Institution of Mining Engineers - North Tyne Tour - 13th October 1991

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Railtour map drawn by our member Rodger Wilkinson. Note that at Blyth Power Station the west branch was done by the tour, not the east as shown.<br>[© Rodger Wilkinson 1991]	Railtour map drawn by our member Rodger Wilkinson.<br>[&copy; Rodger Wilkinson 1991]	Railtour map drawn by our member Rodger Wilkinson. Note that at Blyth Power Station the west branch was done by the tour, not the east as shown.<br>[© Rodger Wilkinson 1991]	Railtour map drawn by our member Rodger Wilkinson.<br>[&copy; Rodger Wilkinson 1991]	Widdrington from the front of the tour at the end of line, looking back towards the loading bunker that it had run past. Unfortunately the weather on the day wasn't great for photography.<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1991]	37093 and a LMS brakevan at Cambois Depot on 13 Sep 1974. The brakevan had been used on the Alcan service, unfitted wagons then. The traffic between North Blyth Import Terminal and Lynemouth Smelter was alumina and coke for the smelting process.<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1974]	From near Cambois Depot looking south towards West Blyth Staiths, Apr 1986. The high-level loaded wagon sidings are left. Wagons were shunted ahead on to the staiths for unloading then ran back to the low-level empty wagons sidings, right. Blyth 'B' Power Station is right with its twin chimneys. Bates Colliery is in the distance, just to left of the power station and across the River Blyth.<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1986]
West Blyth Staiths which closed 31 Dec 1989, from the southeast (the aforementioned LMS brakevan en route to North Blyth Alcan Import Terminal). Once a common sight in the North East, you had to be lucky to have a trip, with a boat in or a driver who would take you down light engine.<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1974]	A sight familiar to modern railtourers; North Blyth Import Terminal, with the 13 Oct 1991 tour stopped at crossing just short of the terminal. The main thing that has changed in 29 years is the cars!<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1991]	37046 at Blyth Power Station ('B' station a spooky silhouette right); an oil train from Esso Percy Main on 12 Sep 1974. This was the last leg of what was, for the writer, one of his best brake van trips ever. A local Cambois Depot trip working with no fixed route (like most), it had visited Burradon Colliery, Bates Colliery exchange sidings, Whitehill Point (very sporadic traffic) and Percy Main Yard.<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1974]	From the front of the tour, the limit of working on the Bates branch, with the buffer stops just out of sight around the curve. As can be seen in various pictures the train exterior was rather dirty.<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1991]	1958 map 1" inch scale; Newsham North Jn is bottom centre. Blyth terminal station with two platforms is shown as a 'principal' station (rectangular). The lower centre spot was Isabella Colliery on the Bates Colliery branch. The upper spot further right is the 1991 Coal Export Terminal end of line	Fisher Lane Level Crossing on the Burradon Colliery branch from the rear of the same brake van returning to Holywell. Just beyond the road and immediately in front of the unusual signal, the track of the Backworth Colliery line can just be seen crossing on the level at a skew. (12 Sep 1974.)<br>[&copy; Ian Mortimer 1974]	(1958 map) Burradon Colliery is middle left, the branch runs east to the centre, then crosses the Backworth Colliery system line on the level at Fisher Lane Level crossing (power cables overhead for good measure), turns sharply south and joins the (still open) Blyth & Tyne Line at West Holywell.