Walbottle Wagonway, Coronation Pit Branch

Walbottle Wagonway, Coronation Pit branch was laid c.1820 and ran from the Colliery to Lemington Staiths. It was improved and extended to North Walbottle Colliery (HER ref. 4235) in 1892 and appears on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey plan of c.1895 renamed as the North Walbottle Wagonway. This wagonway ran on part of the line of the earlier Holywell Reins Wagonway. It closed in 1968 at which time it was the last self acting incline in Northumberland. The railway tunnel which carried the wagonway was found to survive during a watching brief at a new coach depot at Blucher. The tunnel was 4 metres in width and over 2.3 metres high. It was of brick construction and had a roof of iron girders and concrete. The roof was only 0.2 metres below ground level. The tunnel had been bricked up to the north, but remained open to the south.