Head of Steam facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Head of Steam

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Established	1975
Location	Darlington, County Durham, England
Type	Railway museum

Head of Steam was once known as the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum. It is a special museum all about trains! You can find it in Darlington, England.

This museum is built right on the path of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This was the world's very first railway to use steam trains to carry passengers. That happened way back in 1825! The museum itself is inside the old North Road railway station building.

The museum shows off amazing things from the early days of railways. It focuses on the Stockton and Darlington Railway and how important the railway industry was in Darlington.

In 2022, there were plans to make the museum much bigger. It would become part of a new area called the Railway Heritage Quarter. In December 2023, the museum closed for a while. It is getting a huge makeover that costs £35 million!

In October 2023, the Railway Heritage Quarter got a new name: Hopetown Darlington. This name celebrates the rich history of trains in this part of Darlington. This area is called Hopetown because of the old Hopetown Carriage Works and Hope Town Foundry that used to be there.

Hopetown Darlington is a big place, about 7.5 acres! It includes the old Head of Steam museum, which is now called the North Road Station Museum. There will also be a large hall for special exhibitions. You can even go on a 4D virtual reality time travel ride! There will be an adventure playpark, a café, a shop, and a field for festivals. Some partners like the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust will also be there. Hopetown Darlington plans to open to the public in summer 2024.

Locomotives

Before 2021, the museum had five amazing trains on display. The museum owned two of them. Three others were borrowed from the National Railway Museum. In 2021, the famous Locomotion No. 1 moved to the Locomotion Museum in Shildon.

Number & Name	Year	Description	Livery	History	Image
Locomotion No. 1	1975	Replica S&DR 0-4-0	N/A	This train is a copy of the original Locomotion No. 1. The original was built by George Stephenson. It was made for the world's first public railway that used steam trains. This was the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The original Locomotion No. 1 pulled the very first train on this line on September 27, 1825. The real one was at this museum from 1975 to 2021. It then moved to Shildon. This replica was built in 1975. It used to be at the Beamish Museum. Now it's here and will be fixed to run again by 2025. That's for the 200th birthday of the Stockton and Darlington Railway!	A replica of Locomotion No. 1
No. 25 Derwent	1845	S&DR 0-6-0	Green	No. 25 Derwent was designed by Timothy Hackworth. It was built by William and Alfred Kitching. This train was used on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It was displayed for many years with Locomotion No. 1 at Darlington Bank Top station. Later, it moved to this museum.	Derwent locomotive
No. 1463	1885	NER 1463 (LNER E5) 2-4-0	NER Apple Green	This engine was designed by Henry Tennant and Thomas W. Worsdell. It was used for fast express trains. For a long time, it was shown at the original York Railway Museum.	NER 1463 locomotive
No. 901	1919	NER T3 (LNER Q7) 0-8-0	LNER Black	This train was designed by Sir Vincent Raven. It was made to pull very heavy freight trains. In the 1980s, it was loaned to a group that fixed it so it could run again. Then it worked for several years on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It was put on display in the museum when it was being updated in 2008.	NER T3 901 locomotive
No. D6898	1964	BR Class 37 Co-Co	BR Green	No. D6898 (also known as 37198) was designed by English Electric. It was built in Darlington. This was the last train built at that factory before it closed. It stopped being used in 1999. It was saved and then sold to Network Rail in 2008. After some parts were used for other trains, it was given to the museum in August 2021.	BR Class 37 D6898 locomotive

Model Railway

The museum has a really big model of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. You can see how detailed it is in the pictures below!

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  A detailed view of the model railway.

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  Another angle of the model railway.

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  The model railway showing buildings and tracks.

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  Close-up of a section of the model.

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  The model railway with miniature trains.

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  A wider view of the impressive model.

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  The model railway, showing its intricate details.