Shildon Works remembered: 'It was the artery of Britain's industry - then it closed'

Rachel Bullock spoke to former Shildon Works workers ahead of the 40th anniversary of its closure

Forty years ago Shildon Wagon Works closed - leaving the North East without one of its biggest and most important industrial giants.

The town's wagon works sprang up just years after the world's first passenger train made its historic journey through Shildon in 1825.

At its height, the works employed nearly 3,000 people but it closed in 1984 - ending 151 years of production.

Nearly 2,700 people lost their jobs, devastating the town.

• Workers and their families speaking to a Tyne Tees reporter about the closure.

John Tomlin, 97, was just 14 when he started working there, following in the footsteps of his grandfather - who was chief clerk and has a street in Shildon named after him - father and uncles.

"I started on the 10 February 1941," he said. "I was 14 and a half. My father was foreman electrician. It was a place where family worked.

"It was a big part of my life. It was a big part of everybody's life here."

Dulcie Stobbs also worked there, like her mother, who was one of the women drafted in to replace men who had gone to fight in the Second World War.

"My sister and me put our names down and we joined there," she said. "I was only 16.

"Oh, I liked it. There were some good men there, you know, and I never heard any bad language. And that's how I met my boyfriend, my husband."

Fellow former worker Dennis Parker added: "I was about the last one to come out of Shildon Works.

"We were like one big family."

Rail wagons were built in Shildon from 1833. It meant for the first time, huge quantities of coal mined in nearby pits could be transported more quickly than ever.

It made the horse and cart redundant, and the North East an industrial pioneer.

Dr Thomas Spain, from the National Railway Museum, said: "Anything from umbrella handles to jam jars would have gone by rail and also raw materials for industry that fed into the steelworks on Teesside, Port Talbot in South Wales and everywhere in between.

"It was an enormous contribution to Britain's economic success. It was very much the motorway, the artery of British industry."

He added: "So it had this very long lifetime but things started to change. It was very much how the economy was changing towards a more road transport-based economy. Railways were quite cumbersome. Sending goods by rail was labour intensive."

Demand fell and in 1984 the works closed, despite it still making a profit at the time.

Forty years later, people in Shildon still feel its loss.

One former worker told ITV Tyne Tees: "Everything that was made in the works was spent in the town, money-wise. So the only things you've got now are takeaways. There's very few shops."

"My grandfather, my dad, my uncle, my brother, my son, we all worked for the works," said another. "And when it closed it was heartbreaking. It was, I remember my mum, my son crying on the doorstep.

"She said, 'I can't believe it's happening'. I could cry now."

Another former worker added: "Work doesn't just bring you money and wage, it also brings your pride and dignity. And the same people who closed the works were the very same ones who shortly after it shut were the ones attacking people from down here for being bone idle, lazy and unemployed.

"Shildon now has the cheapest housing in all of England. That's the legacy of the works closing."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...