Steam Powered Wood Yard - Armstrong Addison in Sunderland

[@ijustlikecake1924]

I really like looking back at my favourite time in history as I'm a similar age to you and did my own bit of spotting

[@chrisheath2039]

I too worked here, from 1980 until the bad winter of 1987. I'm actually on one of the pictures (albeit the back of my head!). I can name all but one of the people in the pictures. I have to agree with the comment from Irene Grierson, all she states is fact. She was actually the boss' Wife (David Grierson). Happy times, fond memories of a lot of since deceased friends. Thanks for sharing.

[@jonathanguilbert8658]

Hi Chris, thanks for your comment. So who is the guy with the glasses leading the wood down the yard and the man in the mobile crane with the woolly hat?

[@chrisheath2039]

@@jonathanguilbert8658 The guy leading the timber is Gordon Graham and the driver of crane is a guy called Robert (Bobby) Padget.

[@rogo23]

Both of my grandparents are from Sunderland, it’s nice to see some local history

[@P61guy61]

Excellent. Thanks for preserving history.

[@highdownmartin]

Great series of pictures. What an amazing time capsule still going way past its time. And no hivis in sight.

[@wideyxyz2271]

Great piece. Its also a shame we have lost something like this all that skill and fabulous equipment for houses. Progress isn't always so great. It makes me wish I had taken more photos around my hometown when I was a teenager in the late 70s early 80s.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi Widey xyz, so much industry had disappeared and was still disappearing at that time, it was impossible to cover it all.

[@RockyRailroadProductions_B0SS]

Very interesting system! I love all the different cranes, especially the self propelled rail cranes and the derricks.

[@admiralcraddock464]

I use to work for a civil engineers as a plant fitter in the late seventies and they still had a boiler shop for the boiler that powered the piling rigs and winches. Just before i joined their two scotch derricks had been converted to diesel power as had a rail mounted Smith And rodley one , the same as in the photos

[@Peranaworthal]

My computer crashed, so a fresh start and the YT algorithm put up random links like this! The best crash ever!!! History that is important, glad it is saved here. Thanks for the video. The way this world is going now, we might need those steam powered locos and cranes again?

[@steamgent4592]

Another great production mate! Steam is steam a real steam enthusiast loves them all!! Otherwise he's just a Steam Railway enthusiast. Albeit steam railways are my favorite of them all but a steam boat, car, crane, ship, motorbike, even traction engines and rollers are all great when powered by steam! Check out the Queen st mill in Lancashire online or in person if you can its powered by steam as well as water pumping stations. Still all lovely stuff!

[@PeterT1981]

Great production! Please release more. Brilliant voice-over narration.

[@wedders1729]

Great video. I was born in Sunderland and continue to live here. Armstrong Addison's yard was a familiar sight to me in my youth. We spent many a day messing around on the adjacent 'Block Yard' beach and fishing from the old North pier. The North dock on which Armstrong Addison's yard sat was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and is now used as a marina. Keep up the good work; I enjoy following your 5" gauge activities and your old industrial steam railway videos.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi, thanks for the comment and information. Sunderland had many interesting places. I didn't know Brunel had a hand in the dock.

[@laszlofyre845]

Of course, it would be there for ever, wouldn't it? Part of the furniture, no big deal, see it tomorrow eh? But didn't change swoop down suddenly when we weren't looking, and lay waste to sights like this all around the UK. Missed opportunities, and I kick myself often and regularly, lol! Nice pics. (Spot 'Biffa Bacon' on the steam crane!)

[@highdownmartin]

An ‘Sid the sexist walking in front of the crane. Why ay canny lad.

[@michaelpilling9659]

A very different video Jon. Extremely interesting but what a shame there is nothing left to see.

[@shug831]

We have lost so much of our historical past to so called progress, covered by tacky housing.

[@garymoran9979]

I lived in Roker victory club at top of bank but also worked at woodyard from 1982-1985, best days of my life, absolutely fantastic video thanks.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi Gary, thanks for the note. It certainly was an interesting place and their steam equipment was well maintained.

[@johnprescott2420]

I actually lived on the new Marina housing development which was named North Haven and I can tell you that my garden was crawling with Wood Lice, now I know why.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi John, that's an interesting assumption.

[@mikego18753]

Way Hay man,lovely vid.

[@jeffreyhodge5564]

Gosh when I lived in Sunderland I walked past this I don’t know how many times ,I think the rail line was the South docks branch ,never saw anything on it but rememember the track down and level crossing ,this was in the 60,s moved away long time ago but you know what they say “home is where your heart is”

[@NovaCoronaSolarisBlast]

these photos are wonderful, a real treasure trove of inspiration for modelling. But oh to have seen it all alive and moving!

[@davidkamensky5924]

Is there a place I can look through all the pictures of this interesting place

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi David, all my pictures are in this film. There's not much else around as far as I can tell.

[@davidkamensky5924]

@@GandyDancerProductions this isn't a website, to save them, or order prints. This gives me a ton of ideas for my lumber yard on my model layout

[@Steven_Rowe]

What no his vis vests hard hats and OH&S Some. Would say this was the Dickensian era lol.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi Steven, it's amazing how these guys survived with all their body parts and no protection.

[@DillonTrinhProductions]

When’s the last time a Steam power crane was used in revenue service?

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi Dillon, I don't really know but in the UK Armstrong Addison might well have been the last.

[@no23mk2]

Brilliant video - as always. I worked at the Rodley crane works for a while. Unfortunately this has also been turned into housing. Do you ever get the feeling we were all born too late?

[@GandyDancerProductions]

For me steam made such an impression as a kid, taking me on holiday and watching them roar passed my aunty's house at Greenfield on their way to Leeds. The one thing I really miss, never to be recreated, is the atmosphere of a mainline steam shed full of steam engines on a Saturday afternoon.

[@no23mk2]

I'm from Leeds But lived in Goodmayes for four years whilst studying 1987 - 90. Shame to see the pubs that have closed. The Joker, The Cauliflower, The Kings, Lord Napier to name but a few. Those pubs were rammed back then.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Train travel used to be really interesting with all those hidden sidings and works you wouldn't see from the road. Most are now supermarkets or housing estates.

[@jackking5567]

Did some of this end up at Tanfield Railway? Some looks familiar.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

Hi Jack, I think one of the derrick cranes got preserved but i don't know about the mobile ones. Haven't heard whether the Tanfield Railway got any of the stuff.

[@eliotreader8220]

its a great shame that there no information about this steam powered wood yard on the street where the houses now stand where it once stood. there was used to be a small railway line that connected the village that I live in Brittany France it was originally built in the 1890s and I believe it was used by the Germans during the war and closed down in the mid 1960s so it saw the end of steam in France. the station buildings have now become private homes or are used for Medical purposes and are pretty much in one piece. in one the other villages one of the engine sheds have been converted into a small Cafe and shop.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

It's great to explore this kind of stuff especially when there's something on the ground still to see.

[@eliotreader8220]

@@GandyDancerProductions did the steam cranes use the wood off cuts as their fuel like the stationary boiler? where I live in France Me and My Met someone who repaired land rovers for a living who is a proud owner of a French Portable engine which was built in 1907 by a company that built Marine engines for steam ship and I understand Our Friend's engine spent all of it working life at a local sawmill, and it was saved by a French Gentleman who thought it would be a great present for his family. I will have to ask our friend when we next see him. the boiler of our friend's engine has been repaired recently in England before Covid 19 broke out.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

@@eliotreader8220 Sounds like a wonderful project is coming together here. Yes, wood was the fuel for the boiler mainly saw dust.

[@Shipwright1918]

Lovely thing about steam engines, they'll burn almost anything you chuck into the firebox that'll burn. Lot of talk going on about being eco friendly and self sufficient these days, but operations like this had that all figured out years ago, running everything on scrap wood and sawdust and not wasting any of it.

[@GandyDancerProductions]

It's a pity the land was worth more sold for housing than continuing with this business.

[@irenegrierson598]

The video isn't accurate I'm afraid. The business moved to Pallion in 1990 and continued until the 90s recession. Jonathan mentions only part of their earlier industry. For instance, there are still timber farm buildings and fencing of theirs in existence from many decades ago. Their main industry from the 60's onward was the supply and erection of motorway/road safety barrier and fencing. In the 80s they were awarded a Royal Warrant of Appointment for the supply of goods to the Households of HM The Queen, which included fencing on the Sandringham Estate. They also supplied and erected fencing for stud farms.

[@jonathanguilbert8658]

@@irenegrierson598 Hi Irene, thanks for more details on their products and history that I didn't know.

[@eliotreader8220]

@@GandyDancerProductions a lot of people talk about the steam engine being able to burn anything until a few years ago i did not believe that statement. I live in France and I have a few Mamod portable engines until a few years ago I had trouble finding the soild fuel tablets that they run on sadly there are no model shops in France. so I fired them on pieces of fire lighters made from compressed wood until i discovered that you can buy soild fuel tablets from websites that sell them. a lot of people who saw my engines working during that time was not best pleased because the fire lighters made a lot of bad smelly wood smoke

[@GandyDancerProductions]

@@eliotreader8220 You should be able to get the tablets on Ebay.