Tanfield Railway

Hi all,

Could not find a Tanfield thread elsewhere on the forum so thought I would post up here. Paid a visit to the railway last Saturday when they were unfortunately not running trains, however had an excellent and informative impromtu guided tour of the sheds, yard and some of the works areas courtesy of the younger volunteers Ryan.

Would thoroughly recommend a visit to anyone interested in industrial locomotives and also in vintage carriages.the place has quite a unique feel to it.

Hope to pay another visit on a running day, and see a bit more!


Chris

p.s if you ever happen to visit- I cant say that I would recommend the 'Bobby Shafto' campsite- overpriced, overcrowded and unfriendly- such a shame given its proximity to Tanfield and Beamish.

 

So not so much "Shafto" more Sharfto.

 

the railway had their steam gala last weekend with port of par twins Alfred and Judy. I was replenishing coal and water all weekend over at Andrews house station, and assisted in the preparation of Alfred on the Sunday, and the disposal of chocrane on the Saturday!

 

for every day up to date information regarding the line, Google "tanfield railway blog", where you will find images of work going on at the line and behind the scenes. New images are added every day so why not give it a visit?

 

not plugging at all

looks like a great railway from a quick overview on google maps, and I'd love to visit, but unfortunately I'm unlikely to, I'm never in that neck of the woods. I might try and persuade my Dad we need another holiday in northumberland next year, then slyly suggest paying a visit there on the way !

 

If you do go there's plenty to see whilst you're in the area. Beamish is only a few miles away and has plenty to entertain the whole family and the Bowes railway equally near by. A good place to stay is the Bowes Incline hotel which is just off the A1 and has plenty to interest the enthusiast. (And no, I don't have any involvement with any of these places!)

 

I visited Tanfield today for the first time on what was a gorgeous day. What a great little railway. As Chris86 said above a couple of years ago, it does have a unique feel about it with Industrial Loco's and Victorian carriages. Everyone was friendly and the number of young volunteers on hand suggests that it will have a good future. I loved the machine shop where some of the machines are still belt driven from overhead by a couple of open crank engines. There are a good few heritage railways that would covet that large wheel lathe as well.

Now a question, given the historical significance of the engine shed (possibly the oldest one in existence still being used as intended) I was a little worried that it was having to be heavily shored up at the front and generally it looks like it could do with other remedial work. Surely a grant to get it fixed can't be impossible as it is such an important structure? Is it on any listed register ? Are Tanfield actively trying to raise funds for it ?

 

They have a nice website: http://www.tanfield-railway.co.uk/

 

Here are two albums of photos taken during a visit in September.

The first album concentrates on the Tanfield's large and varied collection of locos and rolling stock. Most locos are industrials and mainly steam but there is a very rusty narrow gauge Pacific from Tasmania. (It was built at Darlington in 1948.) Few of these locos are operational. There are also some pre-Grouping coaches, mainly bodies mounted on replacement frames.

I have included photos taken by Les Tindall in the 1970s which show a few of the Tanfield locos at work:

https://andrewstransport.smugmug.com/BritishheritagerailwaysI/Tanfield-Railway-locos-2016/i-tWrGVvg

The second album records a ride on the line and also the famous Causey Arch, built in 1727 to carry a coal-carrying waggonway:

https://andrewstransport.smugmug.com/BritishheritagerailwaysI/Tanfield-Railway-and-Causey/i-mVhSHcG

Cheers

Andrew N

 

Tanfield is one of my favourite heritage railways. Well worth a visit, especially when they are running demonstration coal trains as well as passenger.

Locomotives are sensitively restored to authentic industrial liveries ... no fake J94s here. And they have recreated a workman's train using a mixture of old 4 and 6 wheelers and converted vans. Wonderful. Not a Mark I in sight!

The only sad thing is the amount of stock that is standing outside, unrestored. They clearly have more stock than they can restore. Not a criticism. Just a reality.

 

a very interesting collection but surely most of it will never run again. I found it a little depressing.

I know nothing of Tanfield so may well be totally wrong

 

One of the great disappointments of the interaction between the HLF (lottery) and the preserved railway movement, when there was more HLF money slopping around, how many grasped the nettle and got some sheds built to stop the rot typified at Tanfield, but also up and down the land. Apart from a few notable exemptions (SVR, Bluebell & a few others) all we seam to get are yet another Barry Restoration or more recently major repairs to locos that should have been done in the first place. I think it's great that places like Tanfield have large collections for future generations to get stuck into and get restored, but get weaving with the fund raising and get them storage sheds built before it's too late.

 

In recent years, Middleton has treated this as a priority. With the help of HLF grants and our own scarce funds we have most locos under cover and, with the imminent completion of the running shed, we should be able to have every loco, steam and diesel, under cover if required. A plan for a carriage shed is in the early stages of planning. Alas, we will never be able to do the same for our wagons and cranes, which will continue to be at the mercy of the elements.