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26. HEAD of STEAM -Darlington Railway Museum See also
The 'HEAD of STEAM' museum is located in the old Darlington North Road Railway Station and is well worth a visit. It focuses on the past railways of the area of County Durham e.g. The historic Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&D), North Eastern Railway (NER) and the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). In many ways Darlington was the birthplace of the 'Railway Age' and future modern railway systems.
The entrance to the museum which is housed in the old North Road Station, Station Road, Darlington. It was built around 1842 and replaced the original terminus of the Stockton to Darlington Railway. The building is plain Late Georgian in character, but it does survive intact!
A general view of the museum layout, with plenty of historical and railway artefacts, memorabilia, displays and memorabilia and four historic steam locomotives.
0-4-0 LOCOMOTION was the first steam locomotive run on a public railway and on September 27th 1825 it hauled 33 wagons and coaches filled with coal, flour and enthusiastic excited people. The locomotive was built by Robert Stephenson & Co. at Forth Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne and George Stephenson drove the train on this auspicious occasion the 18 miles from Shildon to Stockton, on the line it continued to do service until 1841.
After one more passenger trip, LOCOMOTION spent the rest of its working life hauling coal wagons in the Co. Durham coalfields!
The 0-6-0 DERWENT was built in 1845 for the Stockton and Darlington railway by A. Kitching, founder of Whessoe Ltd, Darlington and purchased by the Pease family for use on their private railways e.g. coal trains and on 'retirement' presented to the North Eastern Railway Company in 1898. DERWENT is the oldest Darlington built steam locomotive.
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The NER/LNER Class E5 Tennant 2-4-0 1463 was built at Darlington North Road Works in 1885 and designed by a committee chaired by Henry Tennant, General manager of the North Easter Railway. It worked as an express passenger train locomotive between York and Newcastle. With the advent of faster and more powerful locomotives it finished its working life on the Newcastle-Carlisle and Darlington-Penrith railway lines and withdrawn from service in 1927.
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Heavy freight locomotive 0-8-0 Class T3 NER 901, LNER Class Q7 901-3460, eventually BR number 63460, designed by Raven and built at North Road Works Darlington in 1919 and worked on the railways of North-East England.
The cab, boiler and driving wheels of 901
On the left is a platform ticket machine via which we could all get a good close up of the steam locomotives (in my case in the late 1950's and early 1960's).
There is a nice picnic area and cafe in the museum ....
.... and you can go out onto the old platform of the North Road Station from some fresh air. On the right is part of the original train shed from ~1842.
Across the field from the museum are the workshops where steam locomotives are restored to working order and where the famous 60163 TORNADO was built.
OTHER RAILWAY CONNECTIONS
North East Northern England docspics photos images pictures © Phil Brown European Rail tours US and Canadian Railway travel holidays special steam excursions A great steam heritage line and offers luxury Pullman coach dining trains Travelling by train always seems a pleasure, especially if through wonderful scenery either in England, Scotland, Wales or on holiday in the rest of the railways of Europe! The railway trip involves seeing or travelling behind a 'real' steam locomotive in action and there is nothing like the sight and sounds of a steam train to invoke feelings of nostalgia in some of us, even more luxury by having a special trip out on a steam dining train! Eurostar Continental Rail Travel Tour tickets |
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