One out, one in at Seabanks 16-10

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One out, one in at Seabanks 16-10
One out, one in at Seabanks 16-10

37111 sets off from Seabanks with an unfitted coal train from Dawdon Colliery, heading for the main line at Dawdon Jn. (where, in common with many former NER junctions, the signalbox was named without the "Junction" suffix). At the other side of Bone Mill level crossing, having just got the calling-on signal to enter the Dawdon Colliery site, is 37128 with a train of empties. The (road) entrance to Dawdon Colliery is a little way behind the camera.

It was normal practice at the time for unfitted coal trains in this area only to have a brakevan at the rear, but both of these trains have brakevans immediately behind the loco; it is wondered, therefore, if they would have run round at Dawdon and were heading for or had come from somewhere south of Seaham.

Within a few years the Seabanks branch had been singled, with Seabanks signalbox closing (and the semaphore signals depicted here being removed). Dawdon Colliery closed in July 1991 and the area was eventually redeveloped. The road in the foreground closed (as, of course, did the level crossing) and the railway line was cut back, but this point on the branch is now the location of Seaham Harbour Rail Freight Terminal. The allotments on the left remain.

This was the first open level crossing I ever encountered, all others I'd seen having gates or barriers. As a child, my maternal grandfather used to take me and my sister for a "run" in the car after church on Sundays, while both my mother and my grandmother were preparing (separately) the Sunday roast. We drove past here on at least one occasion but, being a Sunday, there were no trains running of course. Several years later (this day) I ended up here, on my first photographic trip to Seaham (catching the train from Sunderland and then walking round - it was before I was old enough to drive), and recognised the location! Unfortunately, it was the only photo I ever took here (and high fencing prevents clear photography of trains in the freight terminal).

Scan from a 35mm Ilford FP4 negative.

To see my non-transport pictures, visit www.flickr.com/photos/137275498@N03/.

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Taken on: January 4, 1984
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