The Transporter end of the Clarence Railway gives a view of what the railway was starting to look like, before it had a revival with the development of the oil terminal and chemical plants in the seventies. What seems to be the Bell Brothers signal box, lies in the far distance. It would have been nice to have got a picture from the top of the Transporter of the area but the footway was closed off at that time.
Photographs and details courtesy of Fred Starr.
North Eastern Daily Gazette – 3 March 1883. The new railway station at Port Clarence, which has been erected by the North Eastern Railway company, is now complete. It replaces the dilapidated wooden erection which has done duty as a station for many years. The station is 120 feet long and is built of red brick, faced with blue brick and stone. There is a gentleman’s first class waiting room, and also a ladies first class waiting room, each of which will be comfortably furnished. There is a commodious general waiting room and all necessary offices. The platform, which is paved with concrete, is covered by an ornamental glass and slate roof, supported by iron pillars. the station has been built by Messrs W. and R. Blackett, of Bishop Auckland. The new station will be lighted with gas supplied by Messrs Bell Bros. The separate waiting rooms would account for the number of chimneys the station had, each waiting room having a coal fire.
In February 1929 the London and North Eastern Railway Company announced considerable improvements were about to be made at Port Clarence station. The development of the Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates works at Haverton Hill had led to a large increase in passengers using Port Clarence. As a result the station platform was to be extended 180 feet westwards, giving a total length of 480 feet (the platform must have been lengthened at some point between 1883 and 1929). An additional exit door from the platform was to be provided in order to relieve the congestion at rush hours.
I don’t know if these improvements were subsequently carried out. In 1930 Port Clarence’s largest employer, the Clarence Iron and steel works closed. By December 1931 the LNER were describing the Port Clarence station as a dead loss. Motor omnibus services were now running from Stockton and Hartlepool in competition with the railway passenger services. The Newport road bridge was built allowing motor omnibus services from Middlesbrough to join the competition. In addition to this a halt for the use of the chemical plant workers had opened on the Port Clarence Branch Line at Belasis Lane in 1928. The passenger service to Port Clarence finally ceased in 1939.
Fortunately this did not lead to the demise of the line as there was still a large amount of mineral traffic using the railway.
This station at Port Clarence was opened in 1883. There were three rows of railway houses (one of which is partly obscured by the station in these photographs). I have put photographs of the surviving railway houses on the Picturestockton site under the title Port Clarence Railway house.
This is a desolate railway in modern times but it must have been very busy when Bell Brothers Clarence Ironworks was in production. The ironworks was almost totally self sufficient. Coal came from collieries in Durham which belonged to Bell Brothers and they also brought in limestone from quarries in Weardale which they owned.
An example of how busy the railway was in it’s heyday is given in the Northern Weekly Gazette, 25 October 1879, it was reported, that 3,750 tons of coke were being delivered every day to Bell Brothers Clarence Iron Works at Port Clarence by the railway company. In addition to this there would also have been wagons full of limestone, which were required in the manufacture of pig iron, from Bell Brothers quarry at Stanhope.
Anderston’s Foundry at Port Clarence was opened in 1875. They had a siding off the Port Clarence Branch Railway and an extensive rail network attached to the foundry. They also had a wharf connected to the foundry and most likely the majority of their products were transported by ships.
When The Clarence Iron Works was in production this section of the Port Clarence Branch Line comprised about four lines which were used as a marshalling yard for the coal and limestone wagons which arrived from Bell Bothers concerns in South Durham. Beyond this point the wagons had to cross a double line railway bridge into the Clarence Iron works.
The two top pictures can be added together to give something like a panoramic view of the line. Picture Stockton have now added a blow up which shows Bell Signal Box and the Port Clarence Station more clearly.
The four chimneys on the roof of the station suggests that this may have been intended for offices, keeping track of the huge amount of freight passing up and down the line, initially from Bells Ironworks and then later from the salt works and chemical plants. There would also have been coking coal from the Durham pits in the early days..
Does Frank Mee or some one know which docks were used by ICI Billingham to ship out its production of ammonium sulphate, nitric and sulphuric acid, etc?
I’m not sure about Sulphuric and Nitric acid,but Ammonium Sulphate was shipped out through Middlesbrough dock regularly,although in 1964 a full cargo of Ammonium Sulphate(about ten thousand tons) was loaded at the Reach wharf,and shipped to Mackay in Queensland. I worked as an apprentice deck officer on that same ship,the Gloxinia,later that year.At low tide the ship was resting on the bottom. During my time with ICI,from the early 1970’s,the main export route of acids was by road or rail,but I would assume some would need to go by sea.Perhaps someone has more information about acids exports.
Fred Starr. My Fathers school pal from Oxbridge Lane School both sighned on in 1915 in the East Riding Yeomanry then went not Egypt for their war. Except for Laurence of Arabia, you never hear anything about their war. It was not a PICNIC from the Western Front although Dad never said much about it, like most troops.
His pal Freddie Moiser BEM – became Chief Signals Inspector NE Region. He was required to take and pass all entrants for signals operation. He used to tell Dad and I some good stories about “goings on” when he was required to visit all signal boxes at different times.
When possible the signalmen would warn each other he was on his way round to visit them. The tricks he used were things like getting on a train at the platform and out the other side and go in a different direction. We had some real good laughs from his stories he used to tell when Dad and he met up.
J.Norman Kidd.
A really Good Photo. It shows that it must of been a busy branch line.
great photos fred nice shot of bells bank foot signal box, and also the row of small buildings which were port clarence station, this was accessed via a single line from port clarence box which was further up the line on the same side this box was closed in 1964, whereas bells bank foot was burnt down by vandals not so long ago, lovely photos nice to see.