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Catcleugh Reservoir Narrow Gauge Railway |
The following information has been compiled from an article entitled:-
Life on the line at Catcleugh by Brian Tilley
which was published in the Hexham Courant newspaper,
dated Friday 15th December 2006.
Additional information has been added, taken from the
Northumberland National Park website at
www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk
Introduction
One of the first sights to greet travellers into the Tynedale area of Northumberland, after crossing the Carter Bar from Scotland into England, is a bleak and lonely lake. This is Catcleugh Reservoir, which was built around the turn of the 20th century by the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company. It was part of a chain of reservoirs built to serve the built-up areas of Tyneside, the others being Colt Crag, Little Swinburn, West Hallington and East Hallington.
Catcleugh takes its name from the wildcats which used to haunt the high crags of Tynedales most northerly outpost. In winter it can also be one of the most inhospitable places in Britain - and the gangs of navvies who built the one and a half mile long lake paid a heavy price, as did their families.
Visitors to Bellingham may notice a poignant little plaque at the side of the road, shortly after crossing the Tyne Bridge. It bears the legend Irishmens Graveyard and marks the last resting place of an unspecified number of workers at the dam who succumbed to an outbreak of cholera among the workforce.
Photo: A photograph of the narrow gauge locomotive Otterburn taken around 1904. Photograph from Hexham Courant newspaper.
Construction of the reservoir and the facilities at the work site.
As happened at Kielder three quarters of a century later, a whole mini-village sprang up around the reservoir workings. There were two hutted communities on either side of the infant River Rede, which naturally came to be known as Newcastle and Gateshead, with all of the rivalry that those two names inspired. All told, there were more than 50 huts, some on the own, and others in blocks of two or four. But this was no rough and ready Auf Wiedersehen Pet-like bunkhouse community.
When construction was at its height in 1899, the community numbered more than 500, comprising of 331 men, 79 women and 94 children. There was a hospital, a doctors surgery, a post office, a canteen, a billiard room, a police station, a guild room to seat 50 people and a mission room to seat five times that number.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the number of children, there was not a school on site, but the older children were known to have attended school in Byrness.
When the men were not shifting the thousands of tonnes of earth and clay to dam the river, there was no time for idling. There was a full programme of activities at the guild room, including scripture union, night school, shorthand lessons, a girls social guild and a session with the Post Office Savings Bank.
A double set of stained glass windows in the tiny church of St. Francis, at nearby Byrness, is dedicated to the glory of God, and in memory of those men, women and children who have died during the construction of the reservoir at Catcleugh. The windows show workmen busy with buckets, spades and wheelbarrows, while in the background a little steam train is shown chugging along with a load of trucks dancing behind. This is surely the only example of such stained glass to include a narrow gauge steam railway. A bronze plate alongside this window, added in 1904, lists the names of all 64 fatalities.
While the reservoir stands as a lasting testament to the efforts of the navvies, little survives of this railway, which was once an important lifeline for the Rede Valley.
The narrow gauge railway.
The 3 foot gauge narrow gauge railway ran all of the way from the reservoir to Woodford Bridge, near Colwell, connecting to the North British Railway's Wansbeck branch (known locally as The Wanney Line) at West Woodburn station. The railway pre-dated the reservoir, for it was used to transport much of the material used in the dams construction. Cement, coal and metal pipes were all brought to the site by rail - but the construction of the railway was in itself a major engineering exercise, with numerous burns and streams to be bridged or tunnelled beneath.
In the 12 months from January 1902 to January 1903, more than 35,000 tons of clay were hauled from Yatesfield to build the clay dam, along with another 14,000 tons of other building materials. It was possible that the railway was used to bring in one, or possibly two steam operated excavators, clanking and snorting machines which were used to lift material from the reservoir bed to help to build the dam. The use of such new-fangled devices did not go down well with the navvies, who famously went on strike for a spell, painting their spades with the slogan, Tried and Not Found Wanting.
Photo: Childrens outing: The Catcleugh line locomotive Otterburn in action with young travellers in 1894. Photo from Hexham Courant newspaper.
Locomotive and Rolling Stock Details
Numerous locomotives were kept busy on the line and each was given its own local name. Among the names were Otterburn, Heugh, Catcleugh, Brigg, Woodburn, Ramshope, Byrness, Rede, Bruckless, Minnie, Whittle, Hallington, Matfen and Pont, and many of these worked on for many years after the reservoirs construction.
Otterburn went on to work on the construction of Fontburn Reservoir near Rothbury, and thence to Blaxter Quarry near Otterburn, where it was still in active service as late as 1947 - but its name had been changed to Ottercops.
Byrness was purchased by William Benson and Son and it saw out its life working at the Fourstones limestone quarry.
The other locomotives could be found working as far as Dublin, North Wales and on the Isle of Skye.
During their life in the Upper Rede Valley, however, the little locos provided a much appreciated means of transport in the days when the present A68 road into Scotland was little more than a muddy track.
There were childrens outings along the line, and for general travel there was a tiny saloon carriage, with three windows on each side and open-ended balconies.
Passengers could travel all of the way to West Woodburn, and then change trains to go on towards Newcastle upon Tyne.
What remains at the construction site today.
A single-storey wooden cabin, built circa 1891 to house some of the workers, still stands below the dam. It escaped demolition after construction work finished, being retained in use as an office and tool store, and is the last surviving example of the two shanty towns, 'Newcastle' and 'Gateshead' which faced each other across the Rede.
The seven-roomed cabin was restored in the early 1990s and is now used as the reservoirs visitor centre, with displays depicting living and working conditions, including period interiors and furnishings, original tools and company records.
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This page was last updated on 31st May 2007.
© South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society 2007.