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The Deerness Valley Railway was an 8-mile long single track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Deerness in County Durham, England. Built by the North Eastern Railway, it ran from Deerness Valley Junction, on the Durham to Bishop Auckland line, to the coal mines along the valley via two intermediate stations, Waterhouses, and Ushaw Moor[1].
The line was primarily built to serve the collieries at Ushaw Moor, Waterhouses, Hamsteels, Esh, Cornsay, New Brancepeth and East Hedley Hope, and was opened to passengers only as an afterthought. Authorised in 1855, the line opened to goods on New Year's Day 1858, but it was not until 1 November 1877 that the first passenger station, Waterhouses near Esh Winning, was opened. A second station was opened on 1 September 1884 at Ushaw Moor.
The line closed to passengers on 29 October 1951, and to freight on 28 December 1964. The trackbed became part of the Durham Railway Paths network[2] in 1975.