Stanhope and Tyne Railway 

Stanhope and Tyne Railway
Today we decided to take a look above ground at the old railway from Stanhope, following the incline right up to Parkhead where the line splits and ends up at Boltslaw incline near Rookhope.
Link to the explore of the well/mine at Boltslaw:
• Video
Here's a bit of history on the site:
Construction started in 1832 with the need to create a link from the Stanhope Quarries to the steelworks at Consett, eventually reaching as far as South Shields.
The line was officially opened in May 1834 but unfortunately on the same day a string of wagons was being hauled up the incline with 40 passengers - as the wagons were drew up the steep incline a shackle broke sending the passengers on a roller-coaster ride into a siding at the bottom. One man and a boy were killed.
It soon became clear that the line was not profitable as the first dividend to share holders had to be paid from capital as there was a non existent profit to be had. The company ultimately has to declare bankruptcy.
The line was taken over by the Pontop & South Shields Railway and also ran into severe difficulties and again the line closed in 1841. The directors were forced to form another company to try and make the line profitable, Pontop & South Shields Railway Company formed in 1842. In 1863 the new company was purchased by the Darlington & Stockton Railway - and these are the marker points that line the old track base (D&S R).
Hoghill Tunnel:
Work started in July 1832 to construct the tunnel of 363 feet in length. It was hauled by the Crawley engine house via a rope incline system and strange though it seems the tunnel was built only wide enough for one wagon but contained two tracks that were interlaced with each other side by side.
The Crawley engine has to haul the wagons up a gradient of 1:8 to 1:12 which is the steepest part of the railway.
Weatherhill Engine:
Wagons were transferred at Crawley to another rope attached to the Weatherhill engine that hauled from a 1:13 to 1:21 incline, the engine house was very impressive in its day with large buttresses anchoring it to the hill and it was only fairly recently that the engine house was demolished.
Parkhead Engine:
The highest engine house sat at the summit at 1474 feet above sea level. Once the wagons reached this point the rest of the route was mainly down hill where by the load was attached to cables and let to roll under controlled gravity down the 1.5 mile decent.
Boltslaw Incline:
Opening in 1864 by the Weardale Iron Company to transfer iron ore, limestone and lead ore from the mines around Rookhope, the line joined the main route from Stanhope via Wilkinsons cut with a terminus at Parkhead intersection.
The section of railway from Boltslaw to Parkhead (and slightly towards Stanhope) were bought by the quarries and remained open until 1923 to transport the ore to Towlaw, the rest of the incline route was closed in November 1949.
Link to the explore of the well/mine at Boltslaw:
• Video