August 2020 marked the fortieth anniversary of the opening of the first section of the Tyne & Wear Metro between Haymarket and Tynemouth. It is an exciting time for the system, with a new fleet of trains about to be ordered, and extensions to the network being proposed. This book explores the decline of the BR suburban lines that were replaced, the phased opening of the new system from 1980, and subsequent extensions. It also looks at those being considered in the future. The successful integration of the Metro with bus and ferry services is considered, alongside the inclusivity of the railway's design, which allows disabled people unprecedented access to public transport. It also illustrates Metro's unique combination of brand-new tunnels, spectacular viaducts and underground stations, taking in the magnificent Victorian infrastructure of the former North Eastern Railway and Blyth & Tyne Railway.

About the Author
Colin Alexander has been a railway enthusiast for more than thirty years and volunteered on preserved Deltic locomotives. He was born in Northumberland, and has a life-long passion for local and transport history, sparked by his mother's copy of The King's England - Northumberland. Appreciative of the county's unique place geographically and historically, he has explored most of its once-inhabited hilltops and its mediaeval castles, and walked the length of its greatest defensive monument - Hadrian's Wall. He lives in Whitley Bay.


Book Information
ISBN 9781398101579
Author Colin Alexander
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Amberley Publishing
Publisher Amberley Publishing
Weight(grams) 308g