THERE is a sculpture trail around Hopetown, Darlington’s new railway attraction, in which children are encouraged to follow “nippers” – curious shapes made in corten steel by Andrew McKeown, the son of a Teesside steelmaker.
In the late 1830s, Thomas Edmondson, stationmaster at Milton on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, devised a ticket made of thick card that could be pre-printed with a serial number on it and then filled in by the clerk at the booking office to suit the passenger’s journey.
This ticket was adopted by the rail network in 1842.
READ MORE ABOUT HOPETOWN:
FROM THE STRAIGHTFORWARD TO THE STRANGE: SEVEN SIGHTS, AND TASTES, NOT TO MISS AT HOPETOWN
FROM LEGO TO LILY LAUNDRY: FOUR MORE FASCINATIONS FROM HOPETOWN
The card had the added advantage that it could be nipped by a ticket inspector with a ticket clipper to show that the ticket had been used.
However, as people broke long journeys, the inspector on each section nipped the ticket with a distinctive mark – a circle, a heart, a turret, three squares, even the shape of a duck – so that, in case of dispute, it could be proved where the ticket had been used.
Making the ticket clipper so that it imparted a precise shape to an Edmondson ticket was a skilled job.
These curious nipper shapes can be found across the Hopetown site.
PRE-ORDERS have opened on a new pictorial celebration of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in its bicentenary year.
This lavishly illustrated hardback book, with photographs by Darlington photographer Peter Giroux, will feature stunning imagery of the remaining features of the S&DR, which celebrates its 200th anniversary next year.
Text is by author and archaeologist Caroline Hardie, who has spent over a decade researching the railway and cataloguing the surviving historical landscape.
If funds permit there will also be poetic contributions from regional poets, soundscapes accessed by QR codes, historic imagery and additional photographic contributions from various Friends of the S&DR to help further bring the book to life.
This limited-edition book will be funded through pre-orders and subscriptions. The first 300 subscriber copies will be individually numbered and signed by the authors and the list of subscribers printed within all copies of the book, or alternatively subscribers can have the book dedicated in memory of a friend or family member with their name recorded on a special "in memoriam" page.
The book can be pre-ordered for £35 plus £4.10 postage from the Friends of the S&DR’s website at sdr1825.org.uk.
And, if you go to talesfromtherails.podbean.com, you can hear the Friends’ growing number of podcasts about the history of the line. That latest one to have dropped concerns Hopetown, Darlington’s new visitor attraction.
TOM HUTCHINSON writes to keep us right on Sir Vincent Raven, who became the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the North Eastern Railway in 1910 when a remarkable valet case, with his monogram inscribed on the handles of all the brushes, mirrors tweezers etc, was presented to him. Memories 689 told how the valet case is now on display in the stores area of Darlington’s new Hopetown museum.
SEE SIR VINCENT'S REMARKABLE VALET CASE HERE
Sir Vincent lived in the Edwardian mansion of Grantly, now demolished, in Carmel Road South in Darlington, and was chauffeur-driven to the NER’s palatial Stooperdale offices.
“He retired from NER railway service on December 31, 1922, though was retained as Technical Adviser to the newly formed LNER for another year,” says Tom. “He’d finished any rail connected work by 1927.
“He died on February 14, 1934, aged 75.”
READ FIRST: HOW DARLINGTON WAS BOWLED OVER BY THE FIRST LADY STARMER
“LADY STARMER was a lovely lady with a great personality,” says David Pickup, referring not to the Prime Minister’s wife but to the lady who was Darlington’s first lady for much of the 20th Century until her death in 1979. “She was a stalwart of St Cuthbert's Church and used to sit in the same pew on the left hand side of the nave. She always wore a coat with a fox collar - different times!
“I remember as a young boy in the late 1950s going with a group of children on a coach to the Globe at Stockton to see Lonnie Donegan in pantomime, and Lady Starmer bought us all an ice cream.
“Later, in my teens I used to cycle up the driveway at Danby Lodge to deliver her church magazine for my mother. The entrance to Danby Lodge was at the end of Ashcroft Road and the huge site ran right through to Cleveland Terrace, where there was a tradesman's entrance. The house was surrounded by lawns and gardens which Lady Starmer would use for events for her various patronages. The whole site has now been redeveloped as retirement housing.”
As Memories 697 and 689 have told, Lady Starmer left Danby Lodge to the Abbeyfield Society to provide retirement living.
MEET THE FIRST LADY STARMER HERE
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here