railway linking Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland. This is one of the oldest passenger stations in the world. By around 1870, Felling had reached its industrial peak. Historian John Marius Wilson noted: FELLING, a large village and a chapelry in Jarrow parish, Durham. The village stands on the Northeastern railway, 1½ mile SE of Gateshead; increased recently from two hamlets to its present condition; is maintained by factories and by mining operations; connects with Felling-Shore, a coal-shipping place on the Tyne; and has a post-office under Gateshead, a r. station, a church built in 1866, four dissenting chapels, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The chapelry was constituted in 1866. Population 5,105. The living is a vicarage. Value, £300. Patrons, Five Trustees. 1870 – present day The industrial heights proved reasonably short-lived. By 1860, improvements to access along the River Tyne only served to highlight the better sites on the Tyne bank and so shipbuilding at Felling Shore began to decline. This decline was hastened by the limited space at Felling dock, which could not reasonably be extended and so progress enjoyed elsewhere was never matched at Felling. At around the same time, the chemical industry began to stall as bigger and more efficient competitors overtook their Felling counterparts. The industrial decline was matched by continuous residential growth, so that by the Victorian era those industrial elements which survived were met by a large sprawl of housing from the south where High and Low Felling had effectively merged. At 10:52 am on 26 March 1907, an express passenger train travelling from Heworth signal box derailed on the approach to Felling station. The cause was a combination of a sharp frost in the morning and unseasonal heat later in the day which saw the track expand and kink. The derailment, which saw all bar two carriages rolled over entirely, cost two passengers their lives, with eight more seriously hurt and a further 34 suffering minor injuries such as shock. The decline of heavy industry, meanwhile, continued apace. In 1932 the large chemical works at Felling Shore closed and was left derelict, leaving behind a 2 million tonne heap of spoil. Felling Colliery, the oldest and most extensive of all Felling's industry, had changed hands numerous times after the Brandlings finally sold their stake in the 1850s and ultimately closed in 1931 with the loss of 581 jobs. Fairs boat yard at Felling