Teeside Metro 3: Thinking ideal worldly

Adding on from the last post; what if we were to try and make a 'real metro' in the Middlesbrough area?
This is of course purely ideal world, blue sky thinking and is never going to happen but nonetheless....

This proposed greenline will aim to link in the suburbs of Middlesbrough/Stockholm which would otherwise be without rail transport and such is using new lines. These lines however are all above ground with there being no immediate need for tunneling.

Inglesby Barwick

The line will start/end somewhere around this large estate in the south west. Depending how extreme we want to be there could be two stations; one towards Yarm on the south end of the estate then one more towards the north east of it; or just the one station, likely located on the east.
It could even be that we may need three stations with two on the east or just two stations on the east. This is a large estate surrounded by a fields.
I will be going with the simplest, one station option with the station placed towards Ingleby Way.

South Thornaby

Cutting along by the A174 between Thornaby and the industrial estate we have a good location for another station. Its very far from Thornaby station proper.

Hemlington

After a large greenfield area we then reach Hemlington/Acklam. I would plan to cut between the two following the A174's green shoulder to avoid having to do any tunneling through built up areas.

Acklam

I would place the next station east of St.Mary's college after some major golf course avoision. This station again has a large residential capture area and is far from the railway line proper.

After Acklam we then head east to join the mainline just south of the proposed hospital station. We then follow this up through the city centre and westwards until we reach the northbound part of the journey....

Hartburn

With the Fairfield route we have two possible alternatives.
1: Loop around the western edge of the estate.
2: It seems there is a disused railway alignment (currently sans tracks) running right through the centre of the built up area. If we could follow this catchment would be amazing.

I will assume 2 is possible (this is ideal world thinking afterall) though 1 would not be too much different.

The Hartburn station would be located not far east of the primary school. Around Ingleby Grove looks good.

Fairfield

We have a big enough area next that I would ideally place two stations, a south and north Fairfield. Lanark Close and Premier Road perhaps for rough locators?

Hardwick

Right on the edge of the estate we have our final staiton, Hardwick. Again to describe location I will say 'near the primary school'.

Again apologies for the ugly as sin map, I'm really not in a mood for trying to make something 'proper' and nice looking at the moment, especially for a side-interest. Maybe in the future.

Teesside Metro 2; some improvements

So, in the previous post I roughly outlined what they're doing with their super budget 'only the most minor improvements we can get away with' metro design.
I fully understand the reasons for doing this of course, Teesside is a bit small and oddly put together for a metro- very spread out and with a very off-centre centre (that being Middlesbrough city centre) and a big river cutting right through it.

The true improvements that would be made to the Teesside Metro, if anything would be cuts. As I've mentioned many small towns have multiple stations which is just silly overkill.
But, even beyond I get into ideal world stuff there are some improvements that can be made to the existing metro proposal...

Hartlepool

Only as far north as Hartlepool central? Yes, this is a nicely central station and yeah Hartlepool isn't huge but it does have 100,000 people and this entire system is for half a million. The north really needs some service.
Looking at things from a very normal Metro perspective as I did in Tyne and Wear I'd place three stations north of Hartlepool Centre- Headland, St.Hills then finally Hart. All of these being on the existing railway line.
This probally is a fair bit overkill though so a merger of St.Hills and Hart would seem logical. I will note here for anyone from Hartlepool reading this- yes, Headland isn't actually on the headland. I could find no better name for this station located just west of it though.

Norton

There seems to be quite a significant gap between Billingham station and Stockton station. A huge chunk of the Middlesbrough-Stockton area live up here yet there are no plans for stations.
Ideally I would place two here, a North Norton towards Calf Fallow Lane, west of the A19, and a South Norton, just by where the A1027 cuts across the railway.
Having at least one Norton station (South Norton is in the most built up area so I'd go with this one) is an absolute must.

Darlington

Somewhat similar to Hartlepool, Darlington is a rather large town of close to 100,000 people yet is only being served by one station. What is odd here though unlike in Hartlepool is that there is already another station further north in Darlington; for the metro to go to bot Darlington Central and North Road really seems quite a basic thing to do and I've no clue why they're not doing this.

These extensions are all extensions to be made without diverging too far from the existing plans for a metro that involves just upgrading the existing lines and I would sorely hope the authorities behind the Teesside metro plans considers these points.

I'm not in an artistic mood at all today so a rough map-

Washington- Harder but better

The last post about Washington discussed the Leamside route; a route which on the surface of things requires next to no work however it only bypasses Washington on its far eastern side and so would provide less than satisfactory service to the town. I believe that the main reason Washington doesn't currently have metro access is because Nexus will (can?) only follow this 'soft' route and see that it wouldn't give very effective service.

Ideally a Washington metro link needs to go right through the centre of the town. The Galleries area being a logical 'central point' for a Washington line. In an ideal world this would again of course involve lots of tunnels and slice right through the buildings. Of course though this is silly and is never going to happen.

There is though another option. The following is my proposed Washington route trying to strike a balance between good service and realism.

Since I'm tending towards the ideal here I will link this route to South Hylton in Sunderland (unlike with my last Washington post) to give Washington ( quick access to both of its neighboring cities; ideally what it needs.
So. Starting from South Hylton the track goes as follows:

Penshaw-

Following a rebuilt Leamside line it makes sense to have a diversion to Penshaw rather than going straight over the Victoria Viaduct, it would be annoying for the Penshawers to have the track so near yet so far.
It is quite a diversion and so this station is entirely optional, Station Road would seem a smart place for the station though somewhere more north easterly would make the track less of a diversion and if the line isn't following Leamside directly could fit into more of a loop then a turn around.

Pattinson-

Not far over the viaduct, just SW of the first ugly big white industrial estate building.

Teal Farm-

Right at the edge of the estate, between it and Barmston (which this station could easily be named if not for the name being used elsewhere!) following the Leamside track.

Barmston-

The track goes off the Leamside line at the top of the estate and follows the Sunderland Highway westwards with the station being towards the end of the estate.
By following the highway I mean just what I say.
Look at a typical large road- they have large green shoulders, often big enough that the motorway they are next to could double its size if further lanes were built on the green shoulders. This is more than enough room for a metro line to follow; right into the middle of town.

Washington Village-
This station is perhaps a bit close to those on either side but it seems a logical place with a heavy residential area lying just to the south and Hertburn over the road.

The Galleries-

As I've said a Galleries stop is really a requirement with a Washington metro. I would have the station more towards the Washington Highway end of the shopping centre so as to space the station a bit more from the Washington Village one.

Blackfell-
This station would be on the opposite side of the A1231 than the others, having crossed a round about near The Galleries and it being just as easy to stay on the other side or cross. As with most of these motorway huggers having easy access from the others side of the road should be required though, which wouldn't be too hard.
This station again serves a large housing area and a industrial estate (Crowther), I would place it somewhat after the primary school.

Birtley-
We've now left Washington and are heading towards Gateshead.
This station would be on the far north of the town, not in the best place really, but it is only here as we are passing Birtley anyway.

After Birtley there is a bit of a choice to make.
The by far easier way involves dashing for the east coast mainline and following that up to Newcastle central.
The harder route is to try and give Gateshead a more thorough metro service with lots of tunneling, two ways to do this could be:
1: Durham Road. Cut and Cover. The trouble here is it is a bit close to the railway anyway. Worth the effort? Nah.
2: Old Durham Road.
More central and there's also a lot of fields to skip into so its not all underground.
Construction though would still be very difficult and the reward nowhere near as great as in the main difficult area needing metro service- western Newcastle.

Overall the conservative route is by far the wiser. We will go to the railway line.

Allerdene-
Not such a great place but its en-route to the railway line. Hook close to the town and there you go, just west of Durham Road.
Its not far north of the angel of the north (400 meters. Think a walk from haymarket station to monument station) which gives a bit of extra purpose to the station I suppose in tourism.

Chowdene-

And we've joined the main railway line.
This station would be a rather important one in serving both the large residential area of Gateshead it is named for and Team Valley- Retail World being around 700 meters westwards and the rest of the huge industrial estate nearby.

Low Fell-
Up near the Ravensworth Arms hotel seems a next wise stop.
Again this serves the Team Valley industrial estate (it is huge) as well as some housing.

After this we've immediately reached another choice as the track splits in two.
The first option is to take the more westerly route which we can follow to the previously mentioned Teams station then up to Bensham and beyond Newcastle.
The second option is to take the more easterly route which would take us straight to Bensham. Here there would be room for another station (which I would name Saltwell) which would give service to a large residential area.

I would tend towards option 2 here. The main deciding factor I would see being one of whether train scheduling would permit the metro to follow this route.
As mentioned in the Cramlington extension however extension of the track to add an extra lane or two at least in some places is always an option.

Ponteland

One big oddity when looking at the existing metro is the airport line.
It stretches far to the north west of the city well out of any populated areas just to get to the airport.

This is somewhat overkill for a airport as small as Newcastle's but fair enough, I have found use for a dedicated and sanely priced airport-city link in the past. As I've mentioned in prior posts this is much better than the situation in many towns where the airport has a monopoly and charges you £10 for a 10km shuttle bus.

But, the airport line could have been so much more. Just to the west of the airport, a little more than a mile away, lies the large village (10,000 people) of Ponteland. Why is this not connected to the metro?

The airport line was not built totally from scratch, like much of the metro it was built over what used to be a railway connecting Ponteland and Newcastle. To look at satellite photos you can still clearly see where this line used to be extending north west of the airport to Ponteland.

So why then does the line definitively end at the airport and not follow to its natural conclusion?
Politics.
Ponteland lies outside of Tyne and Wear and in the county of Northumberland. Due to the way the country is organised Ponteland is denied a valuable service linking it to the nearby city where most of its population work.

If we're to be suggesting ways to improve the metro though then a extension to Ponteland really needs to be done.
Unfortunatly due to the way the airport station is built continuing directly on from there would be a needlessly difficult process with the airport car park blocking the way. Whether this would be crossed or a new station built though is neither here nor there. The end result should be the same; the addition of Ponteland to the end of the green line.

South Sunderland

One proposal which has been suggested to extend the metro in the future is to Seaham south of Sunderland.
Now to me this doesn't seem to be the best of extensions; sure the track is already there but Seaham is rather out of the way and rather small being only 20,000 people and 10km south of Sunderland. After Seaham you would then have a similar distance to follow to the 30,000 population Peterlee and after that you've 20km or so until Hartlepool- a large town which is more associated with Teeside than Tyne and Wear.
This is really far far more territory for trains than the metro.

However. The route to Seaham would involve some rather good extensions long before it gets to its destination, it is only the final leg which is a bit pointless. To get to Seaham on the Durham Coast Line you must first pass through quite a large amount of southern Sunderland. Now this area needs connecting to the network!
Sunderland is a rather south heavy city and an extension of the metro service here would really increase use and drastically improve transportation in Sunderland.

I would suggest at the very least that the metro be extended down to Ryhope, this can be done using already existing lines.

Further than this however I would then suggest in a ideal situation the construction of some new metro track. Rather than heading south and out of the city to Seaham the line should instead head west, into the outer suburbs of Sunderland.

In an ideal world this would involve a lot of tunneling, hooking well north into densely built up areas before heading through Pennywell and then linking back up with South Hylton to give a nice 'Sunderland ring'. This though will never happen. Cost unfortunately is an object.

Instead I propose the following as shown on the image. This proposal would involve little or no tunneling yet still give metro service to the outer suburbs of Sunderland; an important note to add being that one area in which a metro really shows its advantages over busses is with long distances.

Mowbray Road-

The first of the new southern metro stations I would place as the railway track crosses the named road. Already we are getting towards a built up area.

Percy Road-

This one is really in the midst of a lot of housing.
My idea of where to place this would be at the end of Matanzas Street and Fuller Road with good access from both sides of the track however anywhere in that area could be a good potential location.

Grangetown-

A somewhat less built up area but nonetheless there is a lot of housing and it seems some shops (I am unsure what those white buildings by the line are, I've never been to the area in question).
Near to Ocean Road would be a wise place to put the station it seems.

Leechmere-

This station would be the last of those on the existing track before we loop westwards. This station is quite a distance from the houses unfortunately but it has good beach access!

Ryhope-

Rather than the south the north end of Ryhope is my chosen recipient of the next station, there being a plentiful gap of open ground between it and Leechmere.

Tunstall-

Yet again we go through a gap, this time a southbound one between Ryhope and Silksworth. The south east of Tunstall seems a wise spot for the next station before we head west again.

Mill Hill-

The one difficult part of this track lies here with a big patch of allotments lying between Silksworth and Doxford. Unfortunatly some of those would have to go with the location of the station somewhere towards their south east.

Silksworth Lane-

As good a place as any to stop next seems to be as we hook northwards on Silksworth Lane.

Giley Law-

After a lot of fields we then come to Giley Law. We need not head into it too much with a station on the north west of the fields.

Farringdon-

South south west of Giley Law is the next stop at Farringdon by Silksworth Road.

East Herrington-

The final stop of this extension I would place near the Doxford Buisness Park. Here we have a bit of a tight squeeze near the roads but still it seems there is space without demolishing any buildings.


And there we have it.
What should be done in southern Sunderland (or at least something roughly like it) rather than a Seaham extension.
This extension also sets us up well for serving the 10km south west Houghton-Le-Spring (35,000 people) and the surrounding area. Though this would be far more via park and ride or bus and metro combination than a actual extension; though again in an ideal world....

To Washington! - Leamside Line

The second extension I will discuss is the Washington extension.

Extending the metro to Washington will bring service to a large and totally unserved town. Also I could see an extension to Washington being very politically expedient; people in Washington are paying their taxes and funding the metro just like those in the other towns so why don't they have access to it?

The easiest way to extend to Washington would be via the Leamside Line.
The Leamside Line is a railway line which runs from Pelaw down the east side of Washington and then over the river wear at the rather pretty, Victorian-era Victoria Viaduct.

The Leamside Line has been out of use since 1991, in some places the track still exists however in others it has been removed. It is likely however that even in areas where the track still exists that major maintenance work will need to be performed on the track; total replacement in most places. So all Leamside really gives us is a easy route rather than a ready built track.

If added to the metro the route would go as follows-

Wardley-

Wardley is a rather unfortunate town in that its a bit too big to be totally adequatly served by one station but too small to be served by one.
West along the line you have a very small gap between station existing, if this rule was followed in Wardley you could get two stations- Wardley Colliery and White Mare Pool.
Northwards however towards South Shields you get rather big gaps which would make for just one Wardley station.
Here I am going with just the one, perhaps at the bridge before the Quarry Park stables; the Pelaw station also serves part of Wardley to an extent and to have three stations in this little town would be rather silly.

Follingsby-

The Follingsby Industrial Estate was formerly home to a freight station which which was the destination for most of the traffic using the line in its latter years.
Reopening this as a metro station wouldn't make for one of the more popular stations on the network however people do work in the area and it is spaced such from the others that it is yet another 'we might as well'.
Given the amount of space in the area perhaps this could be a good place for a park and ride for those working in Newcastle much like the current East Boldon.

Stephenson-

The next station will again serve a largely business rather than residential area but again spacing has made it so that this is a logical spot to place a station as we come into Washington.

Sulgrave-

After Stephenson the next part of Washington to be passed is Sulgrave and here we finally have a big residential area to serve. As with much of the Leamside line however unfortunatly we're on the far east end of it. Nonetheless a station here would be used a lot, I would place it around the place the A1290 crosses the track.

Barmston

Just south of the Sunderland highway would seem the next smart place for a metro station. This would perhaps be the best station on the route being right in the midst of a industrial and residential area.

Teal Farm-

Barmston is so big that we can really squeeze in two stations here, this one being at the far south of the estate where it borders onto others including Teal Farm.

Pattinson-

The last station in Washington shoudl be around the bend serving the Pattinson area. Again though on the far east of the area it is a rather large area.

After Pattinson we have a number of choices of what to do next if this route is the one we're following.

1: End of the line. The metro train then heads back to Newcastle.
2: Cross the Victoria Viaduct to serve the towns of Penshaw and Shiney Row then go home.
3: Cross the Victoria Viaduct then after an optional Penshaw visit loop around to join the Sunderland line at South Hylton. Penshaw is quite out of the way and you would get a strange nook nonetheless I think it would be rather cruel to come so near to this town and not actually serve it.

Additionally if we are to be going up to South Hylton the old Durham-Sunderland line (the route of which is still visible and would be logical to follow) passes through the small village of Coxgreen. This village however I feel is a bit too small to be given its own metro station unless some development is planned in the area; I somehow doubt though that this would be wanted by the residents or done by the council.

I will be taking the simplest most conservative option her; the entire point of this post being the 'easy' way of connecting Washington. On the picture the colours mean the same as before with the addition of red for the new Washington line.

Stage 1

So here we have it.
What I would have as 'Stage 1' of my 'If I ran this place' metro extensions.



In this image yellow represents the existing dedicated metro lines, blue the east coast mainline, grey the Durham coast line and green the Newcastle-Carlisle line.
White are existing stations and red new stations which would be constructed.

What I would propose would be a new 'blue' line running from Blaydon to Cramlington.
This gives the Metro Centre extension we so sorely need and the also much-mooted Cramlington connection.

And all without building totally new lines. It all follows the main line. Since the east coast mainline is busy it could be a good idea to build a extra lane or two of track; if not along the entire route (its expensive!) at the least at stations.

For me Cramlington is much less important than the metro (Cramlingtoners would no doubt disagree) but it still seems a wise move lest the Metro blue line would be rather short.

The route is as follows:

Blaydon-

The logical place to start would be Blaydon rather than the metro centre itself. It seems a bit silly to go so near to Blaydon and not actually go all the way to connecting this town of 15,000 to the metro.
It could be proposed along these lines to go further into Ryon and Prudhoe however the line runs too far north in Ryton for much of the population to have good access and Prudhoe lies well to the west; going there would be truly moving into the domain of cross-country trains rather than the metro.

Riverside Park-

This station would be near the ITV buildings.
This isn't the most ideal spot for a station however it is on our route and far enough from the other stations that it seems a good idea.
One way this station could have a good purpose is the giant Asda and other shops across the road, with some pedestrian improvements it could serve these otherwise only road-accessible shops.

Metro Center-

Enough said here really. The metro train station is the reason the system should be extended this way!

Meadow Lane-

West Dunston in other words. Located by the so named street.
It seems that Dunston train station proper is quite some way from the west end of the town and a little station midway between it and the Metro would give much better service to the people living in this town.

Dunston-

The Dunston railway station. This station unlike many small town stations is pretty centrally located amidst a lot of housing.
It'd be silly to pass here without stopping.

Teams-

After Dunston you have a sort of triangle of track, the blue line would of course turn left towards Newcastle and the first stop 'Teams' is located just as you come into Gateshead around Victoria Road.

Bensham-

The naming of this station seems a bit dodgy to me given that the Teams area and the Bensham area seem to be separated only by the railway line. A little cheat to make both names 100% accurate could be to have Teams and Bensham on opposite sides of the railway line (with a little bridge/tunnel for walkers on the other side of course!)
But anyway.
Rather than just being on the Metro route and so a station being here just because we 'might as well' this station is actually in a very good location helping to give the west end of Gateshead a bit better access to Newcastle- where most of its population like to spend their time.
I would place this station before Derwentwater Road, just as the Carlisle line comes onto the east coast main line.

Redheugh-

Redheugh is not such a well inhabited area other than its big nasty tower blocks however metro access in this area could well contribute towards developing the area and putting houses here in demand.
This station would be placed just by the A184 round about.

Central Station-

Right after Redheugh we cross the water into Newcastle.
Here we see that this track is a bit different to the normal metro tracks in that it takes the King Edward VII bridge and comes into the 'proper' train station.
I would envisage these metro cars not being the normal metro cars either but more regular trains pressed into metro service- the carriages though should be built to metro specifications to reflect the more hop on/hop off nature of a metro over a train service.

Manors-

Manors is a strange place.
Most of us know it as the metro station that time forgot, despite being so near the city center it lies there forgotten and unused.
What most of us are unaware of is that there is also a Manors train station located 100 meters south of the metro station. This is to be the first stop after central.
After I have just bashed Manors this may not seem particularly wise however on paper at least it is a good spot and it is just a logical place to stop. For all three people who want to get off there.

Jesmond Vale-

I used to live towards this part of town and it always annoyed me how the metro never came here and Jesmond metro station was pretty much in the city center anyway.
For me of the past I present the Jesmond Vale station. The line runs through here and a lot of people live here so it just seems wise!
I would place it at the bottom of Stratford Road.

Chillingham Road-

Yes, things seem a bit strange now but trust me, the existing line does run this way, its not out of any hatred for Byker that we've skipped that area.
The line we are following hooks close to the Chillingham Road metro station and to extend this would be a very good idea; though these new platforms would be some way from the existing two.

Benfield-

Right as the railway line crosses Benfield Road would seem a wise position for the next station. It saves a lot of people the long walk to Walkergate.

Little Benton-

The vicinity of the bridge over the railway in Little Benton seems the next wise position for a station giving service to more of those people unfortunate enough to live 'between' the metro.

East Longbenton-

Rather near to Benton station but it saves having to cross onto the yellow line and then back onto here to have a new station instead.
Located near Croft Avenue this station seems quite out of the way in short range but for those willing to walk it serves a large area

Forest Hall-

Serving west Forest Hall and Clousden Hill its roughly at the end of Charles Avenue.

West Moor-

Just Great Lime Roadish we have the next station. Serves the town and the industrial estate.

Camperdown-

Not the best placed station in the world being on the far western side of the town unfortunately but its where the line goes and it'd be even worse not to stop here if we're passing by. Just after Killingworth Way or so.

Dudley-

Again a bit western placed but not quite so bad as in Camperdown. These western stations though could well get developments spring up around them if the farmers sell a field or two.

South Cramlington-
Nearly at our destination! It seems wise to me given the size of the town that the south be served as well as the north. I could well see this being used locally as well as for reaching Newcastle. This one would be somewhat near the school.

Cramlington-
Cramlington train station. From here we then turn around and go back the way we came....
There is also talk of extending the train station to Morpeth and Ashington however again these seem a bit too far away being twice as far out of town again. Also Ashington lacks any existing railway line.