Darlington museum boost for railway bicentenary year
Work has begun on transforming the Head of Steam museum ahead of celebrations to mark 200 years of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 2025.
THE ground was officially broken on March 3 on a £35 million project to create a Railway Heritage Quarter based around the Head of Steam museum in Darlington. Cutting the first sod of turf with a firing shovel was Coun Heather Scott, leader of Darlington Borough Council.
The project will see the existing museum building, based on the site of the town’s original S&D station, upgraded to better tell the story of the world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives.
The museum is currently housed in the buildings at North Road station, parts of which date back to 1842, although one platform remains open for use by service trains on the Bishop Auckland branch.
Digital technology will bring the history to life, with plans including an immersive ride experience, cafe and shop, themed play area, show field, a new live engineering building, temporary exhibition space, and an archive.
The expanded museum will take in some of the other historic buildings on the site, including the 1833-built S&D goods shed and 1853-built S&D Railway Carriage Works.
The goods shed will be transformed into a new main entrance building to the site from High Northgate. This is currently home to the Darlington Railway Preservation Society (owners of Standard ‘2MT’ No. 78018 plus various smaller steam, diesel and electric locos), which will relocate to another part of the site.
The west wing of the Railway Carriage Works is currently used by the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG, owners of ‘J27’
No. 65894, ‘J72’ No. 69023, ‘K1’ No. 62005 and ‘Q6’ No. 63395), and the east wing by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT) where it built ‘A1’ No. 60163 Tornado and now ‘P2’ 2-8-2
No. 2007 Prince of Wales.
The A1SLT will move into a new purpose-built, two-road shed on the north side of the station, which will have a connection to the main line and be a permanent base for
Nos. 2007 and 60163. This new shed will have a viewing area and be connected to the museum via an accessible footbridge. A new location for NELPG is less certain so far, although it does already have another base at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Another structure to be given greater prominence in the revamp is the nearby railway bridge over the River Skerne, a short walk from the museum, which was built in 1825 and claimed to be the oldest railway bridge in continuous use anywhere in the world.
The Head of Steam museum will close in December for 18 months, and the project aims to be completed in 2024 ahead of celebrations to mark 200 years of the S&D, which opened on September 27, 1825. The work is also part of a wider regeneration of the Northgate area of the town, with the plans including recreational space for residents of the area. Coun Scott said: “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to launch Darlington as the birthplace of the railways. It was here that the Pease family got together with George Stephenson and the Backhouse family to provide the finance, ingenuity and vision which ensured that Locomotion No. 1 was built and the Stockton & Darlington Railway was opened, so the start of this huge railway quarter is a momentous occasion for us.” Ben Houchen, mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority that is giving £20 million to the scheme, said: “This ambitious attraction will tell the story of how we helped shape the world through our rail heritage and innovation for generations to come.”