The Leamside Line Pelaw Junction to Usworth as at October 2012

[@servicecrew6813]

I've loved disused railways since the early 70s.... to find one with lines in situe is very exciting... well done .

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Thanks, apart from a short stretch of track approaching Pelaw Jct all the track has now been removed.

[@_RabbitLeader]

And to see modern signalling equipment for this freight route also.

[@john-of-the-north]

I recall being diverted along this route in the late 1980s. Being a bit of an enthusiast (understatement) I made sure I caught the right train. Unfortunately my experience of the journey, being sealed into a Mk3 coach in an HST, was that it was over quite quickly and I didn’t see that much. I contrast that to some front passenger seat journeys in first generation DMUs on other lines, which tend to reveal much more of the character of a line.

[@jonc4686]

Remember travelling this route a few times in the 80`s (Sunday Diversions) going to work with my Dad (he was a guard), strange to say but just gone under one of the bridges today on the A690. As my mother lives to the east of Durham, it is not uncommon for me to go over it and under it many times in a week. Brings back good memories though. Nice video.

[@lewisner]

I did this line very often with the Deltics till they finished in 1981.

[@kevinbaird7277]

I used to drive trains in and out of Wardley in the early 1990's, It makes me sick to see this, but yesterday was a long time ago.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Lots of talk for years now regarding reopening but......

[@winco68]

@@ALANSVIDS1 Yes I seriously doubt we’ll ever see it reopened as a heavy rail through route. The investment in upgrading the Durham Coast Route put paid to that. Freight can be kept off the ECML more easily now and for a greater stretch between Northallerton and Gateshead. There may be a future for some of the route as part of the much talked of Metro extension? But as has already been said lots of talking and no action. There seems to be a lack of willingness to invest in infrastructure in the North East and with the current pandemic and political climate I can’t imagine that will change any time soon. However should the Metro be extended there is the possibility of a loop via South Hylton, Penshaw and Washington to Pelaw as well as extending South to Fencehouses or Even Belmont to link with the Durham P+R scheme.

[@ianhelps3749]

I remember the line was open when I lived in Durham in the 1980s. Sometimes it was used as a diversion route for passenger trains. With the ECML getting busier, surely it would be worth reopening, along with the Ferryhill to Stockton line.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

It would make a lot of sense but this is North East England, bottom of the table for investment in the railways. Reopening has been mooted for years, including extending the metro from Pelaw to Washington. I think the trackbed is protected from being built on.

[@scorchx3000]

I walked up the track a year or so ago, between Barmston and the viaduct, they've cut across the track with a cycle path and blocked access with spiked fences. I had to do a 10 minute detour to get by. The viaducts been fenced off too, but someone had kicked the fences down so i was able to cross to Penshaw.

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

Ian Helps it would be simpler and cheaper to use the coastal route via Sunderland.

[@lewisner]

It's especially crazy when you see the amount of new industry like Nissan and its new gigafactories.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

As far as I am aware NR plan to remove the track in 2 phases, the first Ferryhill to Fencehouses has been done, the second from Fencehouses to Pelaw has not begun yet, so all the track shown in the video still exists at the moment.

[@mscangliarail]

Just come across your video brought back memories i was S&T linenman at Pelaw i coverved Wardley up to Follingsby xing and to Felling in 1964

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Most of the track in the video has now been pulled up including Follingsby LC, just the bit from Wardley to Pelaw remains now.

[@DSM9]

Been up there lately, more than a decade later (2023), and nature is well and truly taking its course with that stretch of disused line now very much overgrown.

[@lucypawpaw]

Great video, and thanks for sharing. It seems such a shame to see it in this state. I have been taking pictures around South Wales, of disused tracks. It's always good to record or takes pictures, before things are gone completely.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Most of the track in the video has now been removed, a short stretch through Wardley approaching the Newcastle to Sunderland line at Pelaw is all thats left.

[@lucypawpaw]

That's a real shame, but a sign of the times I guess.

[@john-of-the-north]

A great record, on a sad subject. Thanks for making this film for posterity.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Thanks, I think its time for a follow up trip.

[@frenchsteam7356]

Should never have been closed!

[@lewisner]

I can't believe the amount of trees at Usworth it was always a fairly barren place.

[@coltmanneil]

When did the wardley disposal site close , I remember watching trains going to and from here but when I have no idea . I can also recall further over on follingsbury park was once a freightliner terminal think that was the 70s , great video thanks .

[@ALANSVIDS1]

It only opened in 1990 and lasted until 2005. It was built to replace the Swalwell disposal point which was on land needed for the Metro Centre. Aparently their are plans (in the early stages) to build some sort of waste recycling plant on the site by a firm called Peel Enviromental. If it will be rail served if it does go ahead ?

[@DieselDudeRailway]

Excellent video. Very well made.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Thanks, I did not realise it was 5 years since my walk along the line, I think its time for another visit.

[@angelsone-five7912]

Excellent record and worth doing cos, as they say, when it`s gone - it`s GONE!

[@mcsquare77]

If the Tyne and Wear Metro expansion goes ahead. The old lines or at least the route could be used to extend the Metro through to Washington!

[@ALANSVIDS1]

They have been talking about reopening the Leamside Line for years now and it seems very unlikely in the near future. Appears to be more chance of the Blyth and Ashington lines being reopened.

[@mcsquare77]

Very True!

[@lewisner]

The Metro is a retrograde step. The extension to Sunderland negates any possibility of 25Kv electrification and the slowness of the trains hampers heavy rail trains.

[@StaffsTransport]

wonderful film of a ghostly railway

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Thanks, lets hope it becomes a bit less ghostly and reopens as a modern railway sometime in the future.

[@yuwonoabu5556]

The track is death Really i'm so sad watching video maybe sometimes can be used again. Greating from Indonesia.

[@TheFifaFootballChannel]

I travel regularly on the Ecml past Tursdale Junction. Bizzarely, the line side signals are still operating at the leamside turnout as the points and frames haven't been isolated. It's insane that these signals have been in full use for 30 years because network rail etc can't be bothered to do their job and isolate the junction. I travel frequently and this scenario is repeated in a myriad of locations. It must be wasting so much taxpayers money. Network rail are an absolute disgrace.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

I might be wrong but I suspect that assuming Network Rail have no other use for the signals themselves, then the cost of modifying the signalling circuitry would be much more expensive than leaving the unwanted signals in place and still lit, until the time comes when the track/signals in the area are due to be renewed.

[@majorpygge-phartt2643]

Dead right there, they'll quite happily spend countless MILLIONS on putting up overhead lines and turning big city stations into dirty great greenhouses which heat up inside to insane temperatures in the summer sun making them ultra-EXclusive but they won't replace old long outdated footbridges which are total barriers to anyone with wheelchairs or mobility scooters etc. or sort out any of the countless stations which still have stepped access only.

[@_RabbitLeader]

Always seems such a a waste to see all that track and signal infrastructure deemed to be no longer required. Why not keep in use if was widely used for diversions? Always useful to keep redundancy in the network for additional capacity due to network maintenance. Is this short trim from Network Rail to save money?

[@kevanhubbard9673]

In a sorry state and it needs relaying and put into action along with the Stillington for a fast Middlesbrough Newcastle service without changing in Darlington or the slow crawl up the Durham Coast line with it's single platform bottleneck in Hartlepool and shared Tyne and Wear Metro from Sunderland to Heworth.

[@stephenyoung2752]

shame its all gone now, just like the riverside line

[@ALANSVIDS1]

At least the trackbed has been protected from building on, so their is still a small amount of hope for the future.

[@MiLLwallpaul231258]

bit of a silly question...... but has it all gone now?

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Most of the track has been pulled up apart from a stretch from Wardley to the main line at Pelaw Junction. I believe that the actual trackbed is protected so that no development is allowed that would block it.

[@hornbytrains125]

Any updates on the situation of the track?

[@TheAudiostud]

Forgive my ignorance, but was this all part of the coaling merry go round system before Thatcherism

[@lewisner]

I think this was after Thatcher or at the latter end of her thrall. Most of the coastal collieries such as Dawdon had MGR facilities built in the late eighties and they only saw a few years use before being demolished.

[@TheFifaFootballChannel]

Very sad. I travelled this line on a HST when diverted. Only in the UK would we mothball lines, trap them in time. Its totally insane. Incidentally, the line around tursdale was recovered as criminal gangs were actually stealing the lines. This line won't be reopening.

[@majorpygge-phartt2643]

The same thing happened on another line near me, which was waiting to be reopened by a preservation group, some of the rails got nicked, but I can never understand how anyone can steal the rails when they're 60 foot long weigh about a TON each! They must have some means of cutting them but how without getting caught when it makes so much noise, unless they stick to remote areas out in the sticks away from prying eyes.

[@owenevans83]

Good footage.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Thanks, i think another visit is due.

[@garymcteer7620]

Wardley signalbox was plunged into darkness when they built the dual carriageway over it, a dreadfully dire place in its latter days 🤢

[@ALANSVIDS1]

I can imagine

[@manmeetsinghmahajan6183]

Good one.

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Thanks, it needs another visit.

[@richardchadwick4028]

What a waste ...

[@ALANSVIDS1]

Quite agree, there are probably dozens of similar disused routes all over the country which could be reopened but for the lack of funding, yet we can still find money for HS2 !

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

ALANSVIDS1 HS2 serves places were the jobs and money are. Lines like this don't always do that, or like the Bramley Line to Wisbech would require significant structures, a bridge to replace the originsl level crossing on the A47.