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Introduction to the Railways & Tramways of Darlington

Darlington Corporation Light Railway

Operational Notices (DCLR)

Maps of Darlington's Electric Tramway

The Stockton & Darlington Railway

The Clarence Railway

The Great North of England Railway

The Stainmore Line

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R.o.B Tramways

Darlington's Horse Tramways

The Darlington Street Railroad Company

The Stockton and Darlington Steam Tramway Co

Messers Merryweather & Sons

With the seeming success of the 'Street Cars' of George Francis Train in Birkenhead and London the Pease family who were prominent and influential figures in Darlington and South Durham, with interests in factories, collieries and mills in the area as well as the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR), decided that the 'Street Railroad' would be a good solution to traffic congestion in the town especially along the trunk route of the Great North Road the tamped earth surface turning in to a muddy swamp during rainfall or in the winter. The resultant company 'The Darlington Street Railroad Company' with the Pease family as directors approached Mr Train with regards to use of his patent and to employ him as an advisor for the tramways construction. During the design stage and the laying of the single track tramway with passing places, the Board of Trade was regularly consulted. The track (using what was known as the type Philadelphia tramrail) was laid on the western northbound side of the road with the rail head above the surface of the road a flat plate section 5 to 6 inches wide embedded in the road, the tracks location against Mr Trains advice who asserted that a better location would have been the centre of the road so that trams in a southbound direction would not have been moving against the on coming traffic. Upon completion of the work the Board of Trade officially inspected the tramway and authorised its opening but with the stipulation that the Board of Trade was to be held harmless for all actions, losses, costs, damages or expenses and if the line was not a success within 3 years it was to be removed, especially if it was a public nuisance.

The tramway opened for public service on 1^st January 1862 between the Market place and the S&DR North Road station a short branch running under the Stockton and Darlington railway bridge which replaced a level crossing that was once at this location and on to Whessoe street (now Whessoe Road) the overall journey taking just over 4 minutes. The tramway depot was located in Mc Nay Street opposite the station a spur accessing the depot from the Station Road line, the companies offices sited above the stables. As was anticipated by Mr Train the location of the tramway caused problems not only with oncoming traffic but also with vehicles stopping at the side of the road to make deliveries for drop/collect people. For those that were against the construction of the tramway, such as cab drivers, the company had given good excuse for causing disruption to the tram services by locating the track where they did though there were many incidental cases of obstruction such as cattle blocking the road (in the days when cattle drovers walked their live-stock along the street). Though there were several incidents of vandalism to the tramway, most damage was caused to road vehicles and injuries to horses caused by the raised 'Step' rail. Unfortunately compensation claims and court actions were frequent against the company severely affecting profits. By 1864 the company and the local people had had enough and after 3 meetings of the local board of health it was decided that the tramway was a danger and nuisance to the public and should be immediately removed though it took until 1865 for the decision to take effect services ceasing and the company formally wound up. Upon the cessation of services a horse drawn omnibus service was introduced until the resurrection of tram services in the town in 1880. Four years after the closure of Darlington's first tramway the government introduced what was known as the 'Tramways act 1870' which was a response to the number of applications for the construction of street tramways throughout Britain. The act gave specific requirements for the construction of future tramways in Britain the principals still applying to tramways today. This new act and the Tramway mania of the time allowed the 'Stockton and Darlington Steam Tramway Company' to propose a system of six, horse drawn, 3 foot gauge, single track with passing loops, tramways in the town in the November of 1879. The plans were submitted to the Board of Trade once it was found that people were in favour of a new tramway, approval by the Board given in 1880.

Line 1 would resurrect the old 1862 route from the market place to North road but extending the line another 1/4 mile to St Paul's church, Wales street, just north of the North Eastern railway locomotive works on North Road. The line would be single track with passing loops at Union Street, Lambton Street and Mc Nay street.

Line 2 was to run from the North eastern railway station (Bank top) on the York to Newcastle (Now east coast mainline) line down Victoria road, Feethams, along the side of the market place, Horsegate terminating at West Row. The line would be single track with passing places at Feethams and West row.

Line 3 South park, Grange road via Skinnergate from Bondgate, South park was a popular place in the summer and weekends. The line would be single track with passing a loop at Grange road, Polam Hall school.

Line 4 ran from the Market place via Tubwell Row and Parkgate to the northern entrance to the NER station and on to St Johns church to the east of the railway bridges. There would be a passing place at the bottom of Parkgate.

Line 5 was to resurrect the old branch from the 1861 route that ran off Northgate up station road to the Stockton and Darlington railway station (now North Road railway centre and museum).

Line 6 was to run from the market place Prebend row to Cockerton via Bondgate, Woodland road terminating at Cockerton Bridge, the Junction of Staindrop road and Woodland road due to the original Cocker beck bridge not been strong enough or wide enough to allow the passage of the cars. This meant that the trams never actually reached Cockerton itself. This would be single track with passing loops at Portland place, Milbank place, Milbank road and Pierremont.

In the end the only lines opened were numbers, 1, 2 and 6 "the requirements of the public have not yet grown to such a point as to necessitate" the original proposal. The town centre terminus was sited at Pre bend row with the Bank top branch extending past the indoor market at west row, where there was a passing loop. Line 2 only lasted until 1885 when it was abandoned due to lack of patronage though it is not known for definite when the track was lifted.

The aim of the company was to connect Darlington's tramway with its concern in Stockton using steam tram locomotives as traction, hence the companies name. Though the town of Stockton 11 miles east of Darlington comes first in the company's title, it was not until 17^th November 1881 that the tramway in that town started operation using 4 foot gauge track which seems odd if they wanted to connect to the Darlington system. The single track with passing places main line in Stockton ran for just over four and a half miles from Norton Green to Bridge Road near the river Tees and was laid by Messrs J W Grover and J W Newton engineers to the tramway using the Kincaid system of tramway track though slightly modified. A few technical specifications for the tramways construction included the use of 45 lb per yd Bessemer steel rail rolled to 23 foot lengths with a 1 inch groove for the flanged wheel, the rail formed with a  'central web' and a depth of just under 4 inches secured to iron chairs by clips the chair also supporting the paving laid either side of the rail. Cross ties of 2 inch angle iron were placed at 9 feet spacing except in curves where the ties were 6 feet apart. The trench for the track was 12 inches deep with a width of 7 feet 3 inches and filled with Portland cement to 5 1/2 inches to form the track slab. As the roads were macadamised (Tarmaced or Metalled) the removed spoil was mixed with river sand and sometimes burnt clinker used to fill in the space between the running rails which was then paved. A reversing triangle was located at Norton Green terminus to turn the engines round. Two branches were provided one running to St Peter's church via Yarm Lane and Yarm Road the second shorter one running to Stockton Railway station via Bishopton Lane, these two branches only having short lives due to little patronage. Motive power was provided by steam tram locomotives, all with their motion covered, a later addition to the fleet in 1883 or 1884 came in the form of a Merryweather Steam Tram locomotive originally built for the North Staffordshire Tramways in 1881. Messers Merryweather & Sons were one of the earliest companies established for the production of Tramway locomotives and built the first steam car to be used in England in 1872 to a design of a Mr Grantham. This vehicle was a horse drawn tramcar converted to make space for the motion and two boilers the tram tested on a 350 yard long section of tramway in West Brompton, London before further trials took place in the November of 1873 on the London Tramways between London Victoria Railway station and Vauxhall Bridge. Though the experiment was not a success due to poor steaming it did set the example that there was opportunity for steam traction on urban tramways as already used in some parts of America and France. The tram was then removed to the Wantage Tramway where it continued to give bad steaming until altered to a single boiler.  As Tramway locomotives were used more in Europe than England a lot of the Merryweather Co's work was sent abroad with three types of locomotive produced each with a higher operating value than the other. Some British tramways that used Merryweather tram locomotives were the Guernsey Steam Tramway, the Dewsbury, Batley & Birstall Tramway and the aforementioned Stoke on Trent & District Tramway. The Stockton locomotives hauled 4 wheeled double decker open top trailers numbered 1-8, though in 1897 No.9 a closed top trailer was introduced. The depot was located in Bridge Road and with the end of tramways in Stockton this became the base for Stockton Corporation Transport. In 1887 the tramway was extended over the new Victoria Bridge, built next to the original bridge to cater for increased road traffic, from its original terminus at Bridge Road to the Harewood Arms in to South Stockton which became Thornaby-on-Tees in 1892. Ownership of the Stockton and Darlington Steam Tramway Company's Stockton concern passed over to the Stockton and District Tramways Co. In 1893 due to flagging profits that company taken over by the Imperial Tramways Co. which withdrew the Steam Locomotives and electrified the tramway from 1897. Though the Stockton and Darlington Tramways were independent operationally, the company's records dealt with the annual returns and rolling stock as one whole.