North Tyneside wagon fleet bolstered
A four-wheeled bolster wagon has been given a new lease of life just two miles from the docks where it once worked. Tyne Improvement Commission No. 14 is the latest fleet addition to the North Tyneside Steam Railway Association collection based at the Stephenson Steam Railway. Built Metropolitan (Metro Cammell) in 1920 for the Great Central Railway, it was sold by BR to Tyne Improvement Commission and would have been used at Albert Edward Dock, North Shields. Secured for preservation by the Hexham Rolling Stock Group in 1970, it was stabled at the fledgling North Yorkshire Moors Railway as LNER No. 110, before being gifted to the National Collection when Hexham group disbanded. In 2019 it was placed on the National Collection’s disposal list. Following a successful bid from the North Tyneside Steam Railway Association, the wagon relocated from Locomotion at Shildon on March 1. In mid-March, volunteers in the group carried out fitness to run examinations on the line’s restored coal hoppers and tankers in readiness for the April 30-May 2 gala (see separate story on p59).