Grants help kick-start restoration of derelict shell of 'world's first railway station'

The derelict shell of what is hailed as the world’s very first railway station has been rescued, with £350,000 worth of kick-start grants from local train builder Hitachi and the Railway Heritage Trust.

It will cost an estimated £1.3 million to restore the badly vandalised 1826 brick and stone building at Heighington, alongside the Darlington-Shildon-Bishop Auckland line. Grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and conservation bodies will be sought to make up the balance.

At the on-site launch of the project on July 17, Chair of the Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Niall Hammond explained that it had been difficult to negotiate the takeover of the boarded-up building from the previous owner.

The building, which has a more modern extension, is on the eastern side of the unstaffed Northern platforms.

There is still evidence of the low r amp installed for passengers to board Locomotion No. 1, which was first placed on the rails there in 1825.

The station was sold off by British Rail in 1970 and turned into a pub, which ceased trading eight years ago.

Since them, concerns led to it being placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, but it appears to be structurally sound.

Lord Wilson of Sedgefield, the area’s former MP, said he was delighted that Hitachi had offered so much support, and that it was highly appropriate as its Newton Aycliffe factory is on the doorstep.