IT wasn’t just roads that had mile markers on them: railways did, and many of these curios still remain beside the track.

The 1845 Railway Clauses Consolidation Act required railway companies to install markers every quarter-of-a-mile along the track, partly so that passengers could see they weren’t being overcharged when they paid per mile for their journeys.

This meant that each line had to have a starting point, a zero point.

In 1905, the North Eastern Railway re-measured all of its lines, and installed zero posts to show precisely where the measuring began. Some zero posts were the starting points for more than one line, and so the posts usually had the initials of the pertinent lines attached to them.

READ MORE: HIDDEN ROADSIDE CARVING MARKS THE SPOT WHERE A DUCHESS'S FAVOURITE FELL TO HIS DEATH

The zero post of the Brusselton Incline branch of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, taken in Shildon works in 1984 by K Gregory“The zero post for the Brusselton branch of the Stockton & Darlington Railway was Shildon signal box,” says Richard Barber, of the JW Armstrong Trust, attaching some pictures to illustrate his points. “At some point, the post was rescued and placed in the Shildon works yard.

The zero post beneath the Parkgate bridge in Darlington in 1969, with the initials showing that it was the starting point for three lines. What happened to this zero post? Picture: Ray Goad“Another zero post was under Haughton Road bridge in Darlington. As it said on it, it was the zero point for PAR LP (the Parkgate Loop, which has now been removed), S&D (Stockton & Darlington line from Parkgate Junction to Shildon signal box) and BA&W (the Bishop Auckland and Weardale railway which ran from Parkgate Junction.”

Haughton Road bridge, Darlington, 1971: the zero post was beneath the bridge, but where is it now?In 1937, the London & North Eastern Railway went further than just installing mileposts and began placing cast iron points of interest signs beside the tracks so passengers could see how many miles they were from Edinburgh or London, or when they were crossing county or country boundaries, or passing over the trackbed of the 1825 Stockton & Darlington Railway.

The 1937 LNER beside the Tees Viaduct at Croft has been restored fairly recently by Network Rail. Picture: Richard Barber

The 1937 sign marking where the S&DR crosses over the East Coast Main Line in Albert Hill, Darlington. Picture: Richard BarberMany of these lineside curios are still in place but...

The King Edward VII Bridge in Newcastle with the Durham and Northumberland signs which are no longer there. Picture: Ken Taylor Collection“One set of signs that is now missing used to sit on the King Edward VII bridge over the River Tyne in Newcastle,” says Richard. “Those were the days when County Durham’s northern boundary ran along the south bank of the River Tyne, whereas today it finishes at Chester-le-Street.”

It must have been after the 1974 local government reorganisation, which created Tyne & Wear and cut County Durham down to size, that the signs on the bridge were removed. Did they go for scrap or are they treasured somewhere? And what happened to the zero post in Parkgate?

READ NEXT: SHILDON'S RAIL MUSEUM GOES BANANAS AS IT CELEBRATES ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY