Hetton colliery railway

[2] The company’s management, which consisted largely of experienced colliers and local investors, quickly recognised that any large-scale extraction effort would necessitate a means of transporting this coal towards customers, which could be found in the vicinity of the city of Sunderland.

Adopting a longer but flatter route for the line was deemed to have been less cost efficient than a shorter, more aggressively-inclined one, as this dispensed with numerous cuttings and embankments.

This track used an arrangement of half-lap joints and chairs in a technique that Stephenson, together with the industrialist William Losh, had co-patented five years beforehand; the rails, composed of cast iron, were produced at the Walker Ironworks.

One of the more challenging geographical features of the route was Warden Law Hill; this was addressed in the form of a pair of stationary reciprocating engines, each capable of generating up to 44.7 kW of power, which hauled groups of eight wagons.

This climate of scepticism heavily contributed to the dismissal of Robert Stephenson in 1823 and his replacement as resident engineer by Joseph Smith; around the same time, William Chapman was appointed to advise on improvements, while George Dodds was given the position of railway superintendent during the following year.

[2] Demand for the railway continued to grow; by 1825-6, it was also carrying coal from collieries at Elemore, Eppleton and North Hetton, which were serviced via gravity incline branches that connected onto the main line.

[2] It was around this time, the complex of sidings and engineering workshops at Hetton were substantially enlarged, while a 1.2 km branch line, running southwards to a coal depot in Easington Lane, was constructed.

However, after the line closed in 1896, the Hetton Railway bought the section which ran from its Moorsley Pit to the top of the Copt Hill engine, and integrated it into its workings.

As a result of a decision to concentrate the extraction of coal for this area at the Hawthorn Combined Mine (adjacent to the former Durham and Sunderland Railway), the Hetton system was permanently closed on 12 September 1959.

[6] It has been claimed that the preserved locomotive may not in fact be the genuine article, such as it potentially being an 1850s-era replica which had been produced at the behest of Sir Lindsay Wood.