It had been formed by a partnership, and the heavily indebted partners floated a new company, the Pontop and South Shields Railway, to continue operation and take over the debt.

Much of the S&TR system was built through hilly, sparsely populated terrain across the moors of County Durham, and it incorporated several rope-worked inclines as well as using horse traction and steam locomotives on level sections.

The deposits very close to the waterways soon became worked out, and the location of the mining moved progressively away in the seventeenth century, requiring longer transits overland.

Even in the early decades of the nineteenth century, there were very few public roads, and the carts made their way across private land, paying a wayleave to the landowner.

Even so, crossing undeveloped land by cart was slow and difficult, and waggonways were developed; at first they consisted of wooden rails, and individual wagons were hauled along the route by horse traction.

[5] William Wallis of Westoe (near South Shields) found the potential attractive and later in the year he agreed to leases of coal seams at West Consett and Medomsley, and limestone quarries at Stanhope.

Stanhope was the location of extensive reserves of limestone, required in the process of smelting iron ore. At this stage, the plan was to use the Tanfield Waggonway[note 2] to transport the materials to the Tyne.

As this was upstream of Newcastle bridge, the size of vessels reaching the berth was seriously limited, and it was decided to make an independent railway to a downstream location, at South Shields.

Although the scheme was now to be a considerable railway with an estimated capital of £150,000, in the interests of keeping confidential the rich mineral resources to be exploited, the company decided to continue the practice of arranging wayleaves rather than applying to Parliament for authority to build the line.

The terrain at the western end of the line was exceedingly difficult due to its hilly nature and the high altitude; construction at Stanhope started in July 1832.

From Kyo (near Annfield Plain) eastward to the Durham turnpike road near Pelaw Grange, it had been intended to take over the Beamish Colliery Railway and use it for the line.

However the negotiations with Morton John Davison for the purchase of his railway fell through, and the Stanhope and Tyne was forced to fall back upon a line running by way of West Stanley to Stella Gill and thence to the Durham road.

[1][6][10][13] There were three drops or staiths at the South Shields quays, of a design considered to be advanced for the period; they were capable of dealing with 25 to 35 chaldrons per hour, and the berths could take vessels at low water of spring tides.

The chaldrons were lowered to the ship on a swinging derrick; as they descended the tension on the restraining cable increased; a 5-ton chain was housed in a shaft, and at first it was coiled on the base.

[4] The company burnt lime at Stanhope and Annfield, consuming nearly 10,000 tons of coal in the process; the resultant quicklime was distributed at seven depots, and it was a significant traffic in the early years,[15] but it was not profitable and it was discontinued in 1839.

We first put on an open carriage attached to the coal train, afterwards we ran a coach once a fortnight on pay days with an engine at considerable loss.

At the Park Head wheelhouse, the waggons were attached to a tail-rope and let down an incline at gradients of 1 in 80 and 1 in 82, 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) in length, to a stationary engine at Meeting Slacks.

Some of the earlier ones—those originally used on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway—were of india rubber solution, a material found to swell and become soft in wet weather, and therefore unfitted to stand the friction on the inclines.

[20]In January of each year the entire line was closed for a week so that the ropes could be changed and the machinery inspected; this coincided with colliery closures for corresponding reasons.

It had closed the Stanhope to Carr House section to save money, although it was obliged to continue the rental of the quarry and the wayleave fees for the line.

[1][6][10] Taking over a loss-making railway was not a plan for easy success, and it was not until 1844 when the through route from London to Gateshead opened, using part of the P&SSR line, that the finances improved.

Continuation to the Carrhouse station at Consett was not feasible for passenger trains at the time because of the means of crossing the deep ravine and Hownes Gill on the intervening section.

The rope-worked inclines leading north from Crawley to the Parkhead summit were on moderate gradients and the technical improvements in locomotive design enabled consideration of their use.

[22] The Pontop and South Shields Railway, established in 1842, generated enough capital to pay off the bulk of the debt of the Stanhope and Tyne line, and continued operating as before, except for the Derwent Iron Company section southwest of Carr House.

The railways had been built to take heavy minerals from the area downhill to the Tyne and the coast, but now iron ore was being brought in from the Cleveland districts to the east, and from Whitehaven in the west, requiring a long uphill haul.

The materials used are fire-bricks, manufactured at Pease's and Stobart's works, and stones of the finest quality, hewn from an adjoining quarry—of which there are 3+1⁄2 millions of the former, and 100,000 cubic feet [2,800 m3] of the latter.

[4][6] The P&SSR itself ordered improvements to its own line about the same time; from Stella Gill (Pelton Fell) to Fatfield (east of Vigo) was doubled; the new work was opened on 8 June 1857.

[15] The numerous rope worked inclines were a continuing inconvenience and source of expense, and in 1875 the North Eastern Railway obtained authorisation to bypass some of them by new routes on easier gradients.

It left the S&TR line at Parkhead and turned north, climbing into the hills to Bolts Law, where limestone, iron and lead were extracted.

In 1940 the condition of the timber viaduct over the Don on the Brockley Whins curve was giving rise to concern and the decision was taken to demolish it and close the line.