RAILWAY – First Train Between Redcar and Saltburn

Accreditation Cleveland Sandard 1936.

Train – First Between Redcar and Saltburn

   Tales of the first iron horse to run between Redcar and Saltburn were told to a reporter this week by Mr. Thomas Edward Senior, local land agent for the Zetland estate at Marske. Mr. Senior’s father was the driver of the train, and the widow of the pioneer driver is alive and enjoys fairly good health at Guisborough.
The father was stationed at Middlesbrough when he was commissioned to make the first Redcar to Saltburn trip by rail. In those days the driver’s tow companions were known as first mate and second mate, whereas now they are known as firemen and guard. The old Redcar Station then stood on the present site of the Central Picture House, much nearer the sea than the present station. Redcar was the terminus but the passenger line was extended to Saltburn.
For a length of time the late Mr. Senior was driver of an engine, No.25, which now stands in Darlington Station. He was made an engine driver in 1864 and moved from Middlesbrough to Carlin How in 1874, and later to Guisborough where he ended his career.
“About 1883 the railway was extended from Loftus to Whitby and a few years later to Scarborough for passenger service,” he said. “During that period operations were in hand for a railway from Brotton to Grosmont. The line was being made by a private company, but the work was abandoned. A lot of money was spent on it. It was referred to as Paddy Waddle’s railway. Private companies made the lines from Loftus to Whitby and Scarborough. In later years the L.N.E.R. secured control.”