Bowes Line (1975)

Amber Films

A film about the rope-hauled raIlway, built in the 1820s by George Stephenson, which linked Kibblesworth Colliery with Jarrow Staithes, where the coal was loaded on to ships.

The unique feature of the line was the self-incline system, in which the full coal wagons were used to pull empty ones to the top of the hill before they were sent on to the colliery. This film centres on the daily activity of Matty and Luke, two of the workers on the line.

Amber Films, 28 mins, 1975

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