Colin Churcher 2020

  We have some time to spare at Darlington waiting for a connection to York, our final destination.  There is a railhead treatment train in a stub platform, top and tailed by grimy class 68 diesels. The spraying process send up a lot of dirt which quickly covers the locomotives. Before travelling sough however, we will take a look at the Gresley P2 project.  Following completion of the new build Pacific class A1 Tornado, a brand new 2-8-2 passenger locomotive is being built from scratch in Darlington.  The Gresley class P2 2-8-2 ‘Mikados’ were the most powerful express passenger locomotives to operate in the UK. They were designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to haul 600 ton trains on the arduous Edinburgh to Aberdeen route. Sadly, the design was never fully developed and they were rebuilt by his successor Edward Thompson into ungainly 4-6-2s in 1943/4, and scrapped by 1961 . Details of the project can be found here:   https://www.p2steam.com/ On 22 August 2018 Bri...

This is an Azuma electric train under test on the main line at Darlington.. These are built by Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe. Paul and I returned from Shildon to Darlington. On the way we saw to the west a large manufacturing plant with a siding with overhead wires.  Newton Aycliffe is where Hitachi assemble the trains they are building for the UK rail network. My good friend Brian Ward organized a visit to this plant on 22 August 2018 and sends these pictures. The railway works of today How the build progress is tracked What the passenger doesn't see A GWR coach A body shell for Scot Rail arrives A Scotrail train leaves for the outside world and testing Drivers cab of a GWR class 800  One of the new GWR trains entering Paddington station. This video covers the operations at the plant.

Locomotion at Shildon is an outpost of the National Railway Museum at York.  It is reached from the branch line by the puddle jumper from Darlington to Bishops Auckland. I have visited here twice - in 2014 and 2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Railway_Museum_Shildon   Imagine my surprise last November when the first locomotive I saw was this Beattie 0-4-2 well tank, class 0298 built in 1874. In later days there were only three of these left, all at Wadebridge in the far south west. On Monday 29 August 1960 I made a visit here, with a shed permit, specially to see them. I only saw one but these were the pictures I took that day Here is my diary entry for that visit: The Beattie well tanks are still going strong.  They have all just been through the works and have at least 36 months left to work.  No. 30586 was shunting in and around the station.  I saw it propelling three trucks, it tried to pull up quickly but the momentum of the wagons pulled it along...

  The main line railway station at Darlington is the junction for a short branch line to Bishop Auckland.  There is a great deal of railfan interest on this line. The Hitachi trains are assembled at Newton Aycliffe but we will visit first Darlington North Road station where is to be found the head of Steam Museum formerly known as the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum.  This is on the route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first steam operated passenger railway opened in 1825.The station here forms the museum.  It  was opened in 1842 and it replaced the original station opened on the other side of the line in 1833. Head of Steam Museum We visited the museum on a school day.  This bunch of kids was very well behaved but their coats covered up a Vincent Raven 0-8-0 no 901, a heavy freight locomotive built in 1919. Of course the star exhibit here is Locomotion - a Stockton and Darlington locomotive  built by  George Stephenson ...

Northern Rock at Ravenglass station. 8/16/1985. Location map showing Ravenglass with Carlisle to the north and Lancaster to the south The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway started out in 1875 as a three foot gauge line to transport haematite ore to the main line at Ravenglass. The line was abandoned in 1913 but was converted to 15 inch gauge and reopened in 1915 by Bassett Lowke. There were a few changes to the eastern end but the line is now a thriving tourist line owned by a private company but supported by a preservation society.  I visited the line on 16 August 1982 At Ravenglass there are connections to the Cumbrian Coast line from Carlisle Ravenglass with a signalbox to control train movements The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Ravenglass at Ravenglass station. 8/16/1985, The cab of Northern Rock   Ticket from the old three foot gauge line Irton Road Eskdale Green A meet at Fisherground Halt At Dalegarth the locomotive is turned for the return journey Northern Rock ...