Celebrating Our Local Stations for Railway 200

As part of our Railway 200 celebrations, Phil Crow, our Professional Services Director, and Niall Melvin, our Principal Consultant, share inspiring connections and stories that celebrate their local train stations.

In this year of celebration, where better than Darlington and the history of the rail industry with the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

Darlington was my first mainline posting in a long career in the rail industry starting in 1984 (comments saying “you don’t look old enough” are most welcome) I was on a Youth Training Scheme (YTS), ‘stationed’ in the Telegraph office – fax messages by the 100’s, dot matrix printers whirring and a switchboard with plugs on cables that went into a hole for the relevant extension number! Phones and communication tech have certainly come a long way since then.

I was fortunate to progress my career at Darlington becoming Travel Centre Manager before leaving, and returning a short time later as Area Station Manager. I have great memories of the place and just as importantly all the great people I worked with over the years – many of whom are still there. I fondly remember them all and remain ever grateful for their support.

Darlington is a critical transport hub for the town and the Tees Valley and today, thanks to Network Rail, Tees Valley Combined Authority, LNER and many more, the station and the surrounding area are being transformed and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Time waits for no one and nor should it, but it’s great to have played a small part in the history of this amazing railway station.

Phil Crow

Professional Services Director

Platform at Darlington Train Station, UK

Newcastle represents an age of station building that we no longer see. One of only ten Grade 1 listed stations, designed by a true Geordie in John Dobson (born c6 miles from the station), it’s a design leader with the barrel roof using curved wrought iron ribs for its great spans, also used at Liverpool Lime Street, Newcastle’s roof design is simpler due to the innovative use of a bevelled roller technique providing larger iron plates for its construction.

– Fact 1: Opened as “Newcastle-on-Tyne Central” replacing three other smaller stations, and known colloquially as ‘Central Station’, its name was simplified to ‘Newcastle’ in 1948 at nationalisation. The ‘Central’ element now refers to the Metro station which runs below the rail station.

– Fact 2: Originally a ‘double terminus’ station providing end points for journeys up the East Coast Main Line (ECML) via the High-Level Bridge to the east-side of the station, and for journeys from Carlisle at the west-side which necessitated the sweeping curves of the platforms. This remained when the ECML was redirected to the west of the station in 1906 when the King Edward Bridge opened, making Newcastle the ‘through’ station we know today.

From my daily commute, to being part of the team for the redevelopments of the station in 2014 (enhancements to retail, cutting through the Grade 1 listed walls for customer toilets and improving access) and 2023 (two new entrances to the station), gaining approvals to put a ‘Green CityTree’ inside the station and even having an office in the supposedly haunted Caretaker’s Flat ( never saw a ghost), the station has been part of my life over the past two decades and be serving customers for years to come.

Railway 200 is all about celebrating the people who power our railways – past, present, and future. I’m proud to be part of that story through my work at Mercury3 Consult, helping shape the future of rail.