How Tynedale snubbed father of railways
Last updated 13:11, Thursday, 13 November 2008
Every schoolboy knows of Wylam’s George Stephenson and his iconic Rocket, and Britain’s greatest engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
But how many know that both these legends of the Industrial Revolution were passed over when it came to leaving a permanent mark on Tynedale?
For while Stephenson was immortalised on a £5 note, he was turned down when it came to the building of the Newcastle-Carlisle railway.
When it was completed in 1838, it was the first railway to cross Britain, from the Carlisle canal in the west to Gateshead in the east.
A cavalcade of 13 trains chugged and rattled along the newly-laid tracks amidst scenes of great rejoicing.
And now no-one need have any excuse for a lack of knowledge about the line, for Bill Fawcett of the North Eastern Railway Society has produced a stunning and lavishly illustrated 248-page account of the planning and early history of the ground breaking project.
Unlike many thousands of its contemporaries, the Newcastle-Carlisle route continues to play a key role in the country’s rail network, but remarkably the railway almost wasn’t a railway at all.
Nor was it designed for use by steam locomotives – it was more of a turnpike road with rails, whereby carriages would be hauled by horses.
The use of steam locomotives was prohibited for the length of the line, and even the construction of stationary steam engines was banned in the vicinity of he country houses of the gentry, including Bywell Hall.
In the latter years of the 18th century, all the talk was of providing a navigable canal, running from the Solway First to the Tyne.
Canals were big business in the 1700s, and as early as 1710 there was a proposal to build a canal from Newburn to Hexham.
However, it wasn’t until 1795 that William Chapman unveiled plans for a coast to coast canal, with branches running to Penrith, and up the North Tyne Valley, to serve the lead industry in the North Pennines.
It was to have cost a massive £355,000 even then, and was rejected at its third reading in the House of Commons.
Other canal schemes were put forward, but by 1805, engineers’ thoughts had turned to providing a railway rather than a canal.
The route of Chapman’s canal was still favoured though, and by 1824, Chapman himself had switched allegiance to the permanent way.
Cost was the deciding factor, with the railway line costing around a third of the cost of the canal.
Finally, it was agreed at a meeting in Newcastle’s Moot Hall on March 26, 1825, that a railway be built at an estimated cost of £300,000.
The coast of the canal by this time has reached £888,000.
The landed gentry invested heavily in the infant railway, notably Col Coulson of Blenkinsopp Hall, with his colliery interests, and the Beaumont family, with their lead mines in Allendale and Weardale.
Chapman was still engaged in numerous other projects, so in stepped colliery railwayman Benjamin Thompson, who offered to help Chapman free of charge – but ultimately took over as engineer.
Chapman was increasingly sidelined, and was merely a bystander by the time the scheme succeeded after a rough ride through the Commons on May 22, 1829.
An engineer was sought, from a short list which included George Stephenson – who always bore a grudge against the Newcastle Carlisle line because he had not been consulted on the building of a railway so near to his Wylam home – and an unknown young man of 23 called Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
However, Brunel was only second choice, and the job went to a shareholder in the company, Francis Giles.
In fits and starts, hindered by frequent cash flow problems, the railway limped towards completion.
The first section, from Hexham to Blaydon, was formally opened on March 9, 1835, although it had been used unofficially to carry lead from Hexham six months earlier.
The final stretch from Blaydon to Newcastle was not completed until May 1839.
By the time of the formal opening, the ban on steam locomotives had been lifted, on the understanding that only smokeless coke was used rather than coal.
Subsequently, the locos Rapid and Comet were employed to travel from Blaydon to Hexham, each carrying a brass band, and pulling 29 carriages, with a total weight of over 100 tons.
All went smoothly, although Comet’s boiler twice had to be topped up with water from the Tyne.
The final stretch opened from Blenkinsopp to Haydon Bridge in June 1838, when the partying went a little awry.
Six trains left Carlisle at 6am to reach Redheugh at 9.30am, and the Mayor and corporation from Carlisle were conveyed across the river by barge for a reception at the city’s Assembly Rooms.
Thirteen trains made the return journey, but two of the trains collided, the group was swamped by heavy rain and eager crowds commandeered some of the reserved carriages.
The launch and early days of the railway are fascinating, but only true railway buffs and engineers would draw satisfaction for the central section of the book’s dissection of individual bridges and engineering accomplishments.
Similarly, details of chimney stack spark arresting cages, sand boxes, and whether the lettering on the side of locomotives was with or without serifs will leave many cold, as will the dimensions of sleeper blocks .
Steam ahead a bit though, and it’s soon back to the interesting stuff, concerning accidents.
During the 1830s and 40s, the directors of the railway company were able to boast they had never actually killed a passenger – although there were a few fatalities amongst their own workforce, not to mention unlucky pedestrians and horsemen.
It was felt rail travel was still safer than coach travel, with its inherent risk of bolting horses, toppling carriages and wheels falling off, but that being said, derailments were a frequent problem, as were boiler explosions.
More often than not it was pedestrians wandering along the line, unaware of the time it took a train to stop, or that the driver was unable to take any avoiding action, who were killed. Death and loss of limbs amongst employees was also common in shunting operations.
One of the more spectacular incidents occurred at Allerwash, near Newbrough, in July 1852, when a bridge was swept away, and carriages plunged into the raging Allerwash burn.
“No passengers were killed, but seven were rather hurt,” said a laconic contemporary report.
Fire also posed a regular hazard, with the engines constantly spitting out red hot cinders.
Such a cinder was blamed for a fire on the wooden Warden Bridge in 1848, when four of the five spans were destroyed.
l A history of the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway 1824 to 1870, price £24.95, is available from Cogito Books, Hexham.
