THE first steam locomotive built at North Road was No 175 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in October 1864. It was named Contractor, after David Dale, who was the commercial director of the shops – the contractor – when they opened in 1863.

Dale came to Darlington by accident. He was born in 1829 in India to Scottish parents. When the young family was returning to Scotland, his father died on the ship home. Back on English soil, his grieving mother and her three children caught the mailcoach to Glasgow, which was involved in an accident on the outskirts of Darlington. Mrs Dale was so badly injured that she had to be carefully carried to the King’s Head Hotel.

Such was the kindness shown to her by the townspeople that when she recovered, she decided to make Darlington her home. Thus David began to make his way in the local railway industry, forming a business partnership with William Bouch to build locos first at Shildon and then at North Road, and forging a marital partnership with Ann Backhouse Robson, the grand-daughter of Jonathan Backhouse, the banker who had bankrolled the S&DR at its formation.

Dale’s other main business interest was the Consett ironworks, and he became an international expert in industrial relations – he was knighted for this work in 1895.

For 50 years, he lived in West Lodge, off Woodland Road. The mansion is now beneath the Memorial Hospital, but you can still see the lodge house by the Greenbank traffic lights.

On April 28, 1906, when returning from London on the train, Dale was taken ill at Grantham. A doctor on board battled to save him, but when York was reached, he was carried off to the Station Hotel, where he died. A special train was laid on to bring his body home to Darlington.

Ironically, he was outlived by the engine named after him. Contractor was scrapped in 1908, having covered 1,070,488 miles.