North Eastern Railway Branch Lines: Lesser Railways Around Darlington

The Fighting Cocks branch began life as an integral part of the Stockton & Darlington Railway main line between North Road and a point east of Fighting Cocks station. That status was lost first when the S&DR was absorbed into the North Eastern Railway (NER) in 1863, and secondly when the NER diverted passenger traffic to a newly-constructed line in 1887. The S&DR constructed branches off its main line, and one of these, the Croft Depot Branch which opened in October 1829, is described next, very much a rural backwater serving the local community. The final two lines to be covered, the Forcett Railway and the Merrybent & Darlington Railway, both started life as independent undertakings; they were constructed by entrepreneurs mainly to exploit local deposits of limestone which was crucial to the growing iron and steel industry on Teesside. In due course, both would be absorbed into the NER or its successor, the London & North Eastern Railway.