Metadata
WORK ID: NEFA 22234 (Master Record)
Title | Year | Date |
BOWES RAILWAY: 150TH ANNIVERSARY | 1976 | 1976-01-01 |
Details
Original Format: Super 8 Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 10 mins 1 sec Genre: Amateur Subject: Transport Railways |
Summary This amateur film looks at the Bowes railway near Gateshead, originally a colliery railway built to carry coal mainly from pits in north west Durham to the Tyne at Jarrow. |
Description
This amateur film looks at the Bowes railway near Gateshead, originally a colliery railway built to carry coal mainly from pits in north west Durham to the Tyne at Jarrow.
Title: A Train Presents
An opening view shows a marble plaque, which reads: 'This Plaque Was Unveiled By Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on 1st July 1976. To Inaugurate the Preservation of the Bowes Railway on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of its Opening.'
Enthusiasts gather on a platform...
This amateur film looks at the Bowes railway near Gateshead, originally a colliery railway built to carry coal mainly from pits in north west Durham to the Tyne at Jarrow.
Title: A Train Presents
An opening view shows a marble plaque, which reads: 'This Plaque Was Unveiled By Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on 1st July 1976. To Inaugurate the Preservation of the Bowes Railway on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of its Opening.'
Enthusiasts gather on a platform to take pictures of a small steam engine pushing a brake van and wagon up the incline of the Bowes railway. A closer view follows of the saddle tank engine pushing the rolling stock. One of the crew polishes the engine. Close-ups of the boiler fire and the engine controls in the driver's cabin. Steam appears from under the engine. A steam whistle sits on top of the boiler. The engine reverses, pulling the open flat bed trucks, now filled with seated passengers, and the brake van down the line.
In a more wintry scene, an engine and coal trucks are parked in sidings.
The replica of Locomotion travels along the line. A shot follows from the flat bed truck seen earlier. The steam engine is clearly seen behind the passengers. From a platform view, the steam train with passengers pulls into the small halt.
Workers are next to the track. They appear to be pulling at a cable and trying to place it on a pulley wheel mounted on a metal frame. A workman runs alongside the track. On the track, the steam shunting engine seen earlier pushes a train of coal trucks up the incline. The steam engine then reverses down the incline. The line of trucks moves on slightly. A workman uses a metal rod(?) to lever something on one of the truck wheels, possibly a brake.
Next, workmen attach a chain to one of the trucks. Ageneral view of the train of trucks follows. Another workman oils some of the points along the line, a crossing seen in the distance. Visitors stand alongside the line waiting for the trucks to move. Slowly they move down the incline, a cable attached to the back of the last truck. Vistors with cameras take pictures.
A close up shows the cable running over pulley wheels placed between the rails. The trucks come to a halt. Another close up follows of the track with the steel cable running over a pulley wheel.
General view looking down the incline. This time the trucks are hauled up the incline by cable. Visitors watch as the heavy trucks are hauled up. The train of wagons stop and are then pulled further up the line by steam engine. The film ends with a very brief view of a train of trucks coming the opposite way.
Title: The End - An A Train Production
[Stephen Fairbrother and his father William made films featuring heritage railways and industrial heritage in the North East England. The earliest section of the Bowes Railway was designed by George Stephenson and opened on 17 January 1826, making it one of the world’s first modern railways. It was 15 miles long when completed in 1855. Each end was locomotive worked; the six mile middle section consisting of rope worked inclines with very steep gradients.]
Context
The Bowes Line was originally a colliery railway for transferring coal from the North West Durham pits, including Kibblesworth Colliery, to Jarrow Staithes, where the coal was loaded on to ships on the River Tyne. It was so named in 1932 in honor of the Bowes-Lyon family, ancestors of the Queen mother and major shareholders in the railway line. The earliest section of the Bowes Railway was designed by George Stephenson, built by Robert Stephenson and opened on 17 January 1826, making it one...
The Bowes Line was originally a colliery railway for transferring coal from the North West Durham pits, including Kibblesworth Colliery, to Jarrow Staithes, where the coal was loaded on to ships on the River Tyne. It was so named in 1932 in honor of the Bowes-Lyon family, ancestors of the Queen mother and major shareholders in the railway line. The earliest section of the Bowes Railway was designed by George Stephenson, built by Robert Stephenson and opened on 17 January 1826, making it one of the world’s first modern railways. When it was in full operation, the line had employed eight rope-worked inclined planes. Two of these, being the Springwell and Birkheads inclines, were operated on the self-acting principal. This was that the weight of descending full waggons hauled up the empty waggons via a rope running around a return wheel at the top of the hill. At the peak of the industry, the railway handled over 1 million tonnes of coal per year.
Between 1968 and 1974, most of this 15-mile-long railway was closed up to the last 3.5 miles between Monkton and Jarrow Staithes, which, from 1947, was operated by the National Coal Board. The closure of Kibblesworth pit on the 4th October 1974 brought to an end most operations, with closure finally coming in November 1974. The original 1826 section between the Black Fell bank head and the Springwell bank head was acquired for preservation in 1976 by Tyne and Wear County Council. This was the only working preserved standard gauge hauled railway in the world. With preservation, two of the rope-worked inclines were kept. These were the Blackhams Hill East and West inclines. Jarrow was a late coming town for the northeast, shown to have very few houses in a map created in 1856. Major development came about when the Charles Mark Palmer’s shipbuilding and ironworks was developed. This was built with the intention of shipping coal from Newcastle to London. The growth of the coal industry with Jarrow caused it to increase in both size and monetarily. Palmer’s company in Jarrow dominated, producing almost 1,000 ships over the decades, varying from battleships, cruisers, destroyers, oil tankers and cargo ships. The coal industry for the UK was the main source of energy production until the late 1960’s, with a peak of 228 million tonnes in 1952. This peak described mad the majority of production, being 95% of the coal, coming from roughly 1,334 deep mines, and the rest from 92 surface mines. Between 1947 and 1994, around 950 mines were closed by the government, with around 100 closed in the North East from 1950 to 1970. References: http://bowesrailway.uk/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowes_Railway https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/CoalMiningandRailways.html https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/jarrow/ |