Steam locomotive No. 60085 A3 hauling a passenger train past Hartburn Junction (parallel to Marlbrough Road) and signal box c1950/60s.
Locomotives name Manna
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Steam locomotive No. 60085 A3 hauling a passenger train past Hartburn Junction (parallel to Marlbrough Road) and signal box c1950/60s.
Locomotives name Manna
Picture Stockton Archive 
Good to see a photo of the old railway layout at this location. Specially with a view of Hartburn Box. I spotted here during the early sixties and also further down Marlborough road at the junction of Oxbridge road outside the school where I attended up to 1961. A favourite train to see then was the locally termed “ten to niner” usually an a3 , book law , manna , et al .as the name suggests the train was usually seen just before the start of class, sometimes a bit too close to start of registration.
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Thanks to Colin Buckley for resurrecting this topic. I remembered seeing this photo previously, but got a shock when I realised it was ten years ago when I replied to Ged Hutchinson (above). As an update to my previous comment, ten years on I am still ‘spotting’ with my camera (known in our Rail Camera Club as ‘photting’) albeit in Cumbria where I live. Also, I have just completed a model in gauge ‘0’ of an A3, 60076 ‘GALOPIN’, another local engine, being allocated to either Darlington or Gateshead from 1941 to 1962, so it would make occasional appearances in Stockton.
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I loved waiting for the Deltics on the Sunday diversions, the sound was incredible, many a happy day spent spotting with my brother and his friends not only there but travelling up and down the rail network!
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My father “Ken cockerill” was a great friend of Ken linford, we live on Hartburn Lane 3 houses from the railway
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Anything in steam could beat the noise of a pair of class 37″s…or a class 40…e.g. a Q6 coming round the curve from Bowesfield Junction with a load of empties.
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Kenneth. I too would stand here watching Sunday diversions. Deltics were always popular although a “40 at full chat was always good to hear. Nothing could beat the noise of a pair of 37″s on an MGR train though.
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Great photo – brought back lots of memories of Sunday diversions (mainly during the winter) and warming one”s back on the fireplace wall of the signalbox. Have a photo of Deltic D9015 “Tulyar” at same spot.
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Dave Summerfield – Dave thanks for the “in depth” information and, of course, looking at the loco it”s obviously in final form with the “German” style trough deflectors. As you & Ged have commented engineering on the Darlington stretch was great for we Stockton lads.
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I am surprised that Mr. Ged Hutchinson considered himself too old for “train spotting”; I started in Railway Street when I was about two, and I am still at it in my 60″s, although now with a camera.
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The diversion of trains from their normal East Coast Main Line through Stockton instead of Darlington was considered train-spotters heaven by Stockton kids. Although I was too old to be train-spotting in the 1960`s I can remember the excitement the diversions caused during the 50`s. As I remember it, they always took place on a Sunday and church and Sunday School attendance usually suffered the consequences of the rare opportunity to see all the Main Line express trains.
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The photo shows Gresley A3 60085 “Manna” passing Hartburn Junction with a northbound express one Sunday sometime betweem April 1962 & October 1964, the photograph was taken from Spring Street footbridge by a very good friend of mine, the late Ken Linford (Rimswell Road). This train was diverted from its normal route along the East Coast Main Line through Darlington due to engineering works – it would have left the mainline at Northallerton & travelled via Picton, Eaglescliffe,Stockton, Norton Junction & Stillington before rejoining its normal mainline route at Ferryhill.
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My late father-in-law, Harry Robinson, was a signalman at Hartburn signalbox for several years until it closed in 1973 when he moved to Greatham signalbox. Now that he has passed away its safe to say he taught me all he knew about signalling here!
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