{"id":32197,"date":"2024-04-30T04:38:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T18:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=32197"},"modified":"2024-04-30T04:38:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T18:38:21","slug":"europes-largest-collection-of-historic-rail-vehicles-assembled-at-locomotion-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=32197","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s largest collection of historic rail vehicles assembled at Locomotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Locomotion in Shildon<\/a>, County Durham has completed the museum\u2019s biggest ever rail shunt to create Europe\u2019s largest undercover display of historic rail vehicles.<\/p>\n

Managed by specialist teams from Locomotion and the National Railway Museum, the shunt saw 46 vehicles (and one road vehicle) move carefully inside the newly constructed \u00a38m New Hall.<\/p>\n

Locomotion is a partnership between the Science Museum Group and Durham County Council, with the latter having provided significant funding towards New Hall.<\/p>\n

Situated opposite the museum\u2019s existing collection building, New Hall is scheduled to open to the public on 24 May 2024.<\/p>\n

Before then, the hall needed to be filled with collection rail vehicles in a complex shunt that took more than four weeks to complete. The last vehicles moved into position on Monday 22 April including the Q7 locomotive and the historic Hetton Colliery locomotive.<\/p>\n

With a crane, two snow ploughs, a pair of track inspection velocipedes, historic steam locomotives, numerous freight wagons and even a tracked Bren Gun Carrier, the lineup is sure to include something to complete every train set. When added to the vehicles already at Locomotion, there will be 99 rail vehicles \u2013 creating the largest undercover display of historic rail vehicles in Europe.<\/p>\n

New Hall will celebrate the museum\u2019s 20th anniversary in September this year. The museum is also built close to the site of Shildon Works \u2013 once home to a thriving railway workshop, employing thousands, which closed in June 1984.<\/p>\n

To mark this important link, the new building and the vehicle display will recognise the important role of railways in shaping communities in Shildon and across the North East, as well as the development of the railways across the UK. The interpretation will also tell new stories of the significance of coal in the development of the railways along with related stories of industry and freight transportation.<\/p>\n

Sarah Price, Head of Locomotion, said: \u201cI would like to thank all our partners involved in creating the magnificent New Hall, especially Nationwide Engineering and Durham County Council. New Hall effectively doubles the size of Locomotion and gives us much needed covered display space to help conserve the collection, as well as giving visitors the chance to find out more about the railways and the North East\u2019s railway heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the significant regeneration at Locomotion can draw even more people to visit the museum and the region as part of the national Railway 200 celebrations and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durham County Council successfully applied for \u00a320m Levelling Up funding to allow it to invest in Locomotion, including the creation of New Hall. The council seeks to promote the county and its assets to visitors as part of its Inclusive Economic Strategy.<\/p>\n

Cllr Elizabeth Scott, the authority\u2019s Cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting knowing New Hall is getting closer to opening and to housing Europe\u2019s biggest undercover display of historic rail vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were delighted to be able to provide funding for this project, which will let many more people know the significance of Shildon as the starting point of the world\u2019s first steam locomotive-powered passenger journey, further raising Durham\u2019s profile nationally and internationally as the \u2018Culture County\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocomotion is already one of County Durham and the North East\u2019s biggest visitor attractions, putting smiles on faces and delivering significant economic benefits. We look forward to New Hall adding to the museum\u2019s offer and to it being at the heart of celebrations of both 20 years of the museum and 200 years since the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Hall was designed by AOC Architecture and J+L Gibbons Landscape Architects.<\/p>\n

Now rail vehicles are in place, New Hall will receive new interpretation, seating, wayfinding, lighting and other finishing touches ready to open for visitors on Friday 24 May 2024.<\/p>\n

New Hall is the centerpiece of a site-wide programme of improvements at Locomotion which incorporates historic coal drops, a collection of railway buildings and Gaunless Bridge \u2013 one of the world\u2019s oldest iron railway bridges. A restoration project is taking place to repaint and display the bridge which was originally part of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This is being partly funded by The Ironmongers\u2019 Livery Company and members of the public.<\/p>\n

As well as New Hall visitors to Locomotion can see many highlights from the national collection \u2013 from the world\u2019s fastest diesel locomotive, HST 43102 The Journey Shrinker to Stephenson\u2019s original Rocket and Locomotion No.1, which hauled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.<\/p>\n

The new building will be a key part of plans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 2025 as part of Railway 200.<\/p>\n

Locomotion\u2019s New Hall has been generously supported by Durham County Council (Lead Funder), The Foyle Foundation (Major Funder), The Friends of the National Railway Museum (Major Funder), Wolfson Foundation (Major Funder), Sir James Knott Trust (Associate Funder), The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust (Associate Funder), Banks Group Community Fund (Funder), The Platten Family Fund at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland (Funder), Northumbrian Water Branch Out Fund (Funder) and The Ridley Family Charity (Supported by).<\/p>\n

The Gaunless Bridge project has been generously supported by The Ironmongers\u2019 Livery Company (Funder) and members of the public. <\/p>\n

For more information about Locomotion visit: www.locomotion.org.uk<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham has completed the museum\u2019s biggest ever rail shunt to create Europe\u2019s largest undercover display of historic rail vehicles. Managed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7,11],"class_list":["post-32197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","tag-transport","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}