Getting to the Tanfield by public transport

I was thinking of going to the coal train day next sunday, as I'll be in durham the night before.

Does anyone know if it's possible/how easy it is to get there by public transport on a sunday?

 

From Durham the best bet is to take the 43 (definite) or 44 (?) bus from the main bus station to sunniside. They pass St Cuthberts church in Marley Hill, and the first stop after this you want to get off. Walk down to the crossroads in sunniside then turn right up the hill, there's a sign on the corner to beamish and the railway. walk about 100m uphill and sunniside station is on the right. If i'm off a bit i'm sorry but i normally get the bus in the opposite direction from newcastle.

 

Thanks for that. Interesting to note that the sunday bus service is a lot more regular than a normal weekday rush hour service back home down south! (probably cheaper for a much further distance too)

Is there a timetable for the day anywhere?

One last question, for getting back to a mainline station (ideally on the ECML), is durham the best place to go to, or is it easier to get up to Newcastle?

 

The journey time to newcastle is much shorter than the journey to durham, and there are quite a few more buses to newcastle than durham. there are also more trains stopping at newcastle than durham, so i'd suggest if you don't need to go back to durham, newcastle is your best bet. the bus stop in sunniside is just down the hill from the co-op, the 43 doesn't stop there but every other bus to town does. It's a 5 min walk from eldon square bus station to the railway station.

Are you after a timetable for coal train day or the buses? For the latter i'd suggest the nexus website, http://www.nexus.org.uk/wps/wcm/connect/Nexus/Bus . for the former i'd ask someone else.

 

Excellent. Thanks.

I was refering to the coal train timetable, though I'm sure it should be regular enough n there should be plenty else to see for it not to matter too much.

Are the sheds and surrounding area usually open for a wonder around?

(Sorry that this is turning into a game of 21 questions btw!)

 

All is usually open, Chris, afaik. (Obviously as long as there are enough volunteers, of course )

 

First coal train departs East Tanfield at 11am. First passenger train departs Andrews House at 11am too. Then evey hour and a quarter for each, full timetables will be readily available on the day... hope it goes well, I wrote it and I'm on Renishaw too.

 

I might very well be visiting from Durham as well (my first trip to Tanfield, in spite of living in Durham for 5 years!) - www.travelinenortheast.info is excellent for public transport links.

The 10.00 from Durham (43) gets to Sunniside at 11, and will probably be the bus I'm on.

R.

 

Just to add the Tanfield were featured in 'Light Fantastic' a documentary on BBC4 tonight
should be on iplayer soon.

EDIT: here it is

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074qwt/Light_Fantastic_The_Stuff_of_Light/

 

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HTH

Gareth Evans,
Press officer, Cambrian Heritage Railways, Oswestry