Stockton & Darlington Railway layout

[Tin Turtle]

On display at the 'Head of Steam' Darlington Railway Museum is this superb 4mm model of the Stockton and Darlington Railway - not to scale but it portrays the entire route from the Brusselton Incline down to Stockton including Shildon and Darlington. Fascinating model of the very early railways, presumably all rolling stock is scratchbuilt

 

 

Stockton

 

 

 

Skerne Bridge at Darlington which used to feature on the £5 note (I finally saw the bridge a couple of days later, very close to the museum and still in use but I don't think you can get close to it - it's behind an industrial estate on both sides)

 

 

 

 

The Mason's Arms at Shildon, where the first public steam hauled train departed in 1825 hauled by Locomotion No 1

 

 

Brusselton Incline winding engine

 

 

 

 

 

[ian b]

It's a lovely layout- a few remnants survive. I believe there is still a public foot path under Skerne Bridge while opposite Heighington signal box is the Locomotion pub. Beside that, alongside the line, lie a couple of the original platform paving slabs!

[The_Cuckoo]

It certainly is a beautiful static display and quite a size! You can still walk under the Skerne bridge along the riverside path accessible from the Cleveland Road bridge which is about 400 feet to the north. Thanks for posting these excellent photos.

[Tin Turtle]

Ahah, thanks - problem was I was looking at it from the south! My main area of interest in the railways is Edwardian and WW1, but the early era is extremely fascinating, especially with the fantastic original and replica locomotives in the north east such as Sans Pareil, Locomotion etc etc etc

[Les1952]

I'm going to show my age and say I remember it actually running in an exhibition in 1975, which I believe was in Darlington, though I can't quite remember where.  It may have been the one we went to with Hartlepool's layout.  That was held in the church ?basement? round the back of Boots.

 

I believe the layout was built by Darlington MRC members (or whatever the club was called in those days) for the S&D 150 celebrations.

 

A long time ago.....

 

All the very best

Les

[Southernboy]

Thanks for the pictures - I'm just reading a book about the Stephensons and so the Stockton and Darlington is very alive in my mind. The early railways fascinate me and it's good to know such a model exists.

[Axlebox]

I'm going to show my age and say I remember it actually running in an exhibition in 1975, which I believe was in Darlington, though I can't quite remember where.  It may have been the one we went to with Hartlepool's layout.  That was held in the church ?basement? round the back of Boots.

 

I believe the layout was built by Darlington MRC members (or whatever the club was called in those days) for the S&D 150 celebrations.

 

A long time ago.....

 

All the very best

Les

Les

I'm not that old (honest) and I remember it running at a show in Darlington in 1975 (having said that it was 38 years ago)...& I can't remember where the show was either...the layout seemed massive at the time, but was that because we weren't use to large layouts in those days?  Anyway, its not looking too bad considering its age...

Duncan

[Porcy Mane]

Les

I'm not that old (honest)

 

Oh yes you are!!!

I think I was still at school or might have just left. I think the exhibition that was part of the S & D (Thats the real S & D...) 150 celebrations was in a big hall near the library and included quite a few bits from the national collection. The layout, then a runner was even more impressive as I seem to remember it was built to P4 standard?

My hazy memory of the time seems to recall there was also a 4mm model of Belah or Deepdale viaduct on display???

 

Porcy

[PatB]

I too remember this layout from the 70s, although in my case it was as a static display at Darlington North Road (as it then was) museum in about 1978.  I particularly remember the little cameo of a cow which had suffered an unfortunate encounter with a train.

 

I must say, the whole layout has held up very well, both in terms of condition and of modelling standards.  It must have been quite outstanding in its day.

[Steve Taylor]

aye I remember seeing this as a kid in the seventies too. Nice to see that its survived and looking fairly well. I remember being amazed by the fact that it was a slice of country not just the railway between the fences and it felt like a journey.

[Tin Turtle]

Fantastic, I had no idea it used to work! Didn't notice the cow/train encounter, maybe seeing that inspired this fabulous windvane that sits on top of the Pockerley Waggonway engine shed at the Beamish 1825 railway?

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jncarter1962/4276959471/

[Arpster]

Thanks for the pictures - I'm just reading a book about the Stephensons and so the Stockton and Darlington is very alive in my mind. The early railways fascinate me and it's good to know such a model exists.

 

See if you can find the book about Timothy Hackworth by Robert Young ('Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive') first published in 1925. Hackworth was the real driving force of the Stockton and Darlington and a vital part of the story of making steam locomotives a viable proposition in the early years. The Stephensons might get all of the glory, but Hackworth did a lot of the little things behind the scenes that made steam-hauled railways a success!

 

Arp

[Schubert]

I too remember the S&D layou tfrom the 1970's.

 

It was indeed built by Darlington Model Railway Club to P4 standards, being completed in 1975. I remember seeing it at the exhibition in the Bowling hall on Crown Street as part of the S&D 150th anniversary celebrations. After this it went to several exhibitions during '75 & '76 before taking up residence in the North Road Railway museum.

 

The reason the layout on display at Head of Steam looks so good is because I am sad to say is it is a different layout. Apparently the club was approached by Darlington Borough Council (who sponsored the original project) in 1998 to refurbish the original layout for the 175th anniversary. Due to the condition of the layout the club deemed it impractical to refurbish it and decided to build a new diorama, incorporating the Brussleton incline.

 

I would assume that although this is a new layout some of the structures and stock are from the original.

[The_Cuckoo]

I have just seen a copy of Railway Modeller dated September 1975 on a well know online auction site which features the original layout on the front cover.