Also known as the Bucksnook Way, although it is a misnomer as it served far more than a single colliery. Its legal existence started with an agreement of 1710 between John Clavering and Lady Jane giving wayleave to Thomas Brumell through Axwell-owned grounds for a waggonway to Bucksnook Colliery. The first leg of the way was relaid on the line of the old Hollinside Way, but changes were made at the staiths end as the old Hollinside staiths could not handle the expected traffic. The line was extended downstream where the Derwent offered more space. This required a “bridge of earth”, or battery, to be built across the Chacker Bottom marsh, the Long Ridge, and the crossing of Swalwell village street. To ensure the way stayed within Clavering grounds the gable end of the village pub was removed. From the southern boundary of Axwell a wayleave across Hollinside was obtained; but south of Hollinside difficulties arose. As a route across the Gibside estate was unobtainable, the way was forced to use a corridor of land to Byermoor, roughly following the course of the present Byermoor Lane. Two pulls were necessary to overcome a rise of 100 feetand a dangerous descent from near Fellside to the old Hollinside Way.
The way was very lightly built because of a lack of resources. It was laid without a “bye way” for returning empties and, though one was later laid, it only went as far as the southern boundary of Axwell, to which point the Hollinside Way might be expected to have one anyway. At Crookgate, where the way entered Tanfield Moor, it crossed the head of the gill at ground level and it was only in 1713 that a battery (Crookgate Mount) was built over two culverts to mitigate the pull; this battery was removed in the late 20th century.
Problems regarding ownership and use of a lane across Fawdon Field led a cartel of owners to come together to obstruct the waggonway – to make impossible any new route for the Western Way and then to destroy the offending waggonway. However, by 1712 the way was nearly complete and formerly opened in May 1712. But this was also the start of 14 years of physical interruptions caused by deliberate vandalism. A new colliery opened at Beckley in 1725 and it joined to Western I at Crookgate.

The earliest way known on the east side of the Derwent, built by Alderman White and partners in 1692. They built two connected waggonways, one from west Whickham and the other from Hollinside, joining in the Morrisfield to follow a common path to Swalwell. Although there is a gap of six months between the leases they must have been planned together. The Hollinside lease dates to April 1692. The route to be followed was identical with that of the Bucksnook Way (the first Western Way) and was about 2½ miles long.

Northbanks Way was the second waggonway to Dunston. Permission to build a waggonway was obtained by the Hon Charles Montagu in leases dated 1689/90 and confirmed in May 1692. However, because of a shortage of capital, no serious thought seems to have been given to building one until 1695. Montagu was faced with a choice of four routes from the colliery as well as which staiths to choose – Dunston or Swalwell. The choice rested not only with cost and technology, but also with politics. Montagu ended up opting for Swalwell, Dunston and an option for keeping wains. The way to Dunston had been completed by 1699. Modifications seem to have been made after only the first year of running and a new way was to be made ready by spring 1701.
The abrupt closure of Northbanks has left more waggonway remains than many others, for example embankments at Gellesfield and behind Southfield Road, and a quarter of a mile of double cuttings and trackbed down the north face of Dunston Hill. A more lightly built way lies lower down the slope and is that shown in the last year of the way’s existence. At the bottom of the main Northbanks Way, higher up, is a remnant of the battery of Battery Well which probably represents the cure of this run.
In 1703, the Northbanks Way was valued at £5739 17s 8¼d, the most expensive so far built. The expense was justified according to accounts for 1704-23 which show the Northbanks Way was carrying annually over 1600T. During this period some 781,675 waggonloads were carried to Dunston, something in the order of 1.75 million tonnes.
A Northbanks branch to Blackburn was probably built in 1717. Blackburn Colliery was redeveloped in 1722 and a waggonway was built over Blackburn Fell. It opened in 1723 and reused timbers lifted from Northbanks; much of the Blackburn Way is still visible. However, the way had a short life as way leaves were denied and it was quietly killed off.

Description (Windmill and Redheugh):
The waggonway is recorded on the Waggonways on South Bank of the Tyne plan of 1728 after Stella Grand Lease. It was laid out no later than 1647. The plan shows a very short line, less than three quarters of a mile long, serving the colliery on Windmill Hill on the Bensham estate and running to the Pott House which stood at the east end of Pipewellgate. Its staith must have stood near the southern abutments of the High Level Bridge.

Description (Carr Waggonways in Gateshead and Redheugh):
Sir Ralph Carr, predecessor of Sir Henry Liddell, was the great man of coal in Gateshead. He worked the extensive Fieldhouse and Saltwellside collieries and probably used the Windmill Hill waggonway to staiths at Stinking Burn and South Shore. In 1707 he took over the top end of the Windmill Hill Way and relaid the waggonway across Robson’s closes, Town Fields, Stinking Burn and Bradley Head.

Description (Saltwellside):
Possibly the work of Sir George Vane. Saltwellside was probably a very considerable colliery by 1670 and Vane had keelrooms at Team Staith. These could not have handled the output of a major colliery however, and the alternatives were an outlet through Fieldhouse, or a way down to the east bank of the Team and then along into Redheugh. Early Ordnance Survey maps show some evidence of such a way. Saltwellside Way probably existed on the east bank of the Team from around 1670 to about 1720. When both Team and Dunstan became overcrowded after 1725 they were relieved by an overflow branch from Team to Redheugh staiths and this might have been a reinstatement of the lower end of the Saltwellside Way.

Although it is not known what happened to the Bensham Way in the 1720s and 1730s, it may have continued operating for collieries on Gateshead Fell. In the 1760s there was certainly one operating this route, using the old staith at Trunk, although the name of the colliery is unknown. The waggonway is shown on a plan of the Shipcote Estate dating from before 1768, and is shown on the first edition ordnance Survey 6 inch map running from Kells Lane down, what was then, Back Lane to Shipcote. In 1768 Gateshead Park Colliery was replaced with a new Sheriff Hill Colliery on Gateshead Fell called Parkmoor. The Bensham Way was rebuilt to carry the projected output. A better approach to the Tyne was built, apparently using part of the old Windmill Hill descent down Pasture Banks upstream from Trunk. Much of it survives today and is used as a footpath; the remainder of the line must have followed the Old Bensham Way.
Part of a later redevelopment of the Bensham Way, made possible by deeper shafts. A redevelopment of Parkmoor Colliery on Gateshead Fell in about 1790 required better staiths to be built. They were provided at Friar’s Goose on the Felling Boundary. To reach these new staiths the line left the old Bensham Way north of Shipcote and swung east in an arc above Gateshead town. It remained in use for at least ten years after the next (Sheriff Hill Way III) was built in about 1805, but had disappeared before 1820. A new Sheriff Hill Colliery, Ellison’s Main, was sunk at Beacon Lough; it was the largest and most important of all Gateshead collieries. A much shorter waggonway was constructed direct to the river using the new technology of the self-acting incline. The inclined plane appears to have joined an old Heworth Way, taking advantage of the closure of the old Heworth Colliery and its staiths, which now became Sheriff Hill Staiths.

The Bensham Way first appears on the 1728 plan, which shows it running from Rock Staith on South Shore southwards to a point just short of the Bensham estate boundary along Kells Lane. The plan implies it was laid by Sir Henry Liddell after 1688, but the wording is very loose. It appears again on an estate map of the mid 18th century and is still traceable on the first edition Ordnance Survey (6 inch), roughly along the present-day West and West High Streets, crossing Durham Road at Shipcote and continuing to Dryden Road. However, this way does not end at Rock Staith, but at the Old Trunk Staith, formerly the principal Riddell outlet, 150 yards above Tyne Bridge. An earlier layout can be discerned crossing High Street below the Sunderland Road corner and using the passage through the town, surviving still as East Street, to reach the river below the bridge – this was clearly the Bensham Way of 1728.
At Trunk Staith, by the end of the 17th century, there were 22½ keelrooms extending along what was later King Edward Wharf, enough to handle over 2500T. Many of these must have existed by 1647 when a survey of Gateshead manor shows 18 keelrooms at Trunk and Redheugh.
It remains unclear who the first Bensham Way can be attributed to, whether Sir Henry Liddell or William Riddell. A new partnership was formed in 1685 between the sons of the second Ravensworth baronet, John Rogers and Creagh. It is implied by Bennett et al (1989, 79) that this must have necessitated a general redevelopment of the waggonway and drainage, although nothing is recorded. Bensham Colliery was virtually worked out by 1720 and the eastern end of the waggonway was not worked again until after the mid 18th century. The Way did undergo several rebirths in later years, together with others, such as Sheriff Hill, Gateshead Fell and Gateshead Park Way, although they belong to a different era. It is unknown what happened to the Bensham Way in the 1720s and 1730s, although it may have remained open for collieries on Gateshead Fell.

The route of the Gateshead Head Way is uncertain but may have been that recorded in the lease of a small staith in the Salt Meadows with wayleave for a waggonway in September 1656 (Lewis 1970, 95). It was granted to Edward Green, a shipbuilder and may have terminated at Salt Meadows in the north-east corner of Gateshead, which was part of the Bishop’s Grand Lease manor and was an ideal place for shipbuilding. There had once been a small colliery here too but this did not belong to Green. His reason for gaining the lease is unclear. In 1636 there had already been a Gateshead Head colliery, initially worked by a wain, but a waggonway had been laid by April 1660. The small profit from the colliery, a mere £300, leads Bennett et al (1989, 55) to remark that it was odd for a waggonway to be constructed. Although nothing is known about the colliery, waggonway or its staiths, the waggonway of the post-1750 Claxtons colliery may be a truncated remnant of the Gateshead Head Way. However, other possibilities for the site of the Gateshead Head Way staith exist at downstream from the present Redheugh Bridge. If so, the waggonway would have been much longer and probably not an independent one but a branch of other ways.

Serious production did not begin at Gateshead Park Colliery until three engines were installed here between 1740 and 1746 and two at Friar’s Goose in 1749, to solve drainage problems. The first Gateshead Park waggonway was laid to the original staith at the Trunk, and was still in use in 1754. Not long afterwards it was replaced by another, much shorter, way giving access to the below-bridge Salt Meadows staiths. The colliery may have been taken out of production in 1767. A new deeper colliery was opened outside Gateshead Park in 1798. It was nearer the river and took over the Salt Meadow facilities, probably using an iron way; together with the staith, it was given the name Tyne Main.

Serious redevelopment of Felling Colliery, by Charles Brandling, probably began in 1776 with the first Felling engine. The new colliery had six pits served by a three-pronged waggonway system. By the early 19th century a new pit, called John, was sunk – the nucleus of Felling Colliery that lasted into the 20th century. For this new pit half a mile of track, roughly along the old Carr Hill line, was laid to the staith – but this time in iron.

Another Birtley Fell Way is referred to in a deposition of 1749, laid about 15 years earlier by a Mr Donnison. He probably had the Carr Hill staiths at Felling. From the northern end of Birtley Fell, where Rudston’s Birtley Fell Way (Route 1) had turned east, Donnison’s way continued northward, along the flank of the ridge to the Great Grindstone Quarry at Windy Nook. This was crossed by an embankment, the “battery” of Battery Lane, near the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, now buried in landfill. At Windy Nook the way turned alongside what is now Coldwell Lane and continued through the later felling High Street.
In about 1757, Donnison moved his Birtley workings south from North Side Farm to what is now known as North Side, where in 1757 he installed an engine. The new Birtley Colliery led to Fatfield Staith on the Wear, along a route used later by the iron-railed Pelton Waggonway. This was the first known way to link the Tyne and Wear. The Washington Way is reported to have joined Donnison’s line west of Wallace Village but no trace of such a branch has been found. Donnison died in 1759 and the line was administered by William Peareth. It became known as Peareth's Waggonway.
The alternative name “Great Grindstone” suggests other heavy freight was transported on the waggonway probably quernstones from the area of Windy Nook and Springwell. Alan Williams has suggested a slightly different route for the waggonway at its southern end than Bennett.