A new album of songs and poems that celebrates 200 years of The Stockton & Darlington Railway will launch on 14 March 2025.
The album titled ‘Passengers & Pioneers’ features original songs by folk singer Sam Slatcher, interwoven with poems from Lizzie Lovejoy, Carmen Marcus, Rowan McCabe and Harry Gallagher.
The album is the culmination of the ‘Storylines’ project, commissioned by Citizen Songwriters in partnership with Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership (CRP), which in 2023 saw the artists travel the line from Bishop Auckland to Saltburn gathering stories from passengers to create new pieces of work.
The ‘Passengers & Pioneers’ album tells the story of how this short line, connecting two North East towns, changed the shape of the region, the country and the world. It draws on a letter written by a 14- year-old boy to his younger sister describing his track-side view of the first journey, on news reports from the Jubilee anniversary and from testimonies of railway workers throughout the ages.
The songs and poetry also feature stories of passengers who commute, holiday, encounter strangers, meditate from train windows, find love, seek work, find pride and belonging and experience a sense of homecoming, on those same 26 miles of track.
The album itself will be released on Friday 14 March with a unique performance at The Common Room as part of the fringe events in association with the Community Rail Awards, centred around the national Railway 200 celebrations. Limited free tickets are available – details here.
Dates for the ‘Passengers & Pioneers’ Summer 2025 tour across the North East will be announced later this month.
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from Bishop Line CPR via their website.
Top photo from L-R: Sam Slatcher, Felicity Machnicki (Bishop Line CRP officer), Lizzie Lovejoy, Carmen Marcus and Becci Sharrock. Photo credit: Rob Irish.
