The Deerness Valley Railway was an eight-mile-long single-track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Deerness in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, 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 .

History

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.

Opening

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 Esh Winning is a village, and location of a former colliery, in County Durham, England. It is situated in the River Deerness, Deerness Valley to the west of Durham, England, Durham. History The village was founded by the Pease family in the 185 ...

, was opened. A second station was opened on 1 September 1884 at .

Industries served

Beyond the East Hedley Hope junction, the line was known as

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near with ...

Deerness Valley Branch, with the rope worked Stanley Inclines giving access to Stanley Drifts and Wooley Colliery. It then accessed Bank Foot Coke Works and Chemical Plant at , where it junctioned with both the

Weardale Extension Railway The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway that ran from Stanhope to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne in County Durham, England. It ran through the towns of Birtley, Chester Le Street, West Stanley and Co ...

and the

Stanhope and Tyne Railway The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway that ran from Stanhope, County Durham, Stanhope to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne in County Palatine of Durham, County Durham, England. It ran through the towns of ...

. This section was built for

Joseph Pease Joseph Pease may refer to: * Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), railway owner, first Quaker elected Member of Parliament ** Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet (1828–1903), MP 1865–1903, full name Joseph Whitwell Pease, son of Joseph Pea ...

and Partners, the owners of Waterhouses Colliery who also owned the industrial complex at Bank Foot.

Closure

The entire line closed to passengers on 29 October 1951, and to freight on 28 December 1964.

The site today

The trackbed became part of the Durham Railway Paths network in 1975.

References

{{reflist

External links

Waterhouses station on Disused Stations with line history
* ttp://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Deerness+Valley+Railway+Path Deerness Valley Railway Pathbr>Line on a 1948 OS Map
Closed railway lines in North East England Rail transport in County Durham Railway lines opened in 1855 Railway lines closed in 1964 Rail trails in England