Main line replica Stockton & Darlington train for 2025

ARE‐CREATION OF the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s inaugural train could run on the main line from Shildon to Stockton as part of the railway’s bicentenary celebrations in 2025.

The train, which is planned to be hauled by the 1975-built replica of Locomotion (currently under overhaul at Locomotive Maintenance Services of Loughborough), will consist of six replica S&DR-type chaldron waggons and a replica of the S&DR’s first passenger carriage Experiment, which formed part of the original train.

The waggons are being built by North Bay Railway Engineering Services in Darlington, contracted by Darlington Borough Council, and will be fully main line certified; the wheels and axles have been built to main line profiles and specifications, “which has been quite an interesting exercise,” an official source close to the project told Steam Railway.

All vehicles will be fitted with air brakes to comply with main line standards, and will have roller bearings instead of the originals, which used animal fat and bronze bearings. The source said that the waggons “will be copies of the original surviving waggon currently in the Soho shed at Shildon.” However, the waggons will be slightly larger than the originals to accommodate the air braking, albeit faithful to the original design.

 

It’s planned to run the replica Locomotion and its train from Shildon to Stockton via Darlington for the bicentenary ce