The new name for Darlington’s historic railway visitor attraction is being revealed today.
When it reopens in the summer after its £3.6m refit, it will be called “Hopetown Darlington”.
At its heart will be the former Head of Steam museum, but the name will encompass all the historic railway buildings and the new home of the A1 Trust, builders of the Tornado engine, that are on the 7.5 acre site.
The attraction is expected to draw 300,000 visits a year and will be the focus of the town’s celebrations in 2025 of the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
The name has been chosen because the early railway pioneers knew the area as Hopetown from the early 1830s when they began building foundries and homes for workers in the countryside beside the 1825 line.
The name is being presented to councillors for the first time this morning at a scrutiny committee meeting.
Councillor Libby McCollom, Cabinet Members for Local Services, said: “The level of investment that has been made in this site is really something to celebrate. Darlington is known around the world for the part we played in global history, and now we are also placing ourselves on the map as a town that offers a major family visitor attraction.
“Hopetown Darlington will draw in tens of thousands of visitors to our town each year and create hundreds of jobs, as well as bringing footfall to local shops and businesses. With a playground and blockbuster special exhibitions as well as a state-of-the-art reimagining of how the permanent collection is displayed, it is going to be a brilliant asset for our town and our region.”
Visitors will arrive at Hopetown Darlington in a 200-space car park in the shadow of the famous 1825 Skerne bridge, which featured on the £5 note in the 1990s. They will cross North Road and be welcomed onto the site by the restored 1833 Goods Shed, which is being revealed to view by extensive landscaping and will feature a new café.
The centrepiece of Hopetown Darlington will be the museum, which opened in 1975 in the then derelict North Road station. Since a £1.7m refit in 2008, it has been known as Head of Steam – a name that has never been widely accepted.
It will include the North East’s only permanent 4D virtual reality experiences which will take visitors on a journey through time on the line.
Beside the museum on Foundry Field will be a £600,000 train-themed adventure playpark, sponsored by Homes by Esh and created with assistance from children from local schools.
Across the field will be the revived Hopetown Carriageworks, of 1853, which is going to provide a major new exhibition space, sponsored by Darlington Building Society, and also The Store, sponsored by Bussey and Armstrong, where people will be able to consult the archives.
A new bridge is about to built to take visitors from the rear of the museum over the operational railway line and into the new Darlington Locomotive Works, which is now the home of the A1 Steam Trust. The trust’s famed Tornado engine will be maintained there and its sister engine, Prince of Wales, is being built there.
Hopetown Darlington also includes the 1861 Engine Shed, most recently a scrapyard, which has been restored and is already the home of a couple of railway preservation groups.
As well as appealing to railway enthusiasts, it is hoped that Hopetown Darlington will be a family attraction, and 80,000 of its annual visitors are expected to come from outside the area.
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