‘Yarm – originally the Port of the Tees, and Viaduct which carries the main line south across the Valley of Tees and over the town of Yarm’.
Taken from the Commercial Travellers Association Souvenir Book, Stockton-on-Tees, 1898.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Situated above the station at Yarm was (still is???) a house – close to the former livestock entrance down to the “cattle dock” and signal cabin adjacent to the northbound track, on the same side – was named “Prospect House”, likely because it overlooked Yarm itself – indeed much more.
Dad was interested in buying this well-situated dwelling, yet mam – predictably by that time – “freaked-out” just as she did after hearing from some nincompoop that “Freightliners were not doing very well”, this costing dad his newly-acquired position of Terminal Regulator at Billingham Freightliner Terminal and indeed ANY further promotion on BR.
She tried the same stunt when I was ineligible (by a single month…) to secure the full grant to study for an HND in Civil Engineering at Teesside Polytechnic in Middlesbrough. (Mum ‘limped’ around the house asking, “WHY did you do it, son??? – but of course I went anyway…)
We lived close to the north end of Yarm tunnel in the 1950s & 60s. Two of us once walked through Yarm tunnel while the line was open for trains(!) My dad – a railway inspector knew the last Yarm stationmaster (Mr George McVeigh), who lived in the station house. His son David will be my age (75). Great views from the road over the station; also from the footbridge. There was NO “stop for passengers” on the viaduct itself (!) although the platform did in fact end only a few feet away from the drop (at that point over land). It was a steep climb from Yarm itself to this station. I recall G5s and A5s/A8s on trains to Stockton (and also Whitby, via Picton Junction and Battersby.
It is no exaggeration when I say that I love all viaducts. They are wonderful structures. I was so disappointed when the Thorpe Thewles viaduct was blown up! Best Regards Julian
Then you’d just LOVE the aqueduct and the railway viaduct at Chirk )…
Brilliant – I did not appreciate that there was a stop for passengers on the bridge, how did they reach it?
Pam Dinsdale
Not quite on the viaduct, it was at the northern end. The station was accessed from near the junction of Yarm Road and Aislaby Road, now called “Old Station Mews”. There was a footbridge to get over the tracks to the platform pictured. The platform continued under the Aislaby Road bridge, to where there used to be a signal box. The station buildings that were on the other side of the track, to those pictured, are still there. You can still see the wall that edged the platform. Why it closed I don’t know, it seems a sensible place to have a station being so close to the High Street.
Hello Pam, Were you linked to the garage in Yarm Lane opposite Wheatley’s garage?
Yes she was the daughter of Billy Dinsdale and at one time lived in a flat above Dinsdale’s garage. Old Fred Dinsdale also lived in a flat above the garage when I was an apprentice panel beater there in 1958. Pam used to walk through the workshop to get to the flat, I believe she went to Queen Victoria school. Nice girl, she had a brother called Digby.
Back in the early 1960s I once knew and really fancied a lovely dark-haired girl whose name was Sylvia. She went to the “Queen Vic” school which backed onto my schoolmate Eric’s house in Cranborne Terrace. The last time I ever saw Sylvia was at the annual Yarm Fair. I still recall that she looked stunning… Schoolmate Eric was a local cycling champion and his mum a hairdresser.
Should you be lucky enough to get a “lift” on a passing barge (as I once did), the view across to the railway viaduct is stunning! Don’t ask me how the viaduct’s name is spelt…
In the early 1960s I once crossed this viaduct on a special “Out-of-Gauge” goods train at night with girders for the Forth Road Bridge – my dad being a Special Loads Inspector on BR. After our ‘J39’ goods engine (possibly No. 64923) broke-down only a few miles from Head, Wrightson’s depot opposite Thornaby station, the train was rescued by ‘A4’ Pacific No. 60001 “Sir Ronald Matthews”, which hauled us to and through Newcastle as far as Heaton(?) Long time ago!