Writer uncovers quirky side of Tyne and Wear Metro

Keith Watson has travelled to all 60 Tyne and Wear Metro stations

A writer has spent a year researching and visiting all 60 of the Tyne and Wear Metro stations to compile a list of stories and facts about each one. The BBC spoke to Keith Watson about why he did it - and what discoveries he made.

While the Sunderland-born author made repeated treks up the A1(M) from his home in Gloucestershire by car, it is the North East's light-rail system he is fascinated by.

He covered many miles in his quest to write about the transport network used by hundreds of thousands of people each day.

"I wanted to read a book about the Metro and there isn't one, other than the straight history of it," Mr Watson told me as we trundled along the line to Sunderland's main railway station.

Once on the platform, he recited an almost unbelievable tale from the station - and it is among hundreds which feature in his new book, Metroland, where each stop has its own chapter.

Sunderland railway station has seen many sights over the years, including a lesser-known tale involving The Beatles

"There was a 12-year-old-girl who tried to mail herself to The Beatles during the 1960s," he said.

"She got in the box and got her friends to seal it up, that was in the days when there was a big postal delivery office, to hopefully get through.

"But she unfortunately forgot about air holes and water and got discovered before they got out of the station."

She got out unharmed, he added.

One stop along the green line is the newest extension of the Metro, Sunderland's Park Lane interchange, which opened in 2002.

Here, Mr Watson tells the ghostly tale of a comedic legend, which is said to haunt the Empire Theatre, not too far from the station.

Sid James was known for his appearance in Carry On films

"One building nearby is the Empire Theatre and is haunted apparently by the ghost of Sid James, from the Carry On films, because he collapsed and [later] died in a performance in the 70s," he said.

Although Mr Watson had not seen the ghost himself, he quipped: "When I was younger, we had a primary school singing concert there and I think we scared the ghost away."

'Sights and sounds'

Mr Watson spent several months painstakingly finding, researching and collating accounts from every station - and the surrounding locale - on the Metro network.

"I'd walk around each of the areas, gathering sights and sounds," he said.

"There is history [in the book] but also what somebody might have been doing on the platform that day I was there."

While from Sunderland, Mr Watson put any rivalry aside to give equal weighting to unearthing stories north of the River Tyne.

He knows Newcastle "very well", and growing up spent a lot of time in "Wallsend, Gosforth, Jesmond and Whitley Bay".

"The Newcastle-Sunderland rivalry, a lot of people see a massive divide, but I know from personal experience that Mackems and Geordies mix a lot more than some people would have you believe," he said.

"Even the most diehard football fan of one persuasion or the other is probably glad deep down that the other side is there just so they can dislike them."

Metroland, which has been published by Sunderland-based A Love Supreme, hit the shelves earlier this month.