Darlington Railway Centre and Museum

Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Darlington Railway Centre shown within County Durham OS grid reference  NZ288157
Location	Darlington, County Durham, England
Coordinates	54.536°N 1.555°W / 54.536; -1.555

Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, is located on the 1825 route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway which was the world's first steam powered passenger railway.

In April 2008, it was re-branded as Head of Steam, following a £1.7m refurbishment project.

Description

The museum is run by Darlington Borough Council the museum is located in the northern suburbs of Darlington in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The site encompasses three significant Stockton and Darlington Railway buildings of the 1830s: North Road railway station, the goods shed and Hopetown Carriage Works.

Exhibits include George Stephenson's Locomotion No 1, built for the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, and Derwent, the earliest surviving Darlington built locomotive, on loan from The National Railway Museum collection. Locomotion No 1 is one of the oldest surviving steam engines in the world and the first ever steam train to carry fare paying passengers.

Facilities

• Onsite parking.
• Railway cafe, open 11am to 3pm Monday to Sunday.
• Wheelchair access to most parts of the museum.
• Baby changing facilities within the museum main building.
• Gift shop selling souvenirs and memorabilia.
• Ken Hoole Study Centre, archives containing the collection of historian Ken Hoole, as well as the library of the North Eastern Railway Association (NERA), and other works.

Locomotives

• Stockton and Darlington Railway Locomotion No 1
• Stockton and Darlington Railway Derwent
• NER 1463 Class (LNER Class E5) 2-4-0 no. 1463 Built in 1885.
• NER Class T3 (LNER Class Q7) 0-8-0 No. 901 (BR No. 63460) Built in 1919. - Owned by NRM

External links

• Museum website