The Backworth Collieries

The village of Backworth lies some six miles to the north east of Newcastle and was once a major mining centre. Today little remains to indicate this activity so thorough has the reclamation work been. Only grassed-over mounds indicate the site of former workings. The village too is a shadow of its former self with many of the former pit rows having been demolished. A period of regeneration in the area has now commenced, including the development of the Eccles and Fenick Pit areas.

Mining commenced at Backworth in 1813 and continued until 1980, a period of 167 years. During that time the industry saw great technological changes with advances in all aspects of mining from the winning of the coal to its transport and shipment. The Backworth Coal Company and its previous owners were never one of the great concerns like Hartley Main or Lambton. Much of their railway equipment was bought second-hand from mainline railway companies, and this gave the system a very antiquated look. The company was the last in Northumberland to stop using chaldron wagons and for many years their trains were hauled by NER class 964 saddle tanks of 1873 vintage. Nationalization in 1947 brought modernisation and rationalization. Pits were either closed or combined and the railway system contracted. Whilst at other collieries diesel locomotives replaced the steam locos, at Backworth they continued to be the mainstay of traffic until almost the end. Fortunately some of the Backworth locos are now preserved and can be seen at various preserved railways most notably the Tanfield Railway.