Metal detector now thats an idea

Worth a look. Away supporters will be impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbdw0_xKn2o

does that mean we,ll see some next season then.

The Boston fans will be booking seats already.

Today virtually all the 2 hourly Newcastle - Boro expresses cancelled due to staff not available/fault on train/more trains getting repaired than as usual.
When will it work properly?

If they bought or even borrowed some rolling stock instead of aged cast offs the service might actually work.
Those ‘run away coaches’ offered hardly inspire potential users, further South you go the more appealing the trains and services are.

Sir Keir will sort it. He is the second Knight in his family, Sir Nigel Gresley was the first.

Having travelled this afternoon from Newcastle the message actually said ,too.many trains for the line . So not drivers if this is true but sounds a weird excuse

You’re right there.
That sounds like cobblers by them in all honesty….if they said there was aliens on the line someone would accept it.

Not just the South, Scotland has some of the most modern trains and frequent services in the UK. So does Northern Ireland and Wales. The clapped out Sprinter units that ply up and down the Durham coast line were introduced when new to Scotrail back in the 1980’s and gradually cascaded to Northern during the demise of the equally clapped out Pacer units which were effectively buses on flanged wheels - but good enough for the poor old North East.

If the Sprinters in their current state were transferred back to Scotland now there would be absolute uproar. The North East region has the worst local trains in the country - fact. However it seems that very few in authority have a voice in this region and those who do are either not prepared to speak out on behalf of Joe Public or simply don’t give a shit. I did harbour some hopes that Ben Houchen would rattle some cages within the current Govt in respect of this issue but the clock is quickly winding down to the end of his period of influence.

We are 3rd class i am afraid.

We’re non league…if you took kids to a railway museum they’d be asking you where the old trains were…we can see these trains everyday at home.
I have this vision of the Rocket trundling thought the level crossing in Church Street and no one batting an eyelid.

On a more serious note, we’ve always been bottom of the taken for granted pile by governments of all persuasions and our representatives are just too house trained to demand better.

Yes Snowy and Smoking its not good.
We need some power in this region and post election our politicians need to get together and lobby for the region.How this will work with red MPs (probably) and a blue Tees Valley mayor i just dont know.
We could try to market the Durham Coast Line as a heritage line

I stand by the theory that labour don’t have to care and The Con servatives why should they care.
I suspect Starmer got a shock last time round with the seats lost last election in the North East and hope he responds accordingly.
The North East has been forgotten for far too long …. mind you, the Geordies seem to do alright

surely there could be someone employed on large 6 figure fee to do that or think up another stupid name to get everyone back on vintage rolling stock. missing out not charging a quid then for a platform ticket for railway enthusiasts. if they brought steam specials up they,d be the crappiest and most boring steam engines that are still available.

'....the Geordies seem to do alright...' - you are spot on there Snowy, they have somehow managed to get the Blyth/Ashington line reopened to passengers after being closed for 50 years.

The first public services are apparently scheduled for later this summer and they will inevitably consist of the very same 158 Sprinter units that hapless Northern are already struggling to provide for the Durham Coast line. It will therefore be interesting to see if our local services are even more adversely impacted with even fewer units being made available.

Tees Valley wise a service from Hartlepool to Saltburn would open up the area, because with all the activity south of the river at the Redcar site, despite being visible from Seaton because of geography means you can get to Tyneside quicker than Redcar.
The Tees divides the area…a lifting bridge at Cargo Fleet would remove a lot of traffic from the A19, avoiding even more widening of the road.

Wasn't Houchen advocating the prospect of a 'Tees Tunnel' a while back? Surely the prospect of being able to get to the North Yorkshire Moors and Coast without the need to pass through the Boro/ Teesside has got to have its merits?

A lifting bridge would be cheaper and the Dutch are brilliant at it.

Yes currently a feasibility study in progress,
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw901xwz13ro.

I cant see tunnel based on cost but a lifting bridge stands a chance IMO.
Direct trains to Saltburn would be good as would direct services to Darlington.(we do have one a week at 14.25 on a Sunday). Houchen has promised more direct services to Darlington but says it would require a £40m investment.I dont know where he has got this from as we used to have them regularly 30/40 years ago.

A tunnel would be prohibitive cost wise (unless it was inside the M25)….but a lifting bridge would be very practical at Cargo Fleet as no larger ships go up past Cargo Fleet just smaller vessels but all they thing of is stick more lanes on the A19.

We could all club together and buy a boat to operate from Hartlepool to Saltburn on a day trip basis. Good day out that.
Could have weddings, stag and hen do's, company get togethers etc etc etc.

Could call it the good ship RAJ, making it unsinkable.

wish i could do cartoons. the idea of that could keep me going all year.

I can do cartoons…. No probl em, but how you get them on here is beyond me.

Get one of the kids to show you or do it for you. We haven't had any cartoons from you for too long now. Howay, get cracking.

Trouble is like this …

Me…How do I do this ..

Daughter….It’s easy, you just ..tip tap tip tip tap top, there you are!

Me …..Can we go thought that again, not at warp speed so I can write it down.

Daughter…….It’s easy, tip tap tip tap top….SEE!

Me …….Reducing from Warp speed to supersonic doesn’t help.

Daughter …..I haven’t time

Me ….Just Bugger off

Daughter….Can I have a lift.

Me …… Read my mind…..

I have exactly the same experience. When she says she hasn't got time, just tell her that if she takes time to show and explain plus allowing you to take notes, she will only have to do it once, thus actually saving time.

No way to get ashore at Saltburn, swimming might not go down too well with your clientele.

Been thinking, ok we had delays, but in all fairness, nobody had given a toss since the bridge was removed and platform closed in the late sixties …under Harold Wilson 55 years ago…all subsequent governments did nowt, so thanks to whoever it was for finally putting it into operation, delays or not, it looks well.

Are you sure the bridge & platform 2 were closed in the late 60s Snowy? As I can remember using both when I was a kid & that would have been at least mid 70s and the bridge was there for a few years after it was closed before it was demolished.

I was travelling through to Redcar in 1971 and there was only one platform in use then. I also travelled down to Birmingham on Sundays in 73 and one platform in use.

Fair enough, I must have been younger than I thought when I can remember using platform 2 & the bridge. If I can remember things from when I was 5/6 year old, I wonder why I can't remember what I did yesterday

I must have been 18 and hated having to travel though every day….I can’t forget it.
When we were 14 we used to buy a ticket to Sunderland and ride up and down….God knows why

I remember walking over that railway bridge and I was born mid 70s. Seems like it was used well into the 80s?

I stand corrected, having checked the platform wasn’t used although I remember walking over it.

No need to stand corrected, we’re only discussing memories, I only remembered because I was pissed off having to spend 8 weeks travelling through to Redcar every day for work….change at Middlesbrough, then Cargo Fleet, South Bank, Grangetown and off at the now long closed Warrenby station…I can’t forget
I reckon you could have got over the bridge but officially the bridge was not in use anymore

Why was the bridge demolished in the first place, was it an old wooden structure which was unsafe ?

I found this on the internet.

"In September 1964, the bridge at West Hartlepool station "closed" and both south and northbound trains left from the old northbound platform."

Also a railwayman posted on Arsebook that the bridge was "removed" 33 years ago making that 1991 but other posts mention late 1990s.

I heard it was unsafe.

Further info on this link.
https://www.hhtandn.org/relatedimages/1 ... r-the-line

I have found the railwaymans post.
It says.
"Sunday 2nd June 2024 saw trains use Platform 3 (formerly platform 1) for the first time in over 35 years." Making it 1989.

I have never got off or on a train at that platform since the early seventies

It looked a very sturdy steel structure, probably demolished as who ever owned it wasn’t prepared to do any maintenance on it.

Yes its all very confusing lots of people who should be in the "know" give differing dates for its closure to passengers and then demolition. I am tempted to go for closure in 1964 and demolition in 1989.
I say 1964 as i cant remember it being used and i was 6 then.

It must be later than 1964 as I can remember using the bridge & as my user name suggests, I wasn't born until 1966

The bridge was definitely there in the 80's as I remember crossing it playing in the train station when we shouldn't have been in there. I also remember that there was a photo booth next to it or in an alcove built into the bridge.

Yes the photo booth was built into alcove on the left side You have a good memory because I had totally forgotten all about the booth.

There was a WH Smith stall as well in the early 70’s.