Hetton colliery railway
in undefined, United KingdomCategory: Attraction
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Lyons Industrial Estate, Hetton-le-Hole DH5 0RF, United Kingdom Print route »
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The Hetton colliery railway was an 8-mile (13 km) long private railway opened in 1822 by the Hetton Coal Company at Hetton Lyons, County Durham, England. The Hetton was the first railway to be designed from the start to be operated without animal power, as well as being the first entirely new line to be developed by the pioneering railway engineer George Stephenson.
As originally built, the Hetton colliery railway ran between Hetton Colliery, which was roughly two miles (3.2 km) south of Houghton-le-Spring, and a staithe (wharf) on the River Wear, from where the coal was conveyed further by boat. By its closure in 1959, it was recognised as being the oldest mineral railway in Great Britain.
