By Michael Cairns, RSGS Collections Team 

Map of County Durham by C & I Greenwood 1818 & 1819

2025 is the 200^th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR). This was the first public railway that employed locomotives to haul the greater part of its traffic, both passengers and goods. Steam locomotives had been in use for some time, particularly hauling coal on private railway lines in the North East of England. Some earlier railways had conveyed passengers, such as between Kilmarnock and Troon since 1817. The S&DR, however, fused together various elements that then formed the basis for railways currently worldwide.

Detailed view of Stockton and Darlington

The first trip in 1825 carried passengers and goods on a main line from Shildon to Stockton-on-Tees. Branches extended from Shildon to collieries around Coundon to the north and Witton Park in the Wear Valley. The movement of coal from inland collieries in County Durham to the harbour at Stockton-on-Tees was a major objective of the railway. The Parliamentary Act granting powers to construct and operate the railway also listed a wide range of goods that could be carried including agricultural products, minerals and manufactured items. Prominent in the design of both the line and its steam locomotives was the famous father and son partnership of George and Robert Stephenson.

The Railway constructed the first buildings to serve as railway stations, catering for both passengers and goods. The first one was opened in Heighington in 1827, this still survives and is currently the subject of a restoration project.

The S&DR extended its network to the Yorkshire coast and inland including crossing the Pennines into today’s Cumbria. An early extension led to the creation of the town of Middlesbrough which, closer to the mouth of the Tees than Stockton, enabled a deep-sea port to be constructed. The Railway survived as a separate entity until merger with the larger North Eastern Railway in 1863.

The map that includes the early S&DR in the RSGS collection was produced initially by C & I Greenwood in 1818 & 1819 of County Durham. Clearly this was before the Railway’s opening; however, the Society’s map is an 1831 revision. This shows the main line running between Shildon and Stockton-on-Tees as a solid black line. It also includes the branches to Coundon and Witton Park, as well as the early extensions to Croft-on-Tees (now part of the East Coast Main Line connecting Edinburgh with London Kings Cross), opened in 1827 and along the Gaunless Valley, west of St Helen Auckland.

Today much of the railway from Shildon – Darlington – Stockton follows the 1825 line, only the stretch between Darlington and Dinsdale deviates from the original line. Little freight uses the line, the principal use being a passenger service between Bishop Auckland and Middlesbrough (extending also to Saltburn-by-the-Sea).