eventually a jury valued this land at £3,500. Great North of England Railway Act 1842
The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington, and originally it was planned to extend to Newcastle.
Mergers
Under the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxlii) it ...
( 5 & 6 Vict. c. lxxxiv) received royal assent on 18 June 1842, but a second act of Parliament the following year, the Great North of England Railway Act 1843
The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington, and originally it was planned to extend to Newcastle.
Mergers
Under the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxlii) it ...
( 6 & 7 Vict. c. viii), was necessary to secure the deviations from the GNER route in the south recommended by Stephenson.
The section from Rainton to Belmont and the long City of Durham branch opened on 15 April 1844. The line was carried on three timber viaducts, including one long over the Sherburn Valley, and terminated at a new Ionic order
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...
station at Greenesfield in Gateshead. The directors travelled over the route on 24 May 1844 in advance of the official opening date of 18 June 1844, when a train with nine passengers left London Euston
Euston railway station ( ; or London Euston) is a major central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station managed by Network Rail in the London Borough of Camden. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line ...
at 5:03 am, and travelling via Rugby, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield and Normanton, reached Gateshead at 2:24 pm. Three trains ran from Gateshead to Darlington to meet Hudson travelling on a train from York, before three locomotives hauling 39 first class carriages made a return journey over the line. Public services started the next day with rolling stock leased from the GNER; a journey from London took hours, of which hours was spent at stops on the way. Intermediate stations opened on the newly built line at , , , , Sherburn, Belmont and . Stations also opened on the Durham Junction Railway at and , and at on the Pontop and South Shields. For three months, until the new curve opened in August, trains reversed at Brockley Whins; this was done by detaching the locomotive from a moving train about from the junction, steaming ahead past it and reversing to take the loop line to allow the still moving carriages to pass.
Newcastle and Berwick Railway
First proposals
In the first decades of the nineteenth century, attention turned to the possibility of a railway connection between the developing railways of England, and central Scotland. The topography of the region presented obstacles: the Cheviot Hills
The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes ...
stood in the direct line between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and a more gentle course following the low-lying coastal strip appeared to be unreasonably circuitous. Crossing 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, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...
and serving Newcastle while avoiding interference with urban areas was also difficult. Viewed from Scotland it was by no means obvious that a connection to England had to pass through Newcastle, although any western route, through Carlisle, faced equally difficult terrain in the Scottish Southern Uplands
The Southern Uplands () are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the others being the Central Lowlands and the Highlands). The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to col ...
.
On 1 March 1839 plans were deposited for a ''Great North British Railway'' from Newcastle to Edinburgh. The English part of the route had been designed by George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victoria ...
, and the Scottish end by the established Scottish railway engineers Thomas Grainger
Thomas Grainger FRSE (12 November 1794 – 25 July 1852) was a Scottish civil engineer and Surveying, surveyor. He was joint partner with John Miller (engineer), John Miller in the prominent engineering firm of Grainger & Miller.
Life
Graing ...
and John Miller. The Great North British Railway did not proceed to being authorised; the money market was not amenable to financing the scheme at the time. At the Scottish end, huge public debate was generated about the route from central Scotland to what was becoming the English network. For some time it was taken for granted that only one route was viable, and numerous schemes, many of doubtful practicality, were put forward. (Some of the proposals would build a direct route across mountainous terrain, with steep gradients and prodigiously long tunnels.) A government commission, referred to as the Smith-Barlow Commission, was set up to determine the best route, but its slow deliberation and indecisive conclusion encouraged promoters to disregard it.
George Hudson was developing the network based on the York and North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840, extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton railway station, Norma ...
(Y&NMR) and the Great North of England Railway
The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the ...
, to reach Gateshead. Meanwhile, Scottish interests had decided that a line from Edinburgh to Berwick could be financed, and in 1843 a provisional North British Railway
The North British Railway was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, ...
was formed. George Hudson agreed to subscribe £50,000 through the Y&NMR. He saw that if he built a line from Newcastle to Berwick, he could gain control of the North British Railway and thereby control the entire route connecting York and Edinburgh.
So was created the proposals for the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. North of Alnmouth the proposed route intersected part of the lands owned by Earl Grey
Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscoun ...
; he had been Prime Minister but now was retired. He decided he would not accept the interference with his lands, and his son Viscount Howick took up the fight to protect the estate. A deviation was put forward by him to put the railway out of sight of the residence, but it would have substantially increased the cost of construction, and Stephenson, and later Hudson, attempted to negotiate acceptance of the original route.
Howick remained implacably opposed to the routing of the railway, and the promoters of the N&BR line decided to go ahead with their original route, on the basis that Parliament was now unsympathetic to obstruction of large projects beneficial to the public interest, on purely personal grounds.
When Viscount Howick became persuaded that his objections to the Newcastle and Berwick Bill in Parliament were unlikely to prevail, he instead proposed a rival line, the ''Northumberland Railway'', which would pass clear of the estate, to the west. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...
was engaged to engineer the line, and he decided to adopt the atmospheric system. This involved the laying of a tube between the rails; a partial vacuum was created in the tube by static pumping stations, and each train was headed by a "piston carriage" which carried a piston running in the tube. A leather flap sealed the necessary slot in the tube before and after passage of the train. The atmospheric system avoided the weight of a locomotive and its fuel and water in the train formation, and was in use without apparent difficulty on the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway
The Dalkey Atmospheric Railway (unofficial opening 19 August 1843, official opening 29 March 1844 – 12 April 1854) was an extension of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) to Atmospheric Road in Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland. It used part ...
.
The relevant railways connecting with the proposed Newcastle and Berwick Railway reached Gateshead, on the south bank of the Tyne, and it was necessary to cross the Tyne by a bridge. For some time it was not clear that the bridge needed to be in Newcastle itself, but as part of the process of gaining support (and of reducing the attractiveness of Howick's Northumberland Railway) Hudson agreed on the crossing at what became the ''High Level Bridge'' and a general, "Central" station in Newcastle. These works would cost about a third of the total cost of building the railway. Some saving was made by the agreement to purchase the Newcastle and North Shields Railway
The Newcastle and 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 & Berwi ...
, which had a Newcastle terminus at Carliol Square (close to the present-day Manors station, but immediately west of the Central Motorway viaduct) and using that company's line as far as Heaton.
Morpeth had hitherto been placed on a branch in the planned route, due to the topographical difficulties there, but as part of the matter of gaining support for the N&BR line, the route was changed to run through Morpeth, at the expense of the sharp reverse curve there. The people of Alnwick
Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.
The town is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea ...
too wanted to be on the main line, but the difficulty of achieving that prevented it, and Alnwick was relegated to a branch line.
In May 1845 the House of Lords Committee considered the Newcastle and Berwick Railway proposal and the Northumberland Railway scheme. The atmospheric principle was still a proposal for use on the South Devon Railway and the fatal operational problems which caused its removal after much expenditure on that line were still in the future.
The supposed attractiveness of the Northumberland Railway scheme was weakened by its being proposed as a single line only, nonetheless costing considerably more than the double track N&BR line. Estimation of expected traffic volumes was fairly sophisticated by this time, and attention was drawn to the limited capacity to handle the anticipated demand, especially for goods trains. Moreover, the Northumberland Railway was not planning to make connections with other railways in Newcastle and Gateshead, whereas the N&BR scheme had committed to building the High Level Bridge.
During the hearings it became increasingly obvious that the Northumberland Railway Bill was going to fail, and its promoters withdrew it. The Newcastle and Berwick Railway obtained its authorising act of Parliament, the ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. clxiii), on 31 July 1845,.[K Hoole, ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume IV: The North East'', David & Charles, Dawlish, ][John F Addyman (editor), ''A History of the Newcastle & Berwick Railway'', North Eastern Railway Association, 2011, ][
The authorised capital was £1,400,000. Branches were included in the authorisation, to Blyth, ]Alnwick
Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.
The town is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea ...
, Kelso, Warkworth, and adoption of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway.[E F Carter, ''An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles'', Cassell, London, 1959]
Constructing the N&BR
The first hurdle had been passed: the line was authorised. The Newcastle and North Shields Railway was to be acquired, so no construction was necessary from their Newcastle terminus at Carliol Square to Heaton. From there the line was to be in open country and contracts were swiftly let. However, there were several significant structures to be built on these sections, requiring viaducts at Plessey over the River Blyth, north of Morpeth over the River Wansbeck
The River Wansbeck runs through the county of Northumberland, England. It rises above Sweethope Lough on the edge of Fourlaws Forest in the area known locally as The Wanneys (Great Wanney Crag, Little Wanney Crag; thus the "Wanneys Beck"); run ...
, over the River Coquet
The River Coquet runs through the county of Northumberland, England, discharging into the North Sea on the east coast at Amble. It rises in the Cheviot Hills on the border between England and Scotland, and follows a winding course across the ...
south of Warkworth, and crossing the River Aln
The River Aln () runs through the county of Northumberland in England. It rises in Alnham in the Cheviot Hills and discharges into the North Sea at Alnmouth on the east coast of England.
The river gives its name to the town of Alnwick and the ...
.
Extensive use of temporary wooden structures was made to advance the date of opening of the line, while construction of the permanent structures continued underneath.
The section from Heaton Junction (on the North Shields line) to Morpeth, (), was opened on 1 March 1847, and on 29 March the northern section from (south of the Tweed near Berwick) to , (), was opened. Four passenger trains ran each way every weekday between Newcastle and Morpeth, and between Chathill and Tweedmouth. Road coaches filled in the gaps for the time being, and a four-hour transit from Newcastle to Berwick was achieved.[
The central section between Morpeth and Chathill posed some engineering challenges. There was a moss at Chevington which proved difficult to build over, and a high embankment near Chevington was unstable during construction. The Board of Trade Inspecting Officer visited on 14 to 17 June 1847, but the works were still incomplete; he permitted opening on 1 July 1847 on the basis that the company would complete construction by then, and the central section duly opened on that date.][Tomlinson, pages 482–483]
More challenging was the crossing of the River Tyne and the River Tweed, and that work was to take much longer.
Newcastle and North Shields Railway
The Newcastle and Berwick Railway acquired the Newcastle and North Shields Railway (N&NSR), and used its line between the Newcastle terminus and Heaton.
The Newcastle-upon-Tyne and North Shields Railway Act 1836
The Newcastle and North Shields Railway opened in June 1839 from a temporary terminus in Carliol Square railway station, Carliol Square in Newcastle upon Tyne to North Shields. The railway was absorbed by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in Novem ...
( 6 & 7 Will. 4. c. lxxvi) had received royal assent on 21 June 1836. The line opened on 18 June 1839, when two trains carried a total of 700 passengers on a return trip, followed by a celebration, which was interrupted by a violent thunderstorm that flooded the marquee. Public services started the next day.
Its Newcastle terminus was at Carliol Square on the northeast side of the city centre; the North Shields station was known as Shields at first.
In the first six months, the railway carried over 337,000 passengers. Twenty services a day were provided, taking an average of 21 minutes for the journey and in 1841 the average speed of express trains was .
In constructing the line deep valleys at the Ouse Burn and Willington Dene had to be crossed. Laminated timber arch superstructures on stone piers were used, a configuration known after its creator as the Wiebeking system. They were designed by John and Benjamin Green
John Green (29 June 1787 – 30 September 1852) and Benjamin Green (1811 – 14 November 1858) were a father and son who worked in partnership as architects in North East England during the early nineteenth century. John, the father was a civil en ...
. The Ouseburn Viaduct
Ouseburn Viaduct is a railway bridge in the East End of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It carries the East Coast Main Line over the Ouseburn Valley just east of the city centre. Designed by architects John and Benjamin Green, it was originally built with t ...
consisted of five spans of length and rise. The Willington Viaduct had seven spans of up to span. The timber arches consisted of 14 layers of timber, each , held by trenails. Both structures were replaced by iron viaducts in 1869.[M F Barbey, ''Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England'', Thomas Telford Publishing, London, 1981, ]
The railway was absorbed by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in November 1844. It was extended to Tynemouth on 29 March 1847, and independent operation continued until the line north to opened from a junction from on 1 July 1847.
The High Level Bridge
A major engineering challenge for the new company was the crossing of the River Tyne. In the period immediately prior to the authorisation of the N&BR it was by no means obvious where the crossing would be. A significant alternative was at Bill Quay, about two miles downstream from the actual High Level Bridge location, which would have left Greenesfield station, Gateshead, as the central station for the conurbation. An alternative had been a combined rail and road bridge upstream.[John Addyman and Bill Fawcett, ''The High Level Bridge and Newcastle Central Station'', North Eastern Railway Association, 1999, ]
The Newcastle and Berwick Railway Act 1845 absolved the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway from a commitment it had earlier made to build such a bridge, on condition that the company paid the N&BR £100,000 toward the construction cost. Robert Stephenson selected the double-deck configuration to carry a roadway as well as the railway in preference to a side-by-side solution simply on the ground of the complexity of the pier foundations, as it was known that finding a hard bottom in the river was going to be difficult. A masonry structure was ruled out for similar reasons, and cast iron bowstring arches were adopted. The tied arch design eliminates thrust at the abutments and piers. To avoid a clearance problem, the road deck was suspended below the arch ribs on hangers, an idea put forward by George Leather, 1787–1870, a Leeds engineer.
Acquisition of the land required for the bridge, including the approach viaducts, amounted to £135,000, over a quarter of the cost of the bridge construction.[
On 11 August 1849 Captain Laffan, Inspecting Officer of the Board of Trade, inspected the bridge; there was a load test although only the eastern track had been laid. Laffan approved the bridge and the first passenger train crossed it on 15 August 1849.][John Thomas, ''The North British Railway, volume 1'', David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969, , page 48][J A Wells, ''The Railways of Northumberland and Newcastle upon Tyne between 1828 and 1998'', Powdene Publicity Limited, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1998, ]
Trains had been passed across a temporary structure, as explained by Fletcher:
The first train passed along the temporary bridge used in the erection of the High Level Bridge on the 29th August, 1848, and afterwards over the magnificent arch which spans Dean Street. The last key on the High Level Bridge was driven by Mr. Hawks on 7th June, 1849; it was opened without any ceremony on August 14th, but was not brought into ordinary use until the following February.[James Richard Fletcher, ''The Development of the Railway System in Northumberland and Durham'', Address to the Newcastle-on-Tyne Association of Students of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1902]
Cook and Hoole say that the temporary structure for the High Level Bridge and the approach viaducts was opened on 1 September 1848, and that the permanent bridge opened on 15 August 1849.[R A Cooke and K Hoole, ''North Eastern Railway Historical Maps'', Railway and Canal Historical Society, Mold, 1975 revised 1991, ]
The railway deck was wide enough for three tracks:
The bridge is wide enough for three lines of rails on account of the width required for the roadway and footpaths underneath, but only two lines were laid on the top; afterwards a third line was added, and regularly used as a siding, with a dead-end at the Gateshead end. This was in use for many years until converted into a third running line. In an illustration by Leitch, four lines are shewn on the bridge. This shews how little an artist's sketch can be relied upon as an historical data.
Crossing the River Tweed
The contract for the Tweed crossing was not let as quickly as expected, and the foundation stone was only laid on 15 May 1847. Robert Stephenson designed the structure. It has 28 arches of span, with the rails above the river. The viaduct is on a curve. The arches have brick soffits and the pier faces are of masonry.[
Although the permanent Tweed bridge had originally been scheduled for completion in July 1849, it actually first opened to goods traffic on 20 July 1850, and was formally opened on 29 August 1850.][The Architect (periodical), 7 September 1850, quoted in Tomlinson, page 507] A special arrangement was made to pass a special passenger train for visitors to a meeting at Edinburgh for the Royal Society for the Advance of Science on 1 August 1850, only a single line being available.[M E Quick, ''Railway Passenger Stations in England Scotland and Wales—A Chronology'', The Railway and Canal Historical Society, 2002]
George Leeman, Chairman of the York Newcastle and Berwick Railway, referred to the special train, and disclosed that the full opening had been intentionally delayed to comply with Royal commitments, in a speech at a dinner in honour of Robert Stephenson in Newcastle on 30 July 1850:
Gentlemen, perhaps you will think I have said enough upon the subject of the High Level Bridge. But, there is another structure, the representation of which adorns this hall, and in regard to which in a very few weeks I hope all the gentlemen I am now addressing will feel a pleasure in being present at the opening. (Applause.) Gentlemen, you are aware that the bridge for the passage of the trains of the Company over he permanent bridge acrossthe Tweed has not been opened until the last few days, and then only for one line across the bridge. We have opened the bridge thus far at the present time for the purpose of enabling those travelling to the great meeting of the British Association at Edinburgh to pass over it rather than over the temporary structure that had been used previously. You will ask why we have delayed the laying of the second line and the complete opening of the bridge? We have done so because we considered it an undertaking of such a character that it should receive its finishing stroke from one of the highest in the land. We were anxious to celebrate the opening of the bridge by the presence of one of the most distinguished patrons of science and art in this country, Prince Albert. (Applause.) We have been in communication with his Royal Highness, and we had hoped to have been able to open the bridge at an earlier period than that at which we are now assembled; but, gentlemen, though that has not been done, I am happy to say our hopes in other respects are not only realized, but that they have been exceeded ... The announcement I am enabled to make is that not only will his Royal Highness give his own presence on that auspicious occasion, but that her Majesty the Queen will do so likewise. (Loud and continued cheering.)[Newcastle Journal, 3 August 1850]
Fletcher recorded slightly different opening dates:
The first train passed along the temporary bridge used on the erection of the High Level Bridge on the 29th August 1848 ... The last key on he permanent structure ofthe High Level Bridge was driven by Mr. Hawks on 7th June, 1849; it was opened without any ceremony on August 14th, but it was not brought into ordinary use until the following February 850
__NOTOC__
Year 850 ( DCCCL) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* February 1 – King Ramiro I dies in his palace at Santa María del Naranco (near Oviedo), after an 8-year reign ...
nbsp;... here was a formal opening later:London was connected with Edinburgh through Newcastle and Berwick, when Queen Victoria opened (29th August 1850) the bridges over the Tyne and Tweed, and the Central station, Newcastle.
Cook and Hoole have different dates for the temporary bridge: it opened on 10 October 1848, and the permanent bridge on 20 July 1850 for goods trains and 29 August 1850 for passenger trains.[ Wells says the temporary bridge opened in October 1848.][
In opening the Tweed bridge at Berwick, Queen Victoria named it ''The Royal Border Bridge''.
]
Newcastle Central station
By the time the Newcastle and Berwick Railway was authorised, Hudson had decided that a central station in Newcastle was essential. At this time too, the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway
The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) (formally, the ''Newcastle upon Tyne and Carlisle Railway'') 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 co ...
had come to terms with the fact that its alternative schemes were not to be progressed, so the central station would be jointly occupied by that company. The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway board and the city authorities of Newcastle were consulted and gave their approval to the curved station site fronting Neville Street. Little through running between the N&CR and the other liens was expected, and trains from the N&DJR running forward on the N&BR would reverse in the station, so the majority of the platforming was designed as bays, with only one through platform. Carriage stabling sidings were to be located on the south side.
The station buildings were designed by John Dobson; tenders were let for the construction on 7 August 1847. The trainshed consisted of three spans with curved wrought iron ribs supporting the roof: the first to be designed and built in Britain on this arrangement. A novel arrangement of rolling the wrought iron plates without excessive wastage due to the curvature of the webs was employed.[
The frontage to Neville Street was "a remarkably grandiloquent composition with two covered carriage drives meeting in an enormous porte-cochere, which also housed a central, processional carriage route on the axis of the main entrance".][ In fact work on it was suspended in May 1849 and only resumed early in the following year, and due to financial strictures, some simplification was carried out, including abandonment of the portico. (This was provided in 1863.)
The station was formally opened by Queen Victoria on 29 August 1850 and the following day York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway trains were diverted to the new station; Greenesfield station in Gateshead closed to passengers.][Tomlinson, page 506][
]
North British Railway
Berwick was of course not Hudson's ultimate objective in promoting the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. The North British Railway
The North British Railway was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, ...
from Edinburgh to Berwick (later known as Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
) had been promoted in 1843. Hudson arranged to subscribe £50,000 through the Y&NMR. He saw that this enabled him to make a line connecting Normanton, York and Edinburgh under his control.
The North British Railway had been subject to the frenzy of proposed schemes linking central Scotland with the developing English network and the Smith-Barlow Commission, referred to above. In fact a race was in progress to be the first railway to offer a through service to London from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the North British Railway had an effective rival in the Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...
. However at the crucial time for presenting a parliamentary bill, the Caledonian was unable to generate sufficient subscriptions, and had to delay a year to the following session, giving the North British a lead. Nonetheless, the Caledonian Railway reached Carlisle and served both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The rivalry between the two companies was to be bitter and enduring.
The North British Railway opened its main line between Edinburgh and Berwick on 22 June 1846.[David Ross, ''The North British Railway: A History'', Stenlake Publishing Limited, Catrine, 2014, ]
Opening of the Newcastle and Berwick Railway
As has been described, the section of line from Heaton Junction (on the North Shields line) to Morpeth, (), was opened on 1 March 1847, and on 29 March the northern section from (south of the Tweed near Berwick) to , (), was opened. The central section between Morpeth and Chathill was not opened until 1 July 1847.
Although the two major river crossings (of the Tyne and the Tweed) were unbridged, in October 1847 a "through service" was advertised between Edinburgh and London via Berwick, Newcastle, York, Normanton and Rugby, taking 13 hours and 10 minutes. Passengers walked, or were conveyed by coach, across the two river crossings for the time being.[
The Newcastle station was (until the opening of Central station) the N&NS station at Carliol Square. Early stations were Manors (opened 1848), Heaton (N&NS station), Killingworth, Cramlington, , Morpeth, Longhirst, Widdrington, , Warkworth, Lesbury, Longhoughton, , Christon Bank, , Lucker, Belford, Beal, Scremerston and Tweedmouth.][Cobb, 2006] The Blyth, Wansbeck, Coquet and Aln
Aln, ALN, or AlN may refer to:
Organizations
Paramilitary
* Ação Libertadora Nacional, a Brazilian Marxist–Leninist guerrilla movement
* Armée de Libération Nationale, the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front of Alge ...
rivers were crossed by timber viaducts; they were later rebuilt in masonry.
First branches
The Newcastle and Berwick Railway had obtained authorisation for a Kelso branch
The Kelso Branch was a twin track branch railway in Northumberland, England and Roxburghshire, Scotland that ran from on the East Coast Main Line via seven intermediate stations to .
History
Plans for a horse drawn railway between Berwick- ...
. It was to run from Tweedmouth
Tweedmouth is part of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, England. It is located on the south bank of the River Tweed and is connected to Berwick town centre, on the north bank, by two road bridges and a railway bridge. Tweedmout ...
, immediately south of the River Tweed near Berwick, to Kelso but strenuous objections from the Duke of Roxburghe
The Duke of Roxburghe () is a title in the peerage of Scotland created in 1707 along with the titles ''Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford'', ''Earl of Kelso'' and ''Viscount Broxmouth''. John Ker, 5th Earl of Roxburghe became the first holder ...
prevented the intended approach to the town, and the terminus was at Sprouston
Sprouston is a village, parish and former feudal barony in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, as well as the historic county of Roxburghshire, located 2 miles north-east of Kelso.Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, publ. J.G. Bartholo ...
, short, instead.
Contracts were let in 1847. There were four significant viaducts on the line. The one over the River Till, ten miles from Tweedmouth, was incomplete at the time of the inspection by Captain H. G. Wynne, the Board of Trade Inspecting Officer, but he agreed to opening over a single line at very limited speed. The line opened from a junction at Tweedmouth to Sprouston, some distance short of Kelso, on 27 July 1849. On 1 June 1851 the line was extended to Mellendene Farm, about halfway from Sprouston to Kelso, joining end on with the North British Railway branch there, although the NBR trains did not extend east of Kelso itself. Even now the Kelso station was inconveniently located south of the Tweed there, due to the Duke of Roxburghe's opposition.
A through route existed from Tweedmouth to St Boswells
St Boswells (; ) is a village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Roxburghshire.
It has a hotel, pos ...
on what became the Waverley Route
The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remaind ...
and through running was originally contemplated. However except for a Sunday train in the twentieth century, this was never done, and indeed the timetables east and west of Kelso were not coordinated so that no useful connection for passengers was available there. The Tweedmouth junction faced south, so that Berwick to Kelso trains had to reverse there.[Christopher Dean, ''The Kelso Branch'', in Addyman][Roger Darsley and Dennis Lovett, ''Berwick to St Boswells via Kelso including the Jedburgh Branch'', Middleton Press, Midhurst, 2015, ]
Alnwick was the most important town in the vicinity, and it was desired to bring the main line through the town, but the terrain made that impracticable. On the first opening of the main line there was a "Lesbury" station, close to the present-day , but a branch line from there had been authorised in the original Act of Parliament. It duly opened for goods trains on 19 August 1850; passenger trains started running on 1 October 1850. There were no intermediate stations on the branch.[
A branch to ]Amble
Amble is a town on the North Sea coast of Northumberland, England, at the mouth of the River Coquet; Coquet Island is visible from its beaches and harbour. In 2021, the parish of Amble by the Sea had a population of 5,860.
Etymology
There ...
was also authorised; there was an important harbour there (known as Warkworth) and a colliery at Broomhill nearby. A branch ran from Amble Junction, near , through to and the harbour, opening for mineral traffic, always the dominant business, on 5 September 1849. The line was doubled between Broomhill and Warkworth. Passenger traffic was considerably delayed, starting on 2 June 1879, with stations at Broomhill and Amble. (Warkworth station had always been on the main line.)
The passenger business was always thin, and it was withdrawn on 7 July 1930. Mineral traffic continued but declined after World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the line closed on 14 December 1964.[
A branch to Blyth was authorised in the Newcastle and Berwick Railway Act 1845, but this was not proceeded with. The ]Blyth and Tyne Railway
The Blyth and Tyne Railway was a railway company in Northumberland, England, incorporated by Act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament on 30 June 1852. It was created to unify the various private railways and Wagonway, waggonways built to carry ...
had a connection there.[J A Wells, ''The Blyth and Tyne Railway'', Northumberland County Library, 1989, ]
Amalgamations
During the railway mania
Railway Mania was a stock market bubble in the rail transportation industry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, speculators invested more mon ...
of the mid-1840s many people invested in railway companies, believing it a means of quickly getting rich. In the three years between 1844 and 1846 Parliament passed 438 acts giving permission for over of line, many in direct competition with existing railways. Hudson was brought up in a farming community and started adult life as a draper's assistant in York. In 1827, when he was 27 years old, he inherited £30,000. He had no former interest in railways, but seeing them as a profitable investment, he formed the York & North Midland Railway in 1835; by the mid-1840s he was also chairman of the Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...
, Newcastle & Berwick and Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railways. Called the "Railway King" by the preacher Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith (3 June 1771 – 22 February 1845) was an English wit, writer, and Anglican cleric. Besides his energetic parochial work, he was known for his writing and philosophy, founding the ''Edinburgh Review'', lecturing at the Royal Inst ...
, he was said to have the favour of Albert, the Prince Consort. So as to better promote the bills submitted by the railway companies he controlled, Hudson successfully stood as a Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Member of Parliament for Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
in 1845.
Hudson bought the railway companies over which the N&DJR ran to Newcastle; the Durham Junction was purchased in 1843 and the Brandling Junction the following year and he arranged to buy the Pontop and South Shields and Durham & Sunderland railways, although these were not absorbed until 1847. Hudson was concerned with the progress of the Great Northern Railway, that was building a railway north from London; if it succeeded in linking up with the Great North of England Railway at York, traffic between England and Scotland would be diverted from the Y&NMR, to his detriment. In 1845 Hudson made a generous offer to lease the GNER and buy it within five years, and that year GNER shares increased in value by 44 per cent as the N&DJR took over operations on 1 July 1845. On 27 July 1846 the N&DJR changed its name to the York and Newcastle Railway and on 9 August 1847, less than a year later, merging with the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. The combined company was named the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway.
At the end of 1848 the dividend paid by the YN&BR dropped from nine per cent to six per cent and at the subsequent half-yearly shareholders meeting the very high cost of certain GNER shares bought during the merger was questioned. The company had purchased them from Hudson; an investigating committee was set up and as improper dealings were revealed, Hudson resigned as chairman in May 1849. The committee reported on a number of irregularities in the account, such as inflating traffic figures and charging capital items to the revenue account, thus paying dividends out of capital. No dividend was paid for the first half year of 1849, and Hudson was to pay £212,000 settling claims over share transactions. The company was unable to complete the purchase of the GNER when this became due in July 1850, and agreement was reached to pay in three instalments over six years.
Operations
Services
Early railway steam locomotives had no brakes, although some tenders were fitted with them, and there were no weatherboards, the driver and firemen wearing moleskin
Moleskin is a heavy cotton fabric, woven and then shorn to create a short, soft pile on one side. The feel and appearance of its nap is suede-like, less plush than velour and more like felt or chamois. The word is also used for clothing made fr ...
suits for protection. The YN&BR absorbed the locomotives of the earlier companies and established a locomotive works at Gateshead; those of the Brandling Junction, Newcastle and North Shields and Great North of England railways had six wheels, with two, four or six driven. Purpose-built railway carriages began to be used from 1834, replacing the stage coaches that had been converted for railway use. Luggage and sometimes the guard travelled on the carriage roof; a passenger travelling third class suffered serious injuries after falling from the roof on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1840. Carriages were lit by oil lamps, smoking was banned by all the early railways and third class and many second class compartments had no upholstery. Mixed trains, passenger carriages coupled together with mineral and goods wagons, were common; coal was carried in chaldron wagons and goods on low-sided trucks.
When the Great North of England Railway opened in 1841, the fastest train between York and Darlington was the London Mail. Connecting at York with a service that had travelled overnight from London, this travelled the to Darlington in 2 hours 5 minutes, an average speed of . By 1854, when the North Eastern Railway was formed, express trains were travelling between York and Berwick at about .
A system of red and white flags on poles was used to signal to engine drivers where the Brandling and Stanhope & Tyne railways crossed at Brockley Whins; a white flag meant a Brandling Junction train could proceed and a red was hoisted for a Stanhope and Tyne train. Lamps with coloured light were used at night. Discs were connected to the points at the ends of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway line to show drivers their position. Originally paper tickets were written out by the clerk in a time-consuming process, so some railways, such as the Brandling Junction Railway, closed the station doors five minutes before trains were due to depart. With such as system it was difficult to keep accurate records, and Thomas Edmondson
Thomas Edmondson (30 June 1792 in Lancaster, England – 22 June 1851 in Manchester, England) was the inventor of the Edmondson railway ticket.
He was a Quaker and originally worked at the Gillow cabinet making business in Lancaster.
...
, a Newcastle and Carlisle Railway station master printed numbered card tickets, which were dated by a press first used in 1837. The GNER issued such tickets from 1841. The electric telegraph
Electrical telegraphy is Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecom ...
was installed in 1846–47 on the York & Newcastle and Newcastle & Berwick railways.
New lines
A railway between Leeds and Thirsk
Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England; it is known for its racecourse and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby.
History
Archeological finds indicate there was a settlement in Thirsk aro ...
was proposed in 1844, and on 21 July 1845 the Leeds & Thirsk Railway obtained permission in the Leeds and Thirsk Railway Act 1845
The Leeds Northern Railway (LNR), until 1851 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, was an English railway company that built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk. In 1845 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission for ...
( 8 & 9 Vict. c. civ) for a railway that connected Leeds directly with the GNER at Thirsk. The company wished to reach the Stockton & Hartlepool Railway at Billingham via a line that crossed under the GNER's line at Northallerton. Hudson argued for a route using the lines of the Great North of England, Newcastle & Darlington Junction and the Hartlepool Dock & Railway, but in the second Leeds and Thirsk act, the Leeds and Hartlepool Railway Act 1846
The Leeds Northern Railway (LNR), until 1851 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, was an English railway company that built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk. In 1845 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission for ...
( 9 & 10 Vict. c. cxlix), the L&TR was given permission to build a line from Northallerton and only required to run over the GNER between Thirsk and Northallerton. Freight trains started running between Ripon and Thirsk on 5 January 1848 before the line was formally opened on 31 May 1848, public traffic starting the next day. Trains started running through to a temporary terminus in Leeds in July 1849. The Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission to change its name to the Leeds Northern Railway on 3 July 1851, and on 22 July 1848 a direct route to Stockton passing under what was now the YN&BR at Northallerton was authorised, this opening on 2 June 1852.
The GNER had applied for a branch line to Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, a city in the United States
* Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
in 1844, but it was the York & Newcastle that opened the branch with three intermediate stations on 10 September 1846. The GNER had also been given permission for three more branches in 1846; a branch from to , authorised by the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. xcv), opened on 17 June 1847 and one from Northallerton to , authorised by the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. xcvi), in 1848. Permission for a line to Malton was given in 1846 to the GNER, altered in 1847 by the York & Newcastle, and again in 1848 by the York, Newcastle & Berwick before this single track branch opened on 19 May 1853. The East & West Yorkshire Junction Railway had been authorised on 16 July 1846 for a line from the former GNER main line just outside York to Knaresborough
Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023.
History
The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...
. The line was initially worked by the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway when it opened to a temporary station at Hay Park Lane on 30 October 1848, the line was then worked by E. B. Wilson and Company, before the railway was absorbed by the York & North Midland on 1 July 1851.
On the main line a direct line from Washington to Pelaw avoiding Brockley Whins was authorised in 1845 and opened 1 September 1849. From 15 August 1849 trains crossed the high level bridge in Newcastle, which was formally opened by Queen Victoria on 28 September. On 8 August 1850 the first through GNR train from London arrived at York, having started at a temporary station at . Work started in 1847 on the Royal Border Bridge
The Royal Border Bridge spans the River Tweed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed railway viaduct built between 1847 and 1850, when it was opened by Queen Victoria. It was designed by Robe ...
, a 28 arch long viaduct engineered by Robert Stevenson, to cross the Tweed Valley
The Tweed River is a river situated in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. From the middle reaches of its course, the state boundary between New South Wales and Queensland is located approximately north.
The river rises ...
that stood between the N&BR at Tweedmouth and the North British Railway at Berwick. Freight trains crossed the bridge from 28 July 1850 and the structure was opened formally by Queen Victoria on 29 August 1850, the day she opened the station at Newcastle Central.
The N&DJR had been given permission in 1846 for a line from Penshaw, on the main line just south of Washington, to a station in Fawcett Street in Sunderland. The line opened to freight on 20 February 1852 and passengers were carried after 1 June 1853. Authority for line through the Team Valley
Team Valley is a trading estate located in Gateshead. It is home to the Retail World retail park, with many large, international companies based in the area's trading estate. In 2017, there were approximately 700 companies on the estate, employin ...
to Bishop Auckland was given to the YN&BR in 1848, but work did not start following Hudson's departure the following year.
Locomotives
;Locomotive list
;Notes
# Running numbers are those applied by the North Eastern Railway. Numbers applied by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway are unknown
# Running number order is not always consistent with dates. It is likely that numbers of withdrawn locomotives were re-used on new locomotives
Accidents and incidents
On 2 February 1850, the firebox of a locomotive collapsed whilst it was hauling a freight train near Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...
. Two people were killed.
North Eastern Railway
In 1852 the Leeds Northern Railway reached Stockton, made an alliance with the YN&BR's competitors and a price war broke out, the fare for the between Leeds and Newcastle dropping to two shillings. Harrison, who had become General Manager and Engineer of the YN&BR, favoured merger with LNR and Y&NMR as the route to peace, and he was able to show his own board the increased profit that amalgamation had brought the YN&BR. The agreement of the boards of the three railway companies was reached in November 1852 that the shares of the three companies remain separate but replaced by Berwick Capital Stock, York Capital Stock and Leeds Capital Stock, with dividends paid from pooled revenue. However, the deal was rejected by the shareholders of the Leeds Northern, who felt their seven per cent share of revenue too low and joint operation was agreed instead of merger with Harrison appointed General Manager. The benefits of this joint working allowed Harrison to raise the offer to the Leeds Northern shareholders, and by royal assent on 31 July 1854 the three companies merged to form the North Eastern Railway; with of line, becoming the largest railway company in the country.
The line through the Team Valley that had been planned in 1846 was built to link from the main line south of Leamside station to Bishop Auckland. An deep cutting was dug at Neville's Cross
Neville's Cross is a place in the civil parish of the City of Durham, in County Durham, England. It is also a ward of Durham with a population taken at the 2011 census of 9,940. It is situated on the A167 trunk road to the west of the centre o ...
and two timber and three stone viaducts were built, one with eleven arches through west of the City of Durham; passenger trains ran over the line from 1857. North of Durham, a line from Gateshead through to a junction at Newton Hall opened in 1868. From 1872 this became the new main line after a line opened from Tursdale Junction the N&DJR to this branch at Relly Mill, south of the Durham Viaduct. In 1877 a new station opened at Haswell, connecting the former Durham & Sunderland and Hartlepool Docks & Railway lines, and at York a through station outside the city walls replaced the old terminus that had required trains to reverse before continuing. In 1879 a bridge opened over the Wear, allowing access from the former Brandling Junction Railway to a new central station in Sunderland.
The former Newcastle & North Shields Railway line, together with later extensions through Tynemouth and the Riverside branch, was electrified in 1903, and passengers carried on the new trains from 1904. The Londonderry, Seaham & Sunderland Railway, which had opened along the coast in 1854, was taken over by the NER in 1900 and extended to Hart, from Hartlepool on the former Hartlepool Docks & Railway line; the new coast line opened in 1905. The King Edward VII Bridge
The King Edward VII Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the River Tyne between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, in North East England. It is a Grade II listed structure. The King Edward VII bridge has been described as “Britain’s last gr ...
opened in 1906 allowing east coast main line trains access to the station from the west, so they no longer needed to reverse at Newcastle station.
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 (LNER). Britain's railways were nationalised on 1 January 1948 and the former York, Newcastle & Berwick lines were placed under the control of British Railways.
Legacy
Today's East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
is an electric high-speed railway that between York and Berwick follows, for the most part, the original route of the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway. Between York and Northallerton there are a pair of fast lines with a speed limit of and a pair of slow lines that are limited to . Passenger services over the former Leeds Northern Railway line through Harrogate to Northallerton were withdrawn in 1967, but the line north to Stockton remains. The branch to Boroughbridge, extended to in 1875, closed to passengers in 1950 and completely in 1964 when the goods service was withdrawn. Services to Malton terminated at from 1931, and services were withdrawn completely in 1953. The Bedale branch, extended to in 1856 and to in 1878, closed to passengers in 1954 and completely in 1964. Only Northallerton and Thirsk stations remain open between York and Darlington, Eryholme having closed in 1911 and the rest in 1958, except for Croft Spa that was served by Richmond branch trains until this closed in 1969.
North of Darlington line speeds are between on a two track railway that follows the N&DJR route until Tursdale Junction, where trains now take the Team Valley line to Newcastle. The old main line, the Leamside Line to Pelaw, has been closed since the present main line was electrified in 1991, but Network Rail are considering reopening the line as a diversionary route for freight. Regular passenger services on the line built by the D&SR terminated at from 1931 and were withdrawn between Sunderland and Pittington in 1953, passenger trains over the line between Hartlepool and Haswell having been withdrawn the previous year. The Penshaw branch to Sunderland closed to passengers in 1964. The former BJR line to Sunderland remains open, with services running through Sunderland on to Hartlepool via the coast line. The passenger service over the former Pontop & South Shields Railway line was withdrawn in 1955 and the Heritage railway, heritage Tanfield Railway runs over the Tanfield branch, this having closed in 1964.
Diesel multiple units replaced the electric trains on the former Newcastle & North Shields Railway line between 1967 and 1980, when Tyne & Wear Metro opened via Benton; the line was closed for reconstruction until 1982, reopening with electric units between Walkergate and Tynemouth. North of Newcastle the line follows the formation built by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway; speeds over this two track line are limited to . The line to Kelso closed in 1965, the Alnwick branch in 1968 and the Amble branch in 1969.
In 1888 it took hours to travel from London to Edinburgh; this schedule was reduced by fifteen minutes after trains included restaurant carriages and the stop to allow passengers to eat en route was no longer necessary. When the The Coronation (train), Coronation Express started in 1937 it took 6 hours to travel from London to Edinburgh. Today, trains cover the distance in under hours, with the 05:40 'Flying Scotsman' service taking exactly 4 hours, between Edinburgh and Kings Cross, making only 1 stop at Newcastle.
See also
*:File:York, Newcastle & Berwick, York & North Midland, Leeds Northern maps.jpg, York, Newcastle & Berwick, York & North Midland, Leeds Northern map Map of the system in 1854
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
{{commons category, York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company
The National Archives
North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom)
Standard gauge railways in England
Railway companies established in 1847
Railway companies disestablished in 1854
1847 establishments in England
British companies established in 1847
1854 disestablishments in England