A day we’d been planning ever since I received a VIP invite through the post, I picked up my Grandad around 08:00, we headed off for our all day Railway Adventure which would start at Locomotion, the impressive NRM annex located in Shildon, County Durham. Although I’d been here before, it was a first for my Grandad.
We started off looking around the reception building, which houses the original 'Sans Pareil' locomotive created by local Engineer and Railwayman Timothy Hackworth. It was built to compete in the famous Rainhill Trials, held in 1825 this event was designed to test each entering Locomotive with the view to selecting the best to run on the newly created Manchester and Liverpool line. Unfortunately for Mr Hackworth ‘Sans Pareil’ did not win the trials, instead being won by a Loco named ‘Rocket’……..you may have heard the name once or twice!
Just outside of the Reception Building is a wagon shed, which has now become a platform to board Guards Vans behind a small locomotive to be ferried the short distance down to the Collections Building which as the name suggests, is the housing area for some of the National Collection. Unfortunately for us, there was no shuttle service by rail today, instead they had hired an old United Bristol Bus to drive there! Every cloud….
However, with it being my Grandad’s first visit we decided to stroll lineside to see the coal drop. He remembers such things as this in full use being brought up in the coal rich North East. After that the short walk takes you under the road bridge and out into the open area of the Collections Building. Just outside stood a Class 03 Shunter and a power car of the Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train (APT), desperately awaiting some much needed TLC.
One of the main reason’s for bringing my Grandad to Shildon before heading for York (more of that in part 2) was the fact that Locomotion is the temporary home of the World Famous, Record Breaking LNER Class A4 'Mallard' He is very fond of the A4’s and has only seen No. 4468 once before, many moons ago.
The first thing meeting us was the huge bulk of the Prototype 'Deltic' with its eye catching colour mix of Sky Blue and Cream. The 'cat's whiskers' on the front of this unique loco immediately draw you in. It is a shame that the layout of Locomotion doesn’t allow you to walk around Deltic, being sandwiched between 'Mallard' and the APT-E Prototype.
Not to dither on such details we looked around the Collections Buildings taking in such Locomotives as 'Olton Hall' which has movie star status after featuring as 'Hogwarts Express' in the Harry Potter films, to more diverse railway relics in the form of a N.E.R Snow Plough that ran out of Percy Main, North Shields, not a million miles away from where I live. Also here is a mining loco that worked at ‘Big E’, the Ellington Colliery in Northumberland which was the last operating deep mining location in the Great North Coalfields, right up till 2005!
Also, near to the back of the museum stood an imported 8F loco, having being brought (and bought) from a long stint in Turkey. Although housed inside Locomotion, this is a privately owned work in progress. It had been sitting derelict in the Turkish sun for many years and it requires a lot of work but I’m sure the hard work will be worth it once it is finished, good luck!
Then it was back to marvel at the sight that is ‘Mallard’. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, it remains a masterpiece in British Railway Engineering and still holds the world speed record for a Steam Locomotive (125.88mph) set in 1938. A cup of overly expensive tea from the cafe later and we headed for the Bristol Bus for a short ride on this very interesting vehicle back to the car and onto our next destination for a little bit of history in the making.
