Stockton and Darlington Railway |
The Stockton and Darlington railway (S&DR) was the world's first railway to successfully use steam locomotives and
carry passengers, and is considered the world's first modern railway.
The line was 26 miles (40 km) long, and was built between Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington and from Darlington to
several collieries near Shildon in
north-eastern England. The line was initially built to connect inland coal mines to
Stockton where coal was to be loaded onto sea going boats.
History
The S&DR was constructed in the early 1820s and was initially meant to be an
ordinary horse-drawn wagonway, which were then commonplace in England. However
George Stephenson persuaded the S&DR's builders to permit
steam locomotives to operate experimentally on the line.
The line's structures included one of the first railway bridges, designed by
architect Ignatius
Bonomi, the so-called 'first railway architect'.
Steam locomotives were then a new and unproven technology, and were slow, expensive and unreliable. Many people weren't
convinced that they were a viable alternative to the horse. So at first, horse traction predominated on the S&DR, until steam
could prove its worth.
The parliamentary bill allowing construction of the line, however, included provisions for the use of steam locomotives, and the transporting of passengers, which at the time were regarded as
little more than a sideline.
George Stephenson constructed the locomotives which ran on the line, with assistance from Timothy Hackworth. The first locomotive to run on the S&DR was the Locomotion No 1.
The official opening of the line on September 27th, 1825 was to change the course of history; the first steam hauled passenger train ran and carried up to 600
passengers. The first passenger train was however not fast, taking two hours to complete the first 12 miles of the journey. Most
of the passengers sat in open coal wagons, but one experimental passenger coach was built
called "The Experiment" which resembled a wooden shed on wheels, carrying various dignitaries.
An experimental regular passenger service was soon established. The early locomotives were slow and unreliable, but as steam
technology advanced, the journey time was gradually reduced. The S&DR however was principally a freight carrying line and
passenger transport was little more than a sideline.
Steam traction was expensive in comparison to horse drawn traffic, but it soon proved that it was viable and economic. Steam
locomotives could haul more wagons, and haul them faster, so in a typical working day the expensive steam engine could haul more
coal than the cheaper horse.
It soon became apparent that mixing steam-hauled and horse-drawn traffic was slowing the operation down, and so as steam
technology became more reliable, horse-drawn traffic was gradually abandoned.
At first, the organisation of the S&DR bore little relation to that of most modern railways, and was run in the
traditional manner of the wagonways of the time. The S&DR merely owned the tracks and did not operate trains; anyone who paid
the S&DR money could freely operate steam trains or horse-drawn wagonloads on the line. There was no timetable or other form of central organisation. Trains ran whenever they wanted, and
fights often broke out when rival operators came into conflict over right-of-way on the tracks.
This chaotic situation was tolerable on competely horse-drawn traffic wagonways, but with faster steam trains it soon became
unworkable, as the faster speeds meant a collision could have serious consequenses. With the advent of steam, new operating
methods had to be developed.
By 1833 the S&DR had become entirely steam operated, and it gradually began to
resemble a modern railway. The S&DR company became the sole train operator on the line, two parallel tracks were built for trains traveling in different directions, timetables were
established and a crude signaling system was established to
prevent collisions. These methods of operation became standard on railways across the world.
The Stockton and Darlington proved a huge financial success, and paved the way for modern rail transport.
The expertise that Stephenson, and his apprentice Joseph Locke, gained
in railway construction and locomotive building on the S&DR enabled them a few years later to construct the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first
purpose built steam railway, and also his revolutionary Rocket
locomotive.
The Stockton and Darlington railway company, was absorbed into the North Eastern Railway
in 1863, which was eventually merged into the London and North Eastern Railway in
1922. Much but not all of the original S&DR line is still operating today.
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