can anyone remember the car breakers that i think was at the rear of the 4 clocks and somewhere near the new morrisons now ,i used to play in there when i was a kid in the 60s and wonded who owned it and what happened to it ,the railway ran i think alongside it and a narrow walled path that lead to the rec area.
ken

That would be Hanratty's scrapyard I think.

Looking at maps and railway tracks I'm still puzzled where the road entered Hanratty's

d

Derek

From memory (which seems to be confirmed by the maps at [gis.durham.gov.uk] ) the entrance to the Goods station (and Hanrattys ?) was on Newgate Street about 50 yards up from Railway Street.
There might also have been a gate in the wall in Station Approach before the road to the station went over the line to Durham.

Hanratty's were at the bottom of Railway St.[the Grammar School end] not the end near the station. I have no recollection of there being 2 but I may be wrong.

My dad's uncle and cousin George Morley had the Marine Stores in Blackett St -another scrap yard but I've never been able to fathom out why they were called the Marine Stores. Any ideas anybody?

Hanratty had both the station scrapyard and the warehouse at the bottom of Railway Street as well. The extended family seem to have been in the scrap business in numerous other places in the North of England and are still on the go in Darlington apparently [hanrattys.co.uk]