(10 May 2013, 3:40 am)Andreos1 wrote There you go... Thanks for that.
When the railways were nationalised, as long as the guage was correct, I assumed anything could go anywhere so to speak.

Again, I always assumed the one West of Pelaw, that cut through Leam Lane Estate, went through where Wrekenton Golf Course is and around the back of Harlow Green towards Eighton Lodge was the one that ended up towards Dipton, rather than the one from Bowes that split near Long Bank (with one joining the ECML and the other going across the Marshalling Yards towards Kibblesworth). But thinking about it, these two probably joined up together at some point further west.

The old colliery lines were the first lines to come under the control of the state. The South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Colliery Railway, once owned by the Whitburn Coal Company, had the distinct honour of becoming Britain's first ever nationalised passenger railway when it came under the control of the NCB at the beginning of 1947. Known as 'The Marsden Rattler', the railway carried passengers locally along the coast between Westoe and Whitburn Colliery with additional stops at Marsden (roughly where the Grotto is) and Marsden Cottage Halt (to the rear of Horsley Hill Estate). Lines under the control of 'The Big Four' became nationalised on the 1st January 1948 under the umbrella of British Railways. Passenger services ceased on the line in 1953.

More information about this line can be found here: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/mar...ndex.shtml