Hello Readers,

Welcome to the 12th edition of Traction! It’s hard to believe, but next month marks one year since the blog began. Thank you for reading and supporting the journey so far!

This month, I visited one of Britain’s most historic railway stations—Darlington, which plays a major role in this year’s Railway 200 celebrations.

Darlington Station (08/04)

Located on the East Coast Main Line between Newcastle and York, Darlington is served by:

  • CrossCountry (Edinburgh–Penzance)

  • LNER (Edinburgh–London)

  • Northern (Tees Valley Line)

  • TransPennine Express (Newcastle–Liverpool)

Darlington is in the spotlight in 2025 as it celebrates 200 years since the Stockton and Darlington Railway—Britain’s first commercial railway—opened in 1825. The station itself is a Victorian structure from 1867 and is Grade II listed.

The station has 4 platforms (2 through and 2 island platforms). Freight lines run alongside the station, allowing non-stop services like Lumo’s Class 803s to bypass. To boost capacity, Network Rail is building 2 more platforms and upgrading the concourse—part of a £100 million investment.

Inside, you’ll find railway-themed murals and historic features like this clock that doesn’t work anymore, and the 1886 clock tower bell, restored and displayed in 1983.

Common train classes at Darlington include:

  • Northern: Class 156 & 158

  • CrossCountry: Class 220 & 221

  • LNER: Azuma Classes 800 & 801

  • TransPennine Express: Class 802

Lastly, Lumo’s Class 803’s pass through the freight lines as they don’t call at Darlington Station. Freight trains do pass through Darlington on the freight lines, but on this particular day, only two movements were spotted by myself. One was a double headed ballast train with a Class 70 and Class 66 hauling the train, from Colas Rail. The second movement passed through the station twice, it was a freightliner container train with a Class 66 locomotive on each end of the train.

Overall, my visit to Darlington was a pleasant one. I got there by getting a direct northern service from Sheffield to York, and then an LNER service from York to Darlington. It was a very productive fun day doing the hobby I love at somewhere I had never been before until today. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this one, as next month will celebrate 1 year of the Traction blogs!

Thanks for reading—next month, we celebrate one year of Traction!

Keep moving forward,
Matthew