The Tanfield Railway is a heritage railway in Gateshead and County Durham, England. Running on part of a former horse-drawn colliery wooden waggonway, later rope & horse, lastly rope & loco railway. It operates preserved industrial steam locomotives. The railway operates a passenger service every Sunday, plus other days, as well as occasional demonstration coal, goods and mixed trains.
The line runs between a southern terminus at East Tanfield, Durham, to a northern terminus at Sunniside, Gateshead. Another station, Andrews House, is situated near the Marley Hill engine shed. A halt also serves the historic site of the Causey Arch. The railway claims it is "the world's oldest railway" because it runs on a section dating from 1725, other parts being in use since 1621.
The volunteer-staffed railway is run by three bodies: Friends of Tanfield Railway, Tanfield Railway Trust which owns the railway, the locomotives and rolling stock, and The Tanfield Railway Company which operates the railway.
The Tanfield Railway Company is split into four departments; each has a manager and director: Engineering who maintain locomotives, Operations including drivers and guards, Carriage & Waggon who look after rolling stock, and Commercial which operates shops, events and the passenger side of operations.
Colliery railway
The Tanfield Waggonway was built by the Grand Allies, an association of coal-owning families, including the Bowes, Liddells, Ords and Montagues, who joined to overcome wayleave difficulties from about 1720. Its purpose was to transport coal more reliably and cheaply from the inland collieries of County Durham to the staiths on the River Tyne at Redheugh. From there the coal was transported in keels downriver to Shields, then transferred to colliers (bulk coal carrying ships)
The route and structures of the oldest section of the now preserved part of the line, between Sunniside and Causey, dates from 1725, and is thus the world's oldest railway still in operation.
(The Middleton Railway makes an alternative claim to be the oldest railway, as the first railway granted powers under the first railway act of parliament in 1758.
Causey Arch
The current preserved line passes near to Causey Arch, the oldest surviving railway bridge in the world.