When I was a kid in the fifties we used to live in Bill Quay, on the south bank of the Tyne.In those days,coal was transported by rail from Ouston down to the staithes at Pelaw loading onto waiting ships. The Dilly line was basically an unmanned train using gravity to run downhill to the river and then pulled back uphill by cable, they consisted of about ten huge wagons carrying tons of coal and at Bill Quay it had to pass over the busy Shields Road, then the main road from Gateshead to South Shields. That road crossing was manned 24/7 and had a gate system which were closed to traffic to accommodate the passing train.I remember on one occasion the gate keeper fell asleep in his hut and the train crashed through the closed gates onto the road narrowly missing passing traffic, no surprise that gatekeeper got the sack. Anybody on here remember that system for transporting coal, seems like a lifetime ago and in reality it is.
