Starting Point: Dinsdale Station. Finishing Point: North Road Station. Distance: 5.2 Miles
Stockton and Darlington 200 Explores:
Shildon (this page)
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.
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.
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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).
Below - Pipe bridge over the former railway.
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.
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.
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