page_title: Clarence Railway
section_title: West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Clarence Railway / West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway
caption_attribution_description: Harbour and Dock, West Hartlepool, as opened in 1847
context_page_description: The Clarence Railway was an early railway company that operated in north-east England between 1833 and 1853. The railway was built to take coal from mines in County Durham to ports on the River Tees and was a competitor to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It suffered financial difficulty soon after it opened because traffic was low and the S&DR charged a high rate for transporting coal to the Clarence, and the company was managed by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners after July 1834. An extension of the Byers Green branch was opened in 1839 by the independent West Durham Railway to serve collieries in Weardale.
  The Stockton and Hartlepool Railway opened in 1841 to connect the Clarence to Hartlepool Docks and the Hartlepool West Harbour & Dock opened in West Hartlepool in 1844. On 17 May 1853 the Clarence Railway, Hartlepool West Harbour & Dock and Stockton and Hartlepool Railway were merged to become the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway. The West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1865.
  The line from Ferryhill to Stockton has been identified by Campaign for a Better Transport as a priority 1 candidate for reopening.
context_section_description: In 1852 the Leeds Northern Railway (LNR) reached Stockton and formed a junction with the Clarence Railway Stockton branch; an alliance had been formed and in anticipation the West Harbour had been enlarged from 13 to 44 acres (5.3 to 17.8 ha). From the following year the West Hartlepool moved services to the LNR Stockton station and this became known as North Stockton, the 1848 S&DR station becoming South Stockton. A price war broke out between the LNR and York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR), the fare for the 238 miles (383 km) between Leeds and Newcastle dropping to two shillings.
  In 1862 the WHH&R was in financial difficulty, and as a result of legal action it was discovered that the company owned over £3,700,000, above the permitted £2,800,000; the level of debenture debt was almost three times that allowed. The company had purchased collieries and steam ships costing £1,000,000. Jackson was held responsible, and he resigned in April, although a report the following year showed there had been good commercial reasons for buying the collieries and ships. The debt was able to be converted into shares in 1863 and the new board sold the ships at a loss, but it was not possible to sell the coal mines, as the trade in coal being depressed at the time due to the American Civil War. Jackson suggested merger of the WHH&R and NER in a letter to the Railway Times in April 1864, and this was agreed later that year. An Act was gained the following year and the companies merged in June or July 1865.
caption: The West Hartlepool Harbour and Dock as it opened in 1847
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