(02 Nov 2021, 8:47 am)Andreos1 wrote The fact is, they weren't. Whether that was because the scheme didn't meet the ERDF criteria at the timr or for another reason, I'm not sure we will ever know.

You are right, it didn't close in the 60's. That was when regular passenger services ended.
The ECML diversions stopped in the late 80s if I remember right and I'm sure there were still freight runs until the early 90s.

Having lived close to the line at various stages of the line for quite a few years from the early 90s onwards, it was clear that although officially mothballed - that once the cable and trackbed was stolen and crossings tarmaced over, it was going to take a lot to re-open it.
It was used as a shortcut, it was used by people to hang-out and socialise, it was used by thieves and vandals too. There was no adequate fencing and I'm pretty sure there's been no heavy maintenance carried out on the bridges or the viaduct either. 

I am definitely in the pro-Leamside Line camp. I think the benefits of getting it going again are potentially huge.
Given the issues and delays in getting passenger trains on to the B&T line (where infrastructure is largely intact) and there was a concerted campaign by not only politicians and locals - I do wonder if the Leamside will ever will re-open.

The last train was 1991 from what I can see, although I think that was a charter/rail tour, rather than a freight train. That date will tie in with when the Freightliner terminal at Follingsby closed.

A lot of the lineside cabinets and such remained for a good few years after the line was mothballed. I remember seeing the damaged and empty cabinets still there around 1994/95, along with signs of digging where they'd been trying to nick cabling between. I recall the Usworth signal box and track over the level crossing road remained for a good few years too, although severely damaged over the years before being demolished.