Darlington railway works
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Darlington Works was established in 1863 by the
Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...
in the town of
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
in the north east of England. The main part of the works, the North Road Shops was located on the northeast side of the
Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...
(now part of the
Tees Valley Line The Tees Valley Line is a rail route, in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of , and connects to via , and 14 other stations in the Teesdale. The sect ...
)


History


NER period

The first new locomotive was built at the works in 1864. Though the railway had amalgamated with the North Eastern Railway (NER) in 1863, it continued to build its own designs for a number of years. In 1877, the first North Eastern designs appeared. Additionally works (paint and boilershop) were constructed west of the S&DR railway in the Stooperdale area of Darlington. Grandiose offices for the NER were also constructed in the Stooperdale area in 1911, to the design of William Bell. The offices were used by NER
chief mechanical engineer Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...
Vincent Raven Sir Vincent Litchfield Raven, KBE (3 December 1859 – 14 February 1934) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway from 1910 to 1922. Biography Vincent Raven was born the son of a clergy ...
until 1917. In 1914, a class of NER Bo-Bo electric locomotives was built at the works to run between Shildon and Newport. Ten of these 1,500 volt direct current locomotives were completed.
Sir Vincent Raven Sir Vincent Litchfield Raven, KBE (3 December 1859 – 14 February 1934) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway from 1910 to 1922. Biography Vincent Raven was born the son of a clergy ...
designed the
NER Class T2 The North Eastern Railway Class T2, classified as Class Q6 by the LNER, is a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotive designed for heavy freight, especially for hauling long coal trains to various collieries in the North Eastern region of the UK, with ...
0-8-0 freight locomotive in 1913, and by 1921 the works had built 120 of the engines, which were later designated Q6 by the LNER. The heavier and more powerful Raven
NER Class T3 North Eastern Railway Class T3, classified Q7 by the LNER is a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotive designed for heavy freight. Five were built by the NER in 1919 and a further 10 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1924. Perform ...
0-8-0 (LNER Q7) followed in 1919, 15 engines being completed by 1924.


LNER period

Under the
LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...
it continued to play a major role, producing a new engine each week, with Gresley's K3 class
2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...
appearing in 1924. Both the class V2 and A1 express locomotives were also built. By 1927 the works was the town's largest employer. Darlington works built six
LNER Class K4 The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class K4 is a class of 2-6-0 steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley for the steep grades of the West Highland Line. West Highland Line challenge The North British Railway (NBR) West Highla ...
2-6-0 locomotives in 1937/38 for operation on the West Highland Line. No. 3442 (later 61994) ''The Great Marquess'' has been preserved in full working order and in 2009 was still hauling special steam trains on the UK main line network.


British Railways period

After nationalisation, Darlington built both steam and diesel locomotives, including BR standard class 2. The equivalent of the
NER Class E1 The North Eastern Railway Class E1, classified as Class J72 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), is a class of small 0-6-0T steam locomotives designed by Wilson Worsdell for shunting. They had inside cylinders and Stephenson va ...
(LNER J72)
0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...
tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...
had been built, virtually unchanged since 1898. In 1954 during the modernisation of
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways the works was enlarged and had grown to cover over , but in 1962 the BR Workshops Division was formed and, with rationalisation, the works was run down and closed in 1966. The land of the Stooperdale part of the works was sold to
Whessoe Whessoe is a company based in Darlington and on Teesside in North East England. It was formerly a supplier of chemical, oil and nuclear plant and instrumentation, and today is a manufacturer of low temperature storage. History Background †...
in 1962.


Current use of the site

The site since about 1979/80, is occupied by the Morrisons supermarket, and the adjacent Bowls Hall, with the original clock which was restored, was re-erected by contractors Fairclough Building Ltd onto the east wall of the supermarket overhanging North Road. The Stooperdale offices were grade II listed in 2001.


Gallery

Image:LNER Q6 Darlington Works 22.03.59.jpg, NER T2 (LNER Q6) built at Darlington in 1918, after overhaul at the works on 22 March 1959 Image:Great Marqss SPA55582.JPG, LNER K4 61994 ''The Great Marquess'' built at Darlington Works in 1938 (preserved 2009) File:BR standard class 3 2-6-0 77000 at Darlington works.jpg,
BR standard class 3 2-6-0 The BR Standard Class 3 2-6-0 was a class of mixed traffic steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for British Railways. It was essentially a hybrid design, the chassis being closely based on and sharing a number of parts with the LMS Ivatt ...
77000 at Darlington Works (1959) File:Stooperdale Offices Darlington - geograph.org.uk - 1385450.jpg, Stooperdale Offices Darlington (2009)


See also

* Stockton and Darlington Railway Carriage Works, also known as Hopetown works *
Darlington TMD Darlington TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Darlington, England. The depot code was 51A during the steam era and DN later on. It had several locations. It mainly provided for Teesside freight and local passenger routes ...


References


Sources

* * Hoole, K. ''North Road Locomotive Works, Darlington, 1863-1966''. Hatch End: Roundhouse, 1967 * *


Locations

*, North Road Shops *, Stooperdale Works (boiler shop) *, Stooperdale junction works (paint shop) *{{coord, 54.53709, -1.56751, display=inline, type:landmark, name = Stooperdale Offices, Stooperdale Offices Railway workshops in Great Britain North Eastern Railway (UK) Rail transport in Darlington Buildings and structures in Darlington