Brusselton Incline is some north-west of
Darlington, on the original formation of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). In May 1823, the '''''' (
4 Geo. 4. c. xxxiii) was given assent in
Parliament, and besides the historic note about the S&DR being the first railway to carry passengers as approved by an
Act of Parliament, it also contained the a statement of intent for the inclines at Etherley and Brussleton; "..[the company is given permission to] make, erect and set up one permanent or fixed at or near each of the inclined .." The incline route was initially surveyed by George Overton, and took a steeper gradient along the ridge at Brusselton, but
George Stephenson's second surveyed route took the line to the north of the Brussleton ridge, and so made the gradients on both sides gentler. Overton's original route also then crossed directly eastwards and went through Old Shildon, rather than where it ended up (as New Shildon), as that area at the time was mostly scrub and wetland. The opening of the S&DR was celebrated at Brusselton permanent steam engine at the line's opening ceremony in September 1825, when people were invited to the engine-house at 8:00 am to have the chance to witness wagons being hauled up and down the incline, before an inaugural locomotive-hauled train then set off from the bottom of the eastern incline towards Stockton. Thirteen coal wagons, and one wagon with flour, were marshalled at the foot of the western side of Brusselton Incline, and then hauled up for spectators to see. Although the line was of a slight downhill gradient between Shildon and Stockton, the two ridges at Brusselton and Etherley, needed to have inclined planes with stationary engines at their summit. Most documents describe the two inclines as being on
ridges, but occasionally other names crept in such as
Brusselton Bank, and also the spelling of Brusselton varied somewhat. The incline summit was at the contour. A
Robert Stephenson designed stationary
winding engine was installed at the summit of the incline in 1825; the engine was unusual in that it followed the marine engine practice of placing the beams at floor level, and that the drum had been installed vertically, rather than horizontally. It was rated at and cost just over £3,482 (). It consisted of two cylinders, each producing with a condensing engine taking steam from two boilers. The winding drum of this engine was housed in a specially designed engine house, with the drum-housing set above the line, which passed through the building underneath the winding drum. Workers were employed at the engine house to ensure that the rope coiled evenly around the drum when winding was in operation. Wagons could ascend either incline in a matter of minutes, and during an era before signalling, a tall signal post was used to indicate when wagons were ready to be hauled up from the bottom of the inclines, and for this, a telescope was installed next to the seat of the winchman/operator. However, during misty/foggy days, a system of wires was used, but it seems that the exact working of this system is unknown. The rails on the section west of Shildon up the incline were laid on stone blocks so that wagons could be pulled along the line by horses without sleepers getting in their way. Whilst the inclines used rope haulage, the near-level section between them over the
River Gaunless, had horse haulage rather than locomotives. Initially, the ropes used were made of twisted hemp, but wire ropes were used at Brusselton after 1841 with their successful use being pioneered on the
Brandling Junction Railway. The stone blocks used for sleepers weighed around each, as this was the amount of weight one worker could lift, thereby allowing the company to only employ one man rather than two to lift potentially heavier blocks. These stones were fitted with
chairs (iron brackets which held the rails) with two nails. Due to the original 1825 blocks and rails being unable to bear the weight of loaded coal wagons, most of the blocks were replaced with heavier ones in the 1830s, and these used four nails to affix the chairs. Most of the original sandstone blocks came from quarries around Brusselton and Etherley, though wooden sleepers were used between Darlington and the end of the line at Stockton, as these were seen as being more cost efficient than transporting the blocks across the length of the as yet unfinished railway. The gradient from Shildon up to Brusselton was 1-in-30, and from the incline top down to West Auckland was 1-in-33, though some accounts claim both inclines were 1-in-33. The west bank (Auckland to Brusselton) was long and ascended , and the east bank, (Brusselton to Shildon), was long and was from Shildon to Brusselton. The weighing machine for the carriage of goods past Brusselton was at the bottom of the east bank near Shildon. This function was kept under the control of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, but the working of the incline was contracted out to a local man who worked the incline at a rate of a farthing per ton of goods carried, with company guaranteeing at least would be routed over the incline annually. The first ropes used at the incline came from John Grimshaw who was based at
Bishopwearmouth, and cost over £185 () on delivery. As new, the rope was long, longer than the west incline, but by the time it was life expired () it had stretched out an extra . The boiler for the steam engine measured by , and required a steady supply of coal and water. A reservoir was dug behind the railway houses on the south side of the incline top, and it is still extant today. In 1826, the engine was replaced by one that had been designed by
Timothy Hackworth; the newer engine had two drums, with the diameter of each drum being in proportion to the length of the inclines (and their respective ropes), so the westward incline had a larger drum. This allowed the simultaneous winding of two westward, or two eastward trains; whilst a train was ascending from Shildon, one could also be lowered down the western incline towards West Auckland. Yet again, the engine was replaced in 1831, by one designed by
R. W. Hawthorn of
Newcastle upon Tyne. Initially, this was fitted with one drum which had a diameter of , but by the time it was offered for sale, it was listed as having two "rope rolls" of differing diameters. The greatest amount of goods carried in one day over the incline was on 6 September 1839. Between 1832 and 1833, two
accommodation bridges were built to the west of the incline top. These were not in the original plan of the S&DR from 1825, but an increase in traffic along the incline led to the bridges being built for the benefit of the landowner as the level crossings the bridges superseded were hard to use with an increased level of traffic. A small community had developed at Brusselton Bank consisting of 50 houses; 42 on the north side, and eight on the south side, with the railway line running in between the houses. The engine house, the boiler house and chimney were converted into private dwellings, and the stone posts and fishbelly rails were taken away piecemeal, usually for museums. Many of the former stone blocks which the rails were attached to instead of sleepers, were re-used at Stockton pier and in the sea wall at
Saltburn-by-the-Sea. The incline was used by the stationary engine to move traffic up and down, but there is one incidence of an S&DR locomotive using the line up from Shildon to the top of Brusselton bank. In 1841,
No. 3 Black Diamond, was used to shunt wagons up and down the line after an overhaul and a rebuild of the engine. == Heritage ==