The Woodland Branch was a private railway opened in 1873 which left the Bishop Auckland to Barnard Castle line, just east of Lands Viaduct. Owned by the Woodland Collieries Company Limited, it ran for about 4 and a half miles and served the collieries of Morley, Crane Row, Crake Scar and Woodland. A tramway linked the Arn Gill and Cowley drifts, to the south in the valley, up to Woodland Colliery. Until 1911, it was operated by the North Eastern Railway Company. The line eventually closed about 1921.

About 1919: A plan to show the route of the Woodland Railway and Tramway

Note: The survey was revised 1914-1919 and published 1924.

A detail to show the Woodland Junction

The following locomotives operated on the line:

NELSON – Kitson & Co. Leeds, bought from Charles Nelson Contractor in 1885, is said to have been reboilered by Lingford & Gardiner at Bishop Auckland, believed to be at Woodland into the Cargo Fleet days.

ELEANOR, Andrew Barclay Son & Co, Kilmarnock, bought new, scrapped with the rest of the colliery, 1922-23.

Below, GEORGE North Road Locomotive Works, Darlington 1876 N.E.R.No. 1293 Bought 1911, through Frazer of Hebburn and worked until about 1917-19 when the firebox cracked. Scrapped 1922-23

Below, Woodland Collieries Co. Ltd. – loco men

It is believed that the following loco’s were engaged on the Woodland Branch

HARRY – Probably Peckett & Sons Ltd, Bristol, arrived about 1916

TOBY – J & G Joicey, Newcastle 1870 arrived 1920 from Cargo Fleet Works, Middlesbrough, returned 1923

NO.1 – R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd 2412 of 1899, ex-Weardale Steel Coal & Coke Co. 1918 and said to have been the last engine on the line duties at the closure of the railway and was used as a demolition engine.