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 coal mining, collieries near with ...

in the town of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in the north east of England. The main part of the works, the North Road Shops was located on the northeast side of the

(now part of the

Tees Valley Line The Tees Valley Line is a railway route in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of , and connects with via , and 14 other stations in the Teesdale. The ...

)

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 boiler shop) 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, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, KBE (3 December 1859 – 14 February 1934) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway (UK), North Eastern Rai ...

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 designed the NER Class T2 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 The North Eastern Railway Class T3, classified as Class Q7 by the LNER, is a class of 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. P ...

0-8-0 (LNER Q7) followed in 1919, 15 engines being completed by 1924.

LNER period

Under the LNER 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. T ...

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 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 (UK), North Eastern Railway Class E1, classified as Class J72 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), is a class of small steam locomotives designed by Wilson Worsdell for Switcher, shunting. They had inside ...

(LNER J72)

0-6-0 is the Whyte notation designation for steam locomotives with a wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. Historically, this was the most common wheel arrangement used o ...

tank locomotive A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

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 rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

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 Kitchings and ...

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)

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 (United Kingdom) Rail transport in Darlington Buildings and structures in Darlington