‘LIKE A RAZOR’ – EASTER SUN DAY TRAIN TURNS INTO TRAGEDY IN 1846

ike all early railways in the North East of England, the Brandling Junction Railway mainly depended on mineral traffic, with four coal drops in operation shortly after the line opened in 1839 – one at Gateshead and three at South Shields. The Brandling Junction Railway’s takeover of the Tanfield Waggonway, which had been in operation since the 1720s, saw the introduction of iron rails replacing wooden ones and the use of self-acting and stationary engine worked inclines to move coal to the Tyne. The Brandling Junction Railway was remarkably interconnected, crossing the Stanhope & Tyne at right angles at Brockley Whins, also joining it by a short branch, and via the Redheugh incline at Gateshead joining the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway. Running from Gateshead to Monkwearmouth, with its own branch from Brockley Whins to South Shields at a lower level and to the west of the Stanhope & Tyne’s earlier route, the large centres of population served by the line also meant the Brandling Junction Railway gave much attention