THE drama of one of the most controversial incidents in North East industrial history is coming to Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle in November.
A play by celebrated regional playwright Ed Waugh is bringing to life the story of how striking miners caused the Flying Scotsman to derail at Cramlington, to the north of Newcastle, on May 10, 1926.
It was in the midst of the General Strike, when the rallying cry of the miners, who were facing longer hours and lower pay, was “not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay”. In Cramlington, the action followed an impassioned address by union official William Golightly calling for the strikers to allow “no wheels to turn” to ensure the nation ground to a halt.
Mr Golightly is the grandfather of actor Robson Green.
Perhaps the miners took him too literally, because they loosened a rail on the East Coast Main Line. They were intending to target a train that was carrying strike-breaking blacklegs to work in a pit, but the next train through was the Flying Scotsman carrying 281 passengers.
The justice system came down extremely hard on the trainwreckers: eight Northumberland miners were sentenced to 48 years in prison, with the worst offender getting eight years hard labour.
An outcry from women in the pit communities, from the unions and even from members of the judiciary who felt the punishment was overly harsh led to the men being released early.
But playwright Ed Waugh, responsible for recent successes Wor Bella, Hadaway Harry, Carrying David, Mr Covan’s Music Hall and The Great Joe Wilson, asks whether they were terrorists or working class heroes defending their livelihoods.
The play, The Cramlington Trainwreckers, is on a regional tour which includes Bishop Auckland Town Hall on November 9 (tickets £16) and the Witham at Barnard Castle on November 12 (£18). Details from cramlingtontrainwreckers.co.uk, and the full story of the incident was in Memories 620.
“I hate to be a pedant but the highest point in Durham is actually Mickle Fell, where the OS map gives a spot height of 788 metres. Mickle Fell is about two-and-a-half miles south of Cow Green Reservoir and falls just within the County Durham boundary.”
Paul is, of course, right, but Memories is often accused of living in the past when we were correct.
Mickle Fell, which is to the south of the River Tees, used to be in North Yorkshire, where it was that county’s highest point. It moved into County Durham in 1974 with the reorganisation of the county boundaries and took over the title of highest point, much to the chagrin of Burnhope Seat which is between Teesdale and Weardale in the Pennines.
For centuries, Burnhope Seat had been the highest point in the historic county of Durham, between the Tees and the Tyne.
Although some Yorkshire people still claim Mickle Fell as their own, its transfer into County Durham left an opportunity in for Whernside, at 736 metres, to claim to be the county’s highest point. Whernside is above the famous Ribblehead viaduct, and its peak is on the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
The name Mickle Fell is Old Norse where "mikil" meant "great" and "fell" meant "mountain, hill".
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