TANFIELD PLANS CELEBRATION YEAR FOR 300TH ANNIVERSARY

Recreated 18th-century wooden waggonway and horse-drawn trains proposed.

In the same year as the planned ‘Stockton & Darlington 200’ celebrations, the Tanfield Railway plans to mark its 300th birthday in style during 2025.

In what is set to be the first 300th anniversary for a working railway, the County Durham line aims to host a whole year of celebrations and volunteers are already working on plans.

Built to carry coal in 1725, the line was seen as a marvel of cutting edge engineering and played a major role in the development of railway technology.

Originally horses drew waggons along wooden rails on the route to the River Tyne, but the line was modernised in 1839 when iron rails and stationary steam engines were installed. Steam locomotives finally arrived in the early 1880s.

Despite the modernisation, most of the original route survived in use throughout. The preserved Tanfield Railway still uses much of the nearly 300-year-old line, including a substantial embankment and Grade I-listed culvert at Causey.

Ideas already being progressed for the anniversary include the use of horse power and the reconstruction of track as depicted in surviving contemporary drawings of the route from the 18th century. Trackbed clearance work and fencing for a short section of waggonway at Causey has already begun.

The line’s extensive collection of Tyneside-built locomotives will be heavily involved, representing the North East’s role in the next phase of railway development.

Tanfield Railway Trust chairman Derek Smith said: “Telling the full story of 300 years of this fascinating line is quite a challenge, but it’s one we’re very excited by and we can already see some tantalising possibilities.

“When the route was opened, people came from around the world to marvel at it. They took away what they learned and shared their excitement of what was clearly seen as a hugely important feat. We want to recreate a bit of that and help everyone better understand how railway networks, and to a significant extent the world as we know it, came to be.”

In the run-up to 2025, smaller celebrations are planned in July each year, with the 2020 event pencilled in for Sunday July 12.

DAVE HEWITT Outside what is believed to be the oldest working engine shed in the world, Marley Hill on the Tanfield Railway, Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST Keighley Corporation Gas Dept. No. 2 has its fire thrown out after working Santa Specials on December 23 2015.