Stephenson Steam Railway, Newcastle
Posted by Thomas Young in category

at 11:44 on 19/08/2022

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During a recent holiday in the North East, I spent a couple of hours at the Stephenson Steam Railway in North Tyneside. The site was an old colliery railway that later served as a test track for the Tyne and Wear Metro. Ironically it is over a mile from the nearest Metro station so, if you're not driving, you can catch a 310 bus from Newcastle Haymarket to Cobalt South, this being virtually outside the site. Other local buses stop nearby.

One of the smaller heritage lines, it has a 2-mile stretch of track and a small yard and museum at the north end. Passenger stock is limited to 3 BR suburban Mk1s, which are used on the regular running days. Locos are all small, with a mixture of steam and diesel shunters. There are also a couple of electrics - a loco from Harton Colliery and a former North Eastern Railway parcels van. Of most interest to me was the collection of about a dozen wagons, including a restored BR Vanfit, Brake Van, 21t Coal Hopper and Flatrol.

Posted by Thomas Young at 12:03 19/08/2022

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Along with the preserved rolling stock, the museum building also contains cab mock-ups of the existing Metro trains and the forthcoming Stadler ones..