Refuelling

Pending the installation of four 7,000-gal. diesel fuel tanks, temporary refuelling facilities have been provided by the adaptation of a 3,000-gal. oil tank wagon.

The DMUs [diesel multiple units] used on the branch (mainly Class 158s) are based at Heaton depot in Newcastle; with a 1,500 mile range, the DMUs have to visit for refuelling once every three days.

Another site of early railway enterprise to be upgraded to 2* before benefiting from restoration (which would remove it from the 2024 at-risk register) is the S&DR [Stockton & Darlington Railway] coal drops, located in Shildon's Locomotive museum. After it was upgraded in 2021 […], 2022 research by Historic England found that the drops, constructed in 1847, were the world's first attempt at mechanising locomotive refuelling. The drops worked by chaldron wagons being taken up the incline, and their loads dropped down chutes into tenders of steam locomotives waiting below.