Tees Marshalling Yard

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An ex-NER Class T2 0-8-0 No.63347 passes through Thornaby with a westward Class H train, consisting mainly of flat-wagons conveying steel slabs from Dorman Long. 28 March 1955, photo by Ben Brooksbank Thornaby railway station geograph-2865574-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
An ex-NER Class T2 0-8-0 No.63347 passes through Thornaby with a westward Class H train, consisting mainly of flat-wagons conveying steel slabs from Dorman Long. 28 March 1955, photo by Ben Brooksbank
A British Rail Class 56 No.56039 in Loadhaul livery hauls a trainload of salt from Boulby into Tees Marshalling Yard, July 1998 Trainload of salt from Boulby arriving at Tees Yard - geograph.org.uk - 492255.jpg
A British Rail Class 56 No.56039 in Loadhaul livery hauls a trainload of salt from Boulby into Tees Marshalling Yard, July 1998
A Mainline-liveried British Rail Class 60 passes westwards through Tees Marshalling Yard with a steel stock service, May 2005. Thornaby TMD can be seen in the back of the picture Railway Marshalling Yards - geograph.org.uk - 10920.jpg
A Mainline-liveried British Rail Class 60 passes westwards through Tees Marshalling Yard with a steel stock service, May 2005. Thornaby TMD can be seen in the back of the picture

Tees Marshalling Yard is a railway marshalling yard, used to separate railway wagons, located near Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, Northern England.

Contents

Background

The yard lay on the original Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) extension to Port Darlington, developed from 1828 under the instructions of influential Quaker banker, coal mine owner and S&DR shareholder Joseph Pease, who had sailed up the River Tees to find a suitable new site down river of Stockton on which to place new coal staithes. As a result, in 1829 he and a group of Quaker businessmen bought 527 acres (213 ha) of land described as "a dismal swamp", [1] and established the Middlesbrough Estate Company. Through the company, the investors intended to develop both a new port, and a suitable town to supply its labour. [1] On 27 December 1830, the S&DR opened an extension across the river to a station at Newport, almost directly north of the current Middlesbrough railway station. [1] The S&DR quickly later renamed this new station and associated six-coal staithe dock facility as Port Darlington, [2] hoping to market the facility further. So successful was the port, a year after opening the population of Port Darlington had reached 2,350. [2]

However, with Port Darlington overwhelmed by the volume of imports and exports, in 1839 work started on Middlesbrough Dock. Laid out by Sir William Cubitt, the whole infrastructure was built by resident civil engineer George Turnbull. [2] After three years and an expenditure of £122,000 (equivalent to £9.65m at 2011 prices), [2] the formal opening occurred on 12 May 1842. On completion, the docks were bought by the S&DR.

Erimus Marshalling Yard

As Middlesbrough developed, additional railway facilities were required to marshall goods wagons, and allow workers to access the docks and associated industries. So in 1882 South Stockton railway station was built by the North Eastern Railway, opened on 1 October. In 1892 Parliament granted a charter that created the Borough of Thornaby-on-Tees, which incorporated the village of Thornaby and South Stockton, and so on 1 November 1892 the name of the station was also changed. [3]

Thornaby was located on a busy and hence important section of the line for the NER, between Newport and Middlesbrough Dock to the east, and Bowesfield Junction to the west, which had the busiest signal box on the NER system. [3] In 1910, the NER hence built the new Erimus Marshalling Yard, named after the motto of Middlesbrough. [4]

In 1914, as an early adopter of overhead line railway electrification, the NER built the Electric Freight 1 locomotives to haul coal from the Witton Park Colliery at Shildon, along the former Clarence Railway to Redmarshall and then down the Castle Eden Railway to Erimus, for export from Middlesbrough Dock. During the 1920s the coal traffic declined and some of the locomotives became surplus to requirements. The NER was grouped in 1923 as part of the London and North Eastern Railway, and by 1935 the LNER had replaced the electric locomotives with steam. [5]

Although bombed by the Nazi Luftwaffe during World War II, the yard survived and thrived.

Tees Marshalling Yard

In the mid 1950s as part of British Railways modernisation plan, projects were developed to centralise the marshalling of goods wagons and the associated servicing of steam locomotives at the UK's largest freight hubs. [5]

66087 in Tees Yard with a steel train from Scunthorpe for the beam mill in 2011 66087 In Tees Yard sidings with a Steel train from Scunthorpe.jpg
66087 in Tees Yard with a steel train from Scunthorpe for the beam mill in 2011

Teesside had a number of marshalling yards servicing the coal mines and steel mills of Consett, West County Durham and North Yorkshire, as well as those for Middlesbrough Dock. The decision was hence taken to rationalise these to one yard, and in 1957 to the immediate west of Erimus, BR developed the new Tees Marshalling Yard and associated Thornaby TMD. [6] Initially developed as a hump shunting facility, by the time construction was completed in 1963 wagon-shunting had been replaced by Containerisation and Merry-go-round trains, and hence hump shunting ceased. [7]

Tees Yard 2016 Tees Marshalling Yard (geograph 5874189).jpg
Tees Yard 2016

However, with rationalisation in the local coal mining and steel making industry – particularly the closure of Consett Steel Works in 1980 – it closed in stages from 1985 with the run-down of rail freight in the area and Great Britain in general. Taken over by EWS (English, Welsh & Scottish railways) upon the privatisation of British Rail (which then became DB Schenker Rail (UK)), with the closure of Middlesbrough Dock in 1980 and the development of Teesport further down stream, Thornaby became isolated from its main source of traffic.

The Down Yard is completely closed apart from the Down Staging sidings which remain open to all freight operators. The Up yard remains busy to this day shunting traffic for the nearby steel works and as an intermediary point for long distance flows. The Yard consists of Arrivals and Departures at the Thornaby end, numbered 1 to 5 for the Departures and 6 to 12 for the arrivals. There is then a shunt neck leading to 42 Primary sorting sidings. There is a small group of sidings called the Sectional Sidings which are used for wagon Maintenance and Locomotive Servicing. Thornaby Depot closed in 2008 and was demolished in 2011. Most of the track has been lifted, however the old Ash pits are used for wagon storage and there are some sidings to the south called the New Sidings which are used for the storage and maintenance of Tamping machines.

Present

Part of the site has been redeveloped as the 42-acre (17 ha) Maze Park Nature Reserve. [8] Created by the Teesside Development Corporation, [9] the reserve is a narrow triangle of land bounded by the River Tees, the old river Tees, and the former rail marshalling yard, [10] [11] [12] owned and run by the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. [10] [13]

Middlesbrough Council have the rest of the site marked for long term redevelopment, subject to the mainline railways being moved west on the site, and accepting the fact that the site is within a zone 2 flood risk area.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Tees</span> East coast river of Northern England

The River Tees, in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for 85 miles (137 km) to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries on Teesside in its lower reaches, where it has provided the means of import and export of goods to and from the North East England. The need for water further downstream also meant that reservoirs were built in the extreme upper reaches, such as Cow Green.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockton and Darlington Railway</span> English railway company, 1825 to 1863

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 collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton in County Durham, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port at Middlesbrough. While coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from the start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thornaby-on-Tees</span> Town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the south bank of the River Tees, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Middlesbrough and roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Stockton, it forms part of the Teesside built-up area. It had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census. The town is home to Queen's Campus, Durham University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tees Valley</span> Combined authority area in Northern England

Tees Valley is a combined authority area in Northern England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley; the local term for the valley is Teesdale. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom)</span> British railway company, active 1854–1922

The North Eastern Railway (NER) was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854 by the combination of several existing railway companies. Later, it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923. Its main line survives to the present day as part of the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durham Coast Line</span> Railway line in North East England

The Durham Coast Line is an approximately 39.5-mile (63.6 km) railway line running between Newcastle and Middlesbrough in North East England. Heavy rail passenger services, predominantly operated Northern Trains, and some freight services operate over the whole length of the line; it provides an important diversionary route at times when the East Coast Main Line is closed. Light rail services of the Tyne and Wear Metro's Green Line also operate over the same tracks between a junction just south of Sunderland station and Pelaw Junction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tees Valley line</span> Railway route, in Northern England

The Tees Valley Line is a rail route, in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of 38 miles (61 km), and connects Bishop Auckland to Saltburn via Darlington, Middlesbrough and 14 other stations in the Teesdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NER Class P3</span>

The North Eastern Railway (NER) Class P3, classified J27 by the LNER, is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive. The P3 Class was designed by Wilson Worsdell and was a relatively minor modification of the existing North Eastern Railway Class P2. The most significant change was a deeper firebox with shallower sloping fire grate. This was achieved by raising the boiler slightly, and by reducing the clearance between the firebox and the rear axle. The P3 Class were a freight engine by nature and used for hauling long trains of freight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thornaby railway station</span> Railway station in North Yorkshire, England

Thornaby, originally South Stockton, is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 3 miles 17 chains (5.2 km) south-west of Middlesbrough, serves the market town of Thornaby-on-Tees, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by TransPennine Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middlesbrough railway station</span> Railway station in North Yorkshire, England

Middlesbrough is a railway station on the Durham Coast Line, Esk Valley Line and Tees Valley Line. The station serves the town of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by TransPennine Express. Direct destinations include Darlington, Saltburn, Sunderland, Newcastle, York, and Manchester Airport. There is a direct service to London Kings Cross once per weekday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockton railway station (County Durham)</span> Railway station in County Durham, England

Stockton is a railway station on the Durham Coast Line, which runs between Newcastle and Middlesbrough via Hartlepool. The station, situated 5 miles 45 chains (9.0 km) west of Middlesbrough, serves the market town of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gateshead TMD</span> Locomotive maintenance yard in the North of England

Gateshead TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Gateshead, England. The depot code was 52A during the steam era and GD later on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thornaby TMD</span>

Thornaby TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Thornaby, England, latterly operated by DB Schenker. The depot was situated to the east of Thornaby, on the northern side of the line to Middlesbrough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redmarshall railway station</span> Former railway station in County Durham, England

Redmarshall railway station was a railway station on the North Eastern Railway, in County Durham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Railway</span> Former railway company in England

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 Darlington Railway (S&DR). It suffered financial difficulty soon after it opened because traffic was low and the S&DR charged a high rate for transporting coal to the Clarence, and the company was managed by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners after July 1834. An extension of the Byers Green branch was opened in 1839 by the independent West Durham Railway to serve collieries in Weardale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferryhill railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Ferryhill railway station was located in Ferryhill, County Durham, Northeast England. It was located on what became the East Coast Main Line between Darlington and Durham, close to the junctions with several former branches, including the extant freight-only Stillington Line to Norton-on-Tees and Stockton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Eden Railway</span> Railway line in County Durham, England

The Castle Eden Railway was a railway line built by the North Eastern Railway between Bowesfield Junction near Stockton-on-Tees and Wingate, County Durham, Northeast England. Although its route actually never went near Castle Eden, it was also informally known as the "Cuckoo Line".

Wynyard railway station was a railway station on the Castle Eden branch of the North Eastern Railway (NER) from 1880 to 1931. It was located immediately to the south of the bridge carrying the Hartlepool to Sedgefield road and served little more than a few scattered hamlets, including Embleton and Swainston. Despite its name, the station was poorly situated for Wynyard Park which was better served by the neighbouring station at Thorpe Thewles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Middlesbrough</span>

Middlesbrough started as a Benedictine priory on the south bank of the River Tees, its name possibly derived from it being midway between the holy sites of Durham and Whitby. The earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is "Mydilsburgh", containing the term burgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healey Mills Marshalling Yard</span> Disused railway yard in West Yorkshire, England

Healey Mills Marshalling Yard was a railway marshalling yard located in the village of Healey, south west of Ossett in West Yorkshire, England. The yard was opened in 1963 and replaced several smaller yards in the area. It was part of the British Transport Commission's Modernisation plan, and so was equipped with a hump to enable the efficient shunting and re-ordering of goods wagons. The yard lost its main reason for existence through the 1970s and 1980s when more trains on the British Rail system became block trains where their wagons required less, or more commonly, no shunting.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cargo Fleet". Dusused Stations. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Paul Delplanque (17 November 2011). "Middlesbrough Dock 1839–1980". Middlesbrough Gazette . Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 Paul Delplanque (26 June 2009). "The jewel on the line". Middlesbrough Gazette . Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  4. Appleby, K.C. (1990). Shildon-Newport in Retrospect: the Fore-runner of Main Line Electrification. Lincoln: RCTS. p. 11. ISBN   0-901115-67-3.
  5. 1 2 "Thornaby TMD". 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  6. Bulger, Paul (1984). BR Steam Motive Power Depots NER. Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN   0-7110-1362-4.
  7. "Tees Marshalling Yard". Rail Brit. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  8. "Maze Park Nature Reserve". teeswildlife.org. The Wildlife Trust – Tees Valley. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  9. "Maze Park". Gazette Live. Teesside: Evening Gazette. 23 May 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Development Strategy – Green Blue Heart". smi-teesvalley.co.uk. Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  11. "Take a trip to Barrage". ICTeesside. Teesside: Evening Gazette. 8 September 2005. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  12. "The Green Blue Heart" (PDF). smi-teesvalley.co.uk. Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  13. "Brownfields – Habitat Action Plan" (PDF). teesvalleybiodiversity.org.uk. Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2009.

54°33′35″N1°17′21″W / 54.5598°N 1.2893°W / 54.5598; -1.2893