The last house on the left hand side before you went over toward Lustrum Terrace of the unfinished end of Brentford Road, lived Brian Morrice,
I don’t remember the incident nor Mr Brown , I do remember a Mr Armstrong that was a driver for Stockton Corporation lived at the bottom of Swinburn Bank.
Yes the surface was cinders, uncomfortable when brought to the ground!! No doubt we have played with or against you at some time during the 50’s.
Yes some happy days with the wellies full of stinking water having fallen in the beck.
Regarding the completion of Brentford Road, Ray; in the first house on the right lived the Browns. Husband & wife both worked for Stockton corporation transport. On one of Mr Brown’s runs, in spite of his efforts to save him, a child choked to death on a swallowed gob stopper. I remember that he was devestated by that incident.
Remembering the composition of the surface of that stretch of land, being black grit, I wonder if it ever had steam locos on it? Hills factory was originally the Hackworth works where locos were built – hence the name of “the Ox” on Norton Road. Those remnants could well have been the back gates of that enterprise. As for the telegraph pole, we also used it for the same purposes in the 50’s – what memories!
Being born 1939, living in Chadburn Road I remember clearly the very big piece of ground which was next to the Hills factory site on the South side. Yes, it had some remains of steelwork/gates etc over Lustrum Beck, bounded by the beck & railway shed on the west side, with a foot bridge over the beck to the sheds and turntable and the shed canteen were we used to sneak over and buy a Walls ice cream in the paper – did we think it was good!! Houses on the north side, which were in Swinburn Road, east side were the clay mounds and Norton Road and Lustrum Terrace plus the unfinished part of Brentfod Road.
There was a telegraph pole which we used as cricket stumps or part of a goal for football, there was a track from unfinished Brentford Road round to Lustrum Terrace, which was a short cut to the rec and Tilery school.
Like Wayne Martin but as a child in the 1950s I used to play on the waste ground, behind Hills. This was before it was utilised as a storage area or a factory extension. The old bridge/ tunnel at the back of Hills, which crossed the beck, had a peculiar ruin on the “common” side. It was part metal/ part wooden uprights, with thin steel rods sticking out of it. Does anybody have more information on this?
Not necessarily Stockton but maybe;- I understand my Grandfather Robert PEARSON, a signalman, died of hyperthermia after fighting his way home somewhere locally (Yarm, Trimdon, have both been mentioned) in harsh snowy winter during second war. Anyone know anything more or how I access LNER archive records?
I can relate to the conditions in engine sheds. I went to Newport Sheds as a labourer in 1950, Sometimes on one of three shifts were we were expected to do steam raising , Coalstage loading the engines with coal out of trucks,Shoveling the sand out of the the trucks on to the sand bed and drying the sand , Fire dropping and shoveling the soot out of the smoke box wich was a very dirty job covered in soot we then went into a cabin at the end of the shift and had to wash in a bucket of water . No showers those days and we were expected to do these jobs if the regular shift men didn”t turn up for their shifts. Another job was to crawl inside the fire box to help the bricky to install a new fire arch , I managed to stay for about a year but it was an experiance not to be forgotten
I started my railway career at Stockton sheds in 1955 as an engine cleaner and continued on to Thornaby in 1959 now a fireman. What a shock, it was like moving into 5 STAR HOTEL. Clean messroom had your own locker, showers etc.
I still have my Ian Allen 1959 Combined Volume. Although I never had an Anorak, but if I see a steam train nowadays, I do have a look in the book and underline it if it is a cop. Sad, but living in a railway house at Thornaby and having a grandfather who was an engine driver for the LNER (and also in Argentina on secondment when they were building their railways); what else could I do.
sure do, eric. What about reitbok, gemsbok, impala and gnu. I don”t have the ian allens anymore (sounds like a stomach upset, sorry) but i wonder are you familiar with the A1″s, 2″s and 3″s like trigo, redgauntlet, guy mannering, mons meg, so many walter scott(there”s another one) novels and racehorses. + the V2 namers, DLI, St Peter”s York,green Howards etc. a sort of mobile library [sic]
yes stockton sheds. My trainspotting pals and i had many a cup of tea with the friendly workers there in the late fifties. Anybody remember b1,s nyala, stembok, and chiru?
I remember playing in the Potteries and the turntable. I lived in Swainby Road and then 202 Norton road,and went to Tilery Road school and left in 1954. Spent a lot of time down Billingham Bottoms, and used go nesting in Wynyard Park and the sand quarries. I used to knock about with the Carburrys, the Thomas”s and met Spuggie in the Buffs club about 2000. I now live on Tyneside and have done for forty years.
Mandy – If you have the exact date of his death in 1902 and where the accident took place, you can then look in a local newspaper for a report of the accident.
I have been researching family history with help from 1901 census. Several members of my family worked on the railways in the late 19th Century, and early 20th Century. My great grandfather Wm Myers Robinson lived “Back Stamp st.” which was sited near Stockton stn. I have a copy of an old map from Stockton library dated 1895 showing the area at the time. Sadly he was killed on the railways in 1902 age 40. Anyone know how I can get info regarding the accident please?
The railway sheds were just to the right of Hills, we as kids growing up in Swainby rd always referred to these as ” Over the Pottery ” there was 2 signal boxes as I recall, one just along side of Hills and another close by the sheds with very steep stairs taking you up to the top, also close by was the big Turntable, any one remember that, as kids we used to make camps inside the big railway sheds, you could look up the line and into Stockton Railway Station, as kids some times we would go onto the bridge that would take you over into Eastbourne and wait for the steam trains to pass, you also had great view of rail sheds and station, any one else remember this.
I started work as a book lad at north shore in 1959 and these are indeed Stockton sheds north shore had a little window in the back that you could shout down to the shed the two semaphore. The signals you can see are 14 and13 and Eric Collins I knew your father- in- law Harry very well but his accent took some working out. I”m still working in the boxes as a relief man.
David The furnace at the back of the engine sheds was where the sand was kept dry for the sand boxes on the engine to get traction on the wet slippery rails, as a lad we used to train spot from under the signal box , but when it was cold we would climb into the sand drier through a large hole in the back looking on to the beck. Usually there was a railway truck in the siding below the hole which made it easier
My father worked in the engine sheds in the fortys, many”s the time I watched him light the fires in the steam engines and I was given a few rides on the footplate by my fathers mates. There was some kind of furnace at the back of the sheds where he carried on a long shovel the burning cinder/coal to put in the train fire box not easy work.
These are the Engine Sheds taken over by F Hills Door Manufacturer. The Sheds were used as a manufacturing shop which I worked in for Hills. It was called Factory 7. All the old railway lines were covered over and are still there to this day.
As a child in the 1980s I used to play on the waste ground at the back of the sheds which were used to store timber in I think? I remember the signalman passing the token across from Northshore box for trains heading down the Northshore branch to the freightliner. When the frieghtliner closed I think it was the end of the signal box. I hope someone has some more pictures to show us.You can walk along the old track bed now to get a good look at the site , there is not much left , but there is still an old bridge in the Hills site which bridged the beck and is roughly where the photograph was taken from.
This is actually Stockton Engine Shed, North Shore signal box is raised up on the left, Hills Doors would be off the right of this picture and Stockton Station off to the left.
All these gentlemen are correct – this is indeed Stockton Engine Shed and this view is looking north. The main line from Stockton to Norton and Hartlepool runs along the embankment to the left of the picture and the running lines to the shed from Stockton Station came in at low level behind the photographer.The Durham Road Bypass road is on the other side of the embankment and the shed site is visible from it. Stockton shed closed for railway purposes in the mid 60s and the buildings remained in use for light industry until around 1998 after which they were finally demolished at the same time as the Hills Doors site. The sites remain vacant at the time of writing (Feb 2005) pending redevelopment and are becoming an eyesore.
The picture is not Stockton Station. It shows Stockton locomotive sheds, at top left of picture shows the semaphore signals applicable to the main lines operated by North Shore signalbox which is also in top left of picture .
This picture actually depicts Stockton Engine Shed, opened in 1891 and closed in 1959 following the opening of the new sheds at Thornaby in 1958. It was situated just to the east of Stockton Station. Trying to hide behind the telegraph pole at the left hand side and on the embankment is North Shore Signalbox.
David Bates is correct. This is not Stockton Railway Station and his surmise that it could be Stockton Sheds is correct. I was an avid train-spotter as a kid and spent hours arround these sheds.
This is not the station, which had a double arched and glazed roof (demolished about 1980). More likely it is the locomotive shed. The embankment, signal box and signals high up on the left suggest this shed and yard were below the level of the running lines, which does not seem to fit with the area around Stockton station, but I was not in this area in 1959 – perhaps someone who was can comment
Does anyone remember when Davy James used to sing Mona Lisa in The Highland lad, and when the Carlton got changed into a roller rink?
The last house on the left hand side before you went over toward Lustrum Terrace of the unfinished end of Brentford Road, lived Brian Morrice,
I don’t remember the incident nor Mr Brown , I do remember a Mr Armstrong that was a driver for Stockton Corporation lived at the bottom of Swinburn Bank.
Yes the surface was cinders, uncomfortable when brought to the ground!! No doubt we have played with or against you at some time during the 50’s.
Yes some happy days with the wellies full of stinking water having fallen in the beck.
Regarding the completion of Brentford Road, Ray; in the first house on the right lived the Browns. Husband & wife both worked for Stockton corporation transport. On one of Mr Brown’s runs, in spite of his efforts to save him, a child choked to death on a swallowed gob stopper. I remember that he was devestated by that incident.
Remembering the composition of the surface of that stretch of land, being black grit, I wonder if it ever had steam locos on it? Hills factory was originally the Hackworth works where locos were built – hence the name of “the Ox” on Norton Road. Those remnants could well have been the back gates of that enterprise. As for the telegraph pole, we also used it for the same purposes in the 50’s – what memories!
Being born 1939, living in Chadburn Road I remember clearly the very big piece of ground which was next to the Hills factory site on the South side. Yes, it had some remains of steelwork/gates etc over Lustrum Beck, bounded by the beck & railway shed on the west side, with a foot bridge over the beck to the sheds and turntable and the shed canteen were we used to sneak over and buy a Walls ice cream in the paper – did we think it was good!! Houses on the north side, which were in Swinburn Road, east side were the clay mounds and Norton Road and Lustrum Terrace plus the unfinished part of Brentfod Road.
There was a telegraph pole which we used as cricket stumps or part of a goal for football, there was a track from unfinished Brentford Road round to Lustrum Terrace, which was a short cut to the rec and Tilery school.
Like Wayne Martin but as a child in the 1950s I used to play on the waste ground, behind Hills. This was before it was utilised as a storage area or a factory extension. The old bridge/ tunnel at the back of Hills, which crossed the beck, had a peculiar ruin on the “common” side. It was part metal/ part wooden uprights, with thin steel rods sticking out of it. Does anybody have more information on this?
Not necessarily Stockton but maybe;- I understand my Grandfather Robert PEARSON, a signalman, died of hyperthermia after fighting his way home somewhere locally (Yarm, Trimdon, have both been mentioned) in harsh snowy winter during second war. Anyone know anything more or how I access LNER archive records?
I can relate to the conditions in engine sheds. I went to Newport Sheds as a labourer in 1950, Sometimes on one of three shifts were we were expected to do steam raising , Coalstage loading the engines with coal out of trucks,Shoveling the sand out of the the trucks on to the sand bed and drying the sand , Fire dropping and shoveling the soot out of the smoke box wich was a very dirty job covered in soot we then went into a cabin at the end of the shift and had to wash in a bucket of water . No showers those days and we were expected to do these jobs if the regular shift men didn”t turn up for their shifts. Another job was to crawl inside the fire box to help the bricky to install a new fire arch , I managed to stay for about a year but it was an experiance not to be forgotten
I started my railway career at Stockton sheds in 1955 as an engine cleaner and continued on to Thornaby in 1959 now a fireman. What a shock, it was like moving into 5 STAR HOTEL. Clean messroom had your own locker, showers etc.
I still have my Ian Allen 1959 Combined Volume. Although I never had an Anorak, but if I see a steam train nowadays, I do have a look in the book and underline it if it is a cop. Sad, but living in a railway house at Thornaby and having a grandfather who was an engine driver for the LNER (and also in Argentina on secondment when they were building their railways); what else could I do.
sure do, eric. What about reitbok, gemsbok, impala and gnu. I don”t have the ian allens anymore (sounds like a stomach upset, sorry) but i wonder are you familiar with the A1″s, 2″s and 3″s like trigo, redgauntlet, guy mannering, mons meg, so many walter scott(there”s another one) novels and racehorses. + the V2 namers, DLI, St Peter”s York,green Howards etc. a sort of mobile library [sic]
yes stockton sheds. My trainspotting pals and i had many a cup of tea with the friendly workers there in the late fifties. Anybody remember b1,s nyala, stembok, and chiru?
I remember playing in the Potteries and the turntable. I lived in Swainby Road and then 202 Norton road,and went to Tilery Road school and left in 1954. Spent a lot of time down Billingham Bottoms, and used go nesting in Wynyard Park and the sand quarries. I used to knock about with the Carburrys, the Thomas”s and met Spuggie in the Buffs club about 2000. I now live on Tyneside and have done for forty years.
Mandy – If you have the exact date of his death in 1902 and where the accident took place, you can then look in a local newspaper for a report of the accident.
I have been researching family history with help from 1901 census. Several members of my family worked on the railways in the late 19th Century, and early 20th Century. My great grandfather Wm Myers Robinson lived “Back Stamp st.” which was sited near Stockton stn. I have a copy of an old map from Stockton library dated 1895 showing the area at the time. Sadly he was killed on the railways in 1902 age 40. Anyone know how I can get info regarding the accident please?
The railway sheds were just to the right of Hills, we as kids growing up in Swainby rd always referred to these as ” Over the Pottery ” there was 2 signal boxes as I recall, one just along side of Hills and another close by the sheds with very steep stairs taking you up to the top, also close by was the big Turntable, any one remember that, as kids we used to make camps inside the big railway sheds, you could look up the line and into Stockton Railway Station, as kids some times we would go onto the bridge that would take you over into Eastbourne and wait for the steam trains to pass, you also had great view of rail sheds and station, any one else remember this.
MY GREAT UNCLE, JIMMY HUNT AND HIS FATHER BOTH WORKED AT THESE SHEDS I BELIEVE AS FITTERS
I started work as a book lad at north shore in 1959 and these are indeed Stockton sheds north shore had a little window in the back that you could shout down to the shed the two semaphore. The signals you can see are 14 and13 and Eric Collins I knew your father- in- law Harry very well but his accent took some working out. I”m still working in the boxes as a relief man.
David The furnace at the back of the engine sheds was where the sand was kept dry for the sand boxes on the engine to get traction on the wet slippery rails, as a lad we used to train spot from under the signal box , but when it was cold we would climb into the sand drier through a large hole in the back looking on to the beck. Usually there was a railway truck in the siding below the hole which made it easier
My father worked in the engine sheds in the fortys, many”s the time I watched him light the fires in the steam engines and I was given a few rides on the footplate by my fathers mates. There was some kind of furnace at the back of the sheds where he carried on a long shovel the burning cinder/coal to put in the train fire box not easy work.
These are the Engine Sheds taken over by F Hills Door Manufacturer. The Sheds were used as a manufacturing shop which I worked in for Hills. It was called Factory 7. All the old railway lines were covered over and are still there to this day.
As a child in the 1980s I used to play on the waste ground at the back of the sheds which were used to store timber in I think? I remember the signalman passing the token across from Northshore box for trains heading down the Northshore branch to the freightliner. When the frieghtliner closed I think it was the end of the signal box. I hope someone has some more pictures to show us.You can walk along the old track bed now to get a good look at the site , there is not much left , but there is still an old bridge in the Hills site which bridged the beck and is roughly where the photograph was taken from.
This is actually Stockton Engine Shed, North Shore signal box is raised up on the left, Hills Doors would be off the right of this picture and Stockton Station off to the left.
All these gentlemen are correct – this is indeed Stockton Engine Shed and this view is looking north. The main line from Stockton to Norton and Hartlepool runs along the embankment to the left of the picture and the running lines to the shed from Stockton Station came in at low level behind the photographer.The Durham Road Bypass road is on the other side of the embankment and the shed site is visible from it. Stockton shed closed for railway purposes in the mid 60s and the buildings remained in use for light industry until around 1998 after which they were finally demolished at the same time as the Hills Doors site. The sites remain vacant at the time of writing (Feb 2005) pending redevelopment and are becoming an eyesore.
The picture is not Stockton Station. It shows Stockton locomotive sheds, at top left of picture shows the semaphore signals applicable to the main lines operated by North Shore signalbox which is also in top left of picture .
This picture actually depicts Stockton Engine Shed, opened in 1891 and closed in 1959 following the opening of the new sheds at Thornaby in 1958. It was situated just to the east of Stockton Station. Trying to hide behind the telegraph pole at the left hand side and on the embankment is North Shore Signalbox.
David Bates is correct. This is not Stockton Railway Station and his surmise that it could be Stockton Sheds is correct. I was an avid train-spotter as a kid and spent hours arround these sheds.
This is not the station, which had a double arched and glazed roof (demolished about 1980). More likely it is the locomotive shed. The embankment, signal box and signals high up on the left suggest this shed and yard were below the level of the running lines, which does not seem to fit with the area around Stockton station, but I was not in this area in 1959 – perhaps someone who was can comment