Oral history interview with Colin Howson conducted and recorded by Robert Aitchison on 21 April 2004, as part of the Time Tracks oral history collecting initiative. Duration 15 minutes 30 seconds. Born in Bishop Auckland in 1948; PE teacher training Leeds college; childhood in Bishop Auckland; school and college; starting work Sunderland; sports in Shildon, British Rail Football club, boxing; 1975 celebrations, Stockton and Darlington 150th anniversary, cavalcade, memories of smell and noise; railway walks in Shildon area; closure of Shildon railway works; mining; politics in Shildon area.

Time Tracks, Shildon Railway Village Community Project was an initiative funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund that encouraged members of the public to bring photographs and documents at Locomotion to form a community archive, when Locomotion museum was opened in Shildon, 2004. Over 50 oral history interviews were also recorded with members of the community. They shared their memories of Shildon as they knew it in their childhood and throughout their lives, from as early as the 1920s, as well as their work experiences in local factories and industries, including Shildon railway works.