Photo: John M Boyes, courtesy Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust
This photograph was taken on 17 April 1969 at the Doxford shipyard below the Queen Alexandra Bridge at Pallion in Sunderland. Four of their Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn crane tank engines can be seen; these were used to move materials from the reception areas to the slipways where ships were constructed. The remaining engines were retired in 1971 with all four – Roker, Hendon, Southwick and Millfield – surviving into preservation.
The last ship built at Pallion was floated out of the yard in 1989 after which it closed.