OVER the years, says Gerald Slack, there’ve been a number of claimants to the title of the world’s first railway town. That bit’s inarguable, the next more contentious.

“Close examination of the historical facts supports only one of those claimants, New Shildon.” Tell that to Stockton, and to Darlington.

Raised near Bishop Auckland, now in Aycliffe Village, Gerald has written several books on south Durham’s railway history. The title of the latest tells it as it is: “Shildon: the world’s first railway town.”

In 1821 the population was just 115, the site where the railway works would soon go hammer and tongs said by a surveyor to be but marshy land where a snipe or a flock of peewits might be found. Then Timothy Hackworth set up shop.

By 1833 there was a Mechanics’ Institute – “to improve the moral and intellectual condition of Shildon” – by 1834 there were six taverns (which may have had the opposite effect) and by 1841 gas works and a school.

By 1857 the railway works had 557 employees and the town finally gained a police station, though it was another 14 years before the nick got any cells. When the wagon works closed, 2,500 men lost their jobs.

Hackworth, central to the story, was a Methodist who laid down strict conditions for his workforce: men more than a quarter of an hour late would lose a quarter of a day’s pay, those swearing at workmates would be fined a shilling with the same penalty for introducing strangers to the works.

First among equals? Gerald argues his corner with relish and much research. His initial print run sold out on the first morning, the second – 100 richly illustrated A5 pages – is now available for £15 from the Town Crier office in Shildon.

THOUGH he died on September 29 last year, The Times earlier this month carried an obituary of Brigadier Tim Hackworth – “soldier, engineer and mathematician” – said to have been from the same family as the great railway pioneer. His funeral, with full ceremonial and military honours, was held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Brig Hackworth and his wife had a son, another Timothy, who died when he was four.

EXPLORING the archive for something else entirely, we stumble across a Backtrack column paragraph from 2002 – that Timothy Hackworth had scored for Hebburn Town in a Northern League game against Shotton Comrades. Last of the line? Whatever happened to him?

TOMMY TAYLOR – Durham County alderman, parliamentary windmill tilter, former champion boxer and top bloke – was himself a Shildon wagon worker though not (quite) in Timothy Hackworth’s time.

Born into an Army family, he has suffered tremors since a post-war bomb blast and is vice-president of the National Tremor Society. Jeremy Paxman’s president.

The funny thing is, says Tom, that after it happened he won the children’s handwriting section at Shildon Show for three copperplate years on the trot.

Last week he marked his 77th birthday, as usual with a bit of a do at the Candlelite Folk Club in Newton Aycliffe and as usual with music from the excellent Old Age Travellers.

They’ve been on the road almost two decades, these boys, named after they saw the New Age Travellers at Tow Law. “We were thinking what to call ourselves and its just struck,” says Malcolm Elsbury, the lead signer. “We might have to start calling ourselves the Geriatric Travellers quite soon.”

In truth they’re but bairns. Malcolm, Barney boy, is 64, Sedgefield lad John Stokell, 68, and Michael Ninham, from Evenwood, 71.

Their repertoire ranges from Dirty Old Town (said to have been written about Salford) to a sonorous song about the great white whale. A senior moment, when Malcom forgot the words, is wholly understandable. A very happy birthday.

CANDLE lit at both ends, we head the following morning for the Age UK men’s breakfast in Durham. Stuart Errington, chief officer of the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, is the greatly informative guest speaker.

Mr Errington wears a short sleeved shirt. Next to him, Mr Terry Schofield sits in top coat and gloves. Wherever else things can get a bit hot, it’s not in the covered market in January.

The chief had marked 25 years service just a few days earlier, the first man in brigade history to reach the top of the greasy pole – others descend it – without serving elsewhere.

Mostly he talked of change, of prevention not extinguishing. These days they employ drones; from next month they’ll have ballistic clothing for use in terrorist-related incidents. “I never thought 25 years ago that I’d be saying that…”

Each of the service’s 27 frontline fire engines now carries £35,000 worth of equipment for use in road accidents. All of the fire stations has a gym; none has snooker tables, dart boards or even beds. There’s work to be done, even at night. Of the 510 operational firefighters, full-time and retained, none smokes.

Increasingly they’re female. Sarah Nattrass, who joined 23 years ago as a retained firefighter at Stanhope, has just been made assistant chief officer.

Around a third of the 18,000 annual calls are to fires, a similar number to special service incidents and – last year – around 4,000 to medical emergencies, including “bareatrics” – shifting the greatly obese.

Back in his early years, In Consett, there was also a call to a 40 stone woman stuck in a bath. Whether special service or medical, it was all in a day’s work.

A CHANGE less welcomed by firefighters is that under new pension provision most will be expected to work until they’re 60. It recalled the night in the early 1970s when the Cosy Cinema at Middleton-in-Teesdale went up.

Summoned by their pagers, the village’s part-time firemen responded heroically – and no matter that two of them, aged 68 and 74, had been enjoying a game of dominoes at the Over 60s club.

The resultant headlines proved similarly inflammatory. Rules were changed. Emergency or not, the dominoes could continue uninterrupted.

AGAIN Teesside Airport’s somewhat minimalist railway station is in the news, relegated to second in the least-used list by the 24 annual passengers at Barry Links (which sounds like it should have rather better connections).

They’re golf links. That the next two stations on the line from Perth to Arbroath are Golf Street and Carnoustie may offer a clue.

The temptation was to take a trip up there when me and our kidder were in Edinburgh last week, but since there’s only one stopping train a day – still a six times better service than Teesside Airport – it proved impossible.

Nor were we encouraged by the Scotrail website which regrets that not only does Barry Links not have refreshment rooms, there’s not even a bureau de change.

Still, things are clearly improving. In 2002-03, when the station again led the list, just three passengers had boarded and five alighted.

This summer, Carnoustie hosts the Open. Since Barry Links borders the course, local councillor Barry Boyd is confident of a veritable cascade of visitors. Teesside Airport may resume its accustomed nadir.