The NERA Archive consists of photographs, books, timetables, maps, plans, diagrams and other official railway documents. We currently hold more than 50,000 photographs and 9,000 documents. You may download spreadsheets which show what we held in the archive as of 16 February 2024; John Mallon Documents, NERA Archive Documents, NERA Archive Stations and Sidings Diagrams. The former spreadsheets NERA Archive Photographs John Mallon Photographs and Richard Warwick Photographs have been combined into the NERA Archive Photographs Aggregated Catalogue which is now available in the Free Download Documents section of the website shop.
Many of our documents and photographs have now been scanned. You may download free examples through our shop. Members may view over 30,000 documents and photographs online.
We are also jointly responsible with the Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum for maintaining more than 6,000 photographs taken by our late member John Mallon together with his collection of around 4,000 documents assembled during his work on the railway.
You are welcome to examine any items from the NERA collection (by prior appointment with our Archivist) at the Ken Hoole Study Centre in the museum. In order to help with your research, we have prepared two “Finding Aid” tables which are available as free downloads from our shop – where you will also find some useful fact sheets about the NER and HBR. (The Ken Hoole Study Centre is currently closed for development of the Rail Heritage Quarter so please contact the archivist for access to the NERA collection)
If you are unable to visit Darlington, we can often provide digital scans or photocopies of much of our material, subject to size or copyright restrictions. We may ask for a donation to cover our costs, if any.
Please contact the Archivist if you think we may be able to assist you.
We regret that we are unable to undertake family history research.
Our collection has been built up entirely due to the generosity of members and others in donating material, and the Archivist would be delighted to hear from anyone who has relevant documents or photographs that they would like to make available to us. Please see our Collections Policy which will give you an idea of what may be of interest.