There are lots of rail-related events coming up during 2025, as we celebrate the bicentenary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR). The celebration will centre on that epic inaugural journey along the S&DR on 27 September 1825. A festival will run from March through to November. But if you don’t want to wait until then, here are some places that you can visit. You probably aren’t aware of some of these places, but they’re right on your doorstep. Visit some of them and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. So here’s list of my Top 20 ‘Must See’ railway sites in Darlington:
Number 1: Darlington Bank top, railway station
So I’ve started with a cheat, unfortunately. Darlington’s magnificent Bank Top station doesn’t have a real connection with the S&DR, which actually ran about a half a mile north of here. But my journey started at Bank Top, and it would be rude not to mention it. The station was built by the Great North of England railway in 1841, but a modern extension is being built to the east.
Number 2: Statue of Joseph Pease, Prospect Place
Joseph Pease’s statue is located in the town centre. His father Edward helped found the S&DR, but it was Joseph who drew up the prospectus for the railway in 1821, when he was just 22 years old.
Number 3: Edward Pease House, 138-148 Northgate
And so to the father of the railways, Edward Pease. George Stephenson first visited Pease at this house on 19 April 1821, a date which many regard as the genesis of modern railways. On that day, Stephenson convinced Pease that the S&DR would be drawn by locomotives instead of horses. The houses along this part of Northgate were large country villas at that time, with long gardens trailing down to the River Skerne. It was a bucolic landscape, about to be overwhelmed and destroyed by the very industrial development that the S&DR would create. Of course, Edward Pease couldn’t have been aware of the terrible beauty that he was about to let loose. And the house itself has since been altered beyond recognition by garish, unsympathetic shop fronts.
Number 4: North Lodge, home of John Pease
North Lodge is just across the road, and a bit further along from, 138-148 Northgate. Joseph Pease’ grandson John Beaumont Pease lived here. His connection with the S&DR is slight, but it’s a beautiful house, which is now owned by Darlington Borough council.
[INSERT PHOTO, North Lodge]
Number 5: Hopetown goods shed
The Hopetown goods shed is now the entrance to the Hopetown museum complex. Entry to the museum is free, but you need to book tickets in advance via this website. The shed was built by the S&DR in 1833. At the time it was called a ‘merchandising shed’ because the term ‘goods shed’ hadn’t been coined yet. Unsurprising, because it’s one of the oldest goods sheds in the world.
Number 6: Darlington carriage works
The factory was built by the S&DR in 1853 and is one of the earliest examples of its type. But it only remained in use until 1884. It’s seen numerous uses since, and but has somehow survived, and is now part of the Hopetown museum complex. The rails that were built into the floor in 1853 are extant.
Number 7: Darlington locomotive works
We’re still within the Hopetown museum complex, but these aren’t the original Darlington locomotive works. I would visit those later, but this is a modern version. Here, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is building the UK’s newest steam locomotive, the P2 class No.2007 Prince of Wales, in the workshop below. The workshop is open to the public on the first and third Saturday each month. You’ll need to contact the museum for details of this.
Number 8: North Road Railway Museum
This part of the museum is worth a two hour stay at least, if you can find the time. The museum web page talks of ‘hands-on exhibits and experiences, interactives and digital storytelling techniques that bring the railways to life’. They’re not wrong – it’s great fun.
Number 9: Skerne Bridge
After exiting the museum, I crossed Northgate and followed the signs for Skerne Bridge. It’s the oldest working railway bridge in the world. John Dobbin’s painting of Locomotion No1 hauling its rake of converted coal wagons across Skerne Bridge on 27 September 1825, has become the image most closely associated with the S&DR.
Number 10: North Road Bridge
I returned to Northgate and turned right towards the bridge that carries the S&DR across the road. The road changes its name from Northgate to North Road at this point. This bridge is therefore known as the North Road Bridge, and it’s Grade II listed.
Number 11: Stockton & Darlington Railway sign
I turned right into Albert Road. The road dips below the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Immediately after the under bridge, I took the footpath to the right into Allan Street and then The Sidings. I had reached the point where the S&DR crossed the ECML at level. In 1925, the centenary of the S&DR, the then owner of the ECML, the London & North Eastern Railway, erected a sign to mark the historic spot. The sign is still there, but the crossing isn’t. This section of the S&DR closed in 1966.
Number 12: Great North of England Railway (GNER) engine shed
The GNER engine shed, built in 1844, can be found just to the left of the railway sign. The distinctive hipped roof is a trademark of prolific railway architect George Townsend Andrews. Andrews built more than 60 railway stations in the North East, You’ll recognise his work as such stations as Filey and Beverley. At Pickering, Andrews’ roof was demolished in 1952, but replaced by the North York Moors Railway in 2011. The GNER engine shed was restored and reopened as social housing in 2018.
Number 13: Darlington locomotive works.
I retraced my steps along the Sidings, Allan Street and Albert Road to the junction with North Road, and headed north along the Great North Road. I soon reached the south east corner of the extensive Darlington locomotive works. The last surviving part of the works, an office building, can be found at the junction. I walked up North Road to the spot where the works’ clock has been restored and affixed to the wall of Morrisons supermarket. After taking a break in the supermarket cafe, I emerged on the other side of the building into the car park. The vast plain of Morrisons car park was only part of Darlington locomotive works, a hint of the extent of the factory. At its peak in 1954, the works covered 54 acres. But British Railways began a drastic rationalization programme in 1962, and the entire works was gone by 1966.
Number 14: The 1861 Shed
A five minute walk along Whessoe Road took me to William Peachey’s 1861 engine shed, built for the S&DR’s successor company, the North Eastern Railway (NER). Within 16 years of its construction, the engine shed was replaced by a larger one. The building went through a series of changes of use until finally being abandoned in the mid 1970s. Darlington Borough Council restored the shed, and it’s now being jointly operated by the North Eastern Locomotive Pressure Group and the Darlington Railway Preservation Society. Work is currently underway to reconnect the shed to the railway network.
Number 15: Former British Steel works, Whessoe Road
The British Steel works is one of dozens of Darlington’s engineering works formerly served by the S&DR in the area. Despite numerous threats of closure, the plant lives on. Unlike many other engineering towns in the north of England, much of Darlington’s industrial built heritage remains, and this factory is a prime example of the huge temples to engineering that once dominated the skyline.
The Stooperdale Loop
I continued along Whessoe Road, turned into Elmtree Street, then crossed under the S&DR into the Stooperdale Loop. The loop was a complex junction, where the S&DR intersected with the Darlington & Barnard Castle Railway. South of the loop, the Whessoe Engineering Foundry built locomotives for the NER to supplement the production of the Darlington locomotive works on the other side of the S&DR. The Stooperdale loop is now Brinkburn nature reserve, but a web of former railway lines can be traced in the undergrowth.
Number 16: Stooperdale Offices, Brinkburn Road
One of the many railway lines in the Stooperdale Loop connected the Stooperdale Offices of the NER with the S&DR. The offices, known colloquially as the ‘Buckingham Palace of Brinkburn Road’, was built in 1911. This lavishly appointed statement building was constructed as the headquarters of the NER’s Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME), Vincent Raven. Stooperdale’s completion occurred during the Belle Époque, a time of unparalled peace, prosperity and self-confidence. Within a few years, the lamps were going out all over Europe. In 1917 Vincent Raven was headhunted by Prime Minister David Lloyd George to coordinate munitions procurement at the Ministry of War. Three years later, in 1920, the NER relocated the CME’s office from Stooperdale to York. The building is now the headquarters of the UK Rail Pensions scheme.
Number 17: Hopetown & Whessoe club
A walk east along Brinkburn Road took me to the junction with Alliance Street, and the Hopetown & Whessoe Working Mens Club. The club was formerly at the edge of the above-mentioned Whessoe Engineering Foundry. It’s a no-nonsense back-to-basics workies’ club, built in 1919. Don’t come the old soldier, and keep quiet when the bingo’s on.
Number 18: Railway hotel
Just opposite the Whessoe club on Hopetown Lane is the Railway Hotel. The hotel was erected in 1909, and is typical of the handsome pubs of that era. The numerous railway workshops in Hopetown all had their favourite watering holes. The Railway Hotel, for example, was handy for the Hopetown carriage works.
Number 19: Goods agent’s office
I headed down Hopetown Lane, then left into Widdowfield Street and Station Street, followed by a right into McNay Street. The goods agent’s office at 1 McNay Street was built by the S&DR in 1840. It’s part of the Hopetown site, but it’s a private building and isn’t part of the Hopetown museum comple
Number 20: North Road railway station
Immediately left of 1 McNay Street, I headed back up the steps towards the Hopetown museum, swerved around the side of the building and took the short path up to North Road railway station. Much of the original station is occupied by the North Road Railway Museum (see Site Number 8, above) but part of the site is still a working railway station, served by hourly trains between Bishop Auckland and Darlington Bank Top stations.
Planning your visit
You don’t have to take in all of these sites in one day, as I did. That’s a ten-mile, four-hour walk, and not to everyone’s taste. But just for information, I began my journey at Darlington’s Bank Top station, and ended it at North Road station. You can get hot food or a toilet break at the Hopetown museum. I also did the same at Morrisons later on. The going can be soft around Brinkburn and Faverdale, so sturdy footwear is recommended. Finally, a reminder that, if you want to visit site numbers 5 to 8, you’ll need to book a free ticket for Hopetown Museum here.
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