WE found this picture in The Northern Echo’s photo-archive filed in the Bank Top Station packet and used it in Memories 607, asking readers where it should really be placed.

READ MORE: 10 AMAZING OLD PHOTOS OF BANK TOP STATION

Loads of people told us that it is of the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s 150th anniversary Steam Cavalcade held on August 31, 1975.

The Northern Echo: 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

Our identified picture is full of action. People are on shoulders and even on the tops of campervans trying to get the best glimpses of the cavalcade - a part from the girl at the bottom right, who is thoroughly fed up of the whole spectacle 

It was taken from the north end of Heighington station as the cavalcade approached from Shildon on its way to Darlington.

Some people, of course, went much further than that.

Mike Barnard and Alan Orchard identified the engines. “The locomotive closest to the camera is Southern Railway S15 No 841 ‘Greene King’, built in 1936,” says Mike. “It was sold for scrap in 1964 but just stored in a yard in Wales. It was rescued in 1972 and restored to full working order in 1974, just in time for the cavalcade.

“When No 841 and a locomotive from the same class, No 825, required major repairs, they used parts from the two to create one working locomotive. The frames were from 825 so the resulting locomotive carries that number. No 825 is now based at Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, where it is a regular performer."

The Northern Echo: The North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s engines are gearing up to get back into action on Saturday, May 15 Picture: Charlotte Graham

No 825 at work on the North York Moors Railway in 2020

Returning to our original mystery picture, Mike continues: “The locomotive in the distance is Southern Railway Merchant Navy No 35028 ‘Clan Line’, built in 1948. It still has a certificate to allow main line running, but it is currently under repair following a failure while hauling a railtour in July.”

Richard Barber added that No 841’s crew on the day of the cavalcade included driver T Knott and fireman Chris Cubitt. “Chris is today a driver on the North York Moors Railway and I have another picture of that day where he can be seen leaning out of No 841’s cab.”

The Northern Echo: No 841 on the south side of Heighington station during the S&DR 150th cavalcade, taken by Rodney Wildsmith. Picture courtesy of Richard Barber

Richard Barber's fabulous picture of No 841 to the south of Heighington station during the 1975 cavalcade, just minutes after our mystery picture was taken. This picture was taken by Rodney Wildsmith, who was on duty for the Echo that day

The Northern Echo: Harry Bartlett at Brandon fever hospital in the 1920s

Harry Bartlett at Brandon fever hospital in the 1920s

THE recent and worrying outbreak of Streptococcus A allowed Memories 608 to reminisce about the days when young people caught scarlet fever, caused by the strep A virus, and were sent for weeks to isolation hospitals where even their parents could only see them through a glass screen and their homes had to be fumigated.

“My father, Harry Bartlett, who was born in Brandon on December 22, 1921, had scarlet fever when he was very young,” says Clare Midgley. “We think this photo was taken at Brandon Fever Hospital and he seems to be about 18 months old.

“The infection did affect him in later life as he wasn't fit enough to join the army when the Second World War broke out, but he was sent down the pit as a 'Bevan Boy'. He used to look after the ponies.

“He was then deemed not fit enough to work down below, having constant nosebleeds and claustrophobia, so he was sent to Birmingham to work in a factory making aircraft parts. He referred to this factory as “the Rover” as it was previously making Rover cars.

“He married my mother, Grace, in 1948. In my memory, dad was only off work once when I was living at home so his health wasn't too bad in later life.”

EILEEN TUNSTALL remembers that she was living in Middleton Road in Darlington town centre, behind the Hippodrome, when she contracted scarlet fever. “I fainted one morning, and my sister, Jean, who was 10 years older than me, had to run to the phone box on Stonebridge to call a doctor,” she says.

“I remember he said ‘this girl’s tonsils are as big as chestnuts. She will have to have them out when she’s better’. I had yellow spots on them – I remember looking at them through a mirror.”

Both Eileen’s elder sister and brother had been sent to Hundens isolation hospital some years earlier when they had contracted the illness, but the doctor did not send her there – was this because there had been a change of isolation policy, or was it because Hundens was already full?

“I remember my mum crying to my dad in the back yard that I couldn't go to hospital,” she says.

When was this? “Well, when I was better, the war was finished and I remember seeing Princess Elizabeth in a car coming down Borough Road,” she says.

We reckon this was October 22, 1947, when Elizabeth – who became queen five years later – arrived on the 5.47pm train into Bank Top Station. She was driven via Borough Road to Wynyard Hall where she stayed the night before taking part in her first solo visit to the region in Durham.