The work, funded by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, consists of two new waiting shelters

in a style more appropriate to the Victorian setting of Saltburn, new signage and poster cases, a ticket machine and CCTV for security.

Photographs Courtesy of Tony Lynn – You can view these pictures in a larger format in the “EVENTS” Gallery.

Pictures show SLUG members Ewan & Jennifer Cant performing their ambassadorial duties at Eaglescliffe.

Clearly the present 26 year old “Pacer” trains are wholly inadequate both in terms of capacity at peak times and in the poor levels of comfort they provide; quite simply, they need replacing.  Similarly a much more robust public address system is needed and possibly even the provision of electronic indicator boards as exist at Middlesbrough. New and improved waiting shelters would also provide a more pleasing and comfortable environment for passengers. Plugging the gap in the morning timetable where there is no departure between 08.30 and 09.30 is an essential improvement, as would be earlier morning and later evening trains from and to Saltburn.

For any of these aspirations to become a reality, we need as large a number of people as possible to make their views known and felt.  The DfT must be persuaded that the quality of rail services and facilities in the north of England must begin to match those in the south where investment in public transport has far outstripped that which we have seen here in the north. The Institute for Public Research North says that £2,700 is spent per person in London on transport projects as against £5 per head in the North East of England and that almost half of the twenty biggest tax-payer funded transport projects benefit only London and the South East.  SLUG is therefore inviting users of local rail services to attend our monthly meetings and make known the changes and improvements they would like to see made on the Saltburn line in the new franchise. These will be submitted to the DfT as part of the consultation process. Our meetings are open to members and non-members alike.  We meet every first Tuesday of the month in the Conservative Club, Milton Street, Saltburn at 7.30pm.  (SLUG has no political affiliation.)

There are some welcome improvements taking place at the moment on the Saltburn line: the provision of a ticket office, rebuilt waiting shelters and a larger car park at Eaglescliffe station.  These facilities will greatly benefit passengers using Grand Central (GC) services to and from London.  GC trains also serve Northallerton, Thirsk,York, Hartlepool and Sunderland.  Eaglescliffe, like Hartlepool, will soon see “ambassadors” meeting and greeting Grand Central trains on Sundays when services can sometimes be disrupted by engineering works.

Special thanks must go to Paul and Dave for there Herculean efforts
of delivering the model and manning it throughout the weekend. There have been
many appreciative comments passed since the exhibition was held.

Thanks to Chris and Graham Horrocks for their contributions
of material and the fine display of 00 gauge model engines. Also there was an
excellent display of railway paintings by John Bulmer. The venue proved popular
and the refreshments provided by Ann Cowie were definitely icing on the cake!!!

Hot of the press news. At the Northumbria in Bloom
awards ceremony held in Saltburn on the 13th September Saltburn Station was
awarded “Gold” and was the overall winner of the Tyne and Wear Trophy for the
Best bus, metro or railway station. Well done network rail, Northern Rail and
SLUG.

I recall being puzzled as a child by the name of the signal box which stood nearby – “Upleatham”. For I knew that village was a couple of miles away and on the other side of the hill below which New Marske nestles. The hill doesn’t seem to have a well-known name, though the plantation on its sides is called “Errington Wood”. It wasn’t until a lot of years later that I realised that the box was named after Upleatham ironstone mines, which honeycombed the whole of that hill

The mines were actually begun in 1851 by the Derwent Iron Company, and in the early days the ironstone was taken away by a four-mile 2ft-gauge tramway which wound its way across what was then fields to Coatham. There the stone was loaded on to the Stockton and Darlington’s Redcar branch, opened in 1846, and thence up to Consett. The mines were bought by Pease and Partners in 1857, a rather more local firm, and, of course, of the family which promoted the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Unsurprisingly, the Redcar branch was extended to Saltburn, but getting the ironstone out received priority, and a new standard-gauge branch was laid from the Redcar Road Bridge to the Upleatham Mines. It never carried a proper passenger service, but in early days miners’ trains seem to have been run from Redcar. Miners also initially lived in surrounding towns like Marske, Skelton and Guisborough, but the mining village of New Marske was built in the 1860′s. The mines themselves were worked by narrow gauge lines which eventually ran right along the hill, linking the various entrances, and at one stage got within half a mile of Dunsdale. The mine was one of the biggest in Cleveland, but was finally exhausted and closed in December 1923.

I also well remember several disused and overgrown sidings on the north side of the line, shut off from the running lines by a gate. These served the nearby aerodrome, established first just along Green Lane in 1915 as an aerial gunnery school. Amongst those who served there was Capt. W.E. Johns, author of the “Biggies” books which I and many thousands of other young lads loved. In “Biggies Learns to Fly”, Johns describes how “the far end of the aerodrome ran straight down into the sea, a long, deserted foreshore, on which old, obsolete aeroplanes were placed as targets.” (He does say it’s in Lincolnshire, but we now know better!) The aerodrome wasn’t used for flying in the Second World War, but the hangers were still there until a few decades ago, latterly used by ICI. There were once proposals to build a holiday camp in this area, but it never happened.

You can now walk up the branch line to New Marske, itself very much bigger now. The line can be reached form a footpath across the road from the bridge, or via Cat Flat crossing, a little to the east. If you walk the branch you can continue up into the woods via Pontac Road in the village to walk the old tramways, but do take care crossing the modern Marske by-pass. And, generally, -remember A.Wainwright, and “Watch where you’re putting your feet!”. Not all dog owners are particularly responsible….Despite all the changes, the Saltburn Line still continues. There’s even a new station at Longbeck, and you can get to New Marske from there, too. Why not go and do a little exploring one day?   For more on the aerodrome, there’s a new history of it in the shops, and for Upleatham Mine, see the book by local expert Simon Chapman, published by Peter Tuffs of Guisborough. You’ll probably find both in the Guisborough Bookshop.

Hope this is of interest,

George Featherston.

Redcar.

Extract from the forthcoming “Line Guide” for the Saltburn Branch from Northern Rail

Dinsdale station serves the now mainly residential
community of Middleton St George. Nearby is Middleton One Row, a picturesque
village overlooking the River Tees. There is a regular bus connection from the
station overbridge to Durham Tees Valley International Airport.Shortly after leaving Dinsdale, the line rejoins the
original 1825 route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR), which it
follows until the approach to Thornaby.

Allens West station was built during World War II to
serve an adjacent military depot. Today the site provides warehousing and small
industrial uses. Much of the area around has been developed for housing. The
historic market town of Yarm is just over a mile away.

Eaglescliffe station is just a short walk from
Preston Hall Museum whose collections focus on domestic and working life over
the last 200 years. Centrepiece of the museum is a reconstructed Victorian
street and there are also several period rooms on display. Surrounding the
museum is Preston Park with open spaces, adventure playgrounds and walks down
to the River Tees.

Thornaby At the approach to Thornaby, the line leaves the original route of the
S&DR and crosses from the north to the south bank of the River Tees. The
station serves a former industrial area which has seen vast regeneration in
recent years. Nearby is the Teesside campus of Durham University and a
developed water sports area on the river just upstream from the Tees Barrage.
At the barrage is a white water canoe course that is being upgraded to serve as
a training area for the 2012 Olympic Games. Adjacent to the station is the
Victoria Bridge, built in 1887, which connects Thornaby to Stockton whilst
nearby is the newest bridge over the river, the “Infinity Bridge”, a footbridge
so named because; with its reflection in the water, it resembles the
mathematical symbol for infinity. The original Stockton terminus of the
S&DR was just to the north of the Victoria Bridge and it was near here that
coal was transferred to ships for coastal and export transport.

Middlesbrough station has seen much refurbishment in
recent years and now has new lifts, a refreshment room and new information
systems. It is well placed for the town centre, with its good range of shops
while the iconic Transporter Bridge, carrying cars and foot passengers over the
river in a suspended cradle, is nearby and can be seen from parts of the
station platforms.  The town centre has a
number of Victorian buildings, most notably the Town Hall, while nearby is the
impressively modern Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), opened in
January 2007. MIMA hosts temporary exhibitions of fine art and craft from 1900
to the present featuring work by internationally acclaimed artists and has
recently become a partner in Plus Tate, a major new national initiative for the
visual arts involving Tate and 18 of the UK’s most dynamic arts institutions.
Admission is free. Middlesbrough prides itself as “The gateway to Captain Cook
country”. The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum is in Stewart Park on the south
side of the town.

Redcar marks the point where the Saltburn line changes from following the River Tees to following the coast eastwards to
Saltburn. There is a fine beach that extends for around 7 miles from the mouth
of the river to Saltburn and the town centre is near to the mid point of this.
Redcar town centre, accessed from Redcar Central station, has a range of
shops and a selection of “Seaside amenities”. Redcar East station serves
a mainly residential area of the town, but nevertheless, still gives convenient
access to a less developed area of the beach that is backed by “The Stray”, an
area of grassland stretching all the way to Marske.

Longbeck and Marske stations both serve different
areas of Marske, a community with history dating back to the Doomsday Book.
Marske Hall, today a Leonard Cheshire home, dates from 1625 and was owned by
Sir James Pennyman who was defeated by the forces of Oliver Cromwell on Marske
beach in 1643. “Winkie’s Castle” is a small museum in a 17^th century
cruck house on the High Street and the old churchyard of St Germain’s on the
cliff tops overlooking the North Sea contains the remains of Captain James
Cook’s father. It is a pleasant walk from here to Saltburn, either along the
cliffs or the beach.

Saltburn The purpose built seaside resort of Saltburn-by-the-Sea owes its existence to the
expanding railway system in the mid 1800′s, before the arrival of the
railway in 1861, Saltburn consisted of the few cottages that can be seen on the
sea shore near the Ship Inn near the cliffs at the eastern end of the town. Henry Pease a member of the family involved
in the Stockton to Darlington Railway Company formed the Saltburn Improvement
Company to provide the infrastructure for a new town, selling plots of land to
developers within the plan drawn up by the Improvement Company. Among the
stipulations made were that buildings were to be faced with Pease white
firebricks from a brickworks in County Durham. A recession in the late 1870′s
saw the demise of the Improvement Company, who were succeeded by the owner of
the Middlesbrough Estate who relaxed the requirements of the white brick
facings. A pier and vertical hoist were built to add to the natural assets of the
locality. The vertical hoist was replaced by a water balanced cliff railway
still operating and the oldest working system in the country. The original pier
1500ft long has been reduced to 680ft, refurbished in 2000 it the last existing
pier on the Yorkshire Coast. The modern town is still well served by the railway, is very attractive with many floral
displays during the summer months, many small shops and a large variety of food
catering establishments serve the needs of the local community and visitors. For
walkers, the Cleveland Way long distance footpath passes through Saltburn where
its nature changes – from the moorland and rural route it has followed from its
starting point at Helmsley, to a coastal route as it goes on to Whitby, Scarborough & Filey.

Present timings – until May 21st
06.24   07.17   07.38
08.00   08.30   09.21
Weekdays

New timings from May 22nd
06.22   07.12   07.27
07.54   08.31    09.31
Weekdays

In the return direction there are similar alterations to
departure times from Darlington and Middlesbrough.  The last departure from Darlington
to Saltburn is at the earlier time of 21.38
(previously 21.44).  The final
east-bound train of the day from Darlington which previously departed at 22.44
and terminated at Middlesbrough at 23.10 is
retimed to depart at 22.38 and arrive at 23.04.

All of these changes may seem very arbitrary at first
glance, but they have come about because train operator East Coast has recast its
main line services to and from King’s Cross to give a regular clock-face
pattern throughout the day.  This may be
good news for long distance travellers but it has had a knock-on effect for
local services in the Teesside and County
Durham area.  Northern Rail has had no option but to fit
its services around the East Coast timetable, as East Coast trains have
priority at the junction of the Saltburn branch and the main line at Darlington.  This has
been the determining factor in the timetabling of Northern’s trains.

SLUG has had some input into the new timetable, through stakeholder
meetings with Northern, in order to keep adverse changes to a minimum.  However there remain gaps in the service,
particularly between 08.30 and 09.30 which we wish to see eliminated and we will
continue to press for the introduction of an extra early morning departure from
Saltburn and a later evening arrival from Darlington.

Big changes are being made to local and East Coast Main Line timetables in May. Under the banner “Eureka” the East Coast service has been recast to give a regular clock-face pattern throughout the day. This may be good news for long distance travellers but it has had a knock-on effect for local services in the Teesside and County Durham area. Local operators have had no option but to fit their services around the East Coast timetable.

Northern Rail (NR) have taken the opportunity to look at their local service timetables afresh and have themselves made a number of changes. Commendably, given the constraints imposed on them by the Eureka timetable, NR have managed to create something approaching a clock-face timetable on the Bishop Auckland – Darlington – Saltburn line. Sadly the irritating gap in the morning peak out of Saltburn between 08.30 and 0921 will not be eradicated.

SLUG’s aspiration for an extra early morning departure from Saltburn and a later evening arrival from Darlington will also have to wait until a time when the DfT sanctions the extra train units so urgently needed in our area.

Several members of SLUG are Level 1 station adopters whereby individuals report to NR on their particular station and any problems there might be with it. We are now hoping to undertake Level 2 Adoption which will involve members as a group adopting, for example, Marske station and making improvements to the station environment by painting, doing minor repairs, perhaps involving schools in artwork etc. Other stations that would benefit from Level 2 Adoption would be Redcar East and South Bank.

Further along the line, Eaglescliffe station will soon be undergoing a face-lift driven by the need to improve facilities for the increasing numbers of passengers using Grand Central services to and from London. At our recent interesting and informative AGM, Tom Clift from Grand Central Railway outlined the improvements which will consist of a ticket office and new waiting rooms with toilet. The car park is also be enlarged and the ramp to the platforms made disabled compatible, all to be funded by a combination of train operators and local authorities.

Still on the subject of Grand Central, the company has applied for authority to run a fourth Sunday service to and from London. It would also like to run the East Coast stopping services to Newark being introduced in the May timetable, extending some of them to destinations in the North East such as Middlesbrough. SLUG welcomes these proposals enhancing, as they do, services to and from our area which has long been on the periphery of the main line network.

Listed below (in no order of importance) are the hopes and aspirations for the Saltburn
Line and it’s services following the award of the ‘Northern Trains’ franchise.

A return to a clock face, all-stations, regular service (preferably 2 per hour)
supplemented by a 2-hourly (at least) semi-fast through service to/from Newcastle
and/or Gateshead Metro Centre.

The reintroduction of early morning/late evening between Saltburn and Darlington
which will benefit local travellers and permit better connections (earlier start/later
return) into and out of long-distance services at Darlington.

Through trains to/from the Durham Coast line.

(an ideal scenario would be, for example –

Hour 1 xx15 All stations to Darlington (or Bishop Auckland)
Hour 1 xx45 Semi-fast to Newcastle via Darlington or Ferryhill
Hour 2 xx15 All stations to Darlington (or Bishop Auckland)
Hour 2 xx45 Semi-fast to Newcastle via Durham Coast

Semi-fast services could go from Saltburn – Newcastle via the Coast and return via
the main line and vice versa).

The provision of adequate parking facilities for both cars and bicycles (there is
no sign of the promised secure cycle facilities yet), accompanied by CCTV cameras
at major points (Saltburn, Redcar Central, Middlesbrough, Thornaby and Yarm
(not strictly one of ‘our’ stations) AT LEAST). This would encourage ‘Park &
Ride’ and ‘Kiss & Ride’ use of the trains.+++ since provided by local
Authorities ++

Although an extension of (at least, some) TransPennine Express services to/from
Saltburn is our ultimate aspiration, in this regard a minimum would be the provision
of ‘good’ connections (max. 15 mins) into and out of TPE services at Middlesbrough.

The provision of CCTV security cameras at ALL stations accompanied by well-
lit ‘help points’ and an interactive information system.

All unstaffed stations should be provided with heated shelters (controlled from
time-delay switches as at Northallerton and Thirsk (down platform) fitted with
time switch controlled door locks (again as at Northallerton). These locks coupled
with CCTV cameras should ensure the shelters are not ‘lived in’.

Full through ticketing facilities for ALL travellers either on train and at ticket
offices.

An increased staff presence (to be achieved in connection with the community (eg
Platform partnerships) or by co-operation with operators of other transport modes
and local authorities (eg Integrated Transport interchanges).

Stations should be attractive, comfortable, welcoming and, above all, safe places.