page_title: Stanhope and Tyne Railway
section_title: Route
hierarchical_section_title: Stanhope and Tyne Railway / Route
caption_attribution_description: English: Weatherhill Incline The Weatherhill Incline was the uppermost of two inclines which raised trains from Stanhope and the Crawleyside Quarries up to Park Head to join the main line of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway http://www.geocities.com/waggonways/ny/95/ny9540.html . The remains of the Weatherhill Engine which raised trains 90 metres up this incline can still be seen at NY9942. The remains of the Crawley engine can be seen in the middle distance NY9940. The moors on the south side of Weardale appear on the horizon. The incline now serves as a cycleway and footpath parallel to the main B6278.
context_page_description: The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway, that ran from Stanhope in County Durham, to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne. The object was to convey limestone from Stanhope and coal from West Consett and elsewhere to the Tyne, and to local consumers. Passengers were later carried on parts of the line.
  The line opened on 15 May 1834, but it was not financially successful. It had been formed by a partnership, and the heavily indebted partners floated a new company, the Pontop and South Shields Railway to continue operations and take over the debt. Part of the line was bought by the Derwent Iron Company
context_section_description: The quarries at Stanhope are at an altitude of 796 feet (243 m) above sea level. The railway left the quarry sidings and turned north up the hillside, by rope worked inclines. From Stanhope to the Crawley engine was ¹⁄₂ mile (0.8 km) long on gradients of 1 in 8 and 1 in 12, passing through Hog Hill tunnel, about 120 yards (110 m) long. At the Crawley engine (1,223 feet (373 m)  above sea level) the ropes were changed and the sets of wagons were drawn up to the Weatherhill engine, over 1 mile (1.6 km) away, over gradients of 1 in 21 and 1 in 13.
  From Weatherhill the line climbed on a further rope-worked incline at 1 in 57 to the summit level at Parkhead, 1,474 feet (449 m) above sea level. This was the highest railway summit in England. Horses worked the next section, about 1 ¹⁄₂ miles (2.4 km) in length, descending gently for over ¹⁄₂ mile (0.8 km), and then for 1 mile (1.6 km) at the rate of 1 in 80 and 1 in 88. At the Park Head wheelhouse, the waggons were attached to a tail-rope and let down an incline at gradients of 1 in 80 and 1 in 82, 1 ¹⁄₂ miles (2.4 km) in length, to a stationary engine at Meeting Slacks. Here the rope was changed, they continued their descent down a second incline 1 ¹⁄₄ miles (2.0 km) in length; the steepest gradients were 1 in 35, 1 in 41 and 1 in 47. This brought the wagons to Waskerley.
  Next the line descended down to the valley by means of a self-acting plane called Nanny Mayor's bank (or Nanny Mayer's bank); it was ³⁄₄ mile (1.2 km) long, with a gradient of 1 in 41. From the bottom of this incline, horses drew the wagons along the near-level past White Hall and Rowley (or Cold Rowley), then reaching the ravine at Hownes Gill where a break occurred in the line. The cleft at Hownes Gill is 800 feet (240 m) wide and 160 feet (49 m) deep, with steep rocky sides. When the line was planned, it was obvious that a viaduct was unaffordable and an alternative means of crossing was adopted. A track of with four rails, the outer pair at a gauge of 7 ft ¹⁄₈ in (2,137 mm) and the inner pair at 5 ft 1 ³⁄₄ in (1,568 mm), was laid down each face of the ravine, with gradients of 1 in ​2 ¹⁄₂ on the west side and 1 in 3 on the east. A special cradle was built for each side, with the lower wheels larger than the upper wheels, so as to keep the platform level. The wagons were run on to one of these cradles and were lowered to the bottom, where they were transferred to the other cradle for the ascent of the other side. The wagons travelled sideways-on. Both cradles worked simultaneously, driven by a 20-horsepower (15 kW) stationary engine situated at the bottom, the ascending and descending cradles partly balancing one another. Only one railway wagon could be handled in each direction at a time, limiting the throughput to twelve an hour.
  After Hownes Gill the line passed the site of Consett Iron Works, later very much enlarged and developed; the line climbed at 1 in 71 to Carr House. There the Medomsley colliery branch of the S&TR trailed in. From Carr House the line continued, falling at 1 in 108; both inclines were worked by a stationary engine at Carr House. The line then ran northeast along the ridge near the collieries of Stanley and Annfield Plain. It passed over the Pontop Ridge (between East Castle and Annfield) on an incline, gradient 1 in 148, worked by a stationary engine at the summit, at Loud Bank, then reaching Annfield. Here the Harelaw Waggonway, adopted by the S&TR as a branch, trailed in.
  The gradients then fell further towards the east, descending by self-acting inclines consisting, from west to east, of the Stanley bank (maximum gradient 1 in 21), Twizell bank (1 in ​17 ¹⁄₂), Eden bank (1 in 17), and the Long Waldridge bank (1 in ​20 ¹⁄₂ to 1 in ​24 ¹⁄₂). The line then crossed the course of present-day East Coast main line, opened here in 1868, north of Chester-le-Street. This section was level enough for locomotive working, passing through Washington and Boldon, and near Brockley Whins to reach South Shields. Running at high level through the town, the line ended at quays off Wapping Street 
caption: The former Weatherhill Incline
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