The LNER Encyclopedia

I am trying to find a list of the NER Railway workshops.
But not the larger well known ones.
I am looking for the smaller shops for Carriages, Wagons, P Way and S+T.
Amongst these I know are Walkergate and Simonside.
Walkergate I believe is or was part of Heaton depot but were exactly is Simonside?
Somewhere in South Shields I know.
Are there any photos?

Follow the A194 from White Mare Pool towards South Shields and its past the A1300 roundabout - the workshops were on what is now an industrial estate opp the Simonside Arms PH, the works were located to the left of the large white wharehouse in the pic, nothing now remains to show they were ever there. I wish I had of photographed it now.

You may find something on this thread.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic. ... &start=150


Google historical imagery has Heaton Depot area on.

Try this link Bryan,

It is the engine shed society & it mentions engineering depots

http://www.abrail.co.uk/ess.htm

Graham

Bryan wrote:I am trying to find a list of the NER Railway workshops.
But not the larger well known ones.
I am looking for the smaller shops for Carriages, Wagons, P Way and S+T.......

I can only help as far as Tyneside was concerned:

• District PW Depot - Low Fell Yard
  Wagon Repair Shop - North Shields (gone by BR period)
  Wagon Repair Shop - Simonside (between Jarrow and Tyne Dock)
  Wagon Sheet Works - Red Barns (eastern end of Trafalgar South Yard)
  Carriage and Wagon Repair Works - Walker Gate
  South Gosforth Car Sheds - electric stock only (Heaton Car Sheds prior to 1923)
  District S&T Depot - Low Fell Yard (offices at Gateshead)
  Locomotive Repair Works - Gateshead (loco construction ceased after Worsdell in 1910, re-opened for repair work in WW2.)
  Motor Vehicle Shop - Gateshead

Simonside also functioned as the scrapping location for rolling stock other than locomotives. In NER days this was done at Percy Main, the former B&T locomotive works. In the LNER period, scrapping of locomotives was centralised for the NE Area at Darlington.

I don't think I've missed anything, but I'm open to corrections.

Bill Donald

Bill.

Think you got them all there.

Malcolm

Thanks for that just what I was looking for.
What did Walkergate at Heaton specialise in?

Bryan wrote:Thanks for that just what I was looking for.
What did Walkergate at Heaton specialise in?

Walkergate was the original depot for the North Tyneside electric stock. Was destroyed by fire in 1918.

Malcolm

Did the land get reused for a works as I have a photo of a damaged plough captioned as being "awaiting work at Walkergate." no date however but in NER livery and numberplates.

Bryan wrote:Did the land get reused for a works as I have a photo of a damaged plough captioned as being "awaiting work at Walkergate." no date however but in NER livery and numberplates.

Walkergate was rebuilt as a C+W workshop i think. The building is still there.

Simonside Wagon Works is generally as described. The rail access to it was at St. Bede's Junction, once the scene of a pretty horrific crash and fire in thick fog and now the site of Bede Metro Station. When the station was built in the late 1970s the works was still in use for whatever and to access it a new bridge was constructed a few metres to the north of the old one. Its still there but the track has been lifted all the way back to the junction fot Jarrow-Shell.

Walkergate was I believe a carriage works and not to be confused with the electric car sheds, but I'm open to correection on this. As mentioned some of the original buildings are still there, stretching northwards from Walkergate Metro Station which itself is built on the foundations and original platforms of the NER Walkergate Station.

Of interest, if not directly related. On the south east side of Howdon Station (last one before Percy Main) is a longish wriggly tin clad building set at an angle to the track on the other side of what used to be the coal yard. Although the cladding is modern and I think its currently part of a timber yard, the building used to be a wagon repair works belonging to Frazer and Son and had a direct connection to the NER line just beyond the trailing end of the platform.

Frazers' main premises and used loco showroom was at Hebburn facing what is now Platform 2 of the Metro Station. Latterly it was a steel stockholders and again is heavily disguised in modern wriggly tin but a lot of the original structure is still there together with the access off the NER line.

I have come across a reference to Gateshead PW Works.
Low Fell is referred to separately
Where was this please?

Park Lane, to the north of what used to be TCFD or Borough Gardens shed.

Further to the above, parked here for many years into the early 60s were some loco frames complete with original driving wheels, from memory 4-4-0 or 4-4-2 It was a long time ago!). I was told they were used for bridge testing, can anyone throw any further light on these?

TRESTROL wrote:

Bryan wrote:Did the land get reused for a works as I have a photo of a damaged plough captioned as being "awaiting work at Walkergate." no date however but in NER livery and numberplates.

Walkergate was rebuilt as a C+W workshop i think. The building is still there.

No, no, no!

Walker Gate Carriage Works was opened in 1901 to serve as the NER Northern Division repair facility for NER passenger/non-passenger rolling stock. There was never any new construction there. If my memory is correct, the closure announcement was made in 1961. The actual buildings remained for many years after closure, being used by BR and others.

The shed for the electric stock was constructed in the winter of 1903. It was adjacent to Walker Gate Works. It's official title was HEATON CAR SHEDS - thus avoiding confusion with the works at Walker Gate. Heaton Car Sheds was destroyed by fire in August 1918 and replaced by South Gosforth Car Sheds opened in October 1923.

Since Heaton Car Sheds was simply a running shed, dealing with day-to-day cleaning and oiling etc., all maintenance of the electric stock was done by Walker Gate Carriage Works, which had heavy lifting facilities as well as paint shops and other repair facilities. When South Gosforth Car Shed opened, there was a limited level of repair facilities - the original heavy lifting was inadequate for the steel-bodied 1937 stock and was upgraded after WW2. Thus Walker Gate Carriage Works still had a very large hand in the repair, painting and interior refurbishment of the electric stock after 1923.

Hopefully this makes it clearer the connection between Walker Gate Carriage Works and the electric stock facilities.

Bill Donald