The output from British coalmines had risen from eight million tons in 1850 to 270 million tons just 50 years later, by which time the coal industry had become one of this country’s most important economic activities -and continued to be so until well into the twentieth century. Not only was coal needed to power industry and for domestic use but it was also a major export commodity with huge quantities produced by over 1,200 British pits shipped to destinations all over the world. Seaports on the eastern side of the Country at the mouths of the Tyne, Tees and Humber dominated the export side of the industry and it fell to the North Eastern Railway and the Great Central Railway to carry out much of the pit to port conveyance.
These two companies recognised the need to process coal trains arriving fromof coal carried by rail for domestic use was ‘wagonload’ ordered by customers direct from the colliery, which created a further need for marshalling yards or sidings where arriving wagons could be sorted and reassembled into trains suitable for delivery to a smaller yard near the customer.
