A view of Stockton Station c1978.
Photograph courtesy of Steve Frost.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A view of Stockton Station c1978.
Photograph courtesy of Steve Frost.
Thanks for that Keith. Even as a boy, whilst waiting for the Whitby train, I could never understand how cruel the station staff could be risking the poor goldfish by putting them in there!!
In steam days pre-1967 there was a water tower on top of a tall brick tower directly in front of the left hand brick supporting pillar of the station in the picture. Its job was to ensure an adequate head of water for the filling of tender tanks on steam locos. An express loco working from Newcastle to York would almost always require water during, say, a six minute Stockton stop and might take two to two and a half thousand gallons, hence the need for a good supply. When the water bag was thrown out by the fireman on top of the tender watch out, as there was usually a lot of water left in it! The catch tank was to help collect drips and leaks from the water crane. Other water columns had large grates or a funnel type arrangement to drain away excess water. A few years ago a similar header tank on a brick base was built from new at Appleby station ,Cumbria to cater for the needs of the steam hauled special trains which from time to time use this route.
For Alan Wealleans – Alan the tank that held the goldfish which we could never catch or reach. Was the receptical to catch the drips from the large leather hose pipe that filled the train tank with water. Water was fed from a large bored pipe in the ground.
The demolition of the station trainshed is well underway, as the northern end has already been removed. as can be seen in the photo.
Quite large goldfish I remember. Did they ever get sucked up into the locos? Lets hope not as they would have suffered a quick cooking!
In the days of steam there was a water tower and hose just to the right of where the locomotive is shown, just outside the covered part of the station. There were goldfish in the water tank at its foot.
The south end of Stockton railway station with some of the glass removed and a diverted High Speed Train about to depart. Note the early number in the “243” series, when they were classified as multiple units, whereas today they are classed as locomotives, Class 43.