PRACTICALLY every time you open the paper, there's another announcement about Darlington's Bank Top station. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was the latest, "reconfirming" £93m of Government money for the redevelopment to go with £33m from the Tees Valley Combined Authority. It will mean three new platforms and an increase in capacity, and it will all be ready for 2025, the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
But that's the future. We thought we'd look back at the past of the station by delving into The Northern Echo's photo-archive. If you can tell us anything about any of the pictures, we'd love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
When the first section of mainline opened in 1841, a shed was placed at Bank Top for passengers to wait in. This was replaced in the 1860s by a brick station, one all of which remains on the southbound platform. It was accessed by a new street, Victoria Road, from the town centre. Work on a larger station started in 1885, which required the demolition of 20 houses, three pubs and a school, and it was opened, without ceremony, on July 2, 1887. This is the main entrance on Victoria Road in February 1937, with the imperious clocktower rising 80ft, although most people use the parcels ramp off Parkgate to reach the trains
Are diesels as romantic as steam engines? Here's D1767 near the Darlington North signal box outside Bank Top station on October 5, 1966, with the cooling towers of the electricity generating station pumping out a nice cloud of dirty steam
Digital displays now inform passengers of cancellations and delays, but when this picture was taken at Bank Top on July 11, 1969, the information came from a chalkboard. "Warnpass" is an interesting word
A service at Bank Top in 1925 to celebrate the centenary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, taken from the station buildings looking down the ramp towards Parkgate. Will we see such scenes in 2025?
On August 17, 1975, a service commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway was broadcast across the nation from in front of Locomotion No 1 and Derwent, a historic engine, which were then on display at Bank Top
A porter assists with a passenger's luggage on January 27, 1968
A busy day during the holiday season of 1962 at Bank Top
Careful with those Christmas parcels! Taken at Bank Top on December 22, 1962
After the Second World War, with the housing crisis forcing thousands of people to squat in wartime buildings, pre-fabs were thrown up to accommodate people, including 23 which were constructed on Green Street, opposite Bank Top station. The foundations were dug by German prisoners of war. These pre-fabs, in the shadow of the cooling towers of the power station, lasted until the 1960s and now the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is on their site
This probably should not have been saved in the Bank Top station packet as we guess it shows thew 1975 cavalcade of steam which commemorated the 150th anniversary of the openiong of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. If you can tell us where it was taken and what it shows, we'd love to hear from you. The little girl in the bottom right hand corner was not as enamoured with the historic steam engines as some of the people who have climbed onto fences and vantops in search of a decent vantage point
READ MORE: COTHERSTONE IN OLD PICTURES
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