The idea of the railway coming to Annfield Plain in County Durham in 1893 may seem unusual as the railway, in the form of the Stanhope & Tyne, had already come to Annfield Plain 59 years earlier as it made its inclined plane-ridden journey from Stanhope to South Shields. Indeed, this railway gave the town its name – it was originally Annfield (from ‘Anne’s Field), gaining ‘Plane’ (later ‘Plain’) in recognition of the engine-worked inclined planes which ran up one side and down the other of Loud Bank, passing through the town on its north side. However, with regards to this article, ‘the coming of the railway to Annfield Plain’ and elsewhere along the stations served by the Annfield Plain branch of the North Eastern Railway, which for the most part was on a deviation approximately following the route of the Stanhope & Tyne, was the arrival for the first time of a passenger service.
This meant the railway could be of real benefit to the local population, wider than just those working on it, and became more integrated into people’s daily lives and the social history of the area. Indeed, the coming of this railway saw “general rejoicings and great excitement’’ with shops in Annfield Plain and West Stanley closing for the day and most workmen taking the day as a holiday.1 The focus of this article is the impact of the passenger service on the area through its introduction and notable events and incidents along the line involving passenger trains and the stations.
Pressure on the North Eastern Railway (NER) to provide a passenger service along the Stanhope & Tyne’s route through north west Durham had grown through the nineteenth century as the mining towns on its route, and the coal industry which dominated them, expanded and although situated close to Newcastle, Durham and other locations people would wish to travel to, there was no passenger service owing to the inclined planes on the line precluding this on safety grounds. Other lines in the area such as the Lanchester Valley and Derwent Valley did have passenger stations which could be used, but that would involve a long walk or use of horse-drawn transport. Lintz Green station from 1867 on the Derwent Valley line was located so as to serve the Tanfield and Stanley districts, but at three-to-five miles away from these areas, was not especially suitable. There had been a very brief passenger service in the 1840s on the Tanfield branch down the inclines and from 1858 to 1868 a station on the western outskirts of Leadgate on the periphery of the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s network at Carr House. With the opening of the Derwent Valley line, Carr House passenger station closed with the opening of the station at Benfieldside (later named Blackhill), over a mile away on the western side of Consett. It is hardly surprising that the growing populations of this area felt left out despite the sizeable railway network in the area.
By the 1880s moves were under way to avoid the numerous inclines which so bedevilled movement along the Stanhope & Tyne. Built predominately to facilitate the movement of loaded coal wagons downhill towards the Tyne, movement of anything uphill proved awkward, trafficmile-long, double track deviation, sweeping south of Loud Hill, opened on the first day of 1886. Whilst it was under construction, coal owners who disliked the NER’s prices for moving their coal from the area down to Tyne Dock wanted to build a new line from Pelton northward to Dunston. Dunston had been used to ship coal in the past, but owing to the low-level bridge across the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead it needed to be first loaded on to a Keel boat then transferred to a ship further downriver, not acceptable long after the 1830s when railways could easily take coal elsewhere for direct loading on to ships. However, by the 1880s this was no longer an issue as William Armstrong’s swing bridge which replaced the former lowlevel bridge allowed large vessels up the Tyne and riverside coal shipping staithes could be built at Dunston. This new scheme, the West Durham & Tyne Railway, was presented to Parliament in 1885. The NER’s strong case for existing and planned railway facilities in the area meant the coal owners’ railway Bill failed but it did shock the NER enough to make further changes in the area.
