Leamside railway line



Washington was built round the car, I can’t see how you could practically shoehorn a metro line through any other route?

That’s probably cost prohibitive...

theres two disused lines run through washington that I know of. Granted one of them is the C2C route now. If the government is serious about improving infrastructure and reducing emissions etc then we might have to knock down some existing infrastructure (like houses) tomake way for a line. Alternatively use some existing roads and convert them into rail lines or even metro lines.
 
It’s a disgrace a town the size of Washington doesn’t have the metro.

i agree but it might also be a blessing it doesn’t. The metro is an efficient way to drain shoppers out of surrounding towns in favour of Newcastle. Struggling towns around the region need to be looking at retaining trade in the centres not encouraging it out
 
The metro is an efficient way to drain shoppers out of surrounding towns in favour of Newcastle.
is there any empirical evidence to back that up? its a claim i've seen against the sunderland extension quite a bit, but im wonder if its just hearsay & conjecture?
 
Was a thread on it before Christmas, love owt to do with the leamside line but I’ll say now what I said then. The leamside line will never reopen. Whether that be as a main line, freight or metro, it won’t reopen.
But they’ll continue to out stuff like this out.
This, be cheaper to build a new line from scratch now
 
is there any empirical evidence to back that up? its a claim i've seen against the sunderland extension quite a bit, but im wonder if its just hearsay & conjecture?

It’s fairly evident tbh, they wouldn’t have invested in the metro if it wasn’t getting used. I’ve talked to people in places like South Shields and Whitley bay who says the same thing.....the towns were more bustling before the metro came along.
 
i agree but it might also be a blessing it doesn’t. The metro is an efficient way to drain shoppers out of surrounding towns in favour of Newcastle. Struggling towns around the region need to be looking at retaining trade in the centres not encouraging it out

i don’t want to shop in Washington. I want to shop, drink, eat in Newcastle without paying £30 in taxi fares and I want to be able to get to the match via metro not drive or bus so I can have a drink before and after the games..... (I’m just thinking about the drink really aren’t I 🤣)
 
i don’t want to shop in Washington. I want to shop, drink, eat in Newcastle without paying £30 in taxi fares and I want to be able to get to the match via metro not drive or bus so I can have a drink before and after the games..... (I’m just thinking about the drink really aren’t I 🤣)

Well you are........everyone is missing the pubs tbf
 
It’s fairly evident tbh, they wouldn’t have invested in the metro if it wasn’t getting used. I’ve talked to people in places like South Shields and Whitley bay who says the same thing.....the towns were more bustling before the metro came along.

Is the metro used a lot for shopping and drinking purposes or mainly commuting for work?

I guess there is a correlation between location of businesses and possible consolidation which in turn has impacted upon retail and food and beverage.

I think there is another factor in that social mobility is different now. When I was younger we used to always drink in Sunderland mainly due to cost, but gradually migrated to Newcastle particularly when city centre declined. A night out in Newcastle (quayside) was always seen as a bit of a big event but gradually became the norm. Must admit we rarely used the metro for that purpose.
 
Is the metro used a lot for shopping and drinking purposes or mainly commuting for work?

I guess there is a correlation between location of businesses and possible consolidation which in turn has impacted upon retail and food and beverage.

I think there is another factor in that social mobility is different now. When I was younger we used to always drink in Sunderland mainly due to cost, but gradually migrated to Newcastle particularly when city centre declined. A night out in Newcastle (quayside) was always seen as a bit of a big event but gradually became the norm. Must admit we rarely used the metro for that purpose.

All three in varying combinations......... I get there's always going to be social mobility and aspiration but this is more about stopping the region overall having declining high streets.
 
All three in varying combinations......... I get there's always going to be social mobility and aspiration but this is more about stopping the region overall having declining high streets.

I agree. I personally think high streets need to change dramatically rather than what we have become accustomed too. I appreciate we have different opinions on this so need to go through this again but do agree we need to reverse the decline somehow.
 
It’s fairly evident tbh, they wouldn’t have invested in the metro if it wasn’t getting used. I’ve talked to people in places like South Shields and Whitley bay who says the same thing.....the towns were more bustling before the metro came along.
I wouldnt argue that the likes of shields or whitley bay arent "bustling" when compared to a pre-80s era, but both those examples & sunderland were served by heavy rail long before it changed to light rail. personally i don't think its fairly evident that light rail contributed 100%, in shields bus use is down massively compared to the pre-80s era and that's not the fault of the metro.

i suspect you need to also be throwing into the mix both car ownership and the rise of "out of town shopping". worth pointing out that the metrocentre isnt served by lightrail either... i would also imagine in a post-covid future that "internet shopping" will be a factor when it comes to bustling cities, newcastle included. keeping it almost on topic, look at the leamside line at follingsby which would pass that new massive amazon warehouse before heading to durham and passing that new massive amazon warehouse near bowburn...
 
Been discussed to death on here - it's never going to happen sadly.

As I said on the thread about this a monthish ago, someone will still be campaigning for a Washington metro extension in the year 2121.
 
Thats the whole idea. Having this line open would free up space for high speed inter city trains. They presently have to slow down due to slow goods trains hogging the present line, which is only double track.

The problem is that the Metro uses 1500 Volt DC overhead wires and Network Rail lines use 25000 Volt AC. The two are not compatible so if you reopen the bit of the Leamside over the Victoria Bridge as a Metro line and the rest of the Leamside as heavy rail, it cannot be electrified. So everywhere the Metro goes it puts the kybosh on any chance of proper electrified main line services.
 

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