Brusselton Incline

Brusselton Incline was a section of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway between Witton Park and Stockton in County Durham, England. The need to transport coal from the collieries around West Auckland to the docks on the River Tees at Stockton necessitated going over two hills, the Etherley and Brusselton ridges, on inclines (or inclined planes). Whilst largely meant for goods traffic, passengers were also transported up and down the incline between 1825 and 1858, when a diversionary route at Shildon near the bottom of the eastern part of Brusselton Incline, rendered the incline redundant. The incline was worked by a stationary steam engine located at the summit, and this pulled wagons up the incline and slowly released them down with the aid of ropes. The incline operated as a single line with the ability for trains to pass at the summit, and did not operate as a self-acting incline, whereby descending wagons under gravity, simultaneously haul wagons up the incline.

Although it opened in 1825, the stationary steam engine was replaced in 1826, and then again in 1831. The formation of the incline has been breached by the Shildon bypass (the A6072 road), but the engine house at the summit was converted into a private dwelling, and is believed to be the oldest extant example of an incline engine house, still in existence. The inclines at Brusselton and Etherley are also believed to be the first examples of its type with a stationary engine to work both sides of an incline.