Locomotive coaling drops

The locomotive coaling drops, commissioned in 1846 by William Bouch for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, are significant coal drops used for refueling steam locomotives. Constructed from buff-colored sandstone rubble, including some reused former sleeper stones, and buff-colored brick, the structure features a south-facing stone-built revetment that forms an incline. This incline begins at the west-north-west end, rising and gently curving to the east.

At the mid-point, the incline reaches its full height, with the eastern half extending eastwards at this level. The structure consists of a regular series of engineering arches with semi-circular heads made from triple courses of brick headers, and the piers are generally quoined. There are thirty arches in the inclined western half. The eastern half is primarily made up of similar engineering arches but includes four rectangular, deep, open-topped alcoves that indicate where the coal drop hoppers were originally located.

The first alcove is situated at about the mid-point, followed by another after ten engineering arches, with the last three alcoves each separated by sets of three arches. The third alcove, which may not have been a coal drop, is nearly twice the width and depth of the others and retains a ledge that once supported staging. Some engineering arches are blocked with later masonry and buttressing. The structure still has a few iron brackets and other fragmentary fittings, but it no longer has chutes or hoppers.