Manors to Backworth

[limitofshunt]

UB 3 was the original New Bridge Street.

Possibly OB 2 and UB 1 (not sure which order the bridges were) were the Manors Station Footbridge and Trafalgar Street underbridge but I haven't been able to confirm that.

Jon

[Caledonian]

UB 3 was the original New Bridge Street.

Possibly OB 2 and UB 1 (not sure which order the bridges were) were the Manors Station Footbridge and Trafalgar Street underbridge but I haven't been able to confirm that.

Jon

Depends on the datum point; Trafalgar Street bridge also carried (and still does carry) the ECML

The footbridge was at the very south end of the Blyth and Tyne platform and appears to have been connected to the footbridge over the coast/ECML platform

[Dixie]

I should have stated that the Appendix to the WTT was dated 1922.

Regarding the various comments of the bridges, I would add:

OB6 This bridge had very ornate cast iron parapets and spandrels. The parapet was pierced by a long series of quatrefoils. There was a large cast iron plaque in the centre of the bridge ' B & T/1864 '. The entire bridge was replaced
circa 1960 and the plaque made its way to the old York Railway Museum - whilst I have not seen it since, it should now be somewhere in the NRM.

OB13 Both parapets were of ornate cast iron. Immediately north of this bridge was a temporary station, opened for the 1864 Royal Show in the Newcastle Town Moor.

UB20 Another ornate bridge with a parapet similar to that at Jesmond Station, but without the spandrels. NER Class P3 No 2338, on a mineral train, derailed near the bridge, smashed through the parapet and ended up on the Killingworth Raod. The driver and fireman may have been killed. I have no date for this incident but the loco was built 11/21 and was still in NE livery.

I hope all this helps. I have a number of photos.

Chris D

[PinzaC55]

Third Rail said " there was iam sure at the eastern end of the south/east curve at benton there was a box which it controlled that junction and also a diamond crossing to get coal spoil to the large heap that was there, the remains of which formed the hill the metro climbs to get over the heavy rail lines"

[Caledonian]

I’ve now managed to dig up my map of the original Manors Station area. Unfortunately its not annotated with the bridge numbers and it’s a bit complicated so bear with me:
The Blyth and Tyne line split off from the Coast line just before the Trafalgar Street UB so in theory that part of the bridge carrying it could have been designated as Bridge no.1, but as it also carried both the Coast line and the ECML I’d be surprised if this was the case and would have thought it would have been dealt with as a single structure.

Whether or not it was numbered as a Blyth and Tyne bridge would determine whether the station footbridge was No.1 or No.2. The fact New Bridge Street was apparently designated No.3 might at first sight point to Trafalgar Street being No. 1 but in fact there were two bridges at New Bridge Street; there was the one over the railway obviously, but about 50 metres to the East there was a railway-owned road tunnel connecting the main Goods Station on the north side of the road (the concrete one bombed during the war) with the original goods yard on the site of the present Metro Station. This will have been numbered; it may have been Bridge 3A, but its possible that the original sequence was (1) footbridge, (2) New Bridge Street OB, (3) New Bridge Street tunnel

[PinzaC55]

Don't forget there was a subway between Manors platform 1 and 2 which would also have its own bridge number, since the girders for the subway span were visible between the tracks.

[Dixie]

Further reflections on the question of bridge numbers.

The cut through between Manors South Junction to Argyle Street was opened on 1st January 1909. Therefore Bridge 1 would now be the passenger overbridge at the south end of Manors station and Bridge 2 the passenger subway linking the new station building with the Blyth bay platforms. The New Bridge Street bridge would be Bridge 3. All these were new bridges. I am not sure when the NER fixed the oval bridge number plaques throughout their system, but suspect it would be before 1909. In short all the bridges between the former B & T station at New Bridge Street to Backworth would have had to have been renumbered.
Incidentally, I am seeking a photo of Jesmond Station signal box - situated about two hundred yards south of Sandyford Road bridge - can anyone help?

Chris D

[PinzaC55]

The NER cast iron bridge plates were erected in 1905 together with the standard mileposts and Zero posts.

[third-rail]

Third Rail said " there was iam sure at the eastern end of the south/east curve at benton there was a box which it controlled that junction and also a diamond crossing to get coal spoil to the large heap that was there, the remains of which formed the hill the metro climbs to get over the heavy rail lines"

refering to pinzas photo
when i was about 14 i was taken into south gosforth east box by a certain will armstrong [a railway inspector at the time, who was always being called at short notice to attend rail mishaps] who told me he would get me a job as a signal lad but as large scale modenisation was taking place at the time i declined his offer.to the right of the box stood the substationit controlled the car sheds ,the colliery line that came down from fawdon and jubilee pits [not the ponteland branch]from the top of the box you culd see past longbenton sta probalyo see over the vicars lane bridge,the offshoot you can see at the rear by the door housed the remote switchgear for the substation next door.the south gosforth sta signal box board is in the nrm. note east has been painted out on the picture

[third-rail]

station road bridge ob17 was stone /brick arch which was widened late 50s early 60s by useing concrete block abuttments as a seperate bridge ,another bridge was simalley widened at the same time ,[four lane ends or shiremoor.] also the original hunters road foot bridge was timber and was demolished and rebuilt for the start of the metro as there was not enough clearence for the overheads and also to make the parapet met the regulations as the existing was timber latice with mesh panels and as a youngster i would stand on the bridge and watch the trains pass under neath and sometimes watch them rerailing stock that went off the catch points

[AndyRush]

I've got the bridges, crossings, signal boxes etc for this line (and for most of the rest of the NER) culled from the NER Engineer's Line Diagrams on a database. They represent an earlier view in terms of bridge construction etc and have fuller datails like span dimensions and so forth. There is quite a lot of information there and I don't think I can just paste it into the forum.

As a newcomer to this list, can somebody tell me if I am able to post the data in Excel format into a 'Files' section ? Alternatively, I can send it as an attachment to the original enquirer

[Bryan]

I have tried EXCEL without success but WORD works.

Have you got a list of what plans you have? As I have quite a number of copies myself but in parchment form. Most dating to about 1913 or thereabouts.

[limitofshunt]

Phew... a couple of late shifts at work and I miss out on all the discussion LOL!

I'd forgotten about the subways, that could well take up one of the numbers. I've attached an extract from an OS map from the 50s I think (or 60s) showing the bridges (but not the subways).

Interesting to hear what they were originally like... certainly a lot of the character has been lost by turning a lot of them into steel on stone bridges!

Bryan and AndyRush... what kind of info do the line diagrams have on them? Where did you manage to dig those up from?

Regards
Jon

[PinzaC55]

Just a thought....as we all know every seprate NER line had a "ZERO" post at the junction with a cast (lead) plate to denote the name of the branch.Since the point blades for the Benton line were west of the Trafalgar Street bridge, although it was effectively all one structure it was actually on 2 separate lines so I would expect it to be Bridge 1 followed by Manors Footbridge (Bridge 2) , Manors Subway ( Bridge 3) then New Bridge Street (Bridge 4). Although there was a concrete footbridge between Manors and NBS it was a 1960's jobby so I would expect it to be Bridge 3A.

[PinzaC55]

I took this picture of Jesmond station in late 1977 just before it closed but sadly even under magnification it's impossible to see the bridge number.