This summer’s Newcomen Society Annual Conference & Tour will be held in Teesside from Friday 13 to Tuesday 17 July 2018.

The event will be led by Jonathan Aylen and Dr Fred Starr

There is a possibility of a small, self-organising extension on the 18th Conference with lectures planned for Saturday and Sunday morning as well as visits in the afternoon.

Teesside is new territory for Newcomen and we have a wealth of options for visits and access to sites that are seldom open as well as behind the scenes visits.

Planned high-points include:

• A steam locomotive under construction at Darlington Locomotive Works.

• Darlington North Road Station on the Stockton to Darlington Railway.

• Ascent of the fully working Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge; visits to other historic and noteworthy Tees Bridges.

• Friday tour to sites in Hartlepool, north of the Tees

• Monday at the mouth of the Tees, visits to Saltburn, and “the oldest water balanced cliff funicular in Great Britain”, an iron ore mine and works, and Topps Wrought Ironworks.

• Tuesday on plant visits and Tees Cottage Pumping Station, which has the largest working gas engine in Europe, a surviving producer gas plant, a large beam engine and boiler house and early electric pumps.

Accommodation:

• Delegates will make their own hotel arrangements. Favourable rates have been negotiated to stay at the Jury’s Inn Hotel in Middlesbrough.

• Delegates are free to make other accommodation arrangements.

• It is anticipated the Conference sessions will take place at the University of Teesside Building on Saturday morning and Sunday morning.

• The hotel will host evening meetings.

• There will be a Conference Dinner.

There will be a modest daily fee with flexible booking arrangements to encourage support. This is a new formula for a regular event. Feedback from members suggested they preferred an annual visit built around a weekend. We will facilitate access to the Conference, returning via convenient stations at the end of each day where possible.

To register your interest please contact Jonathan Aylen at: jonathan.aylen@manchester.ac.uk or Fred Starr at: newcomen.starr@yahoo.com. Please indicate your interest in particular locations or types of visit, so that we can build this new