North Tyneside Steam Railway

North Tyneside Steam Railway
North Tyneside Steam Railway North Tyneside Steam Railway shown within Tyne and Wear
OS grid reference	NZ330683
Coordinates	55°00′29″N 1°29′06″W / 55.008°N 1.485°W / 55.008; -1.485Coordinates: 55°00′29″N 1°29′06″W / 55.008°N 1.485°W / 55.008; -1.485
List of places UK England Tyne and Wear

North Tyneside Steam Railway
Workshop & Museum Middle Engine Lane boundary fence former waggonway A1058 Coast Road footpath (end of Hamar Close) A193 Wallsend Road Wallsend Road (former) Tyne and Wear Metro Percy Main

The North Tyneside Steam Railway and Stephenson Railway Museum are visitor attractions in North Tyneside, North East England. The museum and railway workshops share a building on Middle Engine Lane adjacent to the Silverlink Retail Park. The railway is a standard gauge line, running south for 2 miles (3.2 km) from the museum to Percy Main. The railway is operated by the North Tyneside Steam Railway Association (NTSRA). The museum is managed by Tyne and Wear Museums on behalf on North Tyneside Council.

The railway runs along the alignment of various former coal wagonways, which were later used by the Tyne and Wear Metro Test Centre; the museum and workshop building used to be the test facility. The museum is dedicated to the railway pioneers George Stephenson and his son Robert, with one of George's early locomotives, Billy, housed in the museum.

As the early coal seams of the Northumberland Coalfield near the River Tyne were exhausted, waggonways were laid to serve pits sunk further north. Coal would be unloaded into colliers (coal transport ships) via staithes. The first wagonways used wooden waggons on wooden rails drawn by horses. The first traffic begin in 1755 on a line from Shiremoor to Hayhol staithes, and was soon followed by more lines. Wooden rails were eventually replaced by wrought iron. Rope haulage was introduced from 1821, with the museum site being at the top of Prospect Hill. By the 1820s coal was coming from pits further to the north in Seghill, Backworth and Cramlington, while a pit at Murton near Shiremoor had also been added. In 1826 it also became the preferred route for coal coming from Fawdon to the west, to make it unnecessary to use keel boats further upriver.