The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway as well as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interests controlled by George Hudson, the so-called Railway King. In collaboration with the York and North Midland Railway and other lines he controlled, he planned that the would form the major part of a continuous railway between London and Edinburgh. At this stage the London terminal was Euston Square (nowadays called Euston) and the route was through Normanton. This was the genesis of the East Coast Main Line, but much remained to be done before the present-day route was formed, and the London terminus was altered to King's Cross.
The completed the plans of its predecessors, including building a central passenger station in Newcastle, the High Level Bridge across the River Tyne, and the viaduct across the River Tweed, that was later named the Royal Border Bridge. These were prodigious undertakings.
George Hudson's business methods had always been uncompromising, and eventually serious irregularities in his financial dealings were exposed, which led to his disgrace and resignation from the chairmanship of the in 1849.
Co-operation with other railways in the area led to a traffic sharing agreement, and then to amalgamation; on 31 July 1854 the North Eastern Railway was formed by the merger of the with the Leeds Northern Railway and the York and North Midland Railway, as well as the Malton and Driffield Junction Railway three months later.
Early railways The abundant mineral deposits in the area of County Durham and Northumberland led early on to the construction of waggonways to convey the heavy ores to watercourses for onward transit, or to other means of reaching a point of sale.
Tanfield Waggonway
Although there appear to have been earlier waggonways from the high ground around Tanfield, the most notable line was the Tanfield Waggonway of 1725, from Tanfield Moor to Dunston, on the Tyne. This line had several rope-worked inclines, with more moderate gradients operated by horse traction. The rails were timber. In commercial terms it was remarkably successful, although wayleave charges (imposed by landowners) were heavy.
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway
The Stanhope and Tyne Railroad Company was formed in 1832 as a partnership to build a railway between limestone quarries near Stanhope and the coal mines near Medomsley, and to connect to quays at South Shields.
The line was opened in 1834. There were several rope-worked inclines on the route.
Traffic levels did not reach expectations, some collieries on the route declining to use the line, and the heavy operating costs of the inclined planes lead to poor profitability. When it was discovered that the directors had been overstating the profitability of the concern, a financial crisis was precipitated. In 1842 it became obvious that the Stanhope and Tyne company could not continue and a new company was formed to take on the debt and operate the railway.
Pontop and South Shields Railway
The new company was the Pontop and South Shields Railway (P&SSR) of 1842. The south-western part of the line from Stanhope to Carrhouse was sold to the Derwent Iron Company, which operated at Consett. It formed an alliance with the Stockton and Darlington Railway and in time a railway connection through Bishop Auckland and that section became part of the Stockton and Darlington Railway system.
From 1840 passenger traffic increased when through trains from London to Gateshead ran over part of the line, in association with the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway, the Durham Junction Railway, and the Brandling Junction Railway.
The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway acquired the Pontop and South Shields Railway on 1 January 1847.
Brandling Junction Railway
John and Robert William Brandling had extensive mining interests in the area east of Gateshead and in the Tanfield area. They took steps to build a railway connecting their interests with quays at South Shields and Wearmouth, and in 1835 formed the Brandling Junction Railway.
It opened in 1839 from a Gateshead station at Oakwellgate, to South Shields and Wearmouth. The company also acquired the Tanfield Waggonway and modernised it. Its terminal on the Tyne at Dunston required the use of keels to convey the coal downstream to shipping berths, requiring transshipping, and the Brandling Junction Railway opened a connection from the Tanfield line to Oakwellgate too, to bring the Tanfield coal to deeper water. This required the use of a short section of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway near Redheugh.
From 1840 passenger trains from London to Gateshead used the Brandling Junction line from Brockley Whins to Gateshead.
The Brandling Junction Railway was taken over by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway in 1844. A subsequent act of Parliament, the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. xcii) legalised the purchase.
Hartlepool Dock and Railway
The Hartlepool Dock and Railway (HD&R) was built to take coal from central County Durham mines to the docks at Hartlepool. A private bill was presented to Parliament seeking permission to build the railway and royal assent was given to the (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. lxvii) on 1 June 1832. The line was long with of branch line, and of land for docks; a later act of Parliament, the (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. lvi) gave authority for a branch to the City of Durham and the use of stationary engines. The line was not built beyond Haswell after no assurances could be obtained from the owners of Moorsley and Littletown collieries that they would use the line to send coal to Hartlepool. Services ran between Thornley pit and Castle Eden after January 1835; on 23 November that year the first train ran the between Haswell and Hartlepool. By the end of that year there was of line operational.
The Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway (GNEC&HJR) was a extension of the from Wingate to the Great North of England Railway at Ferryhill and the Clarence Railway at Byers Green. An act of Parliament, the Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. xcv), was obtained on 3 July 1837 and the line opened to Kelloe Bank in 1839. The had neglected to obtain powers to cross the Clarence Railway's Sherburn branch and returned to Parliament after failing to come to agreement with the Clarence. Royal assent was given to the Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict. c. lxxxii) which included powers for a bridge over the line, but the Clarence Railway still refused to cooperate building it, so it was 1846 before the railway was completed. The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) leased the and from 18 December 1848, authorised by the (11 & 12 Vict. c. lxxxi), and after the was renamed the North Eastern Railway, the was amalgamated with it by the (20 & 21 Vict. c. xxxiii).
Durham Junction Railway
On 16 June 1834 the Durham Junction Railway (DJR) received permission in the (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. lvii) to build a railway to transport coal from Moorsley in the Houghton-le-Spring area and the Hartlepool Dock and Railway to the River Tyne at Gateshead. Leaving the Stanhope and Tyne line at Washington, the River Wear was crossed by Victoria Viaduct, long and above high-water mark, which was designed by Harrison and built in two years. The bridge was officially opened and named in honour of Queen Victoria on her coronation on 28 June 1838, and the railway opened to mineral traffic on 24 August 1838. The long line was only laid as far as Rainton Meadows, short of Moorsley, and the Houghton-le-Spring branch was not built.
Passengers were carried over the railway for the first time in March 1840 as one of the series of connecting services between Newcastle and Darlington. On 14 September 1843 the company was bought by , as its planned route between Newcastle and Darlington involved running over the railway and the was operating at a loss and unable to upgrade the track, the sale being authorised by the (7 & 8 Vict. c. xxvii).
Durham and Sunderland Railway
The Durham and Sunderland Railway (D&SR) received permission in the (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. xcvi) on 13 August 1834 for a line from the South Dock in Sunderland to Murton, with branches to Durham and the Hartlepool Dock and Railway at Haswell, although there was initially no connection between the lines as they were at different levels and at right angles to each other.
The line was worked by eight stationary engines at Sunderland, Seaton, Merton, Appleton, Hetton, Moorsley, Piddington and Sherburn. Rated at between , these pulled trains using ropes up to long and between in circumference. Services started on 5 July 1836, the line was formally opened on 30 August and after October passengers travelled in carriages with three compartments attached to coal trains; compartments for first class were enclosed whereas those for second class passengers were open on the sides. In 1838 the railway carried over 77,000 people on trains that travelled at an average speed of ; reports the passenger service was unpunctual and the carriages subject to jolts whenever the trains started.
Permission was granted by the (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. lxvii) on 30 June 1837 to divert the line in Durham south to Shincliffe, and this opened on 28 June 1839. The was taken over by the York and Newcastle Railway on 1 January 1847, and became part of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway that year.
East Coast Main Line
Great North of England Railway
On 13 October 1835 the York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was formed to connect York to London by building a line from York to a junction on the planned North Midland Railway at Normanton. Two weeks later the Great North of England Railway (GNER) was formed during a meeting of representatives of the York and North Midland Railway and the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). Joseph Pease of the had a plan for a line north from York to Newcastle that ran over of the between Darlington and Croft-on-Tees. To allow both sections to open at around the same time, permission for the more difficult line through the hills from Darlington to Newcastle was to be sought in 1836 and a bill for the easier line south of Darlington to York presented the following year. Pease had specified a formation wide enough for four tracks, so that freight could be carried at and passengers at , and George Stephenson had detailed plans by November.
The act of Parliament for the section from Newcastle to Darlington, the Great North of England Railway Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cv), was given royal assent on 4 July 1836, but little work had been done by the time that the from Croft to York received permission on 12 July following year. In August a general meeting decided to start work on the southern section, but construction was delayed by poor labour relations with masons building the bridge over the River Tees at Croft, and after several bridges collapsed the engineer Thomas Storey was replaced by Robert Stephenson. At York a joint and terminus was built in the city, trains entering through a pointed arch in the city wall. On 4 January 1841 the railway opened for coal traffic using locomotives, but by the time the railway opened to passengers on 30 March its own locomotives had arrived from R & W Hawthorn. From York, trains called at stations at:
Shipton, renamed in 1898
Croft, renamed in 1896
before terminating at a temporary station at Bank Top, near Darlington.