HS2 and Railway 200

The historic bronze statue of Robert Stephenson, the son of the ‘father of the railways’ George Stephenson has gone on display at the Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham. Since its removal from the piazza at London’s Euston station as part of the HS2 redevelopment in October 2020, the statue of the railway pioneer has been kept by HS2 in safe storage.

Now, HS2, Network Rail and the Science Museum Group, the operator of the Locomotion Museum in Shildon, have agreed a loan which will see the 150 year old monument on display to the public for the next 10 years. The iconic statue will return to Euston once work to construct the new HS2 station and redevelop the existing Euston station is complete.

Robert Stephenson is regarded as one of the greatest engineers of all time. Building on the achievements of his father, Robert designed the pioneering Rocket locomotive and was the chief engineer for the London and Birmingham Railway, which opened in 1838 as the first railway into London. His work helped establish the UK’s railway system and he went on to engineer railways and railway bridges worldwide in Europe, Canada and Egypt.

The loan coincides with ‘Railway 200’ – the celebration of 200 years of the modern railway. Nationwide celebrations are taking place to recognise the achievements of George and Robert Stephenson, who pioneered the first public railway linking Stockton and Darlington in 1825. This railway passes through Shildon, which is recognised as being the first Railway town and a fitting location for the statue to be displayed.

HS2 is donating thousands of pieces of ballast to the Bluebell Railway in West Sussex.

Some 4,000 tonnes of ballast – enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool – was used by HS2 in specially constructed sidings while tunnelling work was carried out at West Ruislip. The sidings were used to bring 59,000 concrete tunnel ring segments, which were used to construct the Northolt Tunnel West.

By reusing the material, it eliminates the need for unnecessary treatment and transport of the material for waste disposal.

The ballast will be used to reopen platform 1 at Horsted Keynes station (perhaps better known as Downton Abbey station), which has been out of use since 1914. This means that when the platform is brought back into service in May, the Bluebell Railway will have four operational platforms at Horsted Keynes.

The donated ballast will also be used to relay an adjacent siding, which will be used as a display area for railway vehicles for the entire event throughout the summer.