North Eastern Railway (UK)

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The North Eastern Railway (NER), unlike many other of the pre-Grouping companies, had a relatively compact territory, having the district it covered to itself. That district extended through Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland, with outposts in Westmorland and Cumberland. It formed the middle link between London and Edinburgh, joining the Great Northern Railway near Doncaster and the North British Railway at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Incorporation took place in 1854, when three existing companies were combined.

Contents 1 Constituent parts of the NER 2 Principal stations 3 Its architects 4 Electrified lines 5 Traffic 6 Docks 7 Locomotives 8 References used

[edit] Constituent parts of the NER

1854

• York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
• York and North Midland Railway
• Leeds Northern Railway
• Malton and Driffield Railway

1862

• York and North Midland Railway
• South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway

1863

• Stockton and Darlington Railway

1865

• West Hartlepool Railway

[edit] Principal stations

• York station (York) was the hub of the system, and the headquarters of the line was located here. The basis for the present station was opened on June 25 1877. Until the advent of modern signalling, the 295-lever box was the largest manually-worked signal box in Britain.

• Newcastle Central station (Newcastle), opened August 29 1850, became the largest on the NER.

Other principal stations were located at Sunderland, Darlington and Hull. The station at Leeds was a joint undertaking with the London and North Western Railway.

[edit] Its architects

The NER was the first railway company in the world to appoint a full-time salaried architect to work with its chief engineer in constructing railway facilities. Some of the men appointed were based in, or active in, Darlington.

• Thomas Prosser held the position from 1854 to 1874. He worked in Newcastle
• his successor, Benjamin Burleigh, died after only two years in post.
• William Peachey, who followed Burleigh for an equally brief period of office, was based in Darlington and his work had more impact in the town. Peachey had been architect to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and when this merged into the NER in 1863 was made Darlington section architect. Most of his work was to extend and improve railway buildings, though elsewhere he built the Zetland Hotel at Saltburn (1861-3), and the Royal Station Hotel at York (1877-82). He also practised privately and designed a few nonconformist chapels including Grange Road Baptist Chapel in Darlington, 1870-1.
• William Bell worked for the NER for fifty years and was chief architect between 1877 and 1914. He designed a few buildings in Darlington as a private practitioner, especially for the Methodists, but his major contribution was as NER architect. Bank Top (1884-7) is one of the best examples of his station designs, for which he developed a standard system of roof building, and he added various elements to the North Road Engineering works between 1884 and 1910. He also designed the offices of the Mechanical Engineer's Department in Brinkburn Road in 1912. While not quite as splendid as the Headquarters Offices in York, which he designed with Horace Field in 1904, it shows that Bell could adapt his usual style to accommodate the new influences of the Queen Anne revival.
• Arthur Pollard and Stephen Wilkinson then each filled the position of chief architect briefly, before the merger of 1923 into the LNER led to the abolition of the department.

[edit] Electrified lines

The NER was the first main line rail company in Britain to adopt electric traction (the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway followed about one week later). The lines converted were known as Tyneside Electrics:

• Newcastle Central via Wallsend and Whitley Bay to Gosforth
• Newcastle Central to Benton
• the Riverside Loop from Byker to Percy Main

NB Further extensions were carried out in 1938 by the London and North Eastern Railway

[edit] Traffic

The NER carried a larger tonnage of mineral and coal traffic than any other principal railway.

The NER was a partner (with the North British and the Great Northern Railway) in the East Coast Joint Stock operation from 1860.

[edit] Docks

The company owned the following docks:

• Hull Docks: acquired 1893. Dealt with a large variety of cargoes, including grain, seed and fruit
• Hartlepool Docks: acquired 1865. A large timber trade
• Tyne Dock: opened by NER in 1859. Timber and coal exports
• Middlesbrough Dock: Opened in 1842. Iron and steel exports; and a world-wide trade in other goods.

The NER also owned coal-shipping staithes at Blyth and Dunston-on-Tyne.

[edit] Locomotives

• NER 1001 Class
• Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway

[edit] References used

• The Railway Year Book for 1912 (Railway Publishing Company)
• British Railway Electrics (Ian Allen, 1960 edition)
• The Railway Magazine February & March 1923 editions

The "Big Four" pre-nationalisation British railway companies v • d • e
Great Western • London Midland & Scottish • London & North Eastern • Southern
GWR constituents: Great Western Railway • Cambrian Railways • Taff Vale Railway Barry Railway • Rhymney Railway • (full list) LNER constituents: Great Central • Great Eastern • Great Northern • Great North of Scotland Hull & Barnsley • North British • North Eastern • (Full list) LMS constituents: Caledonian • Furness • Lancashire & Yorkshire • Glasgow & South Western London and North Western • Midland • North Staffordshire • (Full list) SR constituents: London and South Western Railway • London, Brighton and South Coast Railway South Eastern Railway • London, Chatham and Dover Railway • (Full list)
See also: History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923 - 1947 • List of companies involved in the grouping