Rainton and Seaham Railway, Pittington Branch

HER Number:
3217

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Rainton and Seaham Railway, Pittington Branch

Place:
East Rainton

Map Sheet:
NZ34NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Railway Transport Site

Site Type: Specific:
Railway

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
With the development of more effective pumping engines to drain previously unworkable deep coal seams and the development of nucleated collieries, the Rainton Waggonway, especially its southern lines, was extensively upgraded and re-organised by the Tempests, to whom it had passed by marriage from the Whartons in 1730. A number of new branch lines to collieries were constructed between 1816 and 1826. The line to Pittington Colliery (which lies in County Durham) was opened in 1826. Apart from the Robney Engine (HER ref. 3218), most of the Rainton and Seaham Railway, Pittington Branch lay within County Durham. It was part of the Londonderry Railway which closed in 1896.

Easting:
32601

Northing:
46911

Grid Reference:
NZ3260146911

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 3217 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1861, 6 inch scale, Durham20 C.E. Mountford, 1970, The Development of Colliery Railways in Co. Durham, p.14, 16; Alan Williams Archaeology, 2013, Waggonways to the South Bank of the River Tyne and to the River Wear; Turnbull, L, 2012, Railways Before George Stephenson (entry 87F) p 163 and 172; Bell, 1829, Map of the Coalfield (TWAS 2/421)