Railway 200
Almost two-hundred years ago, in a small mining town in County Durham about 450-people rode into the history books.
Their journey from Shildon, via Darlington, to Stockton on the River Tees was not the first railway journey. Despite what your school history books might have said, the legendary Locomotion at the front of the train was not the first steam locomotive either.
What made Tuesday, 27 September 1825 special, was that it ignited the imagination of the world as a whole. The Stockton and Darlington Railway brought together some new-ish engineering, some novel ideas on funding and some different legal thinking to create something that was far more than the sum of its parts.
The fact that we’re still talking about it 200-years on is testament to just how much the Stockton and Darlington Railway moved the world on. In no time at all, the world was awash with grand plans for railways to link towns and cities – not just mines and rivers.
Railway ‘mania’, as it would eventually be dubbed, first gained real traction on that momentous day. From then on it seemed that there was no doubt as to the ascendency of railways in the eyes of the public. The concept had a huge amount of development work ahead to get to the railway networks we know today, but the trajectory was only going one way.
Such an important date clearly can’t go unmarked. And that’s why Railway 200 was born – a nationwide celebration of that pivotal day in 1825 and the moment that rail transport was catapulted into the limelight.
There’s a direct lineage from that point to your daily commute and high-speed trains under the Channel to Paris. To the trains that pioneered seaside holidays and climbed Welsh mountainsides. To the trains that carry millions of tons of freight up and down the country each year. And, of course, to every heritage railway, tramway, funicular or locomotive too.
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Railway 200 news
Excitement builds for railway’s 200th anniversary in 2025
With just over 100 days to go until the start of a year-long celebration of 200 years of the modern railway in 2025, plans are being finalised to mark this historic milestone and explore rail’s past, present and future role in national life.
S&DR200: A festival celebrating the birth of the modern railway announces its programme
The 27th September 2025 marks the 200 th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in the north east of England, which gave birth to the modern railway. To celebrate this landmark anniversary, the nine-month S&DR200 Festival will take place across County Durham and Tees Valley from March to November 2025. The Festival is inspired by the first journey on the S&DR which went on to connect places, people and communities.
External links
Railway 200
Railway 200 will be a year-long nationwide partnership-led campaign to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway and inspire a new generation of young pioneering talent to choose a career in rail. It invites community, rail and other groups to get involved.
S&DR200
S&DR200 is a 9-month international festival taking place across County Durham and Tees Valley in 2025, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first journey on the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR).
