Hopetown Darlington & Locomotion Shildon also Beamish

Soon I plan to visit both Hopetown, Darlington and Locomotion, Shildon, provisionally on the same day.

Hopetown is adjacent to North Road Darlington (NRD) station and Locomotion is adjacent to Shildon (SHD) station. The walking route to Locomotion looks to be from Shildon station.
The same Saltburn <> Bishop Auckland service serves both stations just hourly, table 41.

Hopetown is stated to open Term time Tuesday to Sunday 10am-4pm 10:00 - 16:00 and Locomotion 10:00 - 17:00 in the summer.

Using rail rather than driving and working backwards a train arrival at Shildon is 14:42 and a departure is 16:59. This gives ~ 2hours. As I see this is plenty of time at Locomotion but it would be helpful to know how long those who have been have spent there.

The 14:42 arrival at Shildon departs North Road at 14:26.
Logical arrivals at North Road are 10:26 and 11:26 which respectively give just under 4 hours and just under 3 hours at Hopetown. Again from having visited is around 2.5 hours adequate to see all of Hopetown? I note that The Stores section holds ~30,000 items but how much is on display and actually interesting?


My primary reason for visiting the area is to go to Beamish Museum. From what I have read more than one day is required to see everything hence I'm thinking a full day and then leaving earlier on the second day. As no immediate public transport I would drive here.
Edit following to post below from @Haywain -
Aside from being tied to the service times as from where I will be based combined using the train to Chester-le-Street then walking to the nearest stop for the Go North East service 8 bus would be at more than 2 hours as against Google Maps stating a driving time of just under an hour I will drive there. Presuming I leave earlier on the second day I will take an indirect route back.


Is there anything else of significant interest in the area other than the North Yorkshire Moors Railway? I have been to the main National Railway Museum in York and Eden Camp near Malton plus intended to keep further north for this visit. Middlesborough transporter bridge is out of use but I intend to drop by. Between Middlesborough and Whitby is the Land of Iron, relatively new?

david1212 said:

As no immediate public transport I would drive here.

Click to expand...

There are buses to the museum from Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham. The Durham Explorer ticket also gives 25% off the price of a Beamish Unlimited Pass which, in turn, covers your entry for a full year; unfortunately the bus is at weekends only.

Any Go Ahead service bus ticket can be used to get 25% off same day admission to Beamish, not just the explorer. Services 8 from Sunderland and 28/29 from Newcastle run daily.

Justin Time said:

Any Go Ahead service bus ticket can be used to get 25% off same day admission to Beamish, not just the explorer. Services 8 from Sunderland and 28/29 from Newcastle run daily.

Click to expand...

So it would seem. Is a "Standard individual admission charge" just the full adult price though? If it includes the senior rate it would have been worth paying for the bus to discount admission when we visited a couple of years ago.

You will need a full day at beamish but you could do Locomotion and Hopetown in the same day. You wont need more than 2 hours at Hopetown unless the loco works is open. The stores section is not as good as it sounds. Lots of fairly boring stuff in cages. The museum is quite small but has been done up.

Haywain said:

So it would seem. Is a "Standard individual admission charge" just the full adult price though? If it includes the senior rate it would have been worth paying for the bus to discount admission when we visited a couple of years ago.

Click to expand...

I’m not competent at posting links etc, but here’s a screenshot from Go Aheads web site. Hope it helps.

I visited both Locomotion and Hopetown in one day just 3 weeks ago whilst staying a few days in Darlington. I really enjoyed my visit to Locomotion and spent a good 3 hours there. In addition to the large exhibition sheds there are also quite a lot of interesting historic buildings to see involving a bit of walking. Hopetown is a nice museum but I was expecting more. To be quite honest I had seen all that I wanted to see in around 1 hour. It’s on a lovely site with the old station buildings but there was heavy rain that afternoon which somewhat cut short my visit.

Justin Time said:

I’m not competent at posting links etc, but here’s a screenshot from Go Aheads web site. Hope it helps.

Click to expand...

Not really, it was after reading that that I asked.

Agree with the others plan on doing Hopetown and Locomotion in one day. You only need a couple of hours for each (perhaps a little longer at Locomotion than Hopetown). Beamish however definitely needs a full day to really enjoy everything that's on site.

ainsworth74 said:

Beamish however definitely needs a full day to really enjoy everything that's on site.

Click to expand...

It could be a struggle to see everything in one day.

Hopetown - between an hour and two hours, including a coffee stop.
Locomotion - three hours or so.

Beamish - at least a full day, two would be better.
Plenty of transport to see - and ride on ...
Go for the annual pass.

StoneRoad said:

Beamish - at least a full day, two would be better.
Plenty of transport to see - and ride on ...

Click to expand...

And plenty to eat and drink…

Haywain said:

It could be a struggle to see everything in one day.

Click to expand...

Ha yes very true! It is a mind bogglingly big place. Probably should have phrased it more along the lines of "needs a full day to get the most out of a visit but there's enough for two days". I think if you did a full day you'd be able to sample everything and properly spend time looking a decent chunk of the site. But it's certainly somewhere that two days wouldn't be overkill.

david1212 said:

Is there anything else of significant interest in the area other than the North Yorkshire Moors Railway?

Click to expand...

Quite a lot really, you appear to be not too far from Hadrian’s Wall with Vinlandia and other fort locations, there’s Alnwick and various other castles and Lindisfarne. It depends on where you are, how far you want to go and what interests you.

Last September we visited Beamish from Newcastle using the bus as we'd come up on the train and had used the train to visit Hopetown earlier in the week. We'd visited Locomotion a few years ago so didn't go again this time.

We'd been to Beamish a number of times before so weren't wanting to do the whole site in depth this time - we particularly wanted to see the 1950s town that had been added since our last visit - but spent the whole day there and could have spent longer. If you've never been before do think about spending two days and really enjoying everything it has to offer.

The bus from Newcastle started from the bus station around 9am and took about an hour. It passed the Angel of the North. My husband hates buses but even he found the ride interesting looking at the places we passed through.

Other things of potential, but not necessarily railway related, interest in the area are:

A visit to the Discovery Museum in Newcastle to see Turbinia. Their social history exhibitions I find interesting too.

Getting a view of the Middlesbrough transporter bridge

Taking the Tyne ferry across between North and South Shields.

Riding the metro out to Whitley Bay, or walking, so you pass and get a good view of the famous Biker Wall.

Walking across both the High Level and Tyne bridges and the blinking eye bridge.

See what exhibition is on at the Baltic. Even if not of interest go in just to go to the viewing gallery for the view over the blinking eye bridge and along the Tyne.

Take a short train ride so that you experience the wonderful curve of the line as it crosses the Tyne and enters Central station. The whole building is wonderfull too!

'Thank you' to all who have posted a response.

The key detail is that 3 hours from arrival to departure at North Road is plenty for Hopetown including walking to Skerne Bridge and just over 2 hours adequate for Locomotion but 3 hours better. If I arrived North Road 10:26 and departed 13:26 that gives the option of departing Shildon 15:59 or 16:59.

For Beamish while the information of public transport and the 25% discount if a bus ticket is presented is useful since 2 trains then the bus with at best combined the journey time being over twice as long as driving to maximise the time there I will drive.

I am based Middlesborough area not Newcastle. I will look at the transporter bridge.

I had thought about Newcastle one other day not least to travel across the railway bridge and see the others. The Northern train via Hartlepool avoids the strong preference by LNER for booking aside from any delays and cancellations caused by an incident miles away. The Metro out to Whitley Bay via Byker and Tyne ferry are useful ideas - I need to look at options from South Shields to get the train back south.

A reserve plan if a wet day is the train from Newcastle to Carlisle and back but equally something I could do on a trip based in Cumbria.

I'd ignore all the other stuff and just devote three days to Beamish. You won't be dissappointed. As a bonus, the on the day ticket price is actually a year long pass.

Beamish has become so large (and busy) it is an awesome undertaking requiring serious planning and as much advice from experts as you can muster. Fail to prepare and all that.

By comparison, Locomotion is literally a breeze, no planning required, easily seen in half a day. The 150m walk between the old and new halls feels long in the summer sun on a long day, but in reality, that's nothing compared to the distances at Beamish.

The guidebook is an essentual purchase, you won't know where you are or what you're looking at without it, there are no information boards, it is literally a living museum. Take a look at internal photos to see the level of detail.

A well timed three day visit (say, thurs to sat on an event weekend) lets you experience it as a busy place (thereby enjoying the things that require volunteers to bring life to the place) but also have a quieter more relaxed walking tour of static details that crowds and activity can obscure.

Some people might assume taking the internal tram/bus saves time, but they're slow, infrequent, and in busy times you might even have to catch the next one. But for an able bodied human, walking is quicker. But it's still 20 minutes at a brisk pace from top to bottom.

It's a long hard day if you've under-estimated the time needed to pack it all in, and it's a dissappointing experience if you feel forced to move on (by your own schedule) before having fully taken in what's there.

Even if it was possible to chart en efficient walking route taking in all the areas, which it isn't (you'll be doubling back and crossing your own path all day) even allowing for some time to actually view things, that's probably already a two day affair as it is.

That excludes queing, rest, having experiences, etc. A single trip around the oval on a tram is a must, but even that will cost you a significant chunk of time, it’s that large.

Just ignoring whole parts of it, likely isn't worth it. Very little of the place is genuinely ignorable, if you're going there to experience living history. They're very good at what they do.

It's taken me several visits over many years just to have the luxury of saying, this time I'm only going for this bit. Usually a new bit, they're expanding so quick now.

Leaving early from Beamish (if by choice not travel itinery or sheer exhaustion) is not advised. You're guaranteed not to be headed to anywhere better imho. Anywhere better is likely also not a half day affair.

My review. For all YMMV depending on your level of interest, who you are with, if children and their age(s).

Hopetown
I did not bother booking in advance and was issued with a ticket (free) on arrival.
My experience was similar to @ChrisC and @DarloRich. I had seen everything within 90 minutes. The workshop was not open so just the viewing gallery, also while reasonable for the Class 37 to be locked without supervision the steps to the cab were chained. Half of the the 1853 Carriage Works is an area for short term exhibitions, depending what is there could alter the time you spend. The original North Road Station Museum building is large but the exhibits are spread out.
Hence time to walk out to Skerne Bridge and join the train two hours after arrival to ....

Locomotion
First either I need to go to Specsavers ( like a certain political advisor who travelled to the area in 2020 ) or the walking route is not clearly signed from the Bishops Auckland bound platform at least if exiting the train at the front.
Having entered the main site past the coal drops I first went to the New Hall. There are more exhibits to see but some are freight wagons. Also numerous stands with a screen scrolling short ( typically 3 minute ) videos. I was in there for close to an hour. I then went to the main / original hall. There were barriers for queuing to the desk but it was unmanned so I just went in. Some exhibits have viewing platforms and again there are stands with a screen scrolling short videos. One oddity is that there are 3 sets of rails together in the centre so you can not see the exhibits on the centre rails except from the ends and centre gap. I had seen everything within an hour.
As the train service is only hourly I made my way back to the station.
If the replica Rocket is running a ride will add to the time as will the Rail200 Inspiration coaches when they arrive particularly if you want to have some time on the sandpit .

Beamish
As planned I went twice leaving earlier on the second day. I had then seen everything. I did not do the mine tour, looking on Youtube only a few minutes underground but the total time with the kitting up and briefing of course longer.
You can see everything in one full day but need to be organised. First do some research and book in advance for fast(er) entry, second plan to walk around and third be self-sufficient for food and drink to avoid the queues. If relatively quiet the buses and trams run a circuit in around 20 minutes but 30+ minutes when busier e.g. mid-day and early afternoon. Maybe aim to do a circuit later in the day trying to estimate when one will be at a stop but don't rely on right at the end back to the entry building for 17:00 as they were stopping around 16:30. The first day two buses and two trams, the second a third tram at least for a while. I had a ride on all 3 trams but not any bus.
There is actually little to see at the bus and tram depot while the history of the vehicles can be read up from the internet. At the colliery is a large display of mining laps but again can be read up on.
There is nothing running at the main railway, where the signal box is currently closed for work, or the colliery. At the wagonway Wednesday - Sunday the replica Puffing Billy runs every 20 minutes.
If you want to spend significant time at one exhibit/area or organised talks and demonstrations e.g pit village school class, films shown at the cinema then either realistically something has to be missed or a second visit needed.

Northern Rail / Newcastle
In advance I had a 'play' with the TVM. No problem buying a day return to Shildon without entering an itinerary but I could not get up a Newcastle via Hartlepool only ticket hence bought with the all zones metro addon from the forum site the night before as TOD. I probably could have bought onboard but as a penalty fare area TOD was the safe option. While stated that any card was required for collection the tickets were printed as soon as I had entered the code. There were ticket checks on every train repeated after larger stations.
I was checking Realtimetrains and found my intended train was cancelled but I was in time for earlier. ( Cancellation was given as obstruction on the line but odd as trains had already run via Hartlepool both ways and this train ran the first Carlisle > Newcastle section on time. )
On arrival at Newcastle there were delays on both LNER and XC so via Hartlepool avoided this as well as potentially (not)fun-size sardine packed trains and for LNER (theoretically) needing to book if seats available. Visually I missed seeing the Angel of the North.
This was between my two days at Beamish so I wanted a quieter / less physical day.
First I went to the Discovery Museum, I can't be certain now but I think there just over an hour but could easily have spent longer. I then walked to Monument. Not surprising my ticket didn't work the barrier but one I had got the attention of a staff member no issue being let through. Being sure I was on the right platform for Whitley Bay via South Gosforth I had just missed a train. At Whitley Bay despite most of the UK in heatwave is was dull and drizzle. Hence I just walked down to the seafront then back a different way to the station in about 40 minutes. I then took the train to Manors via Byker. At Manor the barriers were open so no ticket issue ( Whitley Bay has no barriers ).
Now I found my way down to view and photograph the bridges. Having done this I was ready to leave. Straight line Newcastle Central station close by but how to walk there? I saw a set of steps going up but no sign. Fortunately somebody just started climbing so I asked if this was the best way to the station. They were heading for the Metro station at Newcastle Central so invited me to go with them. What ultimately was the Whitby train was due which suited me fine plus had I been later the next was on 20 minutes delay.
I thought about the North > South Shields ferry but decided against not least as needed to linking up to the Hartlepool trains as well as the time and walking.

david1212 said:

You can see everything in one full day but need to be organised.

Click to expand...

Did you really see every bit of it? I only ask because of how unrealistic that feels to me, and I've specifically done it your way, with a plan, a ticket in hand, self sufficient food/drink, all walking, no experiences, just an attempt to see everything.

I could just about manage it in one day, before the 50s town was begun, and that was only by missing out one remote part, the 40s farm I think. There were several bits you didn't mention, such as the farms, the country manor and other things, some of which aren't even on a bus route, you have to walk into the interior.

Maybe I just like seeing the details, but it has to be said, even in well known places like the station yard, there are many buildings and features you will see if you specifically walk right around the entire site, rather than sticking to the main drag. And of course, some of the buildings (e.g. the Co-Op and Mechanics) have literally hundreds of items on display inside.

I recognised other elements though, the bus shed was indeed a let down compared to how much they put out elsewhere, and so it's odd to hear it's still empty even now. Maybe because it belongs to the transport sub-group? Or Elf and Safety.

david1212 said:

One oddity is that there are 3 sets of rails together in the centre so you can not see the exhibits on the centre rails except from the ends and centre gap

Click to expand...

Because Locomotion was originally designed as a reserve collection store for the NRM’s rolling stock to stop it being stored in the open when York ran out of covered space. Hence the design was to pack as many tracks into the space as possible whilst making sure they were all connected to the national network to allow rotation of stock to and from York. Although the intention was to allow regular public open days on selected weekends and holidays, creating clear views of all the stored stock wasn’t a priority - storage capacity was. The main public visitor experience was intended to be the former Timothy Hackworth museum plus the other historically-significant railway infrastructure on site.

However the inevitable project mission creep happened, coupled with wildly-unrealistic expectations that the site could help regenerate the town of Shildon (clue: it hasn’t), and so Locomotion is now open all the time, the Timothy Hackworth & Shildon end of the site has been largely forgotten, a new visitor entrance route opened, and a new storage building created which has no rail access (indeed is at a different elevation).

It would have been far far better if one of the original ideas of developing the North Road site in Darlington as Locomotion had come to fruition, but unfortunately thanks to the indifference and incompetence of Darlington Borough Council at the time that never happened.

We visited all 3 sites over 2 days last week. Beamish is definitely a full day and even then we had to miss out a few bits. The new 1950's town is good and pretty accurate from what I remember from the early 60's. More places to eat and all the chippies had queues. We were hoping to do the Tanfield Railway the same day as it's only a couple of miles away but couldn't get away without missing too much out. Locomotion is good, but no more than 2 hours. Hopetown would be great with kids and there were loads there. Interesting for others but not a lot for serious rail buffs. Worth seeing the P2 under construction in the A1 Loco trusts workshop. It's probably the one I'd miss out totally if I was tight on overall time