Home  >  Railway History

Category: Railway History

July 3, 2024

northernvicar – April to June 2024

I had a good patch just after Easter and managed to get some train rides in. Dundee was fun! The garden at Wallington National Trust property was beautiful on 11 April, and I had a slow walk round. Another trip to Scotland on 14 April took me over the Forth Bridge again and did some very interesting curves on the West Coast Main Line. The National Trust formal garden at Cragside was lovely a week later, and on 27 April I had a trip to the gardens at Sizergh Castle – an NT property I had never visited. I...
Categories Northumberland/Railway History Comment: 1
July 2, 2024

northernvicar – January to March 2024

I’m coping with chemotherapy, but managing to get out. No churches visited, but you might like these photos. The level crossing gates remain at Thorneyburn station on the Hexham-Riccarton Junction route – the line closed in 1958. Lovely snowdrops at Newbrough church. On Sunday 18 February I was feeling good and it was a lovely day, so I went for a drive up the A68. Bremenium, Old Rochester, is a place I have not been to for years. The Roman fort is very atmospheric. I just had a short walk, but it was lovely. There is a new website...
Categories Northumberland/Railway History/Roman Britain Comments: 0
January 11, 2024

northernvicar November and December 2023

One of my ambitions in life has been to see the Northern Lights. We should have been in Orkney for the last fortnight, and there have been some lovely photos from there. We have also seen photos from Northumberland over the last few months, but never seen the real thing. This evening the app started flashing red, a high chance of seeing them. So we went on an Aurora hunt. We drove north up the A68, then took the Bellingham road in West Woodside. There is a laybye on the north side of that road, and we could see...
Categories Northumberland/Railway History/Roman Britain/Scotland Comments: 0
November 13, 2023

northernvicar October 2023

I started October with a Curator tour of the Wartime history of the English Heritge house at Belsay. The house was requisitioned at the start of WW2. The then owner, Stephen Middleton, kept a close eye on it, and there are piles of letters of complaint he wrote to the army. At one point he covered everything with coconut matting – you can still see the marks. There are various signs of wartime – names on doors, a loo door which says “night time use only”, graffiti and items found under the floorboard. Julie has been busy stewarding at...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Personal/Railway History Comments: 2
November 9, 2023

northernvicar September 2023

We’re back in Northumberland, and the gardens at Belsay (English Heritage) are looking beautiful. I had a trip on the South Tynedale Railway and a hospital visit to Manchester via Liverpool. At Carlisle I was pleased to see 46115 “Scots Guardsman”, built by the North British Loco Company in Glasgow in 1927. It is the loco which featured in the film “Night Mail”. Beautiful National Trust gardens at Wallington. A trip to George Stephenson’s birthplace at Wylam – a rarely opened National Trust property. A trip to Carlisle, for lunchtime communion and a meet up with Clare. I decided...
Categories Cumbria/National Trust/Northumberland/Railway History Comment: 1
September 19, 2023

Leadgate, County Durham – St Ives

Sunday 17 September 2023, one of the Heritage Open Days. St Ives church, Leadgate, NZ130551, was buzzing. A talk was just starting, there were local history displays, some mining art, and a cup of tea available. Sadly there was no simple guide leaflet and no leaflet to take which might have told the punters something about what the church is actually doing (surely you have something to advertise when lots of new people are coming into church?). Bit frustrating, but I thought I’ll get enough information about the church from Pevsner. Having found my copy of Pevsner’s County Durham...
Categories Durham/Railway History/World War 1 Comments: 0
September 10, 2023

northernvicar August 2023

We started the month with a trip north over the Border to Melrose, and a visit to the Roman Museum at Trimontium – https://www.trimontium.co.uk/. It reminds us that the Romans did move north – by 79 AD they were pushing into southern Scotland and constructed their fort at the place of the three hills, the three peaks of Eildon. There were Iron Age forts here, indeed several thousand people may have lived in the area the Romans conquered. This same site was to be used several times over the next hundred years or more, as the site was abandoned...
Categories National Trust/Northumberland/Personal/Railway History/Roman Britain/Scotland/Trams Comments: 0
August 2, 2023

northernvicar July 2023

Our last month in Derbyshire, and we can still find new experiences. Kedleston was a favourite spot during lockdown, but my days of walking “The Long Walk” are over. On Monday 3 July I found they now have a Tramper to hire, so I accepted my condition and enjoyed the ride. Memo to self – reduce speed before seeking to go through a gate! My brother and I decided we needed a day’s jaunt round Lincolnshire to do the railway lines I should have done over the last seven years, and I managed a day in London to do...
Categories Northumberland/Personal/Railway History/Roman Britain Comment: 1
July 29, 2023

northernvicar June 2023

The Ecclesbourne Railway have done a superb job with a disabled access coach – other railways, please take note. We had a visit on Sunday 4 June, and I got on the footplate at Shottle. We went to Hardwick Hall on Monday 5 June, meeting our friend John. It is rather amusing that he was my Best Man forty years ago, now he gets free admission as Julie’s “essential carer”. Then a series of train trips as I went to and fro to Manchester for various hospital jollies. We managed a week in Wales, and called in to the...
Categories Personal/Railway History/Roman Britain/Wales Comments: 0
July 28, 2023

northernvicar May 2023

On May 1 May I woke about 0500, listened to the dawn chorus, and thought “I’ve retired!” Time to pack, but also to find some trains. The Severn Valley Railway on Saturday 6 May was a good way of avoiding the Coronation, and the Middleton line took the Bank Holiday Monday. While we were in Lincoln, back in the last Millennium, we visited the trolley bus museum at Sandtoft. I remember the highlight being fish and chips for lunch on a bus. I had always been meaning to go back, and we managed it on Sunday 14 May (now...
Categories Personal/Railway History Comments: 0