Can any Forum member settle a question for me please.
As a child of about 5 or 6 (I was born 1951) I remember my father taking me to a station to watch the 'Flying Scotsman' pass through. We lived in the village of West Boldon which is roughly half-way between Sunderland and Newcastle. The adjacent villages of East Boldon and Boldon Colliery both had stations (in the case of Boldon Colliery the station was named Brockley Whins).
I have been unable to find a route map that might tell me if it was either of these two stations or somewhere else entirely.
Can any member help
Can I suggest you have a look "British Railways Pre-grouping Atlas and gazetteer". If you don't want to buy a copy maybe your local library.....
It's a fascinating book and well worth owning. I often refer to my copy.
FYI - some local-ish stations on the ECML - Low Fell, Lamesly, Birtley
nzgeordie wrote:Can any Forum member settle a question for me please.
As a child of about 5 or 6 (I was born 1951) I remember my father taking me to a station to watch the 'Flying Scotsman' pass through. We lived in the village of West Boldon which is roughly half-way between Sunderland and Newcastle. The adjacent villages of East Boldon and Boldon Colliery both had stations (in the case of Boldon Colliery the station was named Brockley Whins).
I have been unable to find a route map that might tell me if it was either of these two stations or somewhere else entirely.
Can any member help
Hi there,
For a general overview in the 1960s you can try this site (which has a map):
In the excellent site suggested by Malcolm all of the buildings have been swept away and a Metro station is now on the site of the former Boldon Colliery (Brockley Whins) station. The Pontop lattice bridge still exists but is in a very delapidated state, the Pontop box is well gone and only a single spur leads to Tyne Dock, the last remaining original building, the Brockley Whins box was demolished a couple of years back, I passed down that line yesterday.
There has been a recent upturn of traffic into Tyne dock for imported coal with several class 66s a day from GBf. Its very ironic that a port once known for its huge coal exporting capacity is now importing coal from former Eastern bloc countries.
There was talk of transporting cars from the Nissan plant into Tyne Dock Slake but the rail link from the plant was never established due to local planning consents not being forthcoming.
As far as the Flying Scotsman ever traversing that route it would have been a very rare and unusual happening as any diversion of the Scotsman would have taken the now closed Leamside route at Pelaw Junction.
I believe Tyne Dock has a new shunter but I have only glimpsed it from a distance.
Thanks to all for your replies and the link to the excellent map and series of photos. I see that the one showing 4472 approaching Pontop Crossing en-route to Newcastle means it could have been East Boldon Station where I saw it pass. Any ideas on the date? BTW, I'm in NZ so am unlikely to be able to access any of the reference material you suggested, but thank you again for taking the trouble to help.
Pete
I am a little confused here (not unusual!), do you mean the loco or the train? It would indeed be unusual for the train to be on your route. The loco itself did not appear in the guise (4472) shown in Brian's pictures until around 1964/5 after preservation.
52A wrote:I am a little confused here (not unusual!), do you mean the loco or the train? It would indeed be unusual for the train to be on your route. The loco itself did not appear in the guise (4472) shown in Brian's pictures until around 1964/5 after preservation.
My apologies. I didn't mean to be the author of any confusion As you have probably realised, I am not a train enthusiast (although I do fondly remember the age of steam). I was simply trying to pick the experts brains about a childhood incident. The loco (I think I can swear to it) was the Flying Scotsman but whether or not I saw it where I have always believed I did was the issue I was trying to settle.
I would fancy nzgeordie is probably means the locomotive rather than the express and it could indeed have been the instance in the pics on the site Malcolm suggested.
My previous reply was of course a reference to the express rather than the individual loco.
There has been talk of the Leamside reopening, why it was ever closed God knows, a really short sighted decision, most of the rails are still in place apart from a section past Sunderland which was stolen by metal thieves,I walked a couple of miles along it from White Mare Pool to Washington last week. It was a regular Sunday diversion route to allow work on the E.C.M.L.
As you have probably realised, I am not a train enthusiast (although I do fondly remember the age of steam). I was simply trying to pick the experts brains about a childhood incident. The loco (I think I can swear to it) was the Flying Scotsman but whether or not I saw it where I have always believed I did was the issue I was trying to settle.