Roger

Howell took this photograph during a recent vintage bus tour of Newcastle, sponsored by Newcastle City Council as part of the Great Exhibition of the North celebrations.

Only after printing did he realise that “Network Rail had gone to great lengths to provide a ‘green’ background” for the exhibition.

The location is Castle Garth, close to the north end of the High Level Bridge. Behind the bus is the East Coast Main Line running from High Level Bridge Junction and Newcastle Central station. This is the start of the viaduct section running towards Manors station.

“Obviously rai lway management do not consider that there is a civil engineering issue here,” says Roger.

“The fact remains that this is the ECML running at height. The real LNER, associates of United Automobile Services so many years ago, would never have tolerated such a mess.”