I lived in the Engineman's cottage for 4 or 5 years in the late 80's. Fond memories of my time there in a close little community. Fred (seen on the video) is a character but his dad Jack was even more so. This clip is brilliant. Much more visually informative than the stuff I've previously read. During my time there the Engine House was actually featured on the then £5 note. It was always amusing to tell people that my house was on a £5 note and, of course, nobody really believed me. I may still have a copy of the Northern Echo clipping from the time explaining the railway heritage when the note was released
I moved to Shildon 2 years ago, and I’ve just come across the page and it’s brilliant. I’ve walked the dogs from the station up to the Brusselton Bridge. I love local history
The pond? It filled with rain initially, and after that, they used tank cars to carry water to the top if rain was not sufficient. The rope? It was attached to the rear of the train, effectively pushing it up the hill, not pulling it. Keeping the rope in line? They used rollers to the side of the track mounted on posts that were probably wooden piles, long since rotted away. The Barclay Incline in Pennsylvania used a similar system.
@Russell Nelson - annual rainfall in tha are is less than 30 inches per year. I don't know how deep that reservoir is, but allowing for the fact that it would also be subject to evaporation through the warmer months, and leakage, to get it filled by rainfall inside a couple of years might be pushing it. It could have been filled by tank wagons - but I've never seen any drawing, picture or written description of tank cars that far back, let alone used on the S & D inclines. An Artesian well seems a far more likely proposition.
I saw a similar setup in a coal mine museum in Scranton PA. The car went down a 350 meter tunnel, then made a significantly curved turn to the final stop. There were three horizontal pulleys along the track that changed the pulling direction of the cable.
It's not easy to understand how this tiny island became the biggest empire the world has ever known or probably ever will do. That is until you see the start of the journey. Excellent video.
The first question regarding how the (6 I think) carriges could get up and over the crest of the hill. Attach the rop to the last arriage which pushes the othes up and over he top. I was really disappointed when this video had to end.
Well told story of one of the most important events in the history of not just England, but the world. And beautiful visuals. You can always tell the English countryside within seconds. You must have waited quite patiently for weather that good.
Excellent ...... thank you, yet another of the engineering riches that this country is so well endowed with ....... that I knew nothing about, bravo !!
Excellent video thank you. This fills in some gaps in my knowledge of early railways with drone-shots and B&W pics that I had not seen before. As for replenishing the head-water for the engine house, perhaps they had daily tank-wagons that used full coal-wagons going downhill to counterbalance them going uphill: Full wagon = full tank, empty wagon = empty tank. (As per Welsh slate incline).
Answer to the hilltop problem: They didn't attach the cables to the front of the cart train, but further back, possibly to the last cart. It would have been pretty sketchy at first with the necessity of keeping the carts and cable in column but the carts were on rails, making it possible. That probably contributed to the early accidents,
Very interesting and informative, thank you. The visual experience is excellent too. I lived in Newton Aycliffe for ten years, 81-91, and I was a member of the Hackworth Society Model Railway Club for a number of years. I never visited the inclines, but knew of them and their significance. The model club began in Hackworth's shed at Sheldon. One of the members had a factory unit at Furnace End and accommodated us there for a while before we moved again to Daniel Adamson's coach house on Shildon High Street. The last project I was involved with was a representative model of Shildon station and the junction to the works. Sadly I lost touch with the club quite quickly as communication was not as now, and life overtook me. Thank you to you and your colleagues for what you are doing to keep some better parts of history alive.
As an expat, I love/hate looking at British history videos......it makes me "home sick" but also sad knowing what will soon be removed. Thank you very much.
Yes, very true - we realised that on the day we premiered this video but it was too late to remake by that point so now we just look a bit embarrassed each time we hear that bit.
@@shildontelly8456 Just do what I've seen on other videos: Put a bit of text on that screen at that point saying "Georgian, not Victorian". It may not look terribly professional, but then neither does getting it wrong!
When I was a kid in the 50s Kildwick gasworks hauled in wagons from a railway siding using a stationary engine and cable on a curved track. There were vertical rollers to keep the cable along the track. it was incredibly slow, we once lay in the track while the wagon passed over us! Edit. Now I think about it I never saw them send an empty wagon back, the track must have sloped up towards the engine house so a wagon could roll back under gravity. All signs of this are gone now under another industrial estate.
That was brilliant, I've immediately subscribed, I researched an unknown incline in Shropshire for a horse drawn coal waggonway, I must get round to putting it up on u tube.
Regarding the questions: It's entirely possible that rather than running the rope directly from the drum to the wagons, it may have been threaded through a pulley (either at track level or off to the side) slightly over the crest of the hill, and then run back under the drums, this would allow the wagons to crest the hill, hopefully to a point where the load could be chocked in place, and levered forward with pinch bars (or even horses or manpower) to start the task of lowering them down the other side. This pulley would also assist in ensuring that the rope "re-wound" onto the drum correctly off the curved section towards Shildon. As for ensuring the rope doesn't cut across the curve, Sam E pretty much has the right idea, it's likely (given the radius of the curve) that the rollers there would have been positioned vertically, to keep the rope on one side of them.
Agree about the rollers for curves. You see that sort of thing on cliff railways. My theoretical guesses from my arm chair having no connection with the actual physical reality! would be why not have a flat bit at the top of the incline where the wagon train would be under neutral weight. As for the pond at the top of the hill you could have a bore hole with the steam engine operating a pump. Something common in mines at the time.
Top of the incline problem. I would suggest the rake of trucks would be attached to the hauling cable in the centre of the rake. Thus at the summit half of the rake would be beyond the summit, hence balancing the load and permitting a safe transfer to the descending cable prior to onwards transit down the far side.
Alas, RU-vid closed the webchat at 10:30 - but do feel free to add comments here. Especially your theories on the 3 'puzzles' (we have theories on these but no certain evidence has been found yet to support them). Also - bonus points for spotting at least two errors we made in the script. Thanks to everyone who joined for the premiere - and a huge thanks to everyone who helped make this. Totally a volunteer effort by enthusiasts. Have a great day celebrating the 195th anniversary of the S&DR everyone.
Asking that you 'pin' this to the top; so people can play the game. One of the errors was defn. spotted by a commenter .. I'll have to go through and search out the other one.
Mostly agreeing with some others on the answers to the questions: 1) The reservoir is _not_ "built near the crest of the hill", but near the crest of the _incline._ When a railway goes over a hill like this, it goes over a 'saddle', a low point between two hills, and this is the case here. So there is actually higher ground on both sides of the line from which water could be collected. If for some reason this is not possible, and water had to be brought in by other means, it would almost certainly be by pump (powered by the engine house), not by tanker wagons. 2) I reject the multiple suggestions of the rope being attached anywhere other than the end of the rake of wagons nearest the engine house. Where could the rope be attached to that wouldn't be foul of the other wagons in the rake? The only real option (if not at the engine-house end) would be on a pole attached to the last or middle vehicle, but i) that pole would have a lot of strain on it and likely break, and ii) the video indicates that the wagons were not in fixed rakes, which means every wagon would need such a pole in case it was the last(/middle) one, and the poles on the others would then foul the rope! No, the rope must be attached to the uppermost wagon. A rope connecting the ascending and descending rakes is impracticable, as the two rakes are too far apart (one at the top of the incline, and one at the bottom). The best option I can think of is the one explained in another comment by *MajorMagna* , where the rope goes via a pulley past the crest then back under the drum. While on this point, consider how the system worked. A rake of wagons (A) goes down the east side at the same time as another rake (B) comes up the west side, with rake A assisting in pulling rake B up. When rake A reaches the bottom and rake B reaches the top, where are the ropes? NOT in position to lower rake B down the the east side. Instead, the ropes would be disconnected from _both_ rakes, then attached to (mostly) empty wagons heading west, one (C) at the bottom of the eastern incline, and the other (D) already waiting at the engine house. Then rake D would assist with hauling rake C up to the top of the incline. Notice that the plan at 4:20 (which it would be good to see all of) shows a passing loop under the drums, with one track for east-bound wagons and the other for west-bound wagons. Only once those west-bound rakes (C and D) had traversed their respective halves of the inclines could rake B descend the eastern incline, with that now hauling another rake (E) up the west side. 3) As *Sam E* points out, the rope has weight and it will sag more the further the wagons are from the engine house, and be carried on rollers between the rails. However, I doubt that the curve would have been sharp enough to require rollers on vertical axes. Rollers for such cables are like stretched-out pulleys, perhaps a foot or two wide, with the ends higher (larger radius) than in the centre (smaller radius). I suspect this would have been sufficient to guide the cable around a gentle curve.
19:12 is the easy question to answer, for starters look at videos of the Bowes incline, you will see rollers in the track, as the rope extends with the wagons further from the top, the weight of the rope slacks enough for it to sit on the rollers, these rollers are a common feature of inclines. if the track goes round the curve, the roller will be at angle opposite to the direction of curve or vertical for the rope to wrap around them. the thing about pulling the wagons over the top, inclines would normally have enough room inbetween the rope drum and the top of the incline for the length of train to get over
My gran had a friend who knew the railway history here and we visited the incline in the late 1980's. The rails and chairs were removed for scrap during the 1926 miners strike. My grandparents lived in Witton Park before moving to Bishop Auckland. A stone floor with gas lighting.
What a beautiful area; I would love to be able to visit there from the US one day. The stones left there now provide a wonderful connection to the past, which doesn’t really seem that long ago; but I can scarcely imagine the lives of the people that used them. Very interesting.
Really enjoyed this video Wow the aerial footage made it so clearer of how much you don't see when walking the trail. I remember going on a school walk 1976 ( Timothy Hackworth ) where we sat on those stones and had a picnic at Brusselton and played on the milk bridge Great memories , great work by the Brusselton Incline Group to keep its heritage alive.... shame about the stone thieves It makes me want to come back ( home) to Shildon to visit ..... doesn't the old works look a thriving place now
A local narrow-gauge railway near me (Ravenglass) - I was getting Google maps URLs of the termini turntables - and noticed the line extended more than it does today. In fact I also discovered Dalegarth Station is NEW ! and the line originally went to Boot Station ! The bit to Dalegarth stn, was a tramway - which extended to mines !
If the hauling ropes were attached to the top of the bottom wagon (or 2/3 of the way down the train) with the winches placed just above wagon height, it'd be easy to get the wagons over the hill. A pulley on a post could be used to get round the corner.
Great Video - thank you. Very similar operation to the Allegheny Portage Railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Canal system. Built around the same time.
Thanks very much for this. I knew, in a general sense, about the inclines from school, but this has given me a lot more detail about them. I'll have to visit now!. :) As to the technical problems, Rob Bannstrom (down-thread) has already mentioned 2 of my thoughts. :) The change-over at the top could be effected by a rope linking the 2 trains, so that the descending train pulls the ascending train to the point where the haul-ropes are changed. This would also prevent the ascending rope from lifting the first wagon up off the track as it nears the summit.
fantastic video, thank you for the upload. Its a real shame that so little remains of this system, I would be so amazing to see the original engines that where in service both stationary and rolling stock...................... progress, a dual edged sword
Fantastic - I live not far away in Heighington, and have ridden my trails bike at the old Busselton quarry, but had no idea of this history. Thanks, great stuff - I’ll have to go for a look 😜👍🏼
Amazing. This route terminates in the town my British ancestors came to America from around the 1760s! Never knew one of Britain's first railways went through here, and my dad's just obsessed with railroads. Fittingly ironic.
Rope spindle guides between the tacks had to be added to suit the lay off the land. An opporater had to follow the cars with a pole to guide the rope in.
18:00 How did they fill the reservoir with water? They probably used a windmill driving a well pump. This technology dates back 4 centuries before the incline was built. 18:44 How did the cars crest the peak? The easiest way would have been to attach the end of the rope farther back than the middle of the train. If desirable, they could have used multiple attachment points. The other methods are a bit more cumbersome because they require chocking the train, slacking the rope, and manually changing the attachment point (or moving the rope to a forward pulley) before hauling over the peak. 19:12 How did the rope manage the curve? This one is pretty easy. They used large pulleys (like spools) on the inside of the curve. The technology for this was also 4 centuries old. And although you didn't ask, these would also have kept the rope from dragging on the ground and abrading which would have worn it out too fast.
I've learned more in this video than many school trips to the museum, before the Locomotion was built. Maybe its now that I've moved out of Shildon that my interest was peaked when this somehow found its way to my feed. Found it fascinating.
1. Uphill portion: Probably the wagons were not pulled from front wagon (like in the video), but by the rear one, with the rope going over the whole train. In this way, some of train wagons could be pulled over the top of the incline, stopping in balance. 2. Downhill portion: The rope probably was guided by the tracks themself so it would go "round" those curves. The weight of the rope, and the angle of descent, would make the rope lay on the tracks, even when under pulling tension.
At this quality of content, there should be a series covering the whole line. And yes, it should be completely reinstated as close to what was there originally latterly - i.e. the use of the tunnel rather than the incline but the incline should still be evident. It should not be forgotten that Mumbles railway was the first passenger railway.
Excellent Video, thank you Very Much. Very Educational . George and Robert Stephenson were without a doubt "the light at the end of the tunnel" concerning al things to do with Trains and anything related to the Railroad.
Fascinating. I know industrial revolution stuff gets labelled as boring, but that's only because we are still so close to it historically (the 'boring/irrelevant' window exists -ask most people and 'history' only starts to get interesting when you go back 500 years or so). 07:28: I can only imagine the wonder these people felt at seeing wagons being drawn without horses for the first time. Using steam engines was completely revolutionary - a real leap forward after thousands of years. The guys who are so passionate about preserving this part of our history are actually unsung hero's. In ~400 years this 'early steam stuff' will be of global importance, preserving it will be a nest-egg future generations will be grateful for.
I think that Robert Stephenson was George's son, not his brother... Also George was mid 50s by the time the S&D opened, which for the era is not what you would call "a young man." He also was not relatively unknown, but had gained quite a name as an engineer, designing a safety lamp for miners, maybe as many as a dozen steam engines and had several patents in relation to engineering, not least of which was a way of making iron more robust. Please do not think I am knocking this video as I am not and I mean these factual corrections only in order to help. I acknowledge it is a volunteer production and, aside from the above (and the use of metric) it's a really very good and enjoyable video.
Thank you for this informative and very interesting presentation. I had planned to visit from Australia earlier this year but what happened happened. Friends from the area sent me this link to whet my appetite for next year, the year after or perhaps the year after that. Well, one of these days!
Quite a lot of history in the NE of England - for instance, the White House (farm) and the Stars and Stripes of the Washington (Hall) family crest. Sunderland really did have a lightbulb moment - before Edison !
There is nothing like "the engineering mindset" of "here is a problem, come up with ways to solve it" ... which in todays world is becoming ever rarer.
In 1834 a much larger inclined plane was opened on what was the longest railroad in the United States at the time and only the third in existence. This was the Ithaca and Owego Railroad in the eastern Finger Lakes region of Central New York State. The railroad was only around 30 miles long running from the village of Ithaca, NY at the south end of Cayuga lake, to Owego, NY 30 miles southward on the Susquehanna River. The inclined plane began right at the edge of the village of Ithaca and ascended over 600 feet! There were actually two incline planes at Ithaca which was steep at the lower end and change in grade partway up. By means of a hemp rope and windlass, the cars were let down to the village from the hill above. The lower Inclined Plane. Ithaca-Owego Railroad 1834 - The History Center in Tompkins County - New York Heritage Digital Collections (oclc.org) There is also a number of accounts of the railroad including an original first hand account of a man who was only 11 when he drove horses pulling cars on the railroad in 1837. Here it is with the Ithaca and Owego accounts beginning a short ways down the page: Vintage Railroad Pictures: February 2020 (cnymod.blogspot.com)
On the Ascending pull , perhaps the Rope was attached at the BACK end of the Skips . This would push them through the Winch House prior to the to the rope being too far from horizontal . Where was the Reservoir fed from ? A Large Water-Wheel lift-pump may have been able to maintain supply . I can't find a handle on dealing with the Curve . Maybe the Deputy Project Director was one Mr H . Potter Esq . lol . Probably Idler Pulleys to hold the Rope . Fascinating Victorian , Industrial Revolution , Construction and Engineering . Really enjoyed watching this .
Been clearing and fixing an old eletric trolley road built as a causeway threw a beaver swamp, it's was powered by Niagera falls, and went there to. Mine is the reservation/county line section.
Excellent video, very interesting history. I wonder if the William Bouch mentioned was related to the Mr. Bouch of the Tay bridge consructoon in the 1870's ? Thanks a lot. Colin ( Wakefield ).
Hi. Yes, they were brothers. It was a shame that Thomas is most remembered for the Tay bridge - only takes one catastrophe to ruin a reputation doesn't it.
I think to get the cars over the crest, the rope would first go to a pully on the far side of house, and possibly the same for the cars on the downward side. As for pulling rope around a bend guided pulleys would be employed.
Simple, attach the cable on the lowest car, that way by the time the cable is taught, the train will be over the crest. As for the reservoirs, a steam pump could keep them full.
Fred Wright, the current occupier of the Brusselton Engine House, will cofirm that the first journey actually started there! Apart from that, an excellent , informative and professional film. Fred is the gentleman in the cap, to the left of the Emgine House!
John and I chatted with Fred - John is quite acquainted I gather - and Fred told us that as passengers clambered aboard the coal wagons at Brusselton; so in his view the first passenger journey began there. That may be correct, though hitching a lift on coal wagons probably wasn't that unusual. The 'first' of the day was when the coal wagons were attached to Locomotion No 1 along with others that had been somewhat adapted to specifically carry passengers that day - though passengers still weren't on the mind of the company I gather. Interesting chap Fred - nice chat.
The first Journey did not start at Brusselton Engine House, it is a known fact that the first Journey Started at Jane Pit, Witton Park, when there were already people sat on the Coal Waggons. I don’t know where Mr Wright got his information from.
Hahah Fred didn't want us to restore the incline, he called us environmental vandals in the northern echo, but personally iam glad that we did start on restoring the bridge and incline after it had been robben of stone and the local corrupt council were not willing to do anything
Most likely there were guides for the rope to keep it pulling parallel to the tracks. Otherwise you risk both derailment and getting your rope tangled in the who-knows-what you'll find out in the fields to the inside of the curves. Similarly, a simple set of anchored pulleys at the top of the hill would prevent lifting the cars off the track as they approached the crest by keeping the rope down low. You either put the pulley a bit to the far side of the crest, or attach it to the middle of the train to get things balanced nicely at the top. Probably the latter unless trains were always a fixed number of cars. Stopping runaways by derailing was a decent first attempt, but really it's better to have brakes on the cars for all kinds of reasons anyway. For something like this a simple wooden wedge in a bracket would suffice for the ascending side such that if the car rolls backward the wedge jams the wheel. For the descending side you'd have to be a bit more fancy. Probably something with the cable tension holding the wedges up so they drop in if it breaks. Or, given the era, just pay a few of the children who were always riding on the cars to man the brakes on the downhill side since they apparently had nothing better to do anyway.
the pulling wagons up and not having issues about trains having short vertical cables and trains hanging down the slope is easy, just attach the rope to the last wagon not the first. As for the angle issue then maybe there was a cable guide
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?
In regards to the rope pulling the train up the hill, the rope must have been attached to the BACK end of the train. There would then not have been any trouble pulling the front of the train right up to the crest of the hill, directly underneath the engine house. Also, I believe the mechanics are such that if the rope was attached to the front of the train, as the train approached the winding house, there would have been an increasing proportion of the energy created by the engine trying to pull the front of the train up into the air, thereby "wasting" energy. Which points to the rope NOT being attached to the front of the train. Going round the curve of the course of the railway, one can only speculate that there must have been a series of heavy posts mounted on the inside of the curve mounted with pulleys for the rope to sit in, thereby keeping the rope from traversing across the open fields as the train went to Shildon. And the most obvious solution to filling the pond was to use the railway itself and fill coal wagons with water, and either take them to the pond on top of the hill by means of the engine itself shortly prior to opening, filling the wagons with water from the river (probably by bucket brigade??). Those would be my guesses anyhow, if they're any use.
Back versus front is brilliant; riding OVER TOP of the train. Then the Engine House Pulley merely reverses as the last car crests the hill and the rope spools out as a brake.
I agree with all three of the suppositions. And although the engines of the day were unable to pull six wagons filled with coal to the top of the hill without help, they probably could have hauled one wagon filled with water to the top. They would just need to repeat that dozens of times to fill the pond. I think it was noted that the pond was much smaller on opening day than it is now. Another possibility is they built some sort of berm to funnel rainwater from a much longer area into the pond temporarily, then when the pond was full, disassemble the giant funnel.
Again, agreed. But our great, great grandaddies were very smart. It would have been a simple matter to attach lines to cars descending the hills, as brakes, that helped the static engine pull following cars up to the top. Those earliest static engines could probably have pulled much more, once the first cars started downhill on the other side. The curves are a puzzle, but our gg-grandads definitely saw the power available from the descending cars. Scheduling, not horsepower.
Where on the last wagon (of an ascending rake of wagons) could the rope have been attached? Almost every possible location would then require the rope to go _around_ (or through) the other wagons in the rake. *CJRun* suggests going _over_ the other wagons, but this wouldn't work for a couple of reasons: 1) the rope (even under tension) would sag and end up riding _on_ the other wagons, potentially catching on them somewhere and causing them to tip or derail. 2) To avoid this, you could mount it higher, but that would require a pole on the last wagon that held the rope well above the other wagons. But there would be a lot of strain on that pole, and it would likely break. Further, the video indicates that the wagons were not in fixed rakes, so _any_ wagon could be the last one, which means that they'd all need poles in case they were the last one. In which case you now have poles on the other wagons to catch the rope on. I have my own separate comment in which I support MajorMagna's suggestion on solving this problem.
All your incline related questions are easily answered by researching other inclines - such as the Cromford and High Peak. As regards the pond you need to understand the geology and hydrology of the area.
Really well made film and hopefully puts the town on the map. Well narrated, knew a dan childs at school, wonder if its the same guy. Just subbed to channel too
Chances are it'll be the same one you know. I gather he hasn't changed much since school either. He has a cracking voice for film voiceover work - though we could have made a great 'blooper reel' of the recording session
In regard to the question of how did they go around the curves, they might have used a technique that was used in a logging incline on the Yosemite incline railway shown in this video, the curve discussion starts at 15:10 point. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a4_mJuS9WWc.html
