STANDING at the spot where, 175 years ago, the Stockton and Darlington Railway began, the heart sinks.

I was raised in Shildon so the town's heritage, and that of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR), is something which runs deep - although the technical details of Locomotion No 1 and the Sans Pareil do not inspire great excitement.

Alan Pearce, who has been in charge of the Timothy Hackworth Victorian and Railway Museum in Shildon for 15 years, agreed to take me on a journey along the old line.

But really I needed David Bellamy for a guide as I crashed through the undergrowth that obscures my heritage.

We started just north of New Inn Farm, near Etherley - a farm which presumably takes its name from the railway.

Back then there were no stations so pubs sprang up along the line to sell tickets and serve as waiting rooms. But here there is nothing to mark the spot where, on September 27, 1825, horses hauled the first coal from the local collieries to meet the first train which was steaming away at Shildon.

The track bed still stands on the original embankment, boundary hedges still exist and various buildings date back to the opening of the line, thousands of motorists pass by each day, unaware.

Walking towards Etherley, the back lane of Phoenix Row follows the original track bed.

Thomas Buckle, a local man, has had the foresight to preserve the area's history, something the authorities have not chosen to do.

When workmen dug out original S&DR sleepers, he placed them around a garden area at the southern end of Phoenix Row, next to the track bed, for all to see.

Further south, the embankment is well kept. Thick wooden fence posts and boundary hedges again hint at a rich railway history, but signage is poor.

The line can be followed, pushing aside the weeds, to where it crosses the main road at North Leazes, just west of Bishop Auckland. If the heart sank four miles up the path, here it plummets.

We stumble around seeking the footpath on the other side of the road, and then find a small gate - chained shut and hidden among greenery, as is the trail itself.

We take a car to West Auckland and, close to the Arthur Daley pub, find the trackbed, now running clear, again. Here is the site of the Gaunless Bridge. Built in 1824 to George Stephenson's designs, it was the world's first iron railway bridge. The actual bridge is preserved at the National Railway Museum, in York. On either side of the river stand the original stone sides.

With so much history, you would expect the site to be marked. Not so.

The next stretch of the track goes on to Brusselton, just outside Shildon, where, thankfully, the heritage is well-kept. There are interpretation signs, and resident goats to keep the grass and weeds at bay.

An original bridge, which allowed a local farmer to access land on either side of the railway line without crossing the track, is preserved. Two other bridges are partly demolished.

Either side of the main Royal Oak Road, S&DR sleepers can be seen. Some are still in place, others have been reset for reasons of posterity and education, measured to the correct spacing and on the original track bed.

At the Shildon end of what was once a thriving village, with a church and shops, are four railwaymen's cottages, an engineman's house and the building which sheltered the engine.

Passing the partly-destroyed Milk Bridge, the trail passes through what was once the Sebastopol Marshes. Although the area has been open-cast mined in recent decades and is now arable land, it is represented on the back of the £5 note.

In Shildon town there is much to mark the rich railway heritage. The name Hackworth features on schools, a pub, streets, an industrial estate and, of course, the museum.

The New Masons pub has a smart new look after suffering a serious fire several years ago.

It stands alongside the track bed and was a ticket office. On the level crossing in front of it on that very first day, Locomotion No 1 departed to officially launch the railway.

A traffic island outside the pub features a replica signal, with original lighting from the last signal on the site, while there is still a signal post on the nearby Hackworth Industrial Estate.

The line through the town is still walkable, right through to the station and beyond.

The museum has plenty of information and booklets on trails around the town.

Coal drops still stand at the side of the line, and Sedgefield Borough Council also runs the Soho Engine Shed as part of the museum.

In my home town, at the end of my trail, it is easy to see what can be done with only a little effort and expenditure.

It is hard to understand why the rest of the railway has not been so well looked after.

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