Station presentation of two Red Wheel plaques
Two special transport heritage Red Wheels given by the Transport Trust have been awarded to Hartlepool station after a project carried out by the Friends of Hartlepool Station.
Sue Snow don the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, The Mayor of Hartlepool Coun Alan Barclay along with Rob Shorland-Ball, the vicechairman of the Transport Trust, attended with other guests for the unveiling of the Red Wheels at Hartlepool Rail Station.
The first plaque celebrates the introduction of the world’s first petrol-electric railway vehicle known as the Autocar, which first ran in Hartlepool in 1904.
The second commemorates the fact that the station was the only one in Britain to suffer a direct hit from a shell during the bombardment of Hartlepool in 1914.
The station is the only location in Britain ever to have been awarded two Red Wheels and information panels produced by the Friends of Hartlepool station have also been added on the platform.
Stephen Middleton, of the Transport Trust and also the Autocar Trust, said the Autocar, which was an alternative to coal fuelled steam trains and electric trams, was the pioneer for all modern trains today.
Two Autocars built in York were trailed on passenger routes in the town from 1904 and ran between West Hartlepool and Hartlepool stations.
The Red Wheels plaques recognising Hartlepool’s introduction of the Autocar.
Marie Addison, community and sustainability manager for the Northern, said ‘We are delighted to see Hartlepool has been awarded with not one but two Red Wheel plaques. Thank you to the Friends of Hartlepool station for all their hard work with the station and with this project’