Darlington

I’d been there before but I couldn’t remember anything about the place. It was a school railway society visit by train from Liverpool Lime Street on 21/12/63. With trips round the works and sheds, I copped an amazing 190 for the day. I have no photos and only one image in my mind’s eye from the whole experience. It was of A4 Class No. 60004 William Whitelaw with her connecting rods missing. I thought for ages that she was on her way to be torched, but, apparently, she was there for overhaul as she lasted until 1966 when she was one of the last batch of the class to be withdrawn. Also in the works were 3 Clans, which really were there for scrapping, plus one A1 and three A3s. On 51A, there were 2 A1s, 4 A3s and V2 No. 60809 The Snapper [etc]. The works, itself, closed a couple of years or so later in April 1966, so we were just in time, once again.

The revitalised railway museum at Darlington is called Hopetown, which is also the name of that district of the town. It’s recently been done out very nicely with clear signage and explanations of the exhibits as well as some very modern, interpretative and interactive features designed to attract all age groups. The early locomotive Derwent, built for the Stockton and Darlington Railway at Darlington in 1845, is still there as she was in 1963, as is NER No. 1463 of 1885 and a more recent addition in the form of the last English Electric Type 3 to be built there, No. D6898. The A1 Locomotive Society has its base in the purpose-built workshop on an adjacent site where A1 Class No. 60163 Tornado was assembled and which is now home to the new-build Class P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

At the foot of the extensive car park opposite the entrance to Hopetown is the Grade I listed Skerne bridge, the oldest railway bridge in the world to have seen continuous use since its construction, as part of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825 - something we are likely to hear a lot more about during 2025.