Stockton & Darlington Railway - Fighting Cocks Loop

Starting Point: Dinsdale Station. Finishing Point: North Road Station. Distance: 5.2 Miles

Stockton and Darlington 200 Explores:

Fighting Cocks Loop (this page)

Hopetown

Shildon

Brusselton Incline and Black Boy branch

When the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825 it skirted Darlington to the north. The route was primarily built for freight and passenger facilities were not provided. Passenger services were operated using horse drawn rail mounted carriages by independent coach operators who negotiated track access and bookings were generally made through nearby inns in the same manner as road coaches. In 1833 the S&D took over the coach operations and began its own locomotive hauled passenger services. Passenger services at Darlington used a depot between North Road and the bridge over the Skerne River.

In 1841 the Great North of England Railway opened what would become part of the main route through the town with a station at Bank Top. The two routes had a flat crossing north of Bank Top station.

The S&DR and GNER went on to become parts of the North Eastern Railway and as part of improvements that included the Darlington station in use to this day being built at the Bank Top site the S&DR route was diverted through the new station with a new section of line south of the original route built through Dinsdale connecting to the original route at Oak Tree Junction. 

The bypassed section of route between North Road and Oak Tree Junction was retained as a freight route until 1967 when the flat crossing was removed at the Darlington end. It survived until 1972s as a branch from the Oak Tree Junction end to the various industries along it.

The abandoned original route is now part of the S&DR 200 Trail of Discovery, the QR code on the way marker at the start of the path links to detail of the trail.

Rail Map Online

Google Maps

1897 Map

I took the train to Dinsdale, the station that served the village of Middleton St George and replaced the Fighting Cocks station on the original route. From Dinsdale I walked to where the footpath crosses Yarm Road. East of Yarm Road the path runs parallel to the original railway route past the site of Oak Tree Junction and the surviving line can be seen. West of Yarm road the path climbs the embankment, though with modern developments around the former railway there is little sign of it having been a railway until the former Fighting Cocks station.

FIGHTING COCKS

Below - Retaining wall at the back of the former Fighting Cocks station looking towards Darlington.

Below - Replica of a S&DR milepost, 8 miles from Stockton.

Below - The station buildings.

Below - The station in 1875.

Below - Remains of the building on the Stockton bound platform.

Below - One of the level crossing gate posts.

Below - The Railway Lodge, former railway staff facilities and housing.

Below - The Fighting Cocks Inn built in 1834 to serve the railway passengers. Like so many old pubs the Fighting Cocks is now a convenience store.

Below - Retaining wall that stood behind the signal box.

Below - Goods platform to the north of the running line on the west side of the crossing.

Below - The signal box stood in front of this retaining wall. A small brick hut probably associated with the signal box survives.

Below - The former coal drops.

Below - Picnic benches at the site of the signal box now that the station serves as a stopping point on the trail.

Below - Information board at the site of the station goods yard (click to enlarge).

1897 Map

Below - Pipe bridge over the former railway.

1897 Map

Below - Concrete sleepers remaining from the later days of the route as a freight branch serving several industries in the Darlington area.

Below - Replica milepost at 9 miles from Stockton.

1898 Map

Below - Milepost 10 and the former Patons & Baldwins Mill on the right that provided the final source of freight on the section of route until 1972.

Below - The former Patons & Baldwins Mill is now in various uses but much of the site is vacant.

Below - A display of S&DR stone sleepers found in the area when the path was built.

The path runs alongside the Tornado Way road built to the south of the former railway route and now serving industrial areas of Darlington as the railway had done before. The path emerges on to Haughton Road before the roundabout at the junction with Tornado Way is built over the railway site.

Below - Alley at the back of Westgarth Terrace with the fence of the railway that ran behind it.

Below - Bridge that took the railway over a footpath between Haughton Road and fields to the south of the railway. Walking underneath the bridge there is evidence that it has been widened on both sides. The bridge now carries Tornado Way as the footpath leaves the railway trackbed next to the other (north) side of the bridge.

On the other side of the roundabout the footpath leads to Engine House Lane, modern housing development on the former railway route.

Below - At the end of Engine House Lane is the fence of the East Coast Main Line through Darlington, the former GNER route. A mural illustrates where the Stockton & Darlington crossed the later mainline on a flat crossing.

Below - Next to the former flat crossing this shed building survives, converted to housing.

The trail takes a detour along the roads to North Road as though it isn't far away there is the surviving railways in the way.

Below - View from Haughton Road bridge over Parkgate Junction. The chord to North Road and the surviving S&D route to Shildon and on to Bishop Auckland can be seen on the left. This was previously a diamond junction. The shed seen earlier can be seen to the right of the mainline and the S&D crossed over from the area covered by the trees to the left between the two routes.

Below - Looking south at the Skerne River from Chestnut Street and remnants of industry along the river can be seen.

Below - The River Skerne is best known for the bridge that carried the S&DR over the river. The bridge still carries the Bishop Auckland branch, making it the oldest railway bridge still in railway use.

Below - Information board at the bridge. (Click to enlarge).

NORTH ROAD DARLINGTON

The Skerne Bridge is next to the car park of Hopetown museum which occupies the 1842 station site, the current railway just being a single platform on the line that passes through the site.

Below - Painting from the information boards above showing the Skerne bridge and the depot that served as the first passenger facility for Darlington on the S&D. Note the painting shows the typical arrangements for trains before 1833 where the coal wagons are hauled by a S&D locomotive while giving way to it is a horse drawn carriage of one of the passenger coach operators.

Below - Site of the original station with some bits of wall remaining.

Below - Sign marking the S&D route seen from the current North Road station to the west.

Below - Northern train arriving in to the single platform after passing through the 1842 station site.

 Though I had visited the Hopetown museum recently, the cafe made a good stop after my walk before getting my train home.

I have previously explored the historic buildings around Hopetown as well as those at Shildon and the Brussleton Incline.

Glasgow Engine Works

Travels by train around Glasgow visiting former engine works sites.

Alley and MacLellan - Sentinel Works

Most famous as makers of the Sentinel Steam Waggon, production of which moved to a purpose built works in Shrewsbury from 1915. (I previously visited the former Shrewsbury works, more details here) The Glasgow works went on to produce all manner of industrial machinery. More details about Alley and MacLellan and their products can be found on the Graces Guide website.

Below - One of the Glasgow built Sentinel Steam Waggons in Glasgow's Riverside Museum.

These days the works is in quite dilapidated condition but part of the site is used for a car boot sale every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday so I visited on a Wednesday so that I could look around the site.

The site is a 0.8 mile walk from the nearest station at Crosshill which is a short ride from Glasgow Central.

Google Maps

1913 Map

Below - The former works offices, sadly derelict and not accessible. The building looks very 1930s but was actually built around 1904, a forerunner of the style and construction techniques of buildings that would become commonplace decades later.

Below - Entrance to the works off Jessie Street.

Below - Weighbridge still in situ at the former gateway to the works yard.

Below - Rear of the office building.

Below - Where the works backs on to what was Polmadie Mineral Depot and is now Alstom's Polmadie train depot there is evidence of the rail connection to the works.

Below - These rails were probably used by a crane in the works yard.

Below - Inside the former works building.

Dubs & Co / North British - Queens Park Locomotive Works

Just west of the former Sentinel works was the Queens Park Locomotive Works of Dubs & Co. In 1903 a merger between Dubs, Sharp Stewart and Neilson Reid formed the locomotive making giant North British that would make Glasgow the biggest maker of locomotives in the United Kingdom. North British would go on to be the largest engine maker in Europe and second only to American firm Baldwin in the world.

Industrial buildings still occupy the site of the works but after comparing maps these buildings do not seem to follow the footprint of the former engine works, I had wondered if they might have been old buildings that had been re-clad. Just the perimeter wall of the site survives of the old works, though at one point there are bricked up windows that would presumably have been part of the works offices. I didn't visit the site on this occasion, going next instead to Springburn and the former heart of the North British firm, their head offices.

Neilson Reid & Co / North British - Hyde Park Works

Above - North British 21753, SAR 1535 "Susan" in South Africa. Much of North British's production was for export.

1935 Map

Google Maps

Neilson Reid's Hyde Park works was situated on the north side of Flemington Street in Springburn, a short walk from Springburn station. The works was just across the railway line from Sharp Stewart's Atlas works so when the three firms merged it was decided to build the new administration building for North British opposite the Hyde Park works. The works itself has been demolished, Glasgow Kelvin College has been built on the site, but the administration building survives.

Below - The huge administration building from the North British Locomotive Company.

Below - The initials of the company and a locomotive above the doors.

Below - Blue plaque on the building.

Below - The NBLCo initials in the gates.

Below - The Glasgow Kelvin College buildings on the site of the Hyde Park Works. The bays of the old works are marked out in the paving.

Below - View of the admin building from the east across the site of the Craigpark Telegraph and Electric Cable Works.

Below - The building from Adamswell Street.

Sharp, Stewart & Co / North British - Atlas Works

The Atlas Industrial Estate occupies the former Atlas Works site across the railway from the former Hyde Park Works site, I didn't visit this site as there doesn't seem to be any trace of the former works looking at satellite images. 

Below - Sharp Stewart built many of the B Class engines still in use on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

Caledonian Railway / LMS / British Rail Engineering Ltd - St Rollox Locomotive Works

Google Maps

A short walk south of the Hyde Park works was the St Rollow works of the Caledonian Railway. It passed through the various changes in railway ownership through the London Midland & Scottish Railway, British Railways and British Rail Engineering Ltd. After privatisation the works has been through a few private owners. The works has been downsized a few times with buildings on the north of the site demolished and redeveloped with a Tescos superstore. Buildings to the south of the site are in other industrial uses.

Below - The BREL gates still in situ on the former office building.

Below - Blue plaque on the former works office building.

Below - The former works office building on Springburn Road.

Below - Rear of the office building seen from the Tescos site.

Below - A column from the demolished part of the works retained in the Tescos site as it has the names of workers from the early 1900s engraved on it.

Below - Works buildings seen from Springburn Road.

 I went to the Tesco car park as at one time the railway sidings in to the works could be seen from the Tesco car park, however the rail access was quite overgrown. The previous owners of the works had closed it down and the site had had a recent change of ownership so the hope is there will be a revival of the works.

North British Railway / LMS / British Rail Engineering Ltd - Cowlairs Works

Also worth a mention in the same area but completely demolished is the Cowlairs Works of the North British Railway. It underwent the same series of railway ownership as St Rollox following the railway grouping of 1923. BREL closed the site in 1968 and concentrated work in the area on the St Rollox works. The Carlisle Street Business Park and Cowlairs Industrial Estate have been built on the former works site. The works can be seen on the above old map to the west of the Hyde Park works. I didn't visit the site since there is nothing to see of the old works and instead returned to Springburn station,