[1] The railway is open every week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Easter til October) as well as on a number of event days throughout the year.

The Grand Allies, a partnership of businessmen including John Bowes, opened a colliery at Springwell in Durham.

The plan was to build inclined planes and use a combination of steam power and gravity to move the coal wagons.

Nearly 5 miles (8.0 km) of locomotive-worked line extended to Jarrow where a final incline served the coal staiths.

[3] The railway was completed in 1854 when a link from Marley Hill to Kibblesworth was connected enabling collieries in Dipton to be accessed.

[6] What was left of the Bowes Railway north east of the inclines was served by a shed at Wardley.

This attenuated system the NCB called the Monkton Railways, after the coke works that was its mainstay between 1975 and 1986.

[7] Tyne & Wear Industrial Monuments Trust was established April 1975 and took control of the line around Springwell from the National Coal Board through the medium of county council direction.

In the future the railway wishes to restart passenger rides and rope haulage demonstrations for the benefit of the public.