Tanfield Railway - On the Waggon 19th and 20th February

Celebrating the role of the humble freight train
The ability to carry goods, and coal, in large quantities by rail created the modern world we know today. From collieries to cattle farms, from steelworks to shipbuilders every conceivable business and industry made extensive use of the railways... and nowhere more so than in the North East.

On the Waggon is a two day celebration of the freight train in the North East featuring vintage waggons from the Tanfield Railway’s unique and nationally recognised collection operating alongside regular passenger trains.

A must for keen photographers and railway enthusiasts alike and a revealing insight into the way heavy loads were moved before the coming of the motorway network now taken for granted.

Keep an eye on http://tanfieldrailway.co.uk/onthewaggon.html for more information coming soon!

 

http://tanfieldrailway.co.uk/News/008.html

well worth having a look at.

 

Very good, like the sound of that.

Will the timetable be available nearer the event?

 

We should have the timetable published by the end of the week, we are just ironing out the last few things.

I can however offer Full Line Brake Van rides, this is something we have never offered before and will be an experience that very few people have had.

The cost for this is £3 for a single and £5 for a return. With places limited i cant imagin these tickets will be there for long. I will update you all soon with departure times for this.

Any more questions, give us a shout.

 

Cheers mk1hater, look forward to more info as you get it.

 

will be nice change, seeing a "freight" train out on the line instead of the normal coal train, will make for some nice photos.
not been done for while.

edited*
(whoops worng phase of words, coal still is running)

 

WOOOAAAHHH

Who said anything about freight INSTEAD of coal... it's all about ride on freight AS WELL AS coal trains!

Plan is for passenger, freight and coal trains to be running.

Five engines in steam loads of action, loads of waggons!

And as for the coal train being normal, well we might well just have a trick up our sleeves their too!

More info and timetable this weekend.

 

Exciting stuff - roll on the weekend!

 

Just as a matter of interest, what have you got in mind for "Coffee Pot"?

 

Coffee Pot has Landed,

http://beamishtransport.blogspot.com/2011/02/coffee-pots-visit-to-tanfield-railway.html

 

I never knew that "Coffee Pot" had been that fetching? shade of pale blue.......

I definately prefer the current colour.

StoneRoad

 

Coffee Pot will be shunting in the yard at Marley Hill and giving various demonstrations in this area.

A timetable for the event has now bee published online and can be found through the following page:

http://www.tanfieldrailway.co.uk/onthewaggon.html

As you will see, another intense timetable full of action, another event in the calendar not to be missed.

 

Cheers the update/timetable.

Question; Twizell & 49 to/from Marley Hill / Sunnside with the coal train, will these be double heading or top & tail?

Many thanks

 

Couple photos of Armstrong No.2 awaiting to head south with a small rake of Emtpies for East Tanfield, with the Bowes Harton Van, these waggons are the extras to go onto the Coal Train Rake.

http://owen-edwards.fotopic.net/p69041582.html
http://owen-edwards.fotopic.net/p69041581.html

 

Question; Twizell & 49 to/from Marley Hill / Sunnside with the coal train, will these be double heading or top & tail?


Answer - They will be 'top & tail' through the day.

 

To be honest, I'm disappointed with the timetable as the same locos stay on the same trains all day. Goods trains aren't my thing, but I was hoping with the number of locos available that they would swap around and work both passenger and goods trains during the day, giving more variety for both linesiders and paying passengers.

 

Hi Malc

Thanks for your thoughts on the timetable. If I can explain why the timetable is as it is.

I imagine you have noticed that passengers will be able to travel on the freight trains in the unique Harton brake van as well as on the normal passenger trains therefore giving twice the number of rideable trains as would normally be the case when we run freight themed events.

The main reason for the allocation of locomotives is the need to match locomotives to appropriate loadings. 49 and Twizell are obviously capable of taking a full length coal train whereas Sir Cecil A. Cochrane would not be able to and Renishaw Ironworks No. 6 is somewhere in between hence it being allocated to the passenger train which we anticpate being a little heavy for Cochrane, certainly if rail conditions turn out to be less than perfect which you certainly can't guarentee at this time of the year. Obviously Coffeepot which isn't train brake fitted is unable to haul passengers unfortunately but should look and sound quite good in the yard.

We are conscious that our main gala event in September (Legends of Industry) is very heavily geared towards passenger train operation as probably will be another event (Tyneside Locomotive Festival) in May, although the timetable for that one hasn't been written yet. We're trying to get a bit of a balance throughout the year.

We'd love to hear peoples thoughts on what you've liked and not liked so much over this coming weekend though, after all it's the first time we've tried this kind of operation so customer feedback would be most valuable.

 

Many thanks for the further updates/info mk1hater / P&JR1854.

Should be a great weekend.

 

P&JR1854,

Thanks for the explanation. That all makes sense and I recognise that this is really a goods train event. Twizell is the loco I was hoping to get a ride behind, as I've ridden behind the others and I know about Coffepot's lack of brakes so didn't expect that. Unfortunately, since Tanfield is not the easiest (or cheapest) place to get to by public transport from Manchester, I'll give it a miss this weekend, but I hope to get to an event later in the year.

 

Any chance of swapping the locos at Sunnisde so front & back change places?

Only required once each day if you could please?

Many thanks


Andrew