Hopetown Darlington

This year (2025) marks the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, widely regarded as the world's first working steam passenger line to offer regular services. Basically the birth of the modern rail network. As a lifelong train enthusiast, I was determined to attend at least one of the events scheduled nationwide to commemorate the opening of this historic transport link. And what better place to start than in Darlington itself! The County Durham town is easy for me to reach by rail as the East Coast Main Line passes through and all London-bound services stop here.

Hopetown Darlington is a railway museum located on the former site of North Road Station and Hopetown Carriage Works. Hourly trains to Bishop Auckland call at the basic halt adjacent to the complex. This single-track route follows the historic 1825 alignment and forms part of the modern Tees Valley corridor, which also runs eastwards to Saltburn, via Middlesbrough. Hopetown is currently hosting a special locomotive exhibition as part of the bicentennial celebrations, which began on New Years Day with a "whistle up" across the UK. Trains on heritage and mainline tracks sounded their horns at 11am to mark 200 years of transporting people around the UK. I sourced a saver return for £39 and Nicole dropped me off at Inverkeithing Station on a warm Sunday morning. I changed at Edinburgh and was in Darlington by noon. The branch service out to North Road didn't depart for another 40 minutes so I decided to walk via the town centre instead, a distance of a mile and a quarter. Darlington's history stretches back almost 1000 years and it was a small market town prior to the industrial revolution. The coming of the railways led to great expansion and locomotives, carriages and wagons were all manufactured here at one time. The current population stands at 107,000. I reached the museum in half an hour and admission to the site was free. After passing through the entrance building (containing the café and gift shop), I emerged into an open area with several rail-related buildings dotted around. I assumed I was standing upon the sidings for the carriage works, as the station goods yard was situated on the other side of the extant railway line. Speaking of which, a train pulled in as I approached the platform boundary fence. A large sign confirmed this stretch of track belonged to the original Stockton and Darlington Railway. A healthy crowd of people were milling about and part of the reason for that was a classic car show within the museum grounds. I decided to check this out before heading into the exhibition. As always, I spotted several vehicles from the 60s that could still be seen in general use when I was a boy. Old timers such as the Morris Minor, Ford Anglia and Austin Princess. More worryingly, there are now models from the 90s appearing at these rallies. Cars such as the Austin/Rover Maestro and the original Mini that were still in full-scale production as I reached adulthood.

After some four-wheeled nostalgia, it was time to check out the trains. I had pre-booked a slot for the "Railway Pioneers" exhibition but wandered into the old carriage works building unchallenged. Production began here in 1853 to serve a booming industry. Two tracks ran the entire length of the interior, with turntables and lifting equipment in the middle section. Direct access from the main line outside was possible and the operation employed many skilled workers until 1884, when the premises became a storage shed. Three iconic examples of locomotive engineering were on display in the exhibition hall. The stories of three genius engineers were woven into the narrative, along with local businessman Edward Pease whose contributions made the construction of the Stockton & Darlington Railway a financial reality. Interestingly, the museum text often referred to the locomotives as "travelling engines" - no doubt a popular term at the time to distinguish them from stationary steam devices used to haul early cable-worked railways. A replica of Steam Elephant (pictured above) stood before me. Commissioned in 2001 by the open-air Beamish Museum at the other end of the county. Nicole and I rode behind it when we made a day trip to Beamish around 20 years ago. Now there's a place due for a re-visit! The new version pays tribute to the 1815 original that was designed by John Buddle and William Chapman. At this time, many collieries were experimenting with rail transport and Steam Elephant served the Wallsend Wagonway on the north bank of the Tyne. The new technology initially proved unsuccessful due to lack of adhesion on the existing wooden rails but iron replacements solved this issue and the locomotive is believed to have worked well into the 1820s. It had a load capacity of 90 tons and the top speed is reckoned to have been 4.5 miles per hour. Slightly above walking pace. A contemporary oil painting of Steam Elephant helped with the visual aspects of the rebuild. The first authenticated rail journey by steam power was undertaken in 1804 near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Pennydarren (pictured below) hauled 10 tons of iron over nine miles at a low speed. Built by Richard Trevithick, the locomotive aroused public interest and in another trial, carries 11 tons of coal and 70 men at an average speed of two and a half miles per hour. It wasn't taken up as a commercial option since the train broke some of the expensive plates on the iron road. The wagonway continued to use horse traction instead. Nevertheless, the experiment proved that moving goods by steam was feasible, once the teething problems could be solved. Cornishman Trevithick was a lifelong mining engineer and his career went through many ups and downs. The bold steps taken by these early pioneers helped lay the foundations for the development of a viable railway system.

Transporting coal from County Durham to markets further afield was always a challenge to mine owners. The terrain was awkward and pits tended to be spread out. Big city regions such as Birmingham and Manchester had constructed canals but the northeast of England relied on equine solutions. Wool manufacturer Edward Pease was part of a group of businessmen trying to solve the transportation problems in the Tees Valley area. He brought engineer George Stephenson into the fold, who proposed a steam railway. Stephenson was adamant that steam power would ultimately outperform horses in all respects. He amended a map that had been prepared for a canal project that failed to get off the ground. Stephenson personally walked his chosen route, although Pease tweaked it to ensure his home turf of Darlington was not omitted. An Act of Parliament in 1821 gave formal permission for the scheme to go ahead. Stephenson had the ability to see the potential in a big idea and he designed (and drove) the first vehicle to be used on the 26-mile Stockton & Darlington Railway - Locomotion No 1. Vital improvements in rail durability extended his legacy beyond the world's first complete railway. Not bad for a chap born to illiterate parents. Stephenson didn't receive a formal education as a child and learned to read and write by paying his own way through night school, aged 17, while working as a colliery engineman. A true tale of advancement when the odds are stacked against you. His accent was often mocked in business meetings but he goes down in history as one of our greatest ever railwaymen. His son Robert was also no slouch, building the breakthrough Rocket locomotive and arguably eclipsing his old man. Some even label Robert the greatest railway engineer of the 19th century. George invented a safety lamp for miners, around the same time Humphry Davy came up with a similar device at the opposite end of the country. A court hearing confirmed neither man had filched ideas from the other and the Stephenson lamp - known as the Geordie - was used exclusively in the north of England, providing one possible explanation as to why inhabitants of the Newcastle area are popularly known as Geordies. The third engineer to feature in the exhibition was Timothy Hackworth, the first superintendent of locomotives for the S & D Railway. He was employed at the Robert Stephenson & Co engineering works in Newcastle when his skills were noted by George Stephenson, a fellow native of Wylam who recommended Hackworth for his new role, where he worked on the completion of Locomotion No 1. Hackworth subsequently designed Royal George, the first engine to incorporate a correctly aligned blastpipe. This was followed by Sans Pareil, which took part (against Rocket) in the legendary Rainhill trials for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829. He then set up his own workshop in nearby Shildon, which became another well-known railway town. The Locomotion Museum (part of the Science Museum Group) is situated here.

I turned my attention to the final exhibit. Locomotion No 1 (originally named Active) was built for public use, rather than hauling minerals. Following three complete overhauls, none of the original parts remain. One could possibly make a similar claim about the American singer Cher. Due to its historical significance, Locomotion No 1 was preserved in 1857 and was displayed on a platform at Darlington Station between 1892 and 1975. It then moved across town to the Head of Steam Museum, the previous incarnation of the Hopetown complex, before finding a new home in the National Collection at Shildon in 2021. I thoroughly enjoyed examining all three engines and they were subtly lit in the gallery. I walked over to the the main museum building, formerly the trainshed at the original Darlington Station (later renamed North Road). The displays outline the story of the railways in and around the town. Some of the exhibits are child friendly, as they have to be in order to encourage family groups. The narrative incorporates the wider social history of the area as the Stockton & Darlington line lit the spark that ultimately brought about railway mania. Early engineering challenges were faced as the River Skerne had to be bridged just a short distance from the station. The stone structure still stands today and is reckoned to be the oldest crossing on the UK passenger network. When the route was extended over the River Tees in 1830, the suspension bridge (a novelty at the time) was less successful. It shook badly and work on a replacement began just 12 years after opening. By the 1850s, the telegraph system was in place and used by railway signalmen to communicate with each other. Some stations offered a message service to the general public and the museum had a recreation of the telegraph office. A national transport system enabled theatre productions to tour far and wide. Sporting fixtures also spread beyond local encounters. The railways, although class-ridden like much of British society, provided steady employment and the opportunity to progress up the ladder. Women were largely excluded until the Great War, when many men suddenly departed for the front line. Prior to this global event, one of the few female roles available on the railways was to supervise the ladies' waiting room. Hopetown Darlington was expanded in the early 2020s and the new site covers 7.5 acres. Disused heritage buildings were repurposed as part of the new visitor experience. The story began in 1975 when the North Road Station Museum was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. A 2007 refurbishment involved a rebrand as Head of Steam, before the current name was chosen in 2023. It is entirely fitting that such a pivotal railway town now has its own heritage quarter dedicated to the iron road.

One gallery contained the Victorian toilets, installed in 1873. Most of the fittings are original and stem from an upgrade that introduced facilities for females. Washbasins weren't part of the deal (for either sex). Railway infrastructure evolved over time, with passenger facilities often reflecting the social stratification of the time. Originally there were separate entrances for first and second class passengers. The Stockton and Darlington project was visited by dignitaries from America, France and Prussia as other nations sought to develop their own projects. Middlesbrough is now a major town on the River Tees but was just a small hamlet before the new line transformed the economic fortunes of the region. The Stockton & Darlington Company was heavily financed by Edward Pease, who belonged to the Quaker organisation. His policy was to set fair prices and the new railway became indispensable to the local coal trade. The Quakers had a large influence on the Darlington economy and Pease insisted the line should pass through the town itself. Many local landowners were against the scheme, for a variety of reasons which can largely be distilled down to not in my back yard. It took three attempts to force the issue through Westminster and release the genie from the bottle. I really enjoyed my visit and would recommend Hopetown to anyone interested in railway or transport history. I finished off my day with a coffee in the (fully licensed) Clock Tower Café, before browsing the souvenir shop. I still had a few hours until my train back to Edinburgh was due to depart. After a stroll through the town centre, I ensconced myself in Wetherspoons.