Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership has been working with groups along the line to increase their travel confidence through the Try The Train Project.

The project is funded by Northern Trains and is open to community groups in the Darlington, Shildon, Newton Aycliffe and Bishop Auckland areas.

The aim of the project is to support participants who may experience barriers to independent rail travel, such as low travel confidence or accessibility requirements. Participants take part in a short series of workshops and supported rail experiences, building skills such as journey planning through websites and apps, navigating confidently through stations and finding travel information.

Darlington Learning and Skills
In 2024 and 2025, we worked with students from Darlington Learning & Skills. We looked at journey planning using the Northern App. We explored social barriers to rail travel, such as feeling anxious about having to sit next to someone you don’t know or feeling overwhelmed in a noisy, busy station. We discussed quieter times to travel and places in the station where we can access information and help if needed. Our rail experiences in 2024 focussed around using rail services to travel for Further Education. We visited Middlesbrough College for a tour of their facilities.

Shildon Alive Youth Group
In 2025, we worked with students from Shildon Alive Youth Group. This group were keen to feel more confident in using the trains to access leisure activities. We learned how to find information online to plan our journeys in advance and how to use the ticket machines on the platform. The group decided to visit Redcar for a day at the beach. They were able to find the information they needed on the station display screens and feel confident navigating their way around the station.

Jess Young, Rail Education Officer for the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership said, “This is a fantastic programme that can be adapted to meet the travel needs of the participating group. We have previously worked with groups looking to travel for further education, employment or leisure. It is open to all groups in the community provided participants are over the age of 14.

We encourage anyone who leads a group to get in touch for more information please email rail.education@bishopline.org to arrange an initial discussion.”

On the 14^th of December the new Northern timetable will bring benefits to Bishop line passengers. Trains will run from earlier in the morning and finish later in the evening meaning there will be an extra service each day all through the week.

The changes are positive but frequent passengers are advised to check their journey plans in advance.

The timetable changes mean that from December, trains will run approximately half an hour later than they did on the May timetable, so if you are used to catching the 08:27 from Bishop Auckland to get you into Darlington before 9 for school, college or work, that will now be the 08:53 which will arrive in Darlington at 09:19, so you’ll need to catch the 07:51 to get you into Darlington before 9am.

All services will continue through to Saltburn.

Felicity Machnicki, Officer for the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership comments “It’s great to see an improved service between Bishop Auckland and Darlington allowing better connections locally and to the wider rail network. Most importantly, this is a great opportunity to try travelling by train on the Bishop Line for all sorts of trips, whether it’s to work or college, for shopping trips or for an evening out.”

From December, the first train from Bishop Auckland to Darlington, Monday to Saturday, will leave at 06:49 arriving at Darlington at 07:16, this is around 40 minutes earlier than the first train on the May timetable. The first train from Darlington to Bishop Auckland will leave at 06:17, this is around half an hour earlier than in the old timetable.

From December, the last train from Bishop Auckland to Darlington will now leave at 21:53 arriving at Darlington at 22:19, around 25 mins later than on the May timetable. The last train from Darlington to Bishop Auckland will now leave at 21:23 arriving at Bishop Auckland at 21:48, almost half an hour later than on the old timetable. This means passengers can enjoy a little more time on their evenings out, to perhaps enjoy an extra scoop of ice-cream!

For those commuting to London, from December, passengers will be able to connect from Bishop Auckland to London King’s Cross earlier than they could on the old timetable. The early train will leave Bishop Auckland at 06:49, passengers can change at Darlington onto the 07:35, arriving at Kings Cross at 10:03. On the old timetable, the earliest connection from Bishop Auckland to King’s Cross was 07:27 connecting at Darlington at 08:08, arriving at Kings Cross at 10:39.

The journey home will also be better for those working in London, passengers will be able to catch the 18:33 from King’s Cross which arrives at Darlington at 21:05, then travel on to Bishop Auckland on the 21:23 arriving at 21:48.

Please check your arrival time when planning your journey.  You can use the Northern app or visit the Northern website to check your specific train times. https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/

Bishop Line CRP is currently collaborating with 2 local organisations to make small steps to help tackle the issue of suicide in our area, one of those organisations is Darlington Mind.

The partnership helped Darlington Mind to secure funding from the CommunityRail Network and CrossCountry to create a Rail Themed Mental Health Trail which would be situated in Darlington town centre during Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 with the support of Darlington Borough Council events team.

Darlington Mind engaged with local groups and artists to design and decorate 25 2D wooden cutouts of trains which a relevant to Darlington’s heritage –  Locomotion No 1, Derwent, Tornado, Mallard, Prince of Wales, there were 5 of each train. Each of the trains were decorated in a design which related to one of the mental health 5 ways to wellbeing – Connect, Take notice, Learn, Give and Be active.

They then created a mindfulness trail around Darlington town centre during Mental Health Awareness Week in May 2025, based on the S&DR200 theme, featuring the decorated trains.

The decorated trains were located in indoor locations with an explanation board beside each train featuring the project overview and a link to find out more about Mind, and the 5 ways to wellbeing.

The text alongside each train drew together information about the locomotive, the five ways to wellbeing and the artists inspiration to present an appealing and informative trail to promote both better Mental Health and S&DR200.

Now the trail has closed the trains are being weather proofed and they will be relocated to various locations throughout the year, along with their boards. We hope the first location will be Hopetown Darlington,  followed by Locomotion, and then along the S&DR walking & cycling trail when it opens, and potentially at stations, so the messaging will live for the whole year and possibly longer.

So look out for them!

Bishop Line CRP is currently collaborating with 2 local organisations to make small steps to help tackle the issue of suicide in our area, one of those organisations is ManHealth.

ManHealth run support groups for men in and around County Durham and the North East of England. They also organise walks to encourage their men to meet up away from the group to help build community and friendship.

With support from the Community Rail Network and CrossCountry, the partnership is helping to fund a series of monthly walks starting and finishing at Bishop Line Stations. The project aims to engage with men of any age, living or working in Bishop Auckland, Shildon, Newton Aycliffe and Darlington throughout 2025 and up to the end March 2026.

To date walks have been delivered in Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Darlington and Shildon.

Look out for details of the next walk on the ManHealth Facebook page.

The work of six local children has been celebrated in a national competition to help promote rail safety.

Benjamin aged 8, and Klara aged 12, from Darlington, designed this year’s winning graphics aimed at helping other young people understand the dangers of trespassing on our railways. Alex, Matilda and Oliver from Darlington Cubs, joined Charity from a Darlington secondary school to take four of the runners up places in the Backtrack Competition.

Backtrack is a national anti-trespass competition, launched during covid to help tackle the rising number of trespass incidents on the railways. In its fifth year, the competition ran from September 2024 to March 2025 and attracted over 1,000 entries from across the UK. The Backtrack competition aims to reduce the amount of railway trespass by encouraging young people to share important anti-trespass messages with their friends and family.

Entrants were invited to submit either a social media graphic depicting a rail safety message or a media entry such as an animation, a podcast, a TV advert or a news report.

The entries from the Darlington and South Durham area were of a very high standard and showed some amazing creativity. Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership has been delivering rail education sessions in nurseries, schools, colleges and youth groups and this has attracted over 200 of this year’s entries, including some fantastic graphics and animations which highlight the key risks of trespassing.

All the winning entries have been compiled into a video, which is available at   https://backtrackcompetition.co.uk/

All the work from the winners and runners up will be used by the many community rail officers across the country when they visit schools and youth groups to talk about rail safety. And each winning entry will be played on social media too. Lots of opportunities to continue to share the #StayOffTheTracks message.

Virtual Education Network Chair Karen Bennett commented, “This year’s entries are fantastic, we had such a hard job choosing the winners as there was such a high standard. We’re so pleased the young people created such a diverse range of entries including illustrations, comic strips, animations and podcasts and even a rap. Young people are far more likely to take notice of an animation, or a video created by their peers than something more corporate, so we are delighted to have such a vibrant collection of of high quality resources to share with all our colleagues right across the rail industry”.

Well done to everyone who entered, watch out for the Backtrack Competition 2026 – we’ll be back!

Winners:

Under 11 Graphics Winner – Benjamin, Darlington
12 and over Graphics Winner – Klara, Darlington
Under 11 Media Winners – Amilie, Freddie, Betsy, Emelia, Ollie, Cara – Primary School Junior Road Safety Officers, Petersfield
12 and over Media Winners – Emily, Maddison, Amelia, Boeima, Hull

Runners up:

Under 11 Media Runner Up – Alex, Darlington Cubs
Under 11 Media Runner Up – Amazon Cubs, Farsley
Under 11 Graphics Runner Up – Matilda, Darlington Cubs
Under 11 Graphics Runner Up – Oliver, Darlington Cubs
Under 11 Graphic Runner Up – Thea Proudfoot, York
12 and over Graphics Runner Up – Charity, Darlington
12 and over Graphics Runner Up – Papa – West Lothian Scouts

Charlie Walton has been instrumental in the development and ongoing success and growth of the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership. He served as Chair for 10 years then stepped aside to Vice Chair, and in both roles he has supported the officers and steering group with his knowledge of the railways and the local communities’ needs.  He has recently relocated and hung up his Bishop Line hat but we’re so pleased to be able to share with you his story of how he became so passionate about railways and in particular our line between Bishop Auckland and Darlington. Thank you Charlie, for everything you have done for the partnership. You may have moved but we know you’ll always be a proud supporter of the Bishop Line. 

My first ride on a train in all likelihood was with my Mam when I was a baby travelling from Etherley to Shildon to see my maternal grandparents. My first recollection of seeing a train up close and personal was at Shildon station watching the arrival on platform one of a black steam engine (a G5 perhaps) hauling red carriages. I was thrilled as my experience with trains at that time was limited to my first battery powered circular train set. Steam hauled trains on the branch were soon to disappear to be replaced by these new fangled diesel multiple units.

A house move from Witton Park to Shildon to live with my grandparents took place just before I started infant school at “Tin Tax” or Timothy Hackworth infant and junior school to give it it’s proper name. The move was for family reasons to allow my Mam to look after my Nana whose health was failing (no care workers in those days). This change of circumstances brought me into to day to day contact with my Granddad. He was a formidable character and did not suffer fools gladly. He had been in charge of the forge at Shildon Wagon Works until he retired and was therefore well known around the town as “Charlie Stivvie”. Yes the family name was Stephenson (no connection has yet been established with the other Stephenson clan) and yes I was named after him (war would have broken out if his only grandson had not been called after him!).

He was a dyed in the wool LNER man who on several occasions had met Sir Nigel Gresley who apparently referred to him as Charlie. Granddad built his own bungalow in 1937. An examination of the loft revealed that he had reinforced the roof with railway track. He had the largest private garden in Shildon at the time where he grew all the usual crops to feed the household and his large collection of rabbits which he showed and won a prestigious national cup for the best English rabbit three years in a row. He had a 33 hutch shed, which was called the rabbitry, as well as a small hospital shed and larger storage shed behind. Being a retired railway worker he could journey all over the country exhibiting his rabbits at shows by train for free. He eventually became a national rabbit judge. He also grew tobacco as he was a pipe smoker. His rows of tall tobacco plants were always a talking point.

Nearly all my friend’s families worked at the Works, on the railway or in public services. My Dad worked for the ambulance service and his uncle used to be in charge of the water works at Bishop Auckland. My Mam’s cousin married Hartley Appleby, the last station master at Shildon Station. My father in law was a wagon inspector at the Works.

So it will be on no surprise that my love of railways generally and the Bishop Line particularly came from my upbringing. My particular passion is for model railways and the LNER. My Granddad’s garden overlooked the Shildon sidings. There was only open fields between the garden and the railway where Locomotion stands today and I would spend hours watching the trains trundling backwards and forwards. Sundays were especially interesting as diverted east coast main line expresses shot through making a change from the Works shunters, freight and mineral trains and the branch DMUs.

In my working life as planning officer for the former Sedgefield Borough Council I organised for the listing on Heighington and Shildon signal boxes and was honoured to be the officer for securing planning permission for Locomotion itself – a career highlight.  I had always been involved in one form or another with the erstwhile Heritage Line and in the fullness of time became the Vice Chair and Secretary of the Friends of the National Railway Museum North East Branch at Locomotion and then of course Chair of the BLCRP for 10 years. I wonder what Granddad would have made of that?

Charlie Walton

Write on Track is a local creative writing project directly linked to the bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It is supported by the S&DR Community Grants Scheme, Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership and Creative Darlington.

Local writers and performers led sessions all with a different focus on creating a short story, poem or piece of memoir. People took the opportunity to visit and write in various venues along the original twenty six mile route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway – Hopetown Darlington, Locomotion Shildon, Preston Park, Stockton Library and Darlington Local Studies Centre. And, thanks to the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership and Northern, groups wrote while travelling on actual trains and at station platforms.

Write on Track also talked to local people in Music and Memories sessions at Darlington Central and Cockerton libraries and at Age UK Darlington’s daycare centre. They’ve shared their railway memories which have been developed into a poetry sequence.

All of this built up to a creative writing competition which was free to enter and open to everyone living in the postcodes along the original S&DR route. We had a fantastic response.

Watch out for more about where you can read or listen to these brilliant memoirs, short stories and poems, all linked in some way to trains and railways. And look out for selected snippets along your journey on the Bishop Line.

Celebrating the project at a special event at Hopetown on Friday 11th July – Event introduction by Ann and Pam. 

Ann Cuthbert and Pam Plumb run the Darlington based open mic for writers, Stop Write Hear, held first Thursday of every month at Friends’ Meeting House Skinnergate Darlington.  So they know there are many talented writers in the local area. Wouldn’t it be a good idea, they thought, to run a writing competition linked to the 1825-2025 Bicentenary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway? They also wanted to encourage people who might not see themselves as writers but who would have stories to tell and memories to recall about trains, tracks and railway journeys. So they extended the idea to include a few creative writing workshops aimed at building up confidence and skills.

‘We had no idea then that this would develop into the wide-ranging project it became,’ say Ann and Pam.

‘We put our proposals to Stephen Wiper of Creative Darlington and he arranged for us to meet others involved in the S&DR bicentenary celebrations. Along the way, the project gained the name Write on Track and was granted generous funding thanks to the S & DR Community Grants Scheme, Bishop Line Community Fund and Creative Darlington. And it developed into –  well, let’s just say, not the small local competition we’d originally envisaged! And, of course, we would have been lost in transit without Darlington music collective Tracks who have given us such amazing project management support.’

In fact, in the end, there were twelve free workshops, with experts leading on writing poetry, memoir, short story and performance and presentation skills. Inspiring railway venues along the S&DR track –  Hopetown, Preston Park Museum and Gardens, Locomotion Shildon as well as Darlington Centre for Local Studies and Stockton Library – all offered their spaces where these workshops ran. And, thanks to the Bishop Line Community Partnership, two groups of people wrote while at station platforms or actually travelling on trains.

The competition was also free to enter and  submissions came in from all points along the original 26 mile stretch of S&DR line. Judges had a hard time deciding the winners, so much so that it stretched to include Special Mentions –  ‘Well, you can’t have enough of good writing,’ say Pam and Ann –  as well as First, Second, Third and Highly Commended in three categories –  Short Story, Memoir and Poetry.

The winners in the Short Story category are:

1^st Michael Walker –   Ethel and the Great Iron Horse

2^nd Bob Fischer –  The Eternal Hereafter via Thornaby Station

3^rd Jonny Aldridge –  An Assignment

Highly Commended Eric Foster –  Gandhi, Lancastrian and Me

Highly Commended Elizabeth Ottosson –  Redemption Train

Special Mentions Jo Clark, Quinn Cole, Graeme Roach, J. Church and Mike Watson

In the Poetry category:

1^st Leiomri Mallett –  Delayed on Platform 3

2^nd Stephanie Wallace – The Backside of  A Town

3^rd William Ross – Body on the Line

Highly Commended Julie Ashmore – Pease’s Soliloquy

Highly Commended Caroline Hardie-Hammond – Women of the Railway

Special Mentions Jonny Aldridge, Catherine Edmunds, Marilyn Longstaff, Hilary Smith,  Alan Stowers

In the Memoir category:

1^st Jane Scott – Wave Me Off

2^nd Michael Jarvie – The Class 43

3^rd Alan Theakston – Fishing in the Big Freeze

Highly Commended Lynn Lettice – A Shildon Lass

Highly Commended Glenda Miller – My Solo Teenage Train Journey

Special Mentions Susan Chapman, Marianne Tracey

July 11^th  2025  saw a  very enjoyable Celebration event at Hopetown Darlington, where prizes were presented and some of the winning writers read from their work.

But it’s not actually over yet. The plan is that all of the writing submitted will eventually be shared publicly in one format or another.

These include three further reading events taking place in different parts of the S&DR region in August, September and October, all celebrating creative writing around Bicentenary themes.

An anthology of the winning entries is already available on BorrowBox thanks to Darlington Libraries.

Recordings of writers reading their own work are scheduled for August.

A paper anthology, ‘packed with local writers doing what they do best – conjuring up pictures in our minds, creating the sights, sounds and smells that help us remember our own railway experiences across the years,’ is also now available.

And, thanks to BLCP and their specially commissioned display boards,  passengers at stations along the Bishop Line will be able to read selected snippets of writing from all the entrants in the Write on Track competition.

It’s been a brilliant journey!

Boards along the Bishop Line

We’ve displayed some of the work at the stations along the line and we’re so pleased some of the artists have been to find their pieces.

Bishop Line CRP joined forces with Tyne Valley CRP, Community Rail Cumbria, Esk Valley Railway and Community Rail Network to launch Community Rail Week 2025.

The event took place at Haltwhistle Station and showcased community rail activities across the region. Guests saw first-hand the impact of local projects showcasing artwork and music, youth engagement, activities to tackle social isolation, and sustainable travel schemes.

Jess and Felicity talked through some of the award winning project which Bishop Line CRP has helped enable and deliver in the past couple of years including the rail education programme, the 2025 rail safety and careers event, Try the Train, Shildon Smart Art, Explore the Bishop Line – tourism campaign and Storylines. 

We were pleased to be joined by Catherine Hodgson representing The Auckland Project and Claire Gibbons representing Weardale Railway, who highlighted the way we work collaboratively to attract more people to travel by rail for leisure.

We were also pleased to be joined by Sam Slatcher who entertained the guests with some songs from his new album Passengers and Pioneers which reflects on some of the conversations and stories gathered during the Storylines project.

Hopetown Darlington will welcome the North Eastern Railway Association with their programme of fascinating talks. These lectures focus on a range of railway topics, and include a Q&A session.

** Click here to book tickets on the Hopetown Website. ** 

June 7th – Getting to Wearhead: The S&DR and the NER in Weardale (John Addyman)

This talk will describe the development of the railways in Weardale, once a hive of industrial activity and a lucrative source of traffic. From the first thoughts of rail connections, through the Stockton & Darlington Railway branch to Frosterley and the subsequent extensions to Stanhope and Wearhead, John will show how the railway supported the industries and communities along the dale, and its subsequent decline.

John Addyman is President of the North Eastern Railway Association, and has written several books and articles on the railways of the north east.

September 6th – William Bouch of Shildon – Locomotive Engineer (Neil Mackay)

Timothy Hackworth gets lots of publicity when Shildon is mentioned (justifiably so in the early years when he kept the Stockton & Darlington Railway locomotive fleet running).

However, William Bouch (1813-1876) managed Shildon works for 36 years from 1840 until his death, but he receives scant mention today.

Together with Oswald Gilkes, and later David Dale, he ran the Shildon Works Company. This was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the S&DR, and a very early example of management incentives using profit-sharing. From 1849 the company was responsible for the haulage of S&DR trains, from locomotive and rolling stock maintenance and construction to the provision of train crews.

Bouch introduced bogie passenger tender locomotives to England, and oversaw the construction of the new North Road works at Darlington.

The talk will describe Bouch’s contribution to railway development in the north east and give some of the background to how the incentive scheme worked.

Neil Mackay chairs the North Eastern Railway Association and has made a special study of the Shildon Works Company using primary source material at the National Archives.

During Community Rail Week 2025, the Bishop Line welcomed a group of adults from the Sporting Chance Project, Stockton to enjoy a day of rail heritage. Sporting Chance Project aims to improve the health and wellbeing of men aged 50+ from Stockton-on-Tees through activity, events and good company.

The group travelled by train accompanied by Richard Barber, a Volunteer at Locomotion, who brought history of the Bishop Line and the Stockton & Darlington Railway to life with his wealth of rail heritage knowledge.

The group explored Locomotion at Shildon, and Hopetown at North Road, and even had the opportunity to experience travelling through Shildon Tunnel, which is the most spectacular piece of engineering on the Bishop Line.

Gill Watson, Engagement Manager for Volunteering Matters Sporting Chance Project commented

“Not only was the train travel itself a novelty for some of the men on today’s trip, but the information and exhibits were a big hit, especially the ‘extras’ for the S&DR200 celebrations. Many of the men are going to return with their families and were really impressed how easy the train was as mode of transport for this visit.”

Felicity Machnicki, Officer for Bishop Line CRP commented

“We’re glad to enable trips like this, connecting our communities to their local heritage, and its wonderful having local contacts like Richard who made this trip more memorable for the group. It’s connections like these which Community Rail is here to help happen.”

What a great start to Community Rail Week 2025!