Tynemouth Pier Line

[Percy Main]

Has anyone any information about, or pictures, of the track that linked Tynemouth pier with the old Oxford Street (Newcastle and North Shields Railway) goods station?

I can remember as a child seeing derelict looking wagons in the block yard at the end of the pier.

[billdonald]

Has anyone any information about, or pictures, of the track that linked Tynemouth pier with the old Oxford Street (Newcastle and North Shields Railway) goods station?

I can remember as a child seeing derelict looking wagons in the block yard at the end of the pier.

It was a private line owned and operated by the Tyne Improvement Commissioners. For track details try the excellent Alan Godfrey series of maps. Alternatively, the Tyne & Wear Archives or Newcastle City Library will have the 25-inch OS maps of the area. Note that this scale is necessary for sufficient detail of tracks.

If you have a reasonable broadband connection viz. >2MB, you might try http://www.oldmaps.co.uk- however be warned it is very slow in the evenings and is extremely tedious to use.

Bill Donald
Dublin, Ireland

[Percy Main]

Has anyone any information about, or pictures, of the track that linked Tynemouth pier with the old Oxford Street (Newcastle and North Shields Railway) goods station?

I can remember as a child seeing derelict looking wagons in the block yard at the end of the pier.

It was a private line owned and operated by the Tyne Improvement Commissioners.

Bill Donald
Dublin, Ireland

Thanks.

Would a TIC engine have been housed there?

I have never seen this line discussed.

[Trestrol]

A set of points still exists in the undergrowth under the road bridge.

[billdonald]

Has anyone any information about, or pictures, of the track that linked Tynemouth pier with the old Oxford Street (Newcastle and North Shields Railway) goods station?

I can remember as a child seeing derelict looking wagons in the block yard at the end of the pier.

It was a private line owned and operated by the Tyne Improvement Commissioners.

Bill Donald
Dublin, Ireland

Thanks.

Would a TIC engine have been housed there?

I have never seen this line discussed.

I think there's little published about this line and I can recall seeing a photo of a contractor's locomotive and some motley wagons on the pier during construction or repairs. The huge crane was used during construction to heave into position the large pre-cut stone blocks makinfg up the pier. It remained in place to assist in repairs and the railway was there to facilitate a supply of materials associated with this. I rather suspect that if locomotive was required, then the TIC would have hired a J79 or J72 from the LNER. If it was a small number of wagons involved, then probably a horse would have been used. There certainly would have been a Limit of Shunt board where wagons were exchanged.

Anyone recall which year the crane and the rail connection were removed - I think it was sometime in the 1950's.

Bill Donald
Dublin, Ireland

[PinzaC55]

I've a photo of the track in the yard leading to the pier in my Tynemouth set of photos HERE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/s ... 387439295/

[Malcolm]

Anyone recall which year the crane and the rail connection were removed - I think it was sometime in the 1950's.

It was still there around 1965 (the crane that is) because I can remember asking my father what it was for.

Malcolm

[Malcolm]

These are the best I can do.

Malcolm

[Percy Main]

When was that last picture taken? Isn't that the small modern crane that replaced the huge old one in the mid 1960s?

[Trestrol]

The picture of Tynemouth pier yard showing the disconected lines is under the road bridge as those are the lines still in situ. I think the crane disapeared in the eighties.

[third-rail]

the north pier was opened in 1895 having been partialy washed away while under construction however it lost about 250 feet out of the middle again in 1897,it then took a further 14 years to rebuild but this time straight instead of curved. i suspect that the date of the first picture is about right and that the second picture is about 1897

[52D]

Any idea of the crane manufacturer?

[PinzaC55]

In the old picture it looks like what was known as a "Goliath" crane.I seem to remember there were the rotting remains of one on Sunderland South Dock pier in about 1970.

[third-rail]

i wonder how many people have noticed the small china doll set between two of the large blocks on the side wall of the footpath about a third of the way along the pier

[Malcolm]

When was that last picture taken? Isn't that the small modern crane that replaced the huge old one in the mid 1960s?

Yes, it is. I just can't remember when the old crane was removed. As I said earlier, it was still in situ in about 1965, but after that I cannot say.

Malcolm