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The Londonderry Seaham to Sunderland Railway

By the 1850's the port of Seaham Harbour was becoming overloaded with coals arriving at the docks from over a dozen inland pits. With the sinking of Seaton Colliery (the High Pit) in 1845 and Seaham Colliery (The Low Pit) in 1849 even more coal was required to be transported by sea. Lord Londonderry found a solution. A railway was to be constructed from Seaham to the docks at Sunderland. The first sod of the railway was cut on 8th February 1853 but Lord Londonderry was destined not to see his railway completed as he died on 6th March 1854. By August of that year the first coals were transported along the railway to Sunderland docks. Passenger stations were opened at Seaham Harbour, Seaham Colliery, Seaham Hall, Ryhope and Hendon Burn in 1855 and passenger traffic began in July 1855 although Seaham Hall station was reserved only for the Londonderry family. Built at a cost of £50,000 passengers were carried the entire distance of 5.5 miles in only 15 minutes. Bradshaw’s Railway Guide to Great Britain in 1859 contained a timetable and fares guide. There were three classes of passenger i.e., first, second and third charging one shilling, ninepence and sixpence for the full journey. A familiar complaint amongst passengers in 1889 exists to this day. One passenger wrote to the Editor of the Sunderland Echo that customers are compelled to pay for a second-class season ticket although there are third-class carriages run with the train. The pass costs Two Pounds Five Shillings per quarter return between Seaham and Sunderland but – a return pass between Seaham to Ryhope costs £1 and from Ryhope to Sunderland is also £1 so it costs five shillings extra to run right through from Seaham to Sunderland?

In the early days of steam railway travel very little importance was afforded to passenger safety. In July 1887 in the House of Commons Mr Channing asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether his attention had been drawn to the working of the Londonderry Railway between Sunderland and Seaham Harbour. He asked whether the following facts are correct “that there are no continuous brakes on the passenger trains, no steam brakes on the engines, that there is no attempt to carry out the block system on the line, that there are neither guards or vans for the coal trains during the day and that at night a guard drives on the last waggon with a hand lamp but has no equipment such as fog-signals and should anything occur has nothing but his hand-lamp to protect his train.” In reply Baron H de Worms of the Board of Trade confirmed these facts but stated that the railway line is the property of the Marquis of Londonderry and the Board of Trade had no powers to enforce the adoption of safety appliances.

The railway was eventually sold to the NER on 6th October 1900. This map of 1867 extracted from Lloyds Topographical County & Railway Map shows the existing railways in County Durham in 1867. The Londonderry Seaham to Sunderland Railway is indexed as railway number 367.

(Fred Cooper 2021)

The article below was written for the centenary in 1953 of the Londonderry Railway.

Sunderland Echo 30th January 1953

Bradshaw's Railway Guide 1859