Monkwearmouth museum article

[Bryan]

The ramp end I seem to remember would have been about level with the S+C Check rail.

The colliery turnout would have been toe to toe with the far set and the turn out would have taken the opening through the second arch (alongside the main).

I do recall driving trackside there but not as far as the bridge I think we came into a yard to the left.
There was also a well patronised butty shop on the bridge. Or maybe a very nearby bridge.

[PinzaC55]

Monkwearmouth said "Here are some photos, taken today, of the NER V4 Brake Van and LNER CCT out in the open. We still have some work to do on site to complete the upgrade of the loading dock - e.g. repainting the signal and replacing the loading gauge, which had to be 'felled' a couple of months ago because it had very nearly rotted through near the base."

As a matter of interest was that gauge the one from Millfield which I pictured in 1977?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3 ... otostream/

[Monkwearmouth]

Bryan - the yard you remember, on the west side of the main line, would have been the remnants of Monkwearmouth Goods Depot. You can still get butties from a shop on the road over the bridge (then called Wreath Quay Road, because it led to a quay of that name, but since renamed the transiently fashionable but far less locally resonant 'Millennium Way'). The shop's got a modern name too, which I can't remember but it relates to it being across the road from the Stadium of Light. The word 'delight' is in there somewhere.

I don't think the loading gauge here is the one from Millfield, but thank you for directing us to the photo. It's certainly a very similar structure. The loading gauge at the Monkwearmouth loading dock remained in place after the track was lifted from the loading dock sidings in about 1966. It was repainted during renovation works which took place in 1977, when track was relaid (though it was not re-connected to the main line) and the two wagons were installed. The installation was carried out, during a posession, by the Gateshead steam breakdown crane. The crane was positioned in the viscinity of the crossover and each wagon was lifted in turn from the former goods yard on the west side across the platforms and the main lines to the loading dock on the east. During this procedure the proximity of the loading gauge became a cause for concern and it was partly cut down, though reinstated soon afterwards. In 1992 it 'fell over' due to rot at the base of the post, so a new post was provided. That post lasted until earlier this year, when it too was discovered to have lost, at one point, more than 80% of its cross-sectional area due to rot (though superficially it looked fine!), and it was hurriedly taken down as a precaution. Another new post is currently being prepared!

[Bryan]

Do you have a date for the Steam crane working?
Also any other detail/ photo etc.

[Monkwearmouth]

I think the word 'steam' may have slipped inadvertently into my sentence in relation to the crane - it may not have been a steam crane. We do have some photos but they are not immediately accessible to me to check right now. According to correspondence on file, including notes from a meeting held on 24 August 1977, the work was due to be carried out in the early hours of Sunday 9th October 1977 and it would be within the capacity of 'either the 75 ton or 45 ton crane.' '...the crane will operate from the main to main crossover at the North end of the platform, from which position outriggers can be put down and the vehicles lifted directly from No.12 siding [ie immediately behind the Down platform] to the new Dock siding.' The charge was £650 plus VAT.

[Bryan]

Thanks for that info.
Its something that is being amassed by the http://bdca.org.uk/index.html
who are besides everything else, are trying to fix dates when various cranes where in use around the country.

[Monkwearmouth]

Some recent coverage in The Echo.
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/lifestyle ... _1_3904573
Hopefully they'll correct the photo caption (if you don't notice anything amusing, they have!). We'll have to overlook the occasional terminological inexactitude (e.g. saying 'carriages' when they mean 'wagons'). Monkwearmouth Museum has been well attended this week and we need to keep journalists interested and onside - it's a key factor in securing our funding.

[Bryan]

The museum is featured in this months Heritage Railway and along with more shots of the museum and stock there is a photo of the 75t Crane lifting the van into place.