Each building houses a piece of interactive history, Wagon Woods and our railway-themed adventure play park builds on the story of the Stockton & Darlington Railway and lets your imagination run wild, in the heart of the museum.
It all started in 1825, when a railway journey changed the world forever. Locomotive No. 1 became the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger-carrying train on a public railway – the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It began a people-powered revolution.
The story of that first passenger journey offered us the unique opportunity to build the play around that world-changing event.
The team spent some time mining the history of the site and discovered the amazing story of the Brusselton incline. The information from the historical site says that the challenge facing the Stockton & Darlington Railway was that the coal they were transporting between the two locations had to first be brought over two great hills.
The solution they created was two rope-hauled inclines over the hills; both powered by static steam engines.
The problem with the system was that if the rope snapped, the wagons would run back down the hill and, smash everything in their path. Therefore they employed a gang of young men based towards the bottom of the hill. Their job, if a train broke free and began running down the hill at great speed, was to throw tree trunks in its path to derail it, before it did any serious damage.
You can see that reflected in the play and the image above shows how much of an inspiration it was for the final design.
There are loads more small details embedded too. You can see the original chimney, with the signalling bell above. Only from this highest position do you gain access to the long tubular slide. It’s a simple way to ensure that only those that are brave enough, get to ride the giant slide.
The high-level walkway that leads from this higher point takes you on a route around the trees and the views beyond to the hill down and the derailed wagons below.
You can see from the initial sketch how much we tried to embed the play into the environment. We wanted it to feel as though it was central to the whole offer and as though it had always been there.
