Tees Marshalling Yard is a railway marshalling yard, used to separate railway wagons, located near Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, Northern England.
Tees Marshalling Yard is a railway marshalling yard, used to separate railway wagons, located near Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, Northern England.
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.
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.
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]
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census, in the Teesside built-up area.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thornaby 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Tees Valley Metro was a project to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running. The project was backed by all the local authorities through which the system would have run, the authorities are: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-On-Tees. Support was also forthcoming from the Department for Transport. The project has been cancelled due to lack of funding. Focus is now on Northern Rail franchise. Of the original "Tees Valley Metro" project, only the construction of a new station at James Cook University Hospital has come to fruition.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.