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Talk:William Crowther (programmer)

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moved from Village pump

Caver vs. Spelunker
In the interview from Peterson, Crowther himself refers to "caving," not "spelunking." There is no Wikipedia entry for "spelunking," but there is one for "caving" -- and that entry refers to the bumper-stickers and T-shirts that one often encounters in caving areas: "Cavers rescue spelunkers." The Wikipedia article on "speleology" lists "caving" before "spelunking" as an informal name for speleology. My recent article on Adventure addresses the spelunker/caver distinction here:
 * Woods's 1977 expansion of "Adventure" features "RECENT ISSUES OF 'SPELUNKER TODAY' MAGAZINE," and sources often describe Crowther as a "spelunker." Yet "[c]avers haven't called themselves spelunkers for almost 40 years now. They may belong to the National Speleological Society, but they don't spelunk. They cave." " (Cahill 2001) http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/001/2/000009.html

 * Cahill 2001 Cahill, T. "A Rudiment for Cavers." In Taylor, R., Caves: Exploring Hidden Realms. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2001: 187.

Having said all that, Crowther told an interviewer, of his early days on the ARPANET project, "In those days, the thing I cared most about was rock climbing": http://www.cbi.umn.edu/oh/pdf.phtml?id=97 There's also a note on this page that says Crowther is still active as a rock climbing instructor, so it's probably more accurate to introduce Crowther as a rock climber who has also explored, mapped, and created a game about caves. Dennis G. Jerz (talk) 04:56, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Purpose of "References" Section
Shouldn't the "References" section be reserved for sources that are actually referenced by the article? Dibbell's article does a great job introducing the issues to the general reader, but the article doesn't actually cite it. Of course, I may have a too-strict opinion of what the "References" label means. Dennis G. Jerz (talk) 02:08, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

This William Crowther page is all wonky. It seems like it might be a legit topic, if it lost the BBS tone, but I don't know enough about net history or spelunking to dare an edit. Not sure what do about it, so came here. -- Jengod 00:52, 7 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * Yeah, the page should go on cleanup. Crowther is encyclopedic (I think, anyway) as co-author of Adventure, the first computer adventure type game.  We already have a decent page for his co-author, Don Woods -- Finlay McWalter 01:02, 7 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * Yes, I know this is four years after this ^^ post. But I just want to make one thing clear. Don Woods was not coauthor of Adventure. Will Crowther wrote it originally, but never really polished it up due to problems in his personal life (a divorce, among other things). Don Woods came across it and realized its potential, despite its many bugs. He found Crowther and asked him if he could finish the game. After receiving his blessing, Woods completed the standard 350-point version we have today. Just wanted to set the record straight. Alinnisawest (talk) 19:49, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Crowther began his version of the game after his divorce, so it's difficult to imagine how his divorce kept him from finishing it. He lost interest in it, and Woods roughly doubled the size of the map and more than triple the size of the source code.  While your'e right to point out that Crowther did write the original version alone, it's still fair to say that Woods is the co-author of the 350-point version that spread across the primitive internet in the spring of 1977. Dennis G. Jerz (talk) 04:56, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Wik and myself have wikified and tidied it, so I took the liberty of removing it from cleanup. Comments and enhancements still welcome, however. -- Finlay McWalter 16:22, 9 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Added and clarified a few bits-- also created a separate page for Patricia Crowther. Eventually, I'd like to include more on his development of Adventure and more detailed info on his participation in some of the expeditions to connect the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems. Anyone know if he was up to anything interesting in the 80s or later? Naltrexone 07:06, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Crowther began using his spare time to develop a simple text-based adventure game in FORTRAN on BBN's PDP-10 minicomputer. I don't think any PDP-10 ever was a "minicomputer". AFAIK all PDP-10 installations needed at least one wall for themselves. If anything I suspect "supercomputer" would be more appropriate here. OK, to keep it realistic: the term of those days would probably be something like "time-sharing mainframe". Here's an example PDP-10 installation including some peripherals: http://www.osfn.org/rcs/images/KL-10/pdp10sys.jpg --BjKa 11:59, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Although they called the Control Data machines supercomputers in the 1970s, what we usually refer to as this term now started with Cray in the 1980s. Mini's took the entirety of a desktop, but not an entire room.  So this is simply an error to be fixed. MobyMimic 07:21, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Willie Crowther Climber?
I read somewhere that Willie Crowther was John Stannard's mentor in the Gunks Does anyone have any info? Lhclayton 18:31, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Will (whom I've had the pleasure of having as a rock-climbing mentor) developed many of the best routes in the 'Gunks. I particularly remember being led by him personally up one of his most famous routes, Hawk. (That wasn't the only one that he led me on, but that was the most memorable experience, if only because he took me off the text-book route.) I recommend looking into any of the climbing guides to the 'Gunks--they all list who did them first, and a surprising number of them were by Will.

I'll come back and hopefully contribute later, but for now I'll only mention that Will is endearingly generous with his time for beginning rock climbers and I still feel much gratitude for the time he spent with me--an over-weight software engineer and untalented novice climber--long before I knew anything about his contributions to the internet, Adventure, caving and rock-climbing.

I should also mention that most of his effort in this regard is related to his very active participation in the Boston chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, which is another lead that should be followed in documenting his part in the development of rock climbing in the NE.

 * Plenty of info in "Yankee Rock and Ice." I'm skeptical of the claim in the article that Crowther placed bolts on rappel; the Watermans mention examining the route on rappel, maybe placing pitons, and climbing a route (The Arrow in particular) on toprope first, but no mention of bolts. I'd feel awkward asking him. Will's contribution to climbing continues as a very active instructor in the AMC Boston chapter's annual rock program; see . --Jnik (talk) 22:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I was flipping through someone else's copy of Williams while waiting for a climb; he mentions three bolts on Arrow were placed on rap by the FA team. So there's a citation if someone has a copy and cares to add it properly. --Jnik (talk) 14:22, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

More information can be found in a book called Where Wizards stay up Late
This book details the birth of the internet. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832674 Also available as an online pdf. It details many of Crowthers' exploits and his work at BBN where he apparently warmed up by doing chin ups using door lintels.

Trying to expand the article on Will
I am Will Crowther's wife and would like to clean up his wikipedia article. In particular I'd like to add his picture to the article. When you google "Will Crowther" you get a brief citation, accompanied by a photograph of Don Woods, mistakenly identified as Will. I was trying to add a photo of Will to his wikipedia article so that goole will pick that up as the right photo of Will. I can't figure out how to add a photo. Can someone please fill me in? Also, what do I put for references -- I know what happened in his later life because I lived it with him.

Nancyscrowther (talk) 02:06, 1 May 2013 (UTC) 01 May 2013 2:04
 * First you have to upload the image -- make sure you have the rights to do so. I also appreciate your frank admission of your relationship to the subject though it is kind of obvious from your username. Because of your relationship, you should read WP:COI and especially WP:AUTO and follow them carefully. Your first hand knowledge of his later life will not suffice as a reliable source. In fact, it is original research. I appreciate your efforts and want to encourage and help you in any way I can. Feel free to ask on my talk page if I can be of assistance. Thanks, WTucker (talk) 05:58, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

I have uploaded a picture I took of Will to Wikimedia Commons, and have put a link to that picture in the article. The point is to enable google tools to find the right picture of Will, not a picture of Don Woods, which is what you get now when you google Will Crowther. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.215.1.72 (talk) 22:06, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Vital Info missing
Where was he born? Nationality? Why is this information missing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.153.234.229 (talk) 23:45, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

 * Yeah, I'd like to see a mention of his work on TCP/IP, particularly the inner loop. We'd have no internet without that.Shtanto (talk) 11:30, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

 * ✅ Late to the party.  WurmWoode  T   17:05, 8 September 2023 (UTC)
 * John Wilcox and William Crowther are not the same person, Crowther's ex-wife Patricia remarried to Wilcox after divorcing Crowther. I can't find any report of Crowther's death, so I presume he is still alive. Changes reverted. 73.222.100.114 (talk) 06:24, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:William Crowther (programmer)


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Natural person

In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the broader category of a legal person, which may be a private (i.e., business entity or non-governmental organization) or public (i.e., government) organization. Historically, a human being was not necessarily considered a natural person in some jurisdictions where slavery existed (subject of a property right) rather than a person.

Definitions
According to Maria Helena Diniz, an individual or natural person "is the human being considered as a subject of rights and obligations". Every human being is endowed with legal personality and, therefore, is a subject of law.

According to Sílvio de Salvo Venosa, "legal personality is a projection of the intimate, psychic personality of each person; it is a social projection of the psychic personality, with legal consequences". However, and in addition, the law also gives personality to other entities, formed by groups of people or assets: these are called legal person.

A non-citizen is a natural person

Legal consequences
In many cases, fundamental human rights are implicitly granted only to natural persons. For example, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states a person cannot be denied the right to vote based on their sex, or Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees equality rights, apply to natural persons only. Another example of the distinction between natural and legal persons is that a natural person can hold public office, but a corporation cannot.

A corporation or non-governmental organization can, however, file a lawsuit or own property as a legal person.

Crime
Usually a natural person perpetrates a crime, but legal persons may also commit crimes. In the U.S., animals that are not persons under U.S. law cannot commit crimes.

Germany
In Germany, legal entities (Rechtssubjekt) such as natural persons (Natürliche Person) have the capacity to be bearers of rights and obligations; they possess legal capacity. The point in time at which this legal capacity begins and ends is disputed in German case law and German jurisprudence.

According to section 1 of the German Civil Code (BGB), a person acquires legal capacity on completion of their birth. However, in certain conditions, fetuses also have certain legal rights, for example, that of becoming an heir. The question of whether a fetus may have legal capacity as well has been left open by the Federal Court of Justice, although there are indications of a positive response. The German Civil Code grants the fetus, which does not have full legal capacity, essential rights, which are subject to the condition of subsequent live birth. The question of whether the fetus can have rights before birth and possibly from the beginning of pregnancy, in particular a right to life, is highly controversial.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Natural person


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Nathan Glazer

Nathan Glazer (February 25, 1923 – January 19, 2019) was an American sociologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and for several decades at Harvard University. He was a co-editor of the now-defunct policy journal The Public Interest.

Known for books such as Beyond the Melting Pot which deal with race and ethnicity, Glazer is critical of some of the Great Society programs of the mid-1960s.

He was often considered neoconservative in his thinking on domestic policy,  but remained a Democrat. He described himself as "indifferent" to the neoconservative label with which he is most associated and remarked that it was an appellation not of his choosing.

Early life
Born in New York City on February 25, 1923, Glazer grew up in the city's areas of East Harlem and the East Bronx. His parents, Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire, spoke Yiddish in the home, and his father was a sewing machine operator. His older brother, Joe, would eventually become a folk musician who specialized in labor and radical themed songs. Glazer attended public school as a child and eventually the City College of New York.

When Glazer attended the City College of New York in the 1940s, it was known as a hotbed of radicalism. Glazer fell in with a number of other young Marxists who were hostile to Soviet-style communism. Glazer, Irving Howe, Daniel Bell, and Irving Kristol would meet in an alcove of the City College cafeteria, and they "spent their days trying to understand how the socialist ideal of political and economic justice had ended in Joseph Stalin’s murderous tyranny."

As Glazer would later recall, "one of the characteristics of [our] group was a notion of its universal competence... Culture, politics, whatever was happening we shot our mouths off on... It was a model created by the arrogance that if you're a Marxist you can understand anything and it was a model that even as we gave up our Marxism we nevertheless stuck with."

Looking back years later, Kristol would remark that "even at City, [Glazer] was never much of a radical."

Early career
World War II led to a belief among some of the leftists, including Glazer, that fascism was a greater threat than capitalism and that the United States, as a country that fought the fascists, ought to be viewed more favorably. Glazer became a member of the anti-communist left and only mildly criticized Joseph McCarthy when writing of him in the magazine Commentary. About the same time, Glazer also undertook a detailed study of the Rosenberg Case. Glazer's investigation convinced him not only of the Rosenbergs' guilt, but also that a larger number of conspirators was involved. As Glazer said, "The story that has not been told is of espionage more extensive than we know."

Looking back at the McCarthy era over 40 years later as an interviewee in the film Arguing the World, Glazer reflected on the stance he and some other liberal anticommunists took: "Even at the time and also in retrospect we never managed to figure out a good position, one that was respectable and moral and responsive to all the complicated issues raised... I still don't think we have one." In general, much of Glazer's work in the 1950s had strong strains of patriotism and optimism about the future, including a belief that the overwhelming majority of immigrants would come to identify completely with American values and thus assimilate into American society.

In 1960, Glazer briefly edited The Committee of Correspondence Newsletter at Harvard, but soon dropped this project and began writing articles about ethnic groups in New York City, and they would eventually be collected and published in 1963 as the book Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish of New York City, arguably Glazer's most well-known work. While Daniel Patrick Moynihan was listed as co-author and the book itself would often be referred to as "Moynihan and Glazer," Moynihan wrote only the chapter on the Irish and much of the conclusion, with the rest being the work of Glazer.

In essence, as one retrospective noted 25 years later, Glazer and Moynihan suggested that "the melting pot metaphor didn't hold water." The book argued that the children and grandchildren of earlier immigrants to New York City, including Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians, and Irish, had retained their ethnic consciousness and that the phenomenon of persistent ethnic identities over the course of generations would continue to endure. That conclusion was fairly novel for the early 1960s, when there was relatively little interest in studying ethnic groups in general, much less their precise levels of adjustment.

Glazer and Moynihan also argued that the "disproportionate presence of Negroes and Puerto Ricans on welfare" was one of the primary racial problems in the city, but they suggested the 1970s could end up being a "decade of optimism" for those two groups. Years later, when marking the 25th anniversary of the book, Glazer would admit that the 1970s and indeed later years had not brought significant change for those groups and that many African Americans and Puerto Ricans remained members of the "great dependent class."

James Traub has argued that Beyond the Melting Pot was "one of the most popular, and most influential, works of sociology of its time."

Government service, academia, and The Public Interest
During John F. Kennedy's presidency, Glazer worked in the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the predecessor to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Along with working on projects that were the prelude of the poverty program, Glazer was also an advocate for historical preservation of buildings and unsuccessfully tried to prevent the demolition of New York City's original Penn Station. In Lyndon Johnson's administration, Glazer was a consultant with the Model Cities Program.

By now, Glazer was becoming skeptical of the War on Poverty and of Washington-based reform efforts in general. As he would argue years later in his book The Limits of Social Policy, Great Society programs were not really the answer because "the breakdown of traditional modes of behavior is the chief cause of our social problems," and he did not think that breakdown could be addressed by government.

By 1964, Glazer was teaching at UC Berkeley and he bore witness to the Free Speech Movement that year. Despite his earlier experience as a student radical, Glazer was one of many professors who viewed the student protesters as extremists. Even in the late 1990s, Glazer continued to condemn the students' "enthusiastic and euphoric rejection of forms and norms," and in 2005, he pointed out that the revolts at Berkeley, Columbia University, and many other campuses were "a disorder that made no sense to those of us who had come from harder circumstances."

One leader of the Free Speech Movement, Jackie Goldberg, reflecting back on 1964 decried, years later, Glazer and his ilk for espousing "an armchair intellectual liberalism" and viewing "protesting" as nothing more than sending a letter to one's congressman.

As the Free Speech Movement raged in Berkeley, Glazer's friends from City College Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol were discussing founding a new journal, which would come to be called The Public Interest when it debuted in 1965. A conference essay by Glazer, "Paradoxes of American Poverty," would appear in the journal's first issue. In the summer of 1973, he succeeded Bell, becoming co-editor along with Kristol, a post that he held until 2003. When The Public Interest ceased publication in 2005, Glazer wrote a piece, acknowledging the rightward drift on the part of the journal over the years and the tendency that it had to publish far more conservative than liberal pieces, something that he saw "as a failing on our part."

In 1969, Glazer began a teaching career at Harvard after he had been awarded one of five positions created to focus on the problems of the cities.

Later career
Glazer continued to publish books on race and ethnicity throughout the 1980s and 1990s. We Are All Multiculturalists Now, published in 1997, perhaps created the biggest stir. In it, Glazer argued that multiculturalism was now the dominant ethic in public schools, and "assimilation" had become inappropriate. For Glazer, it was a simple reality that could not be denied, but he remained deeply ambivalent about multiculturalism. He argued that it "is not a phase we can embrace wholeheartedly, and I hope my own sense of regret that we have come to this will not escape the reader."

Writing in what one commentator deemed a "rueful" tone, he suggested his earlier arguments regarding issues such as affirmative action and the future prospects for African Americans were essentially wrong. The civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965 did not allow blacks to fully integrate into American society, their situation was worse now than it had been 20 years before, and a multicultural curriculum in schools was essentially the result.

The book was criticized by conservatives, with Dinesh D'Souza accusing Glazer of "cowardice" in a review in The Weekly Standard, and a critique in National Review suggested Glazer was wrongly advocating for "resignation and accommodation" to multiculturalism, rather than the "forthright opposition in defense of our constitutional republic and its liberal-democratic virtues" that was needed. James Traub, on the other hand, argued, "Glazer is still the neoconservative who wrote The Limits of Social Policy," but his "own logic leaves him with nothing to offer—except the admittedly specious comforts of multiculturalism."

As the term "neoconservative" became common parlance during the administration of President George W. Bush, Glazer pointed out that it had been "hijacked" and now meant something quite different from what it once had. According to Glazer, "in its early application, in the 1970s, it referred to the growing caution and skepticism among a group of liberals about the effects of social programs. It was later applied to a vigorous and expansionist democracy-promoting military and foreign policy, especially in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union."

In a 2003 letter to The New York Times Glazer argued that "there is very little connection between those called "neoconservatives" 30 years ago and neoconservatives today, who are defined entirely by their hard stance on foreign and military policy."

Glazer's most recent book was From a Cause to a Style: Modernist Architecture’s Encounter With the American City (2007), an essay collection "that traces the diminishment of Modernist architecture from a social revolution—which asserted that traditional architecture 'had come to an end'—down to a mere style, and one almost universally resented outside the profession."

Glazer served on committees for the National Academy of Sciences and received numerous grants and fellowships, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Fulbright Fellowship, throughout his career.

Glazer died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 19, 2019, at age 95.

Books

 * The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character with David Riesman and Reuel Denney, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1950
 * Faces in the Crowd: Individual Studies in Character and Politics with David Riesman, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1952
 * A New Look at the Rosenberg-Sobell Case, New York, Tamiment Institute, 1953
 * American Judaism, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1957 (revised editions in 1972 and 1988)
 * The Social Basis of American Communism, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1961
 * Negroes & Jews: The New Challenge to Pluralism New York, American Jewish Committee, 1964
 * The Characteristics of American Jews, New York, Jewish Education Committee Press, 1965
 * Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians, and Irish of New York City with Daniel P. Moynihan, Cambridge, Massachusetts Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1963 (second expanded edition in 1970)
 * Remembering the Answers: Essays on the American Student Revolt, New York, Basic Books, 1970
 * The Poor: A Culture of Poverty: Or A Poverty of Culture?, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1971
 * Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1975 (second edition in 1987)
 * The Urban Predicament with William Gorham, Washington, The Urban Institute, 1976
 * Civil Rights, Land Policy and the Cities: A Perspective on the Eighties, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1979
 * Dimensions of Ethnicity: Prejudice with Thomas F. Pettigrew, George M. Fredrickson, Dale T. Knobel & Reed Ueda, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1982
 * Ethnic Groups in History Textbooks, Washington, Ethics & Public Policy Center, 1983
 * Ethnic Dilemmas, 1964–1982 Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1985
 * The Limits of Social Policy Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard University Press, 1988
 * The New Immigration: A Challenge to American Society, San Diego, San Diego State University Press, 1988
 * Our Changing Population with Richard Thomas Gill, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, 1992
 * Conflicting Images: India and the United States with Sulochana Raghavan Glazer, Riverdale, Riverdale Company Pub, 2008
 * We Are All Multiculturalists Now Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1997
 * Sovereignty Under Challenge: How Governments Respond with John Dickey Montgomery, Piscataway, Transaction Publisher, 2002
 * From a Cause to a Style: Modernist Architecture's Encounter with the American City, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007
 * The National Mall: Rethinking Washington’s Monumental Core with Cynthia R. Field, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008

As editor:
 * Studies in housing & minority groups with Davis McEntire, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1960
 * Perspectives on Soviet Jewry, New York, KTAV, 1971
 * Ethnicity: Theory and Experience with Daniel P. Moynihan, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1975
 * The American Commonwealth, 1976 with Irving Kristol, New York, Basic Books, 1976
 * Ethnic Pluralism and Public Policy: Achieving Equality in the United States and Britain with Ken Young, London, Heinemann, and Lexington, Massachusetts, Lexington Press, 1983
 * Clamor at the Gates: The New American Immigration, San Francisco, ICS Press, 1985
 * The Public Face of Architecture: Civic Culture and Public Spaces with Mark Lilla, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1987
 * Arguing Immigration: The Debate Over the Changing Face of America with Nicolaus Mills, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1994

Preface, foreword, forward:
 * The Many Faces of Anti-Semitism by Rose Feitelson and George Salomon, New York, American Jewish Committee, Institute of Human Relations, 1967
 * Soviet Jewry: 1969, New York, Academic Committee on Soviet Jewry, 1969

title: Nathan Glazer


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Canada jay

The Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis), also known as the gray jay, grey jay, camp robber, or whisky jack, is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae. It is found in boreal forests of North America north to the tree line, and in the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone south to New Mexico and Arizona. A fairly large songbird, the Canada jay has pale grey underparts, darker grey upperparts, and a grey-white head with a darker grey nape. It is one of three members of the genus Perisoreus, a genus more closely related to the magpie genus Cyanopica than to other birds known as jays. The Canada jay itself has nine recognized subspecies.

Canada jays live year-round on permanent territories in coniferous forests, surviving in winter months on food cached throughout their territory in warmer periods. The birds form monogamous mating pairs, with pairs accompanied on their territories by a third juvenile from the previous season. Canada jays adapt to human activity in their territories and are known to approach humans for food, inspiring a list of colloquial names including "lumberjack", "camp robber", and "venison-hawk". The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers the Canada jay a least-concern species, but populations in southern ranges may be affected adversely by global warming.

The species is associated with mythological figures of several First Nations cultures, including Wisakedjak, a benevolent figure whose name was anglicized to Whiskyjack. In 2016, an online poll and expert panel conducted by Canadian Geographic magazine selected the Canada jay as the national bird of Canada, although the designation is not formally recognized.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Canada jay in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Canada. He used the French name Le geay brun de Canada and the Latin Garralus canadensis fuscus. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Canada jay. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Corvus canadensis and cited Brisson's work.

William John Swainson named it Dysornithia brachyrhyncha in 1831. French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte assigned the Canada jay to the genus Perisoreus in 1838 in A geographical and comparative list of the birds of Europe and North America, along with the Siberian jay, P. infaustus. The Canada jay belongs to the crow and jay family Corvidae. However, it and the other members of its genus are not closely related to other birds known as jays; they are instead close to the genus Cyanopica, which contains the azure-winged magpie. Its relatives are native to Eurasia, and ancestors of the Canada jay are thought to have diverged from their Old World relatives and crossed Beringia into North America.

A 2012 genetic study revealed four clades across its range: a widespread "boreal" or "taiga" clade ranging from Alaska to Newfoundland and ranging south to the Black Hills of South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah in the west and New England in the east, a "transcascade" clade in eastern Washington and Oregon and ranging into Alberta and Montana, a "Rocky Mountains (Colorado)" clade from the southern Rocky Mountains, and a "Pacific" clade from coastal British Columbia, Washington, and southwestern Oregon. There was also a population of the boreal clade in the central Rocky Mountains between the Colorado and transcascade clades. Genetic dating suggests the Pacific clade diverged from the common ancestor of the other clades around three million years ago in the Late Pliocene.

The boreal clade is genetically diverse, suggesting that Canada jays retreated to multiple areas of milder climate during previous ice ages and recolonized the region in warmer times.

In 2018 the common name was changed from grey jay to Canada jay by the American Ornithological Society in a supplement to their Check-list of North American Birds. This change was also made in the online list of world birds maintained on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union by Frank Gill and David Donsker.

Nine subspecies are recognized:
 * Perisoreus canadensis albescens, also known as the Alberta jay, was described by American ornithologist James L. Peters in 1920. It ranges from northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta southeastward, east of the Rocky Mountains to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is an occasional visitor to northwestern Nebraska.
 * P. c. bicolor, described by American zoologist Alden H. Miller in 1933, is found in southeastern British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, northern and central Idaho, and western Montana. Miller noted that the subspecies appeared to be a stable intermediate form between canadensis and capitalis. It was a similar size to subspecies canadensis, and had a wholly white head with a black nape. Its body markings resembled those of capitalis but its coloration resembled canadensis.
 * P. c. canadensis, the nominate subspecies, breeds from northern British Columbia east to Prince Edward Island, and south to the northern reaches of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Vermont, and New Hampshire, as well as northeastern New York and Maine. It winters at lower altitudes within the breeding range and south to southern Ontario and Massachusetts, and is an occasional visitor to central Minnesota, southeastern Wisconsin, northwestern Pennsylvania, and central New York. P. c. canadensis is also a vagrant to northeastern Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).
 * P. c. capitalis is found in the southern Rocky Mountains from eastern Idaho, south-central Montana, and western and southern Wyoming south through eastern Utah, and western and central Colorado, to east-central Arizona and north-central New Mexico. American naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird described this subspecies in 1873. It has a wholly whitish head with a pale band on the back of the neck, and overall more ashy grey plumage. It is also generally larger than the nominate subspecies canadensis.
 * P. c. griseus occurs from southwestern British Columbia and Vancouver Island south through central Washington and central Oregon to the mountains of north-central and northeastern California. It was described by Robert Ridgway in 1899.
 * P. c. nigricapillus, also known as the Labrador jay, is found in northern Quebec (Kuujjuaq, Whale River, and George River), throughout Labrador and Nova Scotia, and in southeastern Quebec (Mingan and Blanc-Sablon). It was described by Ridgway in 1882.
 * P. c. obscurus, described by Ridgway in 1874, is native to the coastal strip from Washington (Crescent Lake, Seattle, and Columbia River) through western Oregon to northwestern California (Humboldt County). Also known as the Oregon jay, this subspecies has more dark brown than grey upperparts.
 * P. c. pacificus ranges from central Alaska to northwestern Canada, including the Yukon and along the Mackenzie River. It was described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788.
 * P. c. sanfordi is found in Newfoundland. Harry C. Oberholser described it in 1914 from a specimen collected by a Dr. Sanford, whom he named it after. Oberholser reported that it was smaller and darker than the nominate race P. c. canadensis and more closely resembled P. c. nigricapillus.

Two additional subspecies were formerly recognized:
 * P. c. arcus was the name given to populations that are found in the Rainbow Mountains area and headwaters of the Dean and Bella Coola Rivers of the central Coast Ranges, British Columbia. Described by Miller in 1950, it is often recognized as P. c. obscurus.
 * P. c. barbouri was described by Allan Brooks in 1920. Abundant on Anticosti Island in eastern Quebec, this subspecies is significantly heavier but not larger than other Canada jay subspecies in Quebec, and does not appear to be genetically distinct from P. c. nigricapillus or other populations in Quebec.

Description
The Canada jay is a relatively large songbird, though smaller than other jays. A typical adult Canada jay is between 25 and 33 cm long. Its wingspan is around 45 cm. It weighs about 65 to 70 g. Adults have medium grey back feathers with a lighter grey underside. Its head is mostly white with a dark grey or black nape and hood, with a short black beak and dark eyes. The long tail is medium grey with lighter tips. The legs and feet are black. The plumage is thick, providing insulation in the bird's cold native habitat. Like most corvids, Canada jays are not sexually dimorphic, but males are slightly larger than females. Juveniles are initially coloured very dark grey all over, gaining adult plumage after a first moult in July or August. The average lifespan of territory-owning Canada jays is eight years; the oldest known Canada jay banded and recaptured in the wild was at least 17 years old.

A variety of vocalizations are used and, like other corvids, Canada jays may mimic other bird species, especially predators. Calls include a whistled quee-oo, and various clicks and chuckles. When predators are spotted, the bird announces a series of harsh clicks to signal a threat on the ground, or a series of repeated whistles to indicate a predator in the air.

Distribution and habitat
The Canada jay's range spans across northern North America, from northern Alaska east to Newfoundland and Labrador, and south to northern California, Idaho, Utah, east-central Arizona, north-central New Mexico, central Colorado, and southwestern South Dakota. It is also found in the northern reaches of the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, the Adirondacks in New York, and New England. The Canada jay may wander north of the breeding range. In winter it travels irregularly to northwestern Nebraska, central Minnesota, southeastern Wisconsin, central Michigan, southern Pennsylvania, central New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Fossil evidence indicates the Canada jay was found as far south as Tennessee during the last ice age.

The vast majority of Canada jays live where there is a strong presence of black spruce (Picea mariana), white spruce (P. glauca), Engelmann spruce (P. engelmannii), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), or lodgepole pine (P. contorta). Canada jays do not inhabit the snowy, coniferous, and therefore seemingly appropriate Sierra Nevada of California where no spruce occur. Nor do Canada jays live in lower elevations of coastal Alaska or British Columbia dominated by Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis). The key habitat requirements may be sufficiently cold temperatures to ensure successful storage of perishable food and tree bark with sufficiently pliable scales arranged in a shingle-like configuration that allows Canada jays to wedge food items easily up into dry, concealed storage locations. Storage may also be assisted by the antibacterial properties of the bark and foliage of boreal tree species. An exception to this general picture may be the well-marked subspecies P. c. obscurus. It lives right down to the coast from Washington to northern California in the absence of cold temperatures or the putatively necessary tree species.

Mating
The Canada jay typically breeds at two years of age. Monogamous pairs remain together for life, though a bird will pair up with a new partner if it is widowed. Breeding takes place during March and April, depending on latitude,  in permanent, all-purpose territories. Second broods are not attempted, perhaps allowing greater time for food storage.

Breeding is cooperative. During the nest-building phase of the breeding season, Canada jay breeding pairs are accompanied by a third, juvenile bird. A 1991 field study in Quebec and Ontario found that approximately 65% of Canada jay trios included a dominant juvenile from the pair's previous breeding season, and approximately 30% of trios included non-dominant juveniles who had left their parents' territory. Occasionally, two nonbreeding juveniles accompany a pair of adults. The role of juveniles is in allofeeding (food sharing) by retrieving caches and bringing food to younger siblings, but this is only allowed by the parents during the post-fledgling period. Until then, parents will drive the other birds away from the nest. This may reduce the frequency of predator-attracting visits to the nest when young are most vulnerable. The benefits of juveniles participating in subsequent brood care may include "lightening the load" for the breeding pair, which may possibly increase longevity, reducing the probability of starvation of nestlings, and detecting and mobbing predators near the nest. Dominant juveniles may eventually inherit the natal territory and breed, while unrelated juveniles may eventually fill a vacancy nearby or form a new breeding pair on previously unoccupied ground.

Nesting
Breeding Canada jays build nests and lay eggs in March or even February, when snow is deep in the boreal forest. Male Canada jays choose a nest site in a mature conifer tree; the nests are found most commonly in black spruce, with white spruce and balsam fir (Abies balsamea) also used, in Ontario and Quebec. With the male taking a lead role in construction, nests are constructed with brittle dead twigs pulled off of trees, as well as bark strips and lichens. The cup is just large enough to contain the female and her eggs, measuring about 3 in wide and 2 in deep. Insulation is provided by cocoons of the forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria) filling the interstitial spaces of the nest, and feathers used to line the cup. Nests are usually built on the southwestern side of a tree for solar warming and are usually less than one nest diameter from the trunk. Nest height is typically 8 to 30 ft above the ground. The average height of 264 nests surveyed in Algonquin Provincial Park was 16 ± above ground.

A clutch consists of 2 to 5 light green-grey eggs with darker spots. The mean clutch sizes of Canada jays in Algonquin Provincial Park and La Verendrye Provincial Park were 3.03 and 3.18 eggs, respectively. Incubation is performed only by the female and lasts an average of 18.5 days. The female is fed on the nest by her partner, rarely moving from the nest during incubation and for several days after hatching.

Fledging
Canada jay young are altricial. For the first three to four days after hatching, the female remains on the nest; when the male arrives with food, both parents help in feeding the nestlings. Nestling growth is most rapid from the fourth through the tenth day following hatching, during which time the female begins to participate in foraging. The parents carry food to the nest in their throats. The accompanying nonbreeding third bird does not help with feeding during this period but is driven away by the parents if it approaches the nest. Food is a dark brown, viscous paste containing primarily arthropods. Young Canada jays leave the nest between 22 and 24 days after hatching, after which the third bird begins to participate in foraging and feeding. Natal dispersal distance for the Canada jay is a median of 0.0 km for males, 2.8 km for females, and a maximum distance of 11.3 km for males and females.

After 55 to 65 days, juveniles reach full adult measurements and battle among themselves until a dominant juvenile forces its siblings to leave the natal area. The dominant bird remains with its parents until the following season, while its siblings leave the natal territory to join an unrelated pair who failed to breed. In a study by Dan Strickland, two-thirds of dominant juveniles were male.

Survival
In studies conducted in Ontario and Quebec, the mortality rate for dominant juveniles was 52%, and mortality was 85% for juveniles who left the parents' territory between fledging in June to approximately mid-October. From fall to the following breeding season in March, further juvenile mortality was 50%. Territory-holding adult Canada jays experienced low mortality rates (15.1 and 18.2% for males and females, respectively). The oldest known Canada jay recaptured in the wild was at least 17 years old.

Feeding
Canada jays are omnivorous. They hunt such prey as arthropods, worms, small mammals including rodents, shrews, and juvenile bats, eggs, and nestling birds,  and have even been recorded taking a magnolia warbler (Dendroica magnolia) in flight. They have been reported to opportunistically hunt young amphibians such as the western chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata) in Chambers Lake, Colorado, and the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) in Whitehorse Bluff in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. Canada jays have been seen landing on moose (Alces alces) to remove and eat engorged winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) during April and May in Algonquin Provincial Park. Researchers also found a Canada jay nest containing a brooding female, three hatchlings, and three warm, engorged winter deer ticks. Because the ticks were too large for the hatchlings to eat, it was hypothesized that the ticks may have served as "hot water bottles", keeping hatchlings warm when parents were away from the nest.

Nestling birds are common prey, being taken more often from nests in trees rather than on the ground. Canada jays find them by moving from perch to perch and scanning surroundings. Avian nest predation by Canada jays is not necessarily higher in fragmented versus unfragmented forest. Evidence from studies in the Pacific Northwest suggest a moderate increase in nest predation in logged plots adjacent to mature conifer forest, which is the Canada jay's preferred habitat. Studies of nest predation by Canada jays in Quebec have shown that the birds prefer preying on nests in open forest with high prominence of jack pine, and greater rates of predation in riparian forest strips and green-tree retention stands versus clearcuts. This may be due to increased availability of perch sites for avian predators such as the Canada jay. Canada jays are suspected but not proven to prey on nests of the threatened marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest.

Carrion, fungi, fruits such as chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), and seeds are also eaten. They've been known to use bird feeders provided by humans. Two Canada jays were seen eating slime mold (Fuligo septica) near Kennedy Hot Springs in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Washington. This was the first report of any bird consuming slime mold in the field. Risk and energy expenditure are factors in food selection for the Canada jay, which selects food on the basis of profitability to maximize caloric intake. Increased handling, searching, or recognition times for a preferred food item lowers its profitability. Canada jays wrench, twist, and tug food apart, unlike other birds known as jays (such as the blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata), which grasp and hammer their food. Canada jays commonly carry large food items to nearby trees to eat or process for storage, possibly as defense against large scavengers.

Caching
The Canada jay is a "scatterhoarder", caching thousands of food items during the summer for use the following winter, and enabling the species to remain in boreal and subalpine forests year round. Any food intended for storage is manipulated in the mouth and formed into a bolus that is coated with sticky saliva, adhering to anything it touches. The bolus is stored in bark crevices, under tufts of lichen, or among conifer needles. Cached items can be anything from carrion to bread crumbs. A single Canada jay may hide thousands of pieces of food per year, to later recover them by memory, sometimes months after hiding them. Cached food is sometimes used to feed nestlings and fledglings.

When exploiting distant food sources found in clearings, Canada jays were observed temporarily concentrating their caches in an arboreal site along the edge of a black spruce forest in interior Alaska. This allowed a high rate of caching in the short term and reduced the jay's risk of predation. A subsequent recaching stage occurred, and food items were transferred to widely scattered sites to reduce theft.

Caching is inhibited by the presence of Steller's jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) and Canada jays from adjacent territories, which follow resident Canada jays to steal cached food. Canada jays carry large food items to distant cache sites for storage more often than small food items. To prevent theft, they also tend to carry valuable food items further from the source when caching in the company of one or more Canada jays. Scatterhoarding discourages pilferage by competitors, while increased cache density leads to increased thievery. In southern portions of the Canada jay's range, food is not cached during summer because of the chance of spoilage and the reduced need for winter stores.

Predators
Several bird species prey on Canada jays, including great grey owls (Strix nebulosa), northern hawk-owls (Surnia ulula), and Mexican spotted owls (Strix occidentalis lucida). Canada jay remains have been recovered from the lairs of fisher (Pekania pennanti) and American marten (Martes americana). Red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) eat Canada jay eggs. Canada jays alert each other to threats by whistling alarm notes, screaming, chattering, or imitating and/or mobbing predators.

Cultural significance
Found throughout Canada, the bird is popularly known by several colloquial names. One is "whisky jack", a variation on the name of Wisakedjak, a benevolent trickster and cultural hero in Cree, Algonquin, and Menominee mythologies. Alternate spellings for this name include wesakechak, wiskedjak, whiskachon, and wisakadjak. The Tlingit people of northwestern North America know it as kooyéix or taatl'eeshdéi, "camp robber". According to the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia, each of the seven stars of the Big Dipper depicted a different bird; the star Eta Ursae Majoris in the night sky was a Canada jay, Mikjaqoqwej. In anishinaabemowin, or the Ojibwe language, the bird is known as gwiingwiishi. "... the whisky jack is revered by indigenous peoples as an omen of good fortune and a warning of danger. Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, an associate professor and acting head of the department of native studies at the University of Manitoba, explained why the mischievous yet wise grey jay is important to the Anishinaabe people. "To my people, the Anishinaabe, she is Gwiingwiishi", Sinclair said in a post published by Canadian Geographic magazine. "Gwiingwiishi is a great, wise teacher, and there is an old story that tells of her abilities to give gifts... Her lesson? That it is only in our bravery, resilience and commitments to one another that we can find growth", Sinclair said.

The Canada jay readily capitalizes on novel food sources, including taking advantage of man-made sources of food. To the frustration of trappers using baits to catch fur-bearing animals or early travelers trying to protect their winter food supplies, and to the delight of campers, bold Canada jays are known to approach humans for treats and to steal from unattended food stores. Canada jays do not change their feeding behaviour if watched by people; if they are able to link humans with food, they will not forget. A nesting female that had become accustomed to being fed by humans was reportedly able to be enticed to leave the nest during incubation and brooding. This behaviour has inspired a number of nicknames for the Canada jay, including "lumberjack", "meat-bird", "venison-hawk", "moose-bird", and "gorby", the last two popular in the northeastern United States. The origin of "gorby", also spelt "gorbey", is unclear but possibly derived from gorb, which in Scottish Gaelic or Irish means "glutton" or "greedy (animal)" or in Scots or northern English "fledgling bird". Superstition in Maine and New Brunswick relates how woodsmen would not harm gorbeys, believing that whatever they inflicted on the bird would be done to them. A folk tale circulated about a man who plucked a gorbey of its feathers and woke up the next morning having lost all his hair. Although the story was widespread in the early to mid-20th century, it does not appear to have been extant in 1902.

In January 2015, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society's magazine, Canadian Geographic, announced a project to select a national bird for Canada, a designation which the country has never formally recognized. Dubbed the National Bird Project, the organization conducted an online poll inviting Canadians to vote for their favourite bird. The poll closed on 31 August 2016, and a panel of experts convened the following month to review the top five selections: the Canada jay, common loon (Gavia immer), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), Canada goose (Branta canadensis) and black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). The project announced on 16 November 2016 that the Canada jay was selected as the winner of the contest. Organizers hoped for the Canadian government to formally recognize the result as part of Canada's sesquicentennial celebrations in 2017; the Department of Canadian Heritage responded that no new official symbol proposals were being considered at the time.

Conservation
Canada jays are classified as least concern (LC) according to the IUCN Red List, having stable populations over a very large area of boreal and subalpine habitats only lightly occupied by humans. Significant human impacts may nevertheless occur through anthropogenic climate warming. Canada jays at the northern edges of their range may benefit from the extension of spruce stands out onto formerly treeless tundra. A study of a declining population at the southern end of the Canada jay's range linked the decline in reproductive success to warmer temperatures in preceding autumns. Such warm temperatures may trigger spoilage of the perishable food items stored by Canada jays upon which success of late winter nesting partly depends.

title: Canada jay


text:
Whiskeyjack (disambiguation)

Whisky jack is a common name for the Canada jay.

Whiskeyjack, whiskyjack or whisky jack may also refer to:

 * Wisakedjak, the trickster god in Anishinaabe mythology
 * A bottle jack
 * The Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks, an independent baseball team that played in the Northern League 1993-1998
 * Whiskey Jack, a Canadian musical group signed with Boot Records
 * Whiskeyjack, a member of the Bridgeburners in the fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen

title: Whiskeyjack (disambiguation)


text:
Franz Xaver Reimspieß

Franz Xaver Reimspieß (1900-1979) was an Austrian engineer. He was born in Wiener Neustadt in Austria.

In 1915 he began his training as an engineering draughtsman with Austro-Daimler. At the end of the 1920s, after completing his engineering studies, he designed the Daimler armoured car. Franz Xaver Reimspieß was remarkable for his precise work and his wealth of ideas. In 1934 he joined the Porsche construction office and developed the air-cooled opposed four-cylinder engine for the Volkswagen basing his design on Kales’s opposed four-cylinder engine for the NSU prototype. For the Auto Union P racing car Reimspiess designed new brakes and altered the rear axle to shaft suspension.

During the war Reimspieß was chief designer at the tank development centre within the Nibelungen plant at St Valentin. Thus the plans for the German 'Tiger' tank originated from Reimspieß. Then at Porsche he was in charge of undercarriage design, a position which he held until his retirement in 1966.

At Porsche Reimspieß patented around ten inventions for the independent wheel-suspension system and for engines. His most famous patent applications were related to his inventions for the Volkswagen engine.

It is claimed that Reimspieß designed the Volkswagen logo and received a one-off payment of one hundred Reichsmark for his design. However, competing claims assert that the logo was created by graphic designer Nikolai Borg or the German artist Martin Freyer.

title: Franz Xaver Reimspieß


text:
Tyne and Wear Metro

The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). It has been described as the "first modern light rail system in the United Kingdom". The system is currently both owned and operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus), thus is fully under public ownership and operation.

The Metro was originally conceived of during the early 1970s, incorporating much of the earlier infrastructure formerly used by the Tyneside Electrics suburban network, with some elements dating back as far as 1834. Construction work began in 1974, the majority of this activity being centered on the building of new tunnels and bridges that linked with several preexisting conventional railway lines that were converted. In parallel, a purpose-built fleet of Metrocars was procured. The initial portion of the Tyne and Wear Metro was opened during August 1980, although construction of the original network was not completed until March 1984. Early on, Metro operations were integrated with local bus services, although this practice ended with the deregulation of the buses during the late 1980s.

Multiple extensions to the original network were promptly worked upon; the first of these, from Bank Foot to Newcastle Airport, was opened during November 1991. A second extension, from Pelaw to Sunderland and South Hylton, was completed in March 2002. By 2013, the network comprised a total of 60 stations (these being a mixture of underground and above-ground stations) across two lines, covering 77.5 km of track. While the Metro has largely been operated by Nexus directly, for a period between 2010 and 2017, the Metro was operated under a concession by DB Regio instead; upon the expiry of the contract, it returned to being operated by Nexus.

In 2018–19, an estimated 36.4million passenger journeys were made on the Metro, making it the third-most used light rail network in the United Kingdom after London's Docklands Light Railway (121.8million passenger journeys) and Manchester Metrolink (43.7million passenger journeys). Various improvements are underway as of March 2024. During 2016, Nexus launched a programme to replace its existing rolling stock, which dates back to the 1980s, with new Class 555 articulated light rail trains; these are scheduled to enter service during mid 2020s. Under the Metro Flow scheme, announced in March 2020, works costing £103 million are to increase the service frequency from five to six trains per hour, reduce journey times and improve reliability levels.

Predecessor

The present system uses much former railway infrastructure, mostly constructed between 1834 and 1882, one of the oldest parts being the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, which opened in 1839. During 1904, in response to tramway competition which was taking away passengers, the North Eastern Railway started electrifying parts of their local railway network north of the River Tyne with a 600V DC third-rail system, forming one of the earliest suburban electric networks, known as the Tyneside Electrics. In 1938, the line south of the River Tyne between Newcastle and South Shields was also electrified.

Under British Rail in the 1960s, the decision was made to de-electrify the Tyneside Electrics network and convert it to diesel operation, owing to falling passenger numbers and the cost of renewing end-of-life electrical infrastructure and rolling stock. The Newcastle to South Shields line was de-electrified in 1963, followed by the North Tyneside routes, in 1967. This was widely viewed as a backward step, as the diesel trains were slower than the electric trains they replaced.

Planning and construction
During the early 1970s, the poor local transport system was identified as one of the main factors holding back the region's economy, and in 1971 a study was commissioned by the recently created Tyneside Passenger Transport Authority (now known as Nexus) into how the transport system could be improved.

This study recommended reviving the badly run-down former Tyneside Electrics network by converting it into an electrified rapid transit system, which would include a new underground section to better serve the busy central areas of Newcastle and Gateshead, as it was felt that the existing rail network didn't serve these areas adequately. This new system was intended to be the core of a new integrated transport network, with buses acting as feeders to purpose-built transport interchanges. The plans were approved by the Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Act 1973 (c. xxxii), which was passed by Parliament in July. Around 70% of the funding for the scheme came from a central government grant, with the remainder coming from local sources.

Three railway lines, totalling 26 mi were to be converted into Metro lines as part of the initial system – these being the North Tyneside Loop and Newcastle to South Shields branch (both of which were formerly part of the Tyneside Electrics network), and a short stretch of the freight-only Ponteland Railway between and Bank Foot, which had not seen any passenger traffic since 1929.

The converted railway lines were to be connected by around 6 mi of new infrastructure, which was built both to separate the Metro from the existing rail network, and also to create the new underground routes under Newcastle and Gateshead. Around 4 mi of the new infrastructure was in tunnels, whilst the remainder was either at ground level or elevated. The elevated sections included the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, a new 350 m bridge carrying the Metro across the River Tyne, and the 815 m Byker Viaduct across the Ouseburn Valley, between and.

Construction work began in October 1974. This involved the construction of the new infrastructure, re-electrifying the routes with overhead line equipment, the upgrading or relocation of existing stations, and the construction of several new stations, some of which were underground. Major civil engineering works on the surface included two bridges, the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and the Byker Viaduct. By 1984, the final cost of the project was £265million (equivalent to £million in ). The Tyne and Wear Metro was the first railway in the United Kingdom to operate using the metric system, with all speeds and distances stated in metric units only. It was also the first transport system in the United Kingdom to be designed to be fully accessible to passengers with disabilities, with step-free access available at all stations across the network.

Opening
Originally, the Tyne and Wear Metro was intended to be opened in stages between 1979 and 1981. The first stages of the original network (between Haymarket and Tynemouth) opened in August 1980, with the final stage (between Heworth and South Shields) opening in March 1984. Extensions to Newcastle Airport and Sunderland opened in 1991 and 2002 respectively. The opening dates of services and stations are as follows:

 * 11 August 1980: Haymarket to Tynemouth via Benton
 * 10 May 1981: South Gosforth to Bank Foot
 * 15 November 1981: Heworth to Haymarket
 * 14 November 1982: St. James to Tynemouth via Wallsend
 * 24 March 1984: Heworth to South Shields
 * 15 September 1985: Kingston Park
 * 16 September 1985: Pelaw
 * 19 March 1986: Palmersville
 * 17 November 1991: Bank Foot to Airport
 * 31 March 2002: Pelaw to South Hylton
 * 28 April 2002: Park Lane
 * 11 December 2005: Northumberland Park
 * 17 March 2008: Simonside

The Sunderland branch of the network, which runs over National Rail infrastructure, is policed by British Transport Police. The rest of the network is policed by Northumbria Police.

Integration
When the Tyne and Wear Metro first opened, it was intended to form part of an integrated public transport system, with the local bus network reconfigured to act as 'feeder' services for the Metro. The Metro was intended to cover trunk journeys, while buses were re-designed towards shorter, local trips, to bring passengers to and from Metro stations, using unified ticketing, and with their timetable integrated with the Metro schedule. Several purpose-built transport interchanges, such as, Heworth and  were built for this purpose. Integration was short-lived, and lasted until the deregulation of bus services, in 1986. It is, however, still possible to purchase Transfare tickets, to combine a journey made using multiple modes of transport in Tyne and Wear.

Extension to Newcastle Airport
During November 1991, the Tyne and Wear Metro was extended to Newcastle Airport at a cost of £12million. The new section of track, covering a distance of around 2.2 mi, continued along the alignment of the former Ponteland Railway, with two stations constructed at Callerton Parkway and Airport.

Extension to Wearside
In March 2002, a £100million extension, covering 11.5 mi, was opened from to Sunderland and. The extension used part of the existing Durham Coast Line, with the line being adapted to allow a shared service between Metro and rail services – therefore becoming the first system in the United Kingdom to implement a form of the Karlsruhe model. Between Pelaw and Sunderland, intermediate stations at Brockley Whins, East Boldon and Seaburn were re-built, with a further three being purpose-built for the network, at Fellgate, Stadium of Light and St. Peter's. Between Sunderland and, around 3 mi of the former Penshaw-Sunderland line, which closed to passenger traffic in May 1964, was used as the alignment of the route. Five purpose-built stations at Park Lane, University, Millfield, Pallion and South Hylton were constructed for the network.

Project Orpheus
During 2002, Nexus unveiled an ambitious 15-year plan for transport in Tyne and Wear, named Project Orpheus. The project, valued at £1.5billion, aimed to extend the existing Metro network, including links to Cramlington, Doxford Park, Killingworth, Metrocentre, Seaham, Team Valley and Washington. In addition to this, plans would see the introduction of street-running trams, river buses across the Tyne, and cable cars, linking 29 key corridors. The project has since been abandoned, with plans reworked and developed into the Metro: All Change programme.

Phase 1
The first phase of Metro's All Change programme saw the start of a £25million project to install new ticket machines at all 60 stations across the network. Unlike the former ticket machines, which only accepted payment with coins, the new machines are able to accept payment with credit and debit card (with an upgrade to accept contactless payment in 2013), notes and coins. Automated ticket barriers (at 13 stations), and smart card validators at all stations across the network were also introduced, as part of the first phase of the All Change programme.

The first phase of the programme also saw the completion of a new station at Simonside, in March 2008, as well as the refurbishment and modernisation of Haymarket, in 2009. An upgrade of platforms at Sunderland, and the refurbishment and modernisation of several other stations was also undertaken during this phase. Lifts and escalators were replaced at several stations, between 2009 and 2016. Phase 1 of the programme also involved the overhaul of infrastructure, including communications, track and overhead power lines, structures and embankments.

Phase 2
Phase 2 of the All Change programme saw the £20million refurbishment of 86 Tyne and Wear Metrocars (originally all 90 Metrocars were due to be refurbished). Each Metrocar was stripped down to its frame and built back up again, with the addition of improved disabled access, new door control systems, and renewed interiors, seating and lighting. A new cadmium yellow and black livery was also adopted. Work commenced in June 2010, at Wabtec at Doncaster Works, and was completed five months ahead of schedule, in August 2015. The first Metrocar to receive refurbishment was 4041, the unit being named after former Gateshead Councillor and MP, Harry Cowans, in honour of his work in the 1970s, to help to secure the construction of the network.

The second phase of the programme also saw the modernisation of a further 45 stations, including the re-building of the station at North Shields, which was completed in September 2012, as well as the installation of new communications system, and the overhaul and maintenance of structures such as bridges, tunnels, track and overhead power lines.

Phase 3
The third phase of Metro's All Change programme began in 2019, with the procurement of a new fleet of 46 (originally 42) units, designed by Swiss manufacturer, Stadler. Delivery of the new rolling stock began in February 2023, with the first unit expected to enter service some time between September and November 2023, and the remainder following into 2024 or 2025. It will also see the introduction of a new signalling system, overhaul and maintenance of structures, track and overhead lines, and further station improvements.

Maintenance and Renewals Skills Centre
In July 2018, Nexus announced the beginning of work to construct the new Maintenance and Renewals Skills Centre, at Mile End Road in South Shields. Construction began in August 2018 and was opened in November 2020. The £8.4million project saw the construction of a three-storey training centre, with classrooms, a mock control room, driver training simulator, covered tracks and inspection pits, and a mock Metro station, as well as a 70 m stretch of dual track, to be used to carry out infrastructure training, including track, points, signalling and overhead line. The site is also used to stable and maintain a small number of vehicles.

Metro Flow
During March 2020, the government announced a £103million scheme, known as Metro Flow, during the 2020 Budget. The project aims to increase frequency from five to six trains per hour, reduce journey times and improve service reliability. From September 2022, the project will see three sections of single line between Pelaw and Bede converted to dual use, with an existing freight-only line electrified, and re-designed to operate using a similar system to the shared line between Pelaw and Sunderland. As part of the project, four additional Stadler units have been funded, bringing the total number of units on order from 42 to 46.

Service and frequency
The Tyne and Wear Metro network consists of two lines:

 * Green Line: South Hylton to Airport
 * Yellow Line: South Shields to St. James via Whitley Bay

Services commence between 05:00 and 06:00 (between 06:00 and 07:00 on Sunday), with frequent trains running until around midnight. Each line runs up to every 12 minutes during the day (Monday to Saturday), and up to every 15 minutes during the evening and on Sunday. This allows for a combined frequency of up to every six minutes (Monday to Saturday), and up to every seven to eight minutes during the evening and on Sunday, between Pelaw and South Gosforth. Additional trains run during morning and evening peak hours (Monday to Friday) between Pelaw and Regent Centre or Monkseaton. This provides a Metro up to every three minutes between Pelaw and South Gosforth, at peak times. Originally, there was also a Red Line between Heworth (later Pelaw) and Benton and a Blue Line between St James and North Shields. Additional trains ran on these lines during peak hours to increase the frequency at the busier stations.

Control Centre
The Metro Control Centre is based at Gosforth, in a building alongside the station at South Gosforth. It is responsible for operating the network's signalling and electrical supply, as well as being used to communicate with train drivers and other staff using two-way radio equipment. The original equipment at the control centre was replaced in 2007, with a new computerised signalling control system installed in August 2018 at a cost of £12million.

Depots
The Tyne and Wear Metro is currently operated from a single depot, also based in Gosforth. The depot was opened in 1923 by the London and North Eastern Railway and was used to house the former Tyneside Electrics stock. The depot was inherited by Metro, prior to the system's opening in August 1980. The depot is located at the centre of the triangular fork between the branch to Airport and the northern leg of the North Tyneside Loop. It is situated between stations at Longbenton, South Gosforth and Regent Centre; it is used for stabling, cleaning, maintenance and repair of the fleet. It can be accessed by trains from either east or west and there is also a depot-avoiding line running from east to west, which is not used in public service.

Prior to the arrival of new rolling stock towards the end of 2021, a new depot was constructed near Howdon, in North Tyneside. The site is used as a temporary stabling and maintenance facility for up to 10 Metrocars, whilst the current depot at South Gosforth is being reconfigured. The temporary depot at Howdon opened in August 2020. A further vehicle stabling and maintenance facility is also scheduled to open in South Tyneside, as part of the Maintenance and Renewals Skills Centre at South Shields.

Current fleet
Since the Tyne and Wear Metro opened in 1980, it has operated using the same rolling stock. The fleet comprises a total of 87 (formerly 90, until March 2017) articulated units, known as Metrocars, which are numbered 4001–4090. When in service, Metrocars are normally coupled together in pairs and have a maximum speed of 80 km/h. The first units to be built were two prototypes, numbered 4001 and 4002, which were delivered for testing in 1975. These were followed by 88 production units, which were built between 1978 and 1981. The design of the Metrocar was based on the Stadtbahnwagen B, a German light rail vehicle developed in the early 1970s. The units were built by Metro-Cammell, Washwood Heath.

The fleet has been refurbished several times and several liveries have been used. The original livery used at opening was cadmium yellow and white, in accordance with the colours used by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive at the time. A mid-life refurbishment of the fleet, carried out in-house, took place between 1995 and 2000; a new livery was adopted consisting of red, green or blue bodies, with yellow front and rear ends, and triangles containing the Metro logo on the doors.

A £20million refurbishment of 86 Metrocars (originally all 90 were due to be refurbished) began in June 2010, with the goal of the refurbishment programme being to extend the service life of the fleet until 2025 prior to the delivery of new rolling stock. Each Metrocar was stripped down to its frame and built back up again, with the addition of improved disabled access and new door control systems, with renewed interiors, seating and lighting. A new black, grey and yellow livery was also adopted. Refurbishment work was completed five months ahead of schedule in August 2015.

Future fleet
During 2016, Nexus unveiled plans to secure funding of £550million for a replacement fleet, with a target for them to be in service by the early 2020s. In November 2017, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced that the government would contribute £337million towards the new fleet. The proposed new fleet was planned to have dual-voltage capability, able to operate on the Metro's existing electrification system as well as the  used on the Network Rail network, to allow for expansion of Metro service. However Nexus decided not to include a dual-voltage design, prioritising use of rechargable battery technology instead.

In September 2018, Bombardier, CAF, a Downer Rail/CRRC joint venture, Hitachi and Stadler Rail were short-listed to build the new fleet. Stadler was awarded a contract to build and maintain 42 five-carriage light rail vehicles in January 2020, with deliveries to commence in late 2021 and all trains to be in passenger service by 2024. The new trains will feature next stop audio-visual information displays, Tube-style linear seating to increase capacity, wider doors and aisles, air conditioning, WiFi and charging points. Following the announcement of the £103million Metro Flow project, in March 2020, four additional Stadler units have been funded, bringing the total number of units on order from 42 to 46.

During September 2020, the Metro Futures website was launched, allowing the public to give their view on several elements of the new Metro fleet.

In December 2021, Nexus revealed that the Metro fleet had entered the final assembly phase at Stadler's factory in Switzerland and that the manufacturer is in the process of fitting the main interior components of the first of the new trains. The works include the installation of wheels, seats, equipment cases, piping, wiring, flooring, windows and other internal furnishings. During September 2022, Nexus released a video taken at Stadler's test track in Erlen of a unit moving under its own power for the first time, prior to beginning full trials. The first of the new fleet arrived at the Metro depot on 28 February 2023.

Ancillary vehicles
In addition to passenger trains, the Tyne and Wear Metro also operates three battery-electric locomotives (numbered BL1–BL3), which were manufactured by Hunslet in 1988. The company also operates a Plasser and Theurer ballast tamper and 15 wagons, which are used for maintenance and repair work.

Ownership
The Tyne and Wear Metro is publicly owned, receiving funding from council tax payers and government. Nexus, which owns and manages the Metro, contracted out operations and train maintenance as part of a deal with the government, to secure modernisation investment and operating subsidy for the system between 2010 and 2021. Nexus continued to set fares, frequency of services and operating hours. Opponents would suggest that this arrangement was privatisation by the back door, though some services had already been contracted out, such as cleaning of stations and ticket inspections.

During November 2008, Nexus invited potential bidders to declare an interest in a contract to run the operations side of the business on its behalf. The successful bidder was to obtain a seven-year contract commencing on 1 April 2010, with up to an additional two years depending on performance. In February 2009, four bids were shortlisted: DB Regio, MTR Corporation, Serco-Abellio, and an in-house bid from Nexus. By October 2009, the shortlist had been reduced to bids from DB Regio and Nexus.

In December 2009, DB Regio was named as the preferred bidder, with the contract for operating the system signed in February 2010, and the handover of the service taking place in April 2010. One of DB Regio's first initiatives was the Metro Dig It programme, and involved the re-painting of stations and deep-cleaning of stations and trains. In February 2010, the government confirmed it would award Nexus up to £580million to modernise and operate the Tyne and Wear Metro, with up to £350million to be spent on the Metro: All Change programme, over the course of the following eleven years. A further £230million would support running and maintenance costs, over the following nine years.

As a result, between 2010 and 2017, the Metro was operated under contract by DB Regio.

In March 2016, Nexus announced that they did not intend to renew the contract with DB Regio, following the contract ending in 2017, after stating that they were dissatisfied with the operator due to missed performance targets. During April 2017, Nexus took over direct operation of the system for a planned period of two years, with the intention to re-tender the contract. The RMT trade union, however, has argued that the direct operation should be made permanent, and operation of the system should remain in public ownership. As of March 2021, the Tyne and Wear Metro network is still under public ownership, with services operated by Nexus.

Stations
The 60 stations on the Tyne and Wear Metro network vary widely in character. Some are former British Rail stations, whilst others were purpose-built for the Metro. Most of the stations are above ground, but several in central Newcastle and Gateshead are underground, namely Central,, , , , St. James and Gateshead. In Sunderland, Park Lane and Sunderland stations also have underground platforms. Four of the stations on the network, Central, Heworth, Manors and Sunderland, allow for interchange with National Rail services. Sunderland is only one of two stations in the United Kingdom where light and heavy rail services use the same platforms; the other is Rotherham Central, which since 2018 has served both Northern and TransPennine Express, and the Sheffield Supertram network.

Most Metro stations are not routinely staffed. However, the busiest stations in central Newcastle and Sunderland (Haymarket, Monument, Central, Sunderland and Park Lane) are all staffed until late in the evening, and St James, St Peters and Stadium of Light are also staffed on match days. All stations are equipped with ticket machines, shelters and seating, next train information displays, and emergency help points. Ticket machines are able to accept payment with credit and debit card (including contactless payment), notes and coins. Automated ticket barriers (at 13 stations), and smart card validators at all stations, were also installed during the first phase of Metro's All Change programme. Despite the majority of stations being open to access, the Tyne and Wear Metro has the third-highest level of passenger income per year (£45.2million in 2013/2014) of the eight light rail networks in England. Regular checks are made by patrols of inspectors, both at stations and on board trains. Passengers caught travelling on the Metro without a ticket are subject to a £100 penalty fare.

In June 2022, it was announced that the installation of tactile paving at all Metro stations had been completed.

Bicycles
Most stations on the network have cycle racks, with smart cycle lockers located at 21 stations across the network (as of March 2020). Following a trial period in 2016, non-folding bicycles are permitted to travel on Metro between 10:00 and 15:00 and after 19:00 on weekdays, and all day at weekends, between Callerton Parkway and Jesmond, between Manors and Jesmond (via Whitley Bay), and between Gateshead Stadium and South Shields or South Hylton. Non-folding bicycles are not permitted to travel between Callerton Parkway and Airport, between Manors and St James, or between Jesmond and Gateshead Stadium at any time. Folding bicycles are permitted to travel across the entire Metro network, given that they are kept folded and handles/pedals do not pose a danger to passengers.

Tunnels
Under Newcastle, two routes run underground at right angles to each other, and intersect at Monument, which has four platforms on two levels. The first route, shared by both the Green Line (from South Hylton to Airport) and Yellow Line (from South Shields to St. James), runs from north to south. It heads underground at Jesmond, and runs south through, Monument and Central, before rising above ground to cross the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge over the River Tyne. It then enters another tunnel, running underneath Gateshead, serving Gateshead, before rising above ground again before the station at Gateshead Stadium.

The second underground route, part of the Yellow Line (from South Shields to St. James), runs from east to west, heading underground after running east alongside the East Coast Main Line, before serving Manors and Monument, then terminating at St. James. Yellow Line trains pass through Monument twice, once eastbound through the east–west platforms, and then, after running around the North Tyneside Loop, southbound through the north–south platforms before running to South Shields.

The Tyne and Wear Metro is one of the few rapid transit systems in the world with a pretzel configuration, in which a line crosses over itself and trains pass through the same station twice at different platforms. This arrangement also exists at Voorweg on the Randstadrail network in The Hague, and at Serdika, on the Sofia Metro in Bulgaria.

A short spur line, running partly in a tunnel, runs from Manors to Jesmond. The line is used for empty stock movements only, and has no passenger service. Before the Metro tunnels were created, it was part of the main rail route to Newcastle, and connected to the main line at Manors.

The tunnels were constructed in the late 1970s, using mining techniques, and were constructed as single-track tubes with a diameter of 4.75 m. The tunnels under Newcastle were mechanically bored through boulder clay, and lined with cast iron or concrete segments. The tunnel under Gateshead was bored through sandstone and excavated coal seams. Old coal mine workings, some of which dated from the Middle Ages, had to be filled in before the tunnelling began.

Level crossings
There are seven level crossings on the Metro network, five of which are operated by Nexus and do not have barriers as the frequency of Metro services would make them impractical. Two others are situated near East Boldon on track shared with Network Rail, and have barriers due to the freight trains and National Rail services that use them.

Distances
Distances on the system are measured from a datum point at South Gosforth. The system is metric, with distances in kilometres, and rounded to the nearest metre. Lines are designated In and Out. The In line runs from St. James to South Shields via the inside of the North Tyneside Loop (via Wallsend then Whitley Bay), with the Out line running in the opposite direction. By extension, the In line runs from Airport to South Gosforth, and from Pelaw to South Hylton.

Distance plates are mounted on all overhead line structures. Different distances are normally quoted for stations, depending on whether the direction of travel is In or Out. Distances increase from the datum in all directions. The part of line between Pelaw and South Hylton owned by Network Rail is dual-marked in both metric units, as well as miles and chains. The boundary between the two systems is located at Pelaw Junction. The closest adjacent stations by distance on the network are St. Peter's and Sunderland, with the furthest apart being Pelaw and Fellgate.

Electrification
The Tyne and Wear Metro is electrified with overhead lines at 1,500VDC, and is now the only rail network in the United Kingdom to use this system. Nexus has stated that its long-term ambition is to convert the electrification of the line between Pelaw and Sunderland, which is shared with heavy rail, to the Network Rail standard of. However, in doing this, a new fleet of dual-voltage trains would be required.

Signalling
Automatic train protection is provided by an Indusi system, braking trains if signals are passed at red, unlike the usual TPWS/AWS used on the wider British mainline system (TPWS/AWS as well as lineside Indusi equipment are fitted to the Sunderland extension). Train control is currently fully driver operated. A positive train identification system controls signals at stations, switches and crossings, while the rest of the network uses standard fixed block signalling with two or three aspect colour light signals. There is a minimum headway of three minutes.

Ridership
During the 1985–86 financial year, the Tyne and Wear Metro carried a total of 59.1million passengers – the highest figure it has ever achieved. By 1987–88, this had declined to 44.9million. The decline was attributed to the loss of integration with bus services, following deregulation in 1986, as well as the general decline in public transport use in the area. Usage continued to decline during the 1990s, reaching a low of 32.5million during 2000–01. From the turn of the century, passenger usage rose and stabilised, fluctuating in a range of 35–40million passengers annually. Prior to 2016–17, the Tyne and Wear Metro consistently ranked as the second-most used tram and light rail network in the United Kingdom, after London's Docklands Light Railway. Ridership significantly fell during the COVID-19 pandemic to an all-time low of 9.4million in 2020–21. The Metro is the third-most used tram and light rail network in the United Kingdom, after the Docklands Light Railway, closely following the Manchester Metrolink.

Branding and identity
The Tyne and Wear Metro has a distinctive design and corporate identity, initially developed to distinguish itself from the antiquated rail system it replaced in the 1980s, as well as to match the livery of the buses operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, prior to deregulation in 1986. The Calvert typeface was designed by Margaret Calvert and first used on the Metro; it is used extensively throughout the system, including on the distinctive black M logo on a yellow background. The logo is used to denote the Metro, and is featured on cube signs at station entrances, as well as on board trains, and on station signage.

After the branding identity of the Metro became inconsistent and confused in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nexus employed a local design agency, Gardiner Richardson, to help the organisation to revive the brand. During 2009, as part of the Metro: All Change programme, re-branding began to take place. Re-branding saw an emphasis placed on the Calvert typeface on lettering, signage and maps. It also saw the introduction of a simplified colour scheme of black, white, grey and yellow, to be used on refurbished stations, signage and trains. In 2009, Haymarket was the first station to be refurbished, using the new corporate branding and colour scheme.

Art
There are more than 30 pieces of permanent art across the transport network in Tyne and Wear. A number of Metro stations feature commissioned works by various artists, including:

 * Haymarket: Canon (2010) by Lothar Goetz
 * Jarrow: Jarrow March (1984) by Vince Rea
 * Monkseaton: Beach and Shipyards (1983) by Mike Davies
 * Monument: Parson's Polygon (1985) by David Hamilton
 * Queen Elizabeth II Bridge: Nocturne (2007) by Nayan Kulkarni
 * Sunderland: Platform 5 (2011) by Jason Bruges Studio
 * Wallsend: Pontis (2003) by Michael Pinsky

Extension to Washington IAMP
There have been a number of proposals looking in to the possibility of re-opening the former Leamside line to Washington, including a 2009 report from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), and a 2016 proposal from the North East Combined Authority (NECA), as well as the abandoned Project Orpheus programme, from the early 2000s. By 2020, proposals were being put forward to link the current network at Pelaw and South Hylton, with the International Advanced Manufacturing Park in Washington, using part of the alignment of the former Leamside line.

The first stages of a business case were published in November 2022. It will be evaluated by the North East Joint Transport Committee with the ambition to secure funding from the Government to cover the cost of the scheme, expected to be £745million.

title: Tyne and Wear Metro