27th September 1825: Stockton and Darlington Railway opens as the first public railway to make regular use of steam locomotives

Scott Allsop (0:00)

On the 27th of September 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened as the first public railway to make regular use of steam locomotives. Welcome to HistoryPod.

The railway had been promoted by local businessmen, including Edward Peace, who wanted to improve the transport of coal from inland collieries to Darlington and the port of Stockton-on-Tees. An Act of Parliament authorising a horse-drawn railway was passed in 1821, but after engineer George Stevenson surveyed and redesigned parts of the route, he argued that steam locomotives could be used to haul trains of coal and other goods. A second Act, passed in 1823, authorised the use of locomotives and also allowed the railway to carry passengers. Stevenson and his son Robert were involved in developing the first locomotive, originally called Active, which was completed in Newcastle in September 1825 It was subsequently renamed Locomotion No. 1

Nevertheless, the railway was not entirely dependent on locomotives. Some inclines used stationary steam engines to haul wagons, while horses continued to be used on other parts of the route. Consequently, the opening procession on 27 September began with coal wagons being hauled by horses. At Shilden, these were joined by wagons carrying passengers and other goods. Locomotion No. 1, driven by George Stevenson, was then attached to pull the train, along with a passenger carriage called Experiment.

The train then travelled towards Darlington and Stockton. Large crowds gathered along the route, and by the time it reached Stockton, the procession consisted of dozens of wagons and hundreds of people. Contemporary estimates suggest that as many as 600 people travelled on the train, demonstrating that steam locomotives could be used successfully on a public railway carrying both goods and people.