A good image of the engine house at Lingdale mine. The brick-kiln (and associated brick wheel) was part of an attempt to make the mine profitable (especially during slack times). It wasn’t particularly successful, but probably contributed enough to prevent total closure of the mine. Lingdale mine was the deepest mine in the Cleveland system and also at the poorest yield, there being a large band of shale splitting the seam in two. This resulted in the huge shale heap which took forever to dispose of! Lingdale village was described as almost derelict in the late Victorian era, the difficulty of winning the stone meaning that the mine was closed more often than in production. Paul Stonehouse tells us: My Granddad worked in quite a few or the East Cleveland Ironstone mines for most of his working life from a young boy to retirement. His name was Douglas Stonehouse and he lived as a young man in Lingdale and then later in Brotton. I know from stories he told me as a young lad that he was an ‘overman’ at one of the mines and I seem to think it was Kiltonthorpe but I can’t be sure. Any information or web sites etc would be greatly appreciated.” Peter Appleton comments: “I am not sure that the statement about Lingdale being the deepest mine is true. Peter Tuffs, in his “Catalogue of Cleveland Ironstone Mines” (pub. April 1999) gives the following depths for shafts: Lingdale 628 feet; North Skelton 740 feet 6 inches.
I accept that these are only the shaft depths. It is possible that the dip slope of the seams could have taken Lingdale’s workings to a greater depth than North Skelton’s. However, North Skelton had a sizeable head start on the depth – over 100 feet.
The matter could be settled if records of depths within the workings have survived for both mines. Anyone know the answer to that?”
Image courtesy of Maurice Grayson, tany thanks to Paul Stonehouse for that update and query; also to Peter Appleton for the hard facts.
This image must be from the late 1980’s (electric lawnmower) so can this young lady identify herself? I bet that grass took some cutting! Linda Cocks has come to the rescue: “This little lady is my daughter, Emma born 1986; granddaughter of Doris Johnson. So this picture must of been taken 1989 or 1990.” Image courtesy of Eric Johnson and thanks to Linda Cocks for the update.
A pristine locomotive – another A8, number 69883 – pictured at Battersby Junction in the 1950’s. Battersby Junction is now a station on the Middlesbrough to Whitby, Esk Valley line; it was originally the junction for the line which connected with the Rosedale ironstone mines.
Location identification courtesy of Simon Chapman.
Simon Chapman has advised: “This is quite a well-known picture of North Skelton Junction. The train, hauled by a J27, is coming down the gradient from Brotton towards Saltburn. The line to the right served North Skelton Mine but had originally gone through to Priestcrofts Junction near Boosbeck.” Chris Davies advises:”Engine number would be in the 65780-65894 range as it is of BR Class J27 0-6-0.” Re-posting the image has enabled the Archive to advise that the engine number is 65788.
Thanks to Simon Chapman and Chris Davies for this information; also thanks to Ian Pearson for noticing the slip of the fingers in entering the locomotive number.
We wonder whether that first coach of this train made it to preservation? The locomotive a Raven/Gresley A8 4-6-2T 69862 didn’t, it was cut up at Darlington in 1958.
Taken from the old road bridge that carried the A171 over the railway at Slapewath (the scene of many minor bumps in the distant past), the picture shows the backs of the houses at Slapewath. The train is approaching Spawood junction from Boosbeck. It’s difficult to visualise this view now as the A171 re-alignment was so major, I seem to remember two bridges, one over the railway, one over the beck and one rail bridge over the road (to South Skelton or Park) pit) at Fancy Bank (the remains of the railway can be seen on the hillside as a gated forest road). Some of the remains of the old road and rail structures can be seen with the beautiful viaduct at Spawood (now becoming enshrouded in trees) and the road bridge over the beck adjacent partly covered by the modern A171 as it sweeps down Fancy Bank. I think the locomotive is numbered 67678, which would make it a V3 2-6-2T, but it’s not an easy one to see.
An image of the unique cableless locomotives used by The Grinkle Mine of Sir Charles Mark Palmer to negotiate the low headroom in the tunnels on the route from Grinkle to Port Mulgrave. In the background is the Dale House end of the Port Mulgrave Tunnel; at the other end the wagons were transferred to the dock at Port Mulgrave using a main and tail rope system powered from an engine-house on the Port Mulgrave side. A real bit of industrial history!
A shot of the Whitby-Middlesbrough platform at Grosmont Station, change here for Pickering and all intermediate stations. Alan Woods tell us: “The locomotive number is 69877.” The junction point of two railways, the Whitby-Pickering and the Whitby-Middlesbrough lines. Both lines still traversable by train, the Middlesbrough-Whitby Line having escaped the Beeching axe by virtue of remoteness (it wasn’t economically viable to replace the routes with a bus service) and the Grosmont-Pickering Line by the good fortune of becoming the first Heritage railway; The North Yorkshire Moors Railway. A line I’ve been travelling regularly since they had ”Salmon”. Long may it flourish!
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