Opening of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway

15th May 1834. "The upper part of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway extending from Stanhope to Annfield, county of Durham, a distance of about sixteen miles, was opened. A party of gentlemen left Annfield at eight o'clock in the morning by a railway waggon, tastefully fitted up for the occasion, and arrived at the termination of the line about eleven, highly gratified with the whole line of road, but especially with that part of it which crosses the precipitous ravine called the Hownes. At one o'clock the first four lime waggons were started from the spacious range of kilns belonging to the company, and speedily ascended the steep inclined adjoining Stanhope, amidst the cheers of an immense crowd of spectators. A splendid dinner had been provided for 400 persons by the spirited proprietors of the railway. But the hilarity of the occasion was much damped by the occurrence of a serious and fatal accident. Four carriages, in which there could be no less than from forty to fifty people, had just commenced the descent of the second inclined plane, when one of the shackles suddenly snapped, and the waggons ran with great velocity against some other waggons, when by the shock one man was killed, and a boy, nine years of age, so seriously injured, that he died during the night. Several others had bones fractured by leaping off the waggons during their descent, and many received various contusions."

From: T Fordyce, J. Sykes. Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed..., published 1867