page_title: Newcastle & Carlisle Railway
section_title: The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Newcastle & Carlisle Railway / Amalgamation with the North Eastern Railway / North Eastern Railway / The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Railways between Blaydon, Gateshead and Newcastle, England, in 1876
context_page_description: The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between Blaydon and Hexham, and passengers were carried for the first time the following year. The rest of the line opened in stages, completing a through route between Carlisle and Gateshead, south of the River Tyne in 1837. The directors repeatedly changed their intentions for the route at the eastern end of the line, but finally a line was opened from Scotswood to a Newcastle terminal in 1839. That line was extended twice, reaching Newcastle Central station in 1851.
  A branch line was built to reach lead mines around Alston, opening from Haltwhistle in 1852.
  For many years the line ran trains on the right-hand track on double line sections. In 1837 a station master on the line, Thomas Edmondson, introduced pre-printed numbered pasteboard tickets dated by a press, a huge advance on the former system of individual hand-written tickets; in time his system achieved near-universal adoption worldwide.
context_section_description: In the early days of planning the route of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, opinion had been voiced in favour of running on the north bank of the Tyne west of Lemington and Newburn. There were extensive coal deposits there, as well as other industries, not served by railways, and in 1866 a railway was promoted, This came to nothing but in 1870 another line was projected, which included a dock at Scotswood enabling the shipping of minerals from the area. This scheme became the "Scotswood, Newburn & Wylam Railway & Dock Company", which obtained an authorising Act of Parliament on 16 June 1871. It left the line from Carlisle to the west of Wylam and crossed the Tyne there, running east on the north bank and rejoining the N&CR at Scotswood; the capital was £85,000.
  Serious difficulties with poor ground were encountered at Scotswood and a tunnel was substituted for the cutting there; the tunnel collapsed during construction in September 1874. The Wylam bridge was much delayed too, so that the majority of the line was ready but it was cut off at both ends. Eventually, on 12 July 1875 the line opened from Scotswood to Newburn; there was a separate station (from the N&CR station) at Scotswood. The line was worked by the North Eastern Railway, with three passenger trains each way every weekday. The SN&WR had now expended all its capital resources and the idea of a Scotswood Dock was abandoned, and the line was simply a branch of the NER.
  The NER agreed arrangements for the Wylam bridge with the SN&WR, and on 13 May 1876 the Newburn to Wylam village section was opened, with a station in Wylam itself, known as North Wylam. The NER now extended the passenger service to North Wylam.
  On 6 October 1876 the bridge at West Wylam, connecting westwards towards Hexham, was opened. Only goods and mineral trains, and occasional special passenger trains, used the bridge; the ordinary passenger service was not extended across it.
  The short line was useful to the NER but the value of its independence to its own shareholders was limited, and thoughts soon turned to sale to the NER; this was brought about and confirmed by Act of 29 June 1883.
caption: Railways between Blaydon, Gateshead and Newcastle in 1876
exif: {}