spratmackrel
Stockton Station R.I.P.
The first permanent steam locomotive railway in the world was opened in 1825 between Stockton-on- Tees and Witton Park, via Darlington, England. It was the work of North East engineer George Stephenson and the first train was pulled by his now famous engine Locomotion No.1. The line was initially built to connect inland coal mines to Stockton, where coal was loaded onto ships. While not the original railway terminus, Stockton Station, which opened in 1893, was a wonderful place when it was in full swing. As a youngster I used to love going there and staring up at the glass-domed roof. However, years of neglected led to its dereliction and one night in the 1990s I stepped off the bus to see it a blaze. Now it is only an unmanned stop on the East Coast line. Thankfully, some of the buildings were saved and converted into flats to the elderly.
Having been forced to carry out a Life Laundry recently :( I decided to use some emotional alchemy to transmute some of my sadness into something positive. I found the the pictures of Stockton Station, taken in the early 1990s, in a shoe box in the loft . The music is In Your Eyes, by The Storm a band I formed in 1986, which I reformatted from an old C90 tape, also found in a box in the attic. The song, was (and still is) about the creeping destruction of something you love, a bit like the long slow death of Stockton Railway Station ("Oh! Cheer up, for God's sake!!!" I hear you cry ;-)
The full video can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5redowE7aI8
Stockton Station R.I.P.
The first permanent steam locomotive railway in the world was opened in 1825 between Stockton-on- Tees and Witton Park, via Darlington, England. It was the work of North East engineer George Stephenson and the first train was pulled by his now famous engine Locomotion No.1. The line was initially built to connect inland coal mines to Stockton, where coal was loaded onto ships. While not the original railway terminus, Stockton Station, which opened in 1893, was a wonderful place when it was in full swing. As a youngster I used to love going there and staring up at the glass-domed roof. However, years of neglected led to its dereliction and one night in the 1990s I stepped off the bus to see it a blaze. Now it is only an unmanned stop on the East Coast line. Thankfully, some of the buildings were saved and converted into flats to the elderly.
Having been forced to carry out a Life Laundry recently :( I decided to use some emotional alchemy to transmute some of my sadness into something positive. I found the the pictures of Stockton Station, taken in the early 1990s, in a shoe box in the loft . The music is In Your Eyes, by The Storm a band I formed in 1986, which I reformatted from an old C90 tape, also found in a box in the attic. The song, was (and still is) about the creeping destruction of something you love, a bit like the long slow death of Stockton Railway Station ("Oh! Cheer up, for God's sake!!!" I hear you cry ;-)
The full video can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5redowE7aI8