Earlier this month, a memorial commemorating the bi-centenary of the railways was unveiled in the Bishop Auckland Garden of Remembrance.
The dawn of the modern railway took place when passengers boarded a train pulled by a steam locomotive, Locomotion No.1, for the first time in history at Shildon on 27 September 1825.
The memorial in the Bishop Auckland Garden of Remembrance took the shape of a simple cross and was sculptured by Bishop Auckland’s Charlie Devlin from original “Bull Head” rail track, kindly donated by Network Rail.
A small plaque on the cross reads “In memory of the Railway workers of Bishop Auckland and Shildon”.
The well attended and dignified event was also to acknowledge the many railway staff who, over the two centuries, had fought for the nation to secure the the freedoms we enoy every day.
Former Shildon Wagon Works employee James Moffatt gave a reading citing that, in the Great War of 1914-18, a total of 186,957 railway staff volunteered to fight with sadly 18,957 being killed in action.
A total of seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to former railway workers for their heroism on the battlefield.
Ten Bishop Auckland Railway Station staff were killed in the Frist World War, whilst seventy nine Shildon Wagon Works employees were killed in the same conflict.
One of the Shildon men killed was John Peacock who enlisted in the 8th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment in September 1918 at Vaulx-Vracourt, Arras, France.
His great-great-nephew, Johnny Peacock, himself also a Shildon Wagon Works employee, along with Peter Rowley and Harry Newton – both ex-Shildon Works staff – performed the unveiling ceremony whilst the Bishops Piper, Kevin York played suitable laments.
A minute’s silence was held before a reading from the Laurence Binyon poem For the Fallen.
Of course, other conflicts have involved railway staff and the Remembrance Garden also contains a plaque in the beautifully maintained site to a former railwayman who served in HM Armed Forces, namely Tommy Stuart, who was at Korea with the RAF before being employed at the Shildon Works in the 1970’s.
Piper Kevin York closed the ceremony by playing a suitable lament in memory of Tommy.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
