Railways

Railways in the North East

The railway era started in the North East of England, in the towns of Stockton on Tees, Darlington and Shildon, Known locally as 'The cradle of the Railways' when the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825 to transport coal from the South Durham area to the port at Stockton.
The railway West of Shildon was operated by horse drawn waggons and had 2 steam powered cable inclines at Etherly and Brusselton, once the waggons reached Shildon they were hauled by steam locomotives to Stockton.



Sans Pareil steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth


The Stockton & Darlington Railway passed through North Road station at Darlington on it's route from Shildon to Stockton, however this was not the most direct route and only went via Darlington due to the biggest investors in the new line being the local Quaker community headed by Edward Pease, a more direct route was later built by the Clarence Railway which by-passed Darlington and went from Newton Aycliffe direct to Stockton via Stillington.


Later the S&DR built branch lines from Darlington to Croft on Tees and from Allens West to Yarm. During the 1840's the Great North of England Railway built a line North from York to Darlington which was extended by the Great Northern Railway as part of the East Coast Main line between London and Edinburgh, This later became the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).


The LNER had one of it's main workshops in Darlington, built in 1863 for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, where many locomotives were built for the North Eastern Railway and LNER and then British Railways, including the B17, D49, A1, V2 classes.
In 1923 the LNER opened a wagon works at the nearby Faverdale site. Darlington Works was closed in 1966 and now the site is occupied by a Morrisons supermarket but the original works clock has been mounted on the new building.



Shed 51A Darlington

When British Railways took over the running of all railways in Britain by the amalgamation of the 4 private railway company's in 1947, Darlington was given the shed code 51A.
During this time the depot was situated to the North of Bank Top station and on the Eastern side of the East Coast main line, there was a roundhouse built in 1866 and a 9 road engine shed built in 1940.
In 1957 a new diesel depot was built on the West side of the Main line and the old shed and roundhouse was demolished, by the 1980's this depot was no longer in use as all the maintenance had moved to Heaton Depot in Newcastle.


There were also three other sheds in Darlington but no longer in use, the oldest built in 1825 as part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway is adjacent to North Road station, the second built around 1840 next to Parkgate crossing and the third built in 1861 by William Peachey on Whessoe Rd.


Darlington had 10 sub-sheds


The End of BR steam

British Railways had retired all of it's steam locomotives by 1968, except for the narrow gauge 'Vale of Rheidol' railway in Wales which saw steam traction continue until 1989 when it was privatised.


The majority of the locomotives, 16,000 in total, were sold for scrap and cut up for recycling, except for the ones sold to Woodham brothers of Barry where 297 locomotives were stored for many years, waiting to be dismantled.


During this time, many rail enthusiasts began buying the locomotives for restoration, this was more profitable for woodhams than cutting them up, plus they had more than enough work scrapping wagons and other railway infrastructure.


Up until the Barry scrapyard closed in 1980 a total of 213 locomotives had been purchased and more than 100 of these have been restored to working order


Today

The area around North Road station known as the heritage quarter is seeing many changes and new buildings are being erected prior to the 200yr anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington railway in 2025


The A1 steam trust who Built Tornado in the old carriage works are due to move into a purpose build site which will include new erecting shops, carriage sidings, turntable and renovated 1861 Loco shed.


The National Railway Museum at Shildon are building a new extension to house more railway exhibits which will make it the largest collection of railway vehicles in the UK when finished


My Local Patch

The North East is home to one of the longest stretches of preserved railways, the 'North Yorkshire Moors Railway' which runs from Pickering to Grosmont with extensions at weekends to Whitby. There are also heritage railways at Wenslydale, Weardale, Tanfield, North Tyneside, Bows and Beamish open air museum.


Close to were i live there are many reminders of railway history, in Hunwick village the old station buildings are still in place and the trackbed from Bishop Auckland through Hunwick to Brandon near Durham has been turned into a long distance footpath. The railway line linking Bishop Auckland with the Weardale railway at Wolsingham has been cleared and can be used to run heritage train services between Bishop Auckland and Stanhope. This line passes over Witton viaduct spanning the river Wear and then passes the site of Wear Valley junction where the weardale branch line left the main line to Crook.


To the East along the 'Bishop Line' there is the National Railway museum at Shildon and further along the line is the Head of Steam museum at Darlington. Darlington is the closest point on the East Coast Main Line were i am able to photograph the many Steam excursions which travel between York and Newcastle each year, however it is much more difficult for me to get to the West coast main line as public transport does not cross the Pennines except for routes via Leeds or Hexham.


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