The Dearness Valley Railway was an eight-mile-long single-track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Deerness in County Durham, England. Originated by the Dearness Valley Railway Company, it became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1857
It ran from Deerness Valley Junction, on the Durham to Bishop Auckland line, to the coal mines along the valley via two intermediate stations, Waterhouses, and .
History The line was primarily built to serve the collieries at Ushaw Moor, Waterhouses, Hamsteels, Esh, Cornsay, New Brancepeth and East Hedley Hope, and was opened to passengers only as an afterthought.
Opening
Authorised by the (18 & 19 Vict. c. clxxx), the line opened to goods on New Year's Day 1858, but it was not until 1 November 1877 that the first passenger station, Waterhouses near Esh Winning, was opened. A second station was opened on 1 September 1884 at .
Industries served Beyond the East Hedley Hope junction, the line was known as Deerness Valley Branch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, with the rope worked Stanley Inclines giving access to Stanley Drifts and Wooley Colliery.
The Dearness Valley Branch was authorised by the Stockton and Darlington Railway Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. cxlix).
The line then accessed Bank Foot Coke Works and Chemical Plant at , where it junctioned with both the Weardale Extension Railway and the Stanhope and Tyne Railway. This section was built for Joseph Pease and Partners, the owners of Waterhouses Colliery who also owned the industrial complex at Bank Foot.
Closure The entire line closed to passengers on 29 October 1951, and to freight on 28 December 1964.
The site today The trackbed became part of the Durham Railway Paths network in 1975.
References
External links Waterhouses station on Disused Stations with line history Photos of the line in operation on Ushaw Moor Historical Website Deerness Valley Railway Path Line on a 1948 OS Map