From a 1987 issue of The Railway Magazine, this archive extract records activity by South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society volunteers. It covers work at Alston, Gilderdale, locomotives, passenger figures, events and plans for the 1988 season.
Volunteers and a turning point
YEAR 1987 will be remembered by its regular volunteers as the most momentous in the history of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society since 1983, when the southernmost section of the former British Railways branch was re-opened as the 2 ft.-gauge South Tynedale Railway. No single achievement can be identified as the “turning point”, but 1987 saw the consolidation of the system and the coming to fruition of a whole series of projects started over the previous four years.
Two events which marked the culmination of the year’s progress were the commencement of a major three-year development plan (costing well over £100,000) on October 1, and the receipt of the Light Railway Order for the Alston to Gilderdale section which came into effect on November 12.
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Alston work site
When work first started at Alston, the Society possessed what might best be called a “greenfield site”, with no buildings in which to house or repair the rolling stock. As soon as the first operating season had been successfully concluded, steps were taken to rectify this situation and construction of a steel-framed building was commenced in early 1984. Following the installation of a range of second-hand machinery, the summer of 1987 saw the railway at last in possession of a properly equipped engine shed, reminiscent of the running-shed/workshops found on the light railways of the 1920s and 1930s, whose atmosphere the Society is trying to recapture.
The first section of the South Tynedale Railway to be opened was just over one mile long and the remainder of the mile and a half to the county boundary at Gilderdale was passed by Mr. May of the Department of Transport on December 12 1986. Santa Specials operated over the new section the following weekend, then regular passenger services started at the beginning of the new season, from Easter 1987.
Gilderdale platform and passenger services
Unlike the first temporary halt, a raised platform has been built for the new Gilderdale terminus and it is intended that this will remain as a request stop when the line is extended. Planning permission for the three-mile extension to Slaggyford was granted early in 1986 and negotiations with Northumberland County Council for the lease of the trackbed are almost complete.
Since 1983, the bulk of the passenger services have been operated by the Society’s first locomotive, No. 1, Phoenix, a 40-h.p. Hibberd four-wheel diesel-mechanical of 1941 (works No.2325). By the middle of 1984, No. 2, Ayle, a 20-h.p. Hudson-Hunslet four-wheel diesel-mechanical of 1942 (works No. 2607), owned by the Durham Narrow Gauge Group (DNGG), had been air-braked for use as stand-by passenger engine.
Over the last two years, the locomotive stock has been greatly strengthened following the purchase, by DNGG, of three powerful Hunslet diesel locomotives from the National Coal Board (works Nos. 6619 of 1966; 6347 of 1975; and 4109 of 1952). Numbered 7, 8 and 9, all required rebuilding, and the first to be completed was No. 8, The Pearl, a four-wheel 60-h.p. diesel-hydraulic which entered service in May 1987. Although primarily intended for use on works trains, it is fully air-braked for passenger service, as the steeper gradients on the extension have proved quite difficult for Ayle.
Locomotive stock
Also entering passenger service for the first time in 1987 was No. 4, Naworth, DNGG’s 100-h.p. ex-NCB Hudswell-Clarke 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical of 1952 (works No. DM819). Only minor work remains to be completed and it is expected that Naworth will take over the operation of the weekday services in 1988, with Phoenix as standby.
One of the earliest aims of the Society was to bring back steam to the South Tyne Valley and this was first achieved when Peter Pan, the “Wren” class 0-4-0 saddle-tank built by Kerr, Stuart & Co. in 1922 (works No. 4256), visited the railway for three weeks in August 1986. However, an even more significant event was recorded on Saturday, July 18, when three members of the Society were passed out as steam enginemen on the Society’s own locomotive No. 6, which entered passenger service the same day.
Steam haulage was maintained successfully every weekend until the end of September, when No. 6 was withdrawn for its annual boiler inspection. No. 6 is an 0-4-0 well- and side-tank, built by Henschel (works No. 16047) in 1918, to a standard design for the German army, which used it on the Tigris Railway in Turkey. After the first world war it was one of several locomotives sold to the Spanish military engineers who used in at Cuatro Vientos, near Madrid. They sold it, in turn, about 1940, to Minas y Ferrocarril de Utrillas S. A. where it was used in the Teruel region until the local colliery system closed in 1966.
Following extensive negotiations the Henschel arrived in Alston on April 11, 1984 where it became STR No. 6. Since then, many man-hours have been required to prepare it for passenger service, including the fitting of a steam-operated air pump obtained from Poland at the beginning of the year. Painted in mid-Brunswick green, it now looks and sounds just like an old North Eastern Railway engine.
Major events
Another major event occurred on Sunday, August 23, 1987, when the Patron of the Society, the Earl of Carlisle, named No. 6, Thomas Edmondson, to commemorate the inventor of the ticket system used by British Railways for more than 150 years. The magnificent brass plates first carried by No. 6 on the “Thomas Edmondson Special” were generously provided by a member of the Transport Ticket Society. It is particularly appropriate that a South Tynedale Railway engine should bear this name, as Edmondson pasteboard tickets were first used in 1836 at Milton Station, where the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway intersected the even older railway serving Lord Carlisle’s collieries. From its opening in 1852 until 1909, the N&CR’s Alston branch also connected with the western terminus of Lord Carlisle’s Railway at Lambley Colliery.
Also entering service on the “Thomas Edmondson Special” was the railway’s third coach, which has been built entirely by Society members. With upholstered seats in an enclosed saloon body, entered through end vestibules, it is more suited to the Alston climate than the two original vehicles and all future passenger carriages will be based on this design.
The first enthusiast’s weekend, held in August 1986, with Peter Pan as the main attraction, proved very popular and a second was held in September 1987. Graham Morris brought Peter Pan back to Alston, this time in the company of Rishra, a 0-4-0 tank built by E. G. Baguley in 1921 (works No. 2007), owned by Mike Sato, and Irish Mail, an ex-Dinorwic 0-4-0 saddle-tank built by Hunslet in 1903 (works No. 823) and now running on the West Lancashire Railway. Also taking part in the intensive train service were Thomas Edmondson and the four STR passenger diesel locomotives. It is expected that Peter Pan will once again visit Alston for the 1988 enthusiast’s weekend, which will be held on July 30 and 31.
Passenger figures and service pattern
Nearly 5,000 passengers were carried in the short 1983 season and by 1986 the annual total had reached 11,734. A major publicity effort, together with the introduction of steam traction at weekends, resulted in an increase exceeding one third in 1987, with the highly successful Santa Specials contributing more than 1,000 to the 15,864 total.
As the pattern of service operated over the last two years has clearly proved successful, it is intended to continue it in 1988. Trains will therefore run every hour, starting at 11.00 on weekends and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of September, daily during July and August, plus Tuesdays and Wednesdays in May, June and September. Subject to availability, steam traction will be employed from 13.00 on all Bank Holidays, and at weekends during the main season, with diesel haulage at other times, including a limited service on Sunday afternoons in October.
Freight and infrastructure work
The operation of freight trains by preservation societies is a relatively rare occurrence, but in 1987 the South Tynedale Railway ran several to assist in the laying of a new gas main along the trackbed of the former branch line. For much of the way between Alston Station and the county boundary at Gilderdale, the gas main was laid beneath the footpath which runs alongside the railway. Work commenced on Monday September 28, and for the next four weeks, supplies and equipment were ferried between the engine shed yard and Gilderdale in wagons which are normally used to carry permanent-way materials.
Trains ran on fourteen days and most were hauled by The Pearl, whose hydraulic transmission made it very suitable for the work which required a strong and steady pull at carefully controlled speeds. The entire project was completed in time to allow changeover to the new supply to be made on November 9. Everyone involved found the British Gas operations a most stimulating diversion and the Society is very happy to have been able to help bring the gas main to Alston.
Grants and extensions
Grants for the development programme have been received from the Development Commission (£24,100), Cumbria County Council (£15,100), Tynedale District Council (£15,000), Eden District Council (£5,000) and the Sir James Knott Trust (£2,000), while Northumberland County Council is repairing the lineside fencing between Gilderdale and Slaggyford. The programme comprises three separate, but closely connected schemes. First, is provision of a second train by the end of September 1989. This will involve the construction of three coaches and a brake van, together with the restoration of Sao Domingos, for which a new boiler has been built by Jones Brothers of Preston.
Secondly, there is extension of the line towards Slaggyford, which will include the restoration of two viaducts by the end of September 1990: at Gilderdale (which has joined Burnstones and Lambley viaducts on the list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest) and Whitley Burn. Approximately half a mile of track will also be laid over these viaducts, leaving only a quarter of a mile to complete the section to the permanent crossing station, which will be built at Kirkhaugh.
The third major scheme involves alterations to the track and signalling at Alston, which will allow longer trains to use the station platform and enable all movements as far north as the engine shed to be controlled from a central box. For this purpose the Society was able to acquire the redundant signalbox from Ainderby, on the former North Eastern Railway’s Leyburn branch. The box was dismantled during the summer and now awaits re-erection opposite the advance factory. On the empty site to the north of this factory, a two-road carriage shed will be built over the next two years. These improvements are scheduled for completion by the end of March 1990, in time for the new season.
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