Head of Steam Railway Museum
Museums & Science Centres · Durham, County Durham
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Closed — opens tomorrow at 10am
🏠 Indoor & outdoorEducational☔ Rainy-day friendly🆓 Free entry
What’s there
- Café on site
- Paid parking
- Baby changing
- Buggy friendly
- Picnic area
- Birthday parties
Access & inclusion
- Step-free access
Skerne Bridge Car Park, Darlington, DL1 1LG. Please enter DL1 1LG into your GPS.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
Head of Steam Railway Museum (now part of Hopetown Darlington as North Road Station Museum) tells the story of Darlington's pioneering progression of rail transport in the early 19th century. Housed in a Grade II* listed 1842 Victorian railway station, the museum is part of the award-winning 7.5-acre Hopetown Darlington visitor attraction.
In 1825, a railway journey changed the world forever when Locomotion No. 1 became the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger-carrying train on a public railway - the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The museum brings this story to life with fascinating exhibits, locomotives, and interactive displays.
Hopetown Darlington also features: Wagon Woods (a railway-themed outdoor adventure play park), EXPERIMENT! (a railway-themed time travel experience ride), The Goods Shed (with an artisan café and shop), The Carriage Works (housing the Exhibition Hall and The Stores with over 30,000 railway heritage items), and Darlington Locomotive Works where you can watch live engineering in action.
Free site admission (ticket required). Some exhibitions, events and activities carry a separate charge. Last entry 3pm.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
- Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
- Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
- Wet wipes
- Small first aid kitPlasters solve more days out than anything else here.
- Sun cream
- Kitchen roll
- Sick bagsYou only forget these once.
- Travel sickness bands
- Picnic blanket
- Folding stool
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