Category: Wylam

Memories of Wooden Waggonways and Wylam Dilly

6/10/2013

The text below is a transcription of an article published in the now-defunct York Herald, on Monday 27 September 1875, page 6, col 2.

It recounts memories of some 40 or 45 years earlier about certain Tyneside wooden waggonways and the early steam locomotives operating on the Wylam Waggonway.

The author is unnamed but clearly had a close connection and interest in the events taking place around him. It is possible that the newspaper is merely recycling an article previously published in a more local journal but if so I have yet to discover the original source.

The Coal Waggon - Northumberland Archives Ref. ZMD 78/14.

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Tale of the Model Steam Locomotive at Close House

6/10/2013

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Isaac Jackson shows his model locomotive at Close House. Illustration by Bethany Whitehead (2013).

The illustration (above) for this story was kindly provided by Bethany Whitehead especially for this blog. Her work is showcased on Tumblr as Bethany Bluebell Illustration and is well worth a look.

The series of talks on early railways set up for the 2013 Puffing Billy Festival has been both informative and entertaining. However, the one on 25th September by Jim Rees entitled Hedley, Chapman and Isaac Jackson - who really did what? provided a gem of a story with a local interest that I just had to follow up.

Unlike my recent blog, Puffing Billy & the Heddon Balloon, where my early railway connection with Close House was somewhat fanciful, this story incorporates both real old news reports and cutting-edge research. That account also has one of Bethany Whitehead's drawings.

It's worth pointing out here that Close House always was, and still is, firmly in the parish of Heddon on the Wall, but is often referred to in the press as Close House, near Wylam, or worse, Wylam's Close House. This fact was pointed out in a letter to the Hexham Courant by Ian Armstrong, Chairman of Heddon Parish Council, published Monday, 1st October 2012.

I would like to thank Jim Rees (now at Beamish Museum) for providing much of the information I have used below. It was published in Early Railways 4 (Ed. G Boyes, 2010; ER4) as a followup section to his paper, The Sans Pareil Model: its purpose and possible origins, read at the Fourth International Early Railways Conference. The field of early railway research is a complicated and confusing one and any mistakes in the report below are my own, due both to my poor note keeping during Jim's lecture, and my even worse understanding of the issues and engineering.

Among the many things I learned in this talk, completely new to me, was about another Wylam man, Isaac Jackson, and his possible, mostly unsung, role in assisting in the local development of early steam locomotives that was taking place around him.

The 'Stephenson 1828' model, attributed to Isaac Jackson by Jim Rees. Early Railways 4 (2010).

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Wylam Waggonway

9/6/2013

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To focus my mind on the Wylam Waggonway for the Puffing Billy Festival I decided to create a map of the waggonway so that I could discuss some things that interest me along its route. As always I am particularly interested in finding clues to the past which can still be seen today.

This will be an ongoing blog and I will add to it as I feel inspired.

View Wylam Waggonway in a larger map

Key to map above:
Red: North Wylam, Newburn & Scotswood Railway where it diverges from the route of the former Waggonway.
Blue: approximate route of Wylam Waggonway (1859 Map)
Green: Mineral line (single track) closely parallel to railway line (double track) - possibly on the original waggonway line.
Purple: Early Throckley Waggonway (1859 map)
Pink: Later Throckley Waggonway (1897 map)
Yellow: Throckley Isabella Mineral Railway (1897 map)
Light Blue: North Walbottle Waggonway (1859 Map)
Yellow Pin: Named feature

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History and Wylam Beer

6/3/2011

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Despite its name, Wylam Brewery is actually in Heddon on the Wall at South Houghton. Some of their attractively produced beer-mats have historical themes. Well, that's my excuse for reproducing them here. As I'm trying to avoid any advertising on this site, I'll just say that other beers are available and if the other local breweries start producing historically-themed beer-mats I'll post them here as well.

WYLAM BREWERY (or Heddon Brewery as we prefer to call it) was set up in a disused dairy on a farm near Heddon on the Wall in May 2000 by John Boyle and Robin Leighton driven by their passion for real ale. It was three months in the building and the first cask was produced in August that year. The brewery grew rapidly on the strength of the quality of its ales, winning awards at festivals around the UK. They outgrew the original 1000L plant in 2006 and brought on-stream a new 3500L plant in August in a bespoke barn conversion. Since then they have enjoyed continued strong growth.