The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s, its first line connected
collieries
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
near
Shildon
Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...
with
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
and
Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...
in County Durham, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port at
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
. While coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from the start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833.
The S&DR was involved in the building of the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
between
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and Darlington, but its main expansion was at Middlesbrough Docks and west into
Weardale
Weardale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the second-largest AONB in England and Wales. T ...
and east to
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough.
The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...
. It suffered severe financial difficulties at the end of the 1840s and was nearly taken over by the
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...
, before the discovery of iron ore in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
and the subsequent increase in revenue meant it could pay its debts. At the beginning of the 1860s it took over railways that had crossed the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
to join the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
at and Clifton, near .
The company was taken over by the
North Eastern Railway in 1863, transferring of line and about 160 locomotives, but continued to operate independently as the Darlington Section until 1876. The opening of the S&DR was seen as proof of the effectiveness of steam railways and its anniversary was celebrated in 1875, 1925 and 1975. Much of the original route is now served by the
Tees Valley Line
The Tees Valley Line is a rail route, in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of , and connects to via , and 14 other stations in the Teesdale.
The sect ...
, operated by
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
.
Genesis
Origins
Coal from the inland mines in southern
County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly About North East E ...
used to be taken away on
packhorse
A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...
s, and then horse and carts as the roads were improved. A canal was proposed by
George Dixon in 1767 and again by
John Rennie in 1815, but both schemes failed. Meanwhile, the port of
Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...
, from which the Durham coal was transported onwards by sea, had invested considerably during the early 19th century in
straightening the Tees in order to improve navigation on the river downstream of the town and was subsequently looking for ways to increase trade to recoup those costs.
A few years later, a canal was proposed on a route that bypassed Darlington and Yarm, and a meeting was held in Yarm to oppose the route. The Welsh engineer George Overton was consulted, and he advised building a tramroad. Overton carried out a survey and planned a route from the Etherley and Witton Collieries to
Shildon
Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...
, and then passing to the north of
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
to reach
Stockton. The Scottish engineer
Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to:
* Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician
* Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer
* Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...
was said to favour the railway, and the
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
Edward Pease supported it at a public meeting in Darlington on 13 November 1818, promising a five per cent return on investment. Approximately two-thirds of the shares were sold locally, and the rest were bought by Quakers nationally. A
private bill
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
was presented to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in March 1819, but as the route passed through
Earl of Eldon
Earl of Eldon, in the County Palatine of Durham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1821 for the lawyer and politician John Scott, 1st Baron Eldon, Lord Chancellor from 1801 to 1806 and again from 1807 to 1827. H ...
's estate and one of the
Earl of Darlington
Earl of Darlington is a title that has been created twice, each time in the Peerage of Great Britain. Sophia von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington, Baroness von Kielmansegg, half-sister of George I of Great Britain, King George I, was made coun ...
's fox coverts, it was opposed and defeated by 13 votes.
Overton surveyed a new line that avoided Darlington's estate and agreement was reached with Eldon, but another application was deferred early in 1820, as the death of
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
had made it unlikely a bill would pass that parliamentary year. The promoters lodged a bill on 30 September 1820, the route having changed again as agreement had not been reached with
Viscount Barrington
Viscount Barrington, of Ardglass in the County of Down, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1720 for the lawyer, theologian and politician John Barrington. He was made Baron Barrington, of Newcastle in the County of Limeri ...
about the line passing over his land. The railway was unopposed this time, but the bill nearly failed to enter the committee stage as the required four-fifths of shares had not been sold. Pease subscribed £7,000; from that time he had considerable influence over the railway and it became known as "the Quaker line". The Act that received
royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 19 April 1821 allowed for a railway that could be used by anyone with suitably built vehicles on payment of a toll, that was closed at night, and with which land owners within could build branches and make junctions; no mention was made of steam locomotives. This new railway initiated the construction of more railway lines, causing significant developments in railway mapping and cartography, iron and steel manufacturing, as well as in any industries requiring more efficient transportation.
George Stephenson
Concerned about Overton's competence, Pease asked
George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...
, an experienced enginewright of the collieries of Killingworth, to meet him in Darlington. On 12 May 1821 the shareholders appointed Thomas Meynell as chairman and
Jonathan Backhouse
Sir Jonathan Edmund Backhouse, 1st Baronet, (15 November 1849 – 27 July 1918) was a British banker.
Backhouse was a director of Backhouse's Bank the family bank in Darlington, County Durham, one of the leading country banks that merged in ...
as treasurer; a majority of the managing committee, which included
Thomas Richardson, Edward Pease and his son
Joseph Pease Joseph Pease may refer to:
* Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), railway owner, first Quaker elected Member of Parliament
** Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet (1828–1903), MP 1865–1903, full name Joseph Whitwell Pease, son of Joseph Pease ...
, were Quakers. The committee designed a seal, showing waggons being pulled by a horse, and adopted the Latin motto ' ("At private risk for public service"). By 23 July 1821 it had decided that the line would be a railway with edge rails, rather than a
plateway
A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later.
Plateways consisted of "L"-shaped rails, where the flange o ...
, and appointed Stephenson to make a fresh survey of the line. Stephenson recommended using malleable iron rails, even though he owned a share of the patent for the alternative cast iron rails, and both types were used. Stephenson was assisted by his 18-year-old son
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
during the survey, and by the end of 1821 had reported that a usable line could be built within the bounds of the Act, but another route would be shorter by and avoid deep cuttings and tunnels. Overton had kept himself available, but had no further involvement and the shareholders elected Stephenson Engineer on 22 January 1822, with a salary of £660 per year. On 23 May 1822 a ceremony in Stockton celebrated the laying of the first track at St John's Well, the rails apart, the same
gauge
Gauge ( or ) may refer to:
Measurement
* Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments
* Gauge (firearms)
* Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire
** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
used by Stephenson on his
Killingworth Railway
Killingworth, formerly Killingworth Township, is a town in North Tyneside, England.
Killingworth was built as a planned town in the 1960s, next to Killingworth Village, which existed for centuries before the Township. Other nearby towns and ...
.
Stephenson advocated the use of steam locomotives on the line. Pease visited Killingworth in mid-1822 and the directors visited
Hetton colliery railway
The Hetton colliery railway was an long private railway opened in 1822 by the Hetton Coal Company at Hetton Lyons, County Durham, England. The Hetton was the first railway to be designed from the start to be operated without animal power, as we ...
, on which Stephenson had introduced steam locomotives. A new bill was presented, requesting Stephenson's deviations from the original route and the use of "loco-motives or moveable engines", and this received assent on 23 May 1823. The line included embankments up to high, and Stephenson designed
an iron truss bridge to cross the
River Gaunless
The Gaunless is a tributary river of the Wear in County Durham, England. Its name is old norse, meaning useless.A Potted History of West Auckland - Martin Connolly The Gaunless Viaduct, built in 1825, was the tallest viaduct on the South Dur ...
. The
Skerne Bridge
The Skerne Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Skerne in Darlington, County Durham. Built in 1825 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, it carried the first train on the opening day, . It is still in use, being the oldest railway brid ...
over the
River Skerne
The River Skerne is a tributary of the River Tees. It flows through County Durham in England.
Course
The Skerne is about long and begins in Magnesian Limestone hills between Trimdon and Trimdon Grange and ends at Hurworth Place where it joi ...
was designed by the Durham architect
Ignatius Bonomi
Ignatius Bonomi (1787–1870) was an English architect and surveyor, with Italian origins by his father, strongly associated with Durham in north-east England.
Life
He was the son of an architect and draughtsman, Joseph Bonomi (1739– ...
.
In 1823, Stephenson and Pease opened
Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines.
Famous early locomotiv ...
, a
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
works at Forth Street, Newcastle, from which the following year the S&DR ordered two steam locomotives and two stationary engines. On 16 September 1825, with the stationary engines in place, the first locomotive, ''
Locomotion No. 1
''Locomotion'' No. 1 (originally named ''Active'') is an early steam locomotive that was built in 1825 by the pioneering railway engineers George and Robert Stephenson at their manufacturing firm, Robert Stephenson and Company. It became the ...
'', left the works, and the following day it was advertised that the railway would open on 27 September 1825.
Opening
![The Opening of the S&DR (crop)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/The_Opening_of_the_S%26DR_%28crop%29.jpg)
The cost of building the railway had greatly exceeded the estimates. By September 1825, the company had borrowed £60,000 in short-term loans and needed to start earning an income to ward off its creditors. A railway coach, named ''Experiment'', arrived on the evening of 26 September 1825 and was attached to ''Locomotion No. 1'', which had been placed on the rails for the first time at
Aycliffe Lane station following the completion of its journey by road from Newcastle earlier that same day. Pease, Stephenson and other members of the committee then made an experimental journey to Darlington before taking the locomotive and coach to Shildon in preparation for the opening day, with James Stephenson, George's elder brother, at the controls. On 27 September, between 7 am and 8 am, 12 waggons of coal were drawn up Etherley North Bank by a rope attached to the stationary engine at the top, and then let down the South Bank to
St Helen's Auckland. A waggon of flour bags was attached and
horses hauled the train across the Gaunless Bridge to the bottom of
Brusselton West Bank, where thousands watched the second stationary engine draw the train up the incline. The train was let down the East Bank to Mason's Arms Crossing at Shildon Lane End, where ''Locomotion No. 1'', ''Experiment'' and 21 new coal waggons fitted with seats were waiting.
The directors had allowed room for 300 passengers, but the train left carrying between 450 and 600 people, most travelling in empty waggons but some on top of waggons full of coal. Brakesmen were placed between the waggons, and the train set off, led by a man on horseback with a flag. It picked up speed on the gentle downward slope and reached , leaving behind men on
field hunters
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
(horses) who had tried to keep up with the procession. The train stopped when the waggon carrying the company surveyors and engineers lost a wheel; the waggon was left behind and the train continued. The train stopped again, this time for 35 minutes to repair the locomotive and the train set off again, reaching before it was welcomed by an estimated 10,000 people as it came to a stop at the Darlington branch junction. Eight and a half miles () had been covered in two hours, and subtracting the 55 minutes accounted by the two stops, it had travelled at an average speed of . Six waggons of coal were distributed to the poor, workers stopped for refreshments and many of the passengers from Brusselton alighted at Darlington, to be replaced by others.
Two waggons for the Yarm Band were attached, and at 12:30 pm the locomotive started for Stockton, now hauling 31 vehicles with 550 passengers. On the of nearly level track east of Darlington the train struggled to reach more than . At
Eaglescliffe
Eaglescliffe is a village in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. It is in the civil parish of Egglescliffe.
The village was formerly known as Eaglescliffe Junction, being formed around . In 2011, the Office for National S ...
near Yarm crowds waited for the train to cross the Stockton to Yarm turnpike. Approaching Stockton, running alongside the turnpike as it skirted the western edge of
Preston Park, it gained speed and reached again, before a man clinging to the outside of a waggon fell off and his foot was crushed by the following vehicle. As work on the final section of track to Stockton's quayside was still ongoing, the train halted at the temporary passenger terminus at St John's Well 3 hours, 7 minutes after leaving Darlington. The opening ceremony was considered a success and that evening 102 people sat down to a celebratory dinner at the Town Hall.
Early operations
The railway that opened in September 1825 was long and ran from Phoenix Pit, Old Etherley Colliery, to Cottage Row, Stockton; there was also a branch to the depot at Darlington, of the Hagger Leases branch, and a branch to Yarm. Most of the track used malleable iron rails, and of cast iron rails were used for junctions. The line was single track with four passing loops each mile; square sleepers supported each rail separately so that horses could walk between them. Stone was used for the sleepers to the west of Darlington and oak to the east; Stephenson would have preferred all of them to have been stone, but the transport cost was too high as they were quarried in the Auckland area. The railway opened with the company owing money and unable to raise further loans; Pease advanced money twice early in 1826 so the workers could be paid. By August 1827 the company had paid its debts and was able to raise more money; that month the Black Boy branch opened and construction began on the Croft and Hagger Leases branches. During 1827 shares rose from £120 at the start to £160 at the end.
![Stockton & Darlington Railway with today's lines](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Stockton_%26_Darlington_Railway_with_today%27s_lines.svg)
The line was initially used to carry coal to Darlington and Stockton, carrying 10,000 tons in the first three months and earning nearly £2,000. In Stockton, the price of coal dropped from 18 to 12
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
, and by the beginning of 1827 was 8 shillings 6
pence
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...
(8s 6d). At first, the drivers had been paid a daily wage, but after February 1826 they were paid d per ton per mile; from this they had to pay assistants and fireman and to buy coal for the locomotive. The 1821 Act had received opposition from the owners of collieries on the
River Wear
The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through th ...
who supplied London and feared competition, and it had been necessary to restrict the rate for transporting coal destined for ships to d per ton per mile, which had been assumed would make the business uneconomic. There was interest from London for 100,000 tons a year, so the company began investigations in September 1825. In January 1826, the first staith opened at Stockton, designed so waggons over a ship's hold could discharge coal from the bottom. A little over 18,500 tons of coal was transported to ships in the year ending June 1827 and this increased to over 52,000 tons the following year, per cent of the total carried.
The locomotives were unreliable at first. Soon after opening, ''Locomotion No. 1'' broke a wheel, and it was not ready for traffic until 12 or 13 October; ''Hope'', the second locomotive, arrived in November 1825 but needed a week to ready it for the line – the cast-iron wheels were a source of trouble. Two more locomotives of a similar design arrived in 1826; that August, 16s 9d was spent on ale to motivate the men maintaining the engines. By the end of 1827, the company had also bought ''Chittaprat'' from Robert Wilson and ''Experiment'' from Stephenson.
Timothy Hackworth
Timothy Hackworth (22 December 1786 – 7 July 1850) was an English steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Youth and early work ...
, locomotive superintendent, used the boiler from the unsuccessful ''Chittaprat'' to build the ''Royal George'' in the works at Shildon; it started work at the end of November. John Wesley Hackworth later published an account stating that locomotives would have been abandoned were it not for the fact that Pease and Thomas Richardson were partners with Stephenson in the Newcastle works, and that when Timothy Hackworth was commissioned to rebuild ''Chittaprat'' it was "as a last experiment" to "make an engine in his own way". Both Tomlinson and Rolt state this claim was unfounded and the company had shown earlier that locomotives were superior to horses, Tomlinson showing that coal was being moved using locomotives at half the cost of horses. Robert Young states that the company was unsure as to the real costs as they reported to shareholders in 1828 that the saving using locomotives was 30 per cent. Young also showed that Pease and Richardson were both concerned about their investment in the Newcastle works and Pease unsuccessfully tried to sell his share to George Stephenson.
New locomotives were ordered from Stephenson's, but the first was too heavy when it arrived in February 1828. It was rebuilt with six wheels and hailed as a great improvement, Hackworth being told to convert the remaining locomotives as soon as possible. In 1828 two locomotive boilers exploded within four months, both killing the driver and both due to the safety valves being left fixed down while the engine was stationary. Horses were also used on the line, and they could haul up to four waggons. The
dandy cart was introduced in mid-1828: a small cart at the end of the train, this carried the horse downhill, allowing it to rest and the train to run at higher speed. The S&DR made their use compulsory from November 1828.
![Stockton & Darlington Railway Union Coach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Stockton_%26_Darlington_Railway_Union_Coach.jpg)
Passenger traffic started on 10 October 1825, after the required licence was purchased, using the ''Experiment'' coach hauled by a horse. The coach was initially timetabled to travel from Stockton to Darlington in two hours, with a fare of 1s, and made a return journey four days a week and a one-way journey on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In April 1826 the operation of the coach was contracted for £200 a year; by then the timetabled journey time had been reduced to hours and passengers were allowed to travel on the outside for 9d. A more comfortable coach, ''Express'', started the same month and charged 1s 6d for travel inside. Innkeepers began running coaches, two to Shildon from July, and the ''Union'', which served the Yarm branch from 16 October. There were no stations: in Darlington the coaches picked up passengers near the north road crossing, whereas in Stockton they picked up at different places on the quay. Between 30,000 and 40,000 passengers were carried between July 1826 and June 1827.
Founding of Middlesbrough
The export of coal had become the railway's main business, but the staiths at Stockton had inadequate storage and the size of ships was limited by the depth of the Tees. A branch from Stockton to Haverton, on the north bank of the Tees, was proposed in 1826, and the engineer Thomas Storey proposed a shorter and cheaper line to
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
, south of the Tees in July 1827. Later approved by George Stephenson, this plan was ratified by the shareholders on 26 October. The
Tees Navigation Company
The Tees Navigation Company was a British Company chartered by an Act of Parliament in 1808, for the purpose of improving navigation of the River Tees between the towns of Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough.John Brewster, ''The parochial history an ...
was about to improve the river and proposed that the railway delay application to Parliament, but, despite opposition, at a meeting in January 1828 it was decided to proceed. A more direct northerly route from Auckland to the Tees had been considered since 1819, and the Tees & Weardale Railway had applied unsuccessfully to Parliament for permission for such a line in 1823, 1824 and 1825. This now became a line linking Simpasture on the S&DR's line near today's
Newton Aycliffe station with Haverton and Stockton, via a route that was shorter than via the route of the S&DR, and named the
Clarence Railway
The Clarence Railway was an early railway company that operated in north-east England between 1833 and 1853. The railway was built to take coal from mines in County Durham to ports on the River Tees and was a competitor to the Stockton and Darli ...
in honour of the Duke of Clarence, later
King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
. Meetings held in Stockton in early 1828 supported the Tees Navigation and the Clarence Railway, but the S&DR received permission for its branch on 23 May 1828 after promising to complete the Hagger Leases Branch and to build a bridge across the Tees at least wide and above low water, so as not to affect shipping. Two members of the management committee resigned, as they felt that Stockton would be adversely affected by the line, and Meynell, the S&DR chairman, stepped down from leadership. The Clarence Railway was approved a few days later, with the same gauge as the S&DR. The route of the Clarence Railway was afterwards amended to reach Samphire Batts, later known as
Port Clarence
Port Clarence is a small village now within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Tees, and hosts the northern end of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.
...
, and traffic started in August 1833; by the middle of 1834 Port Clarence had opened and of line was in use. The S&DR charged the d per ton per mile landsale rate for coal it carried the from the collieries to Simpasture for forwarding to Port Clarence, rather than the lower shipping rate. By July 1834, the
Exchequer Loan Commissioners had taken control of the Clarence Railway.
![S&DR Tees Suspension Bridge, 1830](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/S%26DR_Tees_Suspension_Bridge%2C_1830.jpg)
The Croft branch opened in October 1829. Construction of the suspension bridge across the Tees started in July 1829, but was suspended in October after the Tees Navigation Company pointed out the S&DR had no permission to cross the Old Channel of the Tees. The S&DR prepared to return to Parliament but withdrew after a design for a drawbridge was agreed with the Navigation Company. The line to Middlesbrough was laid with malleable iron rails weighing , resting on oak blocks. The suspension bridge had been designed to carry 150 tons, but the cast iron retaining plates split when it was tested with just 66 tons and loaded trains had to cross with the waggons split into groups of four linked by a chain. For the opening ceremony on 27 December 1830, "Globe", a new locomotive designed by Hackworth for passenger trains, hauled people in carriages and waggons fitted with seats across the bridge to the staiths at Port Darlington, which had berths for six ships. Stockton continued to be served by a station on the line to the quay until 1848, when it was replaced by a station on the Middlesbrough line on the other side of the Tees. Before May 1829, Thomas Richardson had bought about near Port Darlington, and with Joseph and Edward Pease and others he formed the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate to develop it. Middlesbrough had only a few houses before the coming of the railway, but a year later had a population of over 2,000 and at the 2011 census had over 138,000 people.
Railway improvements
![S&DR railway office](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/S%26DR_railway_office.jpg)
In 1830, the company opened new offices at the corner of Northgate and Union Street in Darlington. Between 1831 and 1832 a second track was laid between Stockton and the foot of Brusselton Bank. Workshops were built at Shildon for the maintenance and construction of locomotives. In 1830 approximately 50 horses shared the traffic with 19 locomotives, but travelled at different speeds, so to help regulate traffic horse-drawn trains were required to operate in groups of four or five. This had led to horses, startled by a passing locomotive and coming off their dandy cart, being run down by the following train. On one occasion a driver fell asleep in the dandy cart of the preceding train and his horse, no longer being led, came to a stop and was run down by a locomotive. The rule book stated that locomotive-hauled trains had precedence over horse-drawn trains, but some horse drivers refused to give way and on one occasion a locomotive had to follow a horse-drawn train for over . The committee decided in 1828 to replace horses with locomotives on the main line, starting with the coal trains, but there was resistance from some colliery owners. After the S&DR bought out the coach companies in August 1832, a mixed passenger and small goods service began between Stockton and Darlington on 7 September 1833, travelling at ; locomotive-hauled services began to Shildon in December 1833 and to Middlesbrough on 7 April 1834. The company had returned the five per cent dividend that had been promised by Edward Pease, and this had increased to eight per cent by the time he retired in 1832. When the treasurer Jonathan Backhouse retired in 1833 to become a Quaker minister, he was replaced by Joseph Pease.
The way north
Great North of England Railway
On 13 October 1835, the
York and North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840 extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its first c ...
(Y&NMR) was formed to connect
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
to London by a line to a junction with the planned
North Midland Railway
The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840.
At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what ...
. Representatives of the Y&NMR and S&DR met two weeks later and formed the
Great North of England Railway
The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington, and originally it was planned to extend to Newcastle.
Mergers
In 1846 it was absorbed by the Newcastle ...
(GNER), a line from York to Newcastle that used the route of the Croft branch at Darlington. The railway was to be built in sections, and to allow both to open at the same time permission for the more difficult line through the hills from Darlington to Newcastle was to be sought in 1836 and a bill for the easier line south of Darlington to York presented the following year. Pease specified a formation wide enough for four tracks, so freight could be carried at and passengers at , and George Stephenson had drawn up detailed plans by November. The Act for the from Newcastle to Darlington was given royal assent on 4 July 1836, but little work had been done by the time the from Croft to York received permission on 12 July the following year. In August a general meeting decided to start work on the southern section, but construction was delayed, and after several bridges collapsed the engineer Thomas Storey was replaced by Robert Stephenson. The S&DR sold its Croft branch to the GNER, and the railway opened for coal traffic on 4 January 1841 using S&DR locomotives. The railway opened to passengers with its own locomotives on 30 March.
Between November 1841 and February 1842, the S&DR introduced a service between Darlington and Coxhoe, on the Clarence Railway, where an omnibus took passengers the to the
Durham & Sunderland Railway at Shincliffe. Early in 1842, the nominally independent Shildon Tunnel Company opened its tunnel through the hills at Shildon to the Wear basin and after laying of track to
South Church station, south of
Bishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham.
Much of the town's early history surro ...
, opened in May 1842. In 1846, the S&DR installed
Alexander Bain's "I and V" electric telegraph to regulate the passage of trains through the tunnel. The SD&R provided a hour service between Darlington and Newcastle, with a four-horse omnibus from South Church to Rainton Meadows on the
Durham Junction Railway
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...
, from where trains ran to
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
, on the south side of the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
near Newcastle.
Railway operations in the 1830s
By 1839, the track had been upgraded with rails weighing . The railway had about 30 steam locomotives, most of them
six coupled, that ran with four-wheeled tenders with two water butts, each capable of holding of water. The line descended from Shildon to Stockton, assisting the trains that carried coal to the docks at a maximum speed of ; the drivers were fined if caught travelling faster than , and one was dismissed for completing the forty-mile return journey in hours. On average there were about 40 coal trains a day, hauling 28 waggons with a weight of 116 tons. There were about 5,000 privately owned waggons, and at any one time about 1,000 stood at Shildon depot.
![Middlesbrough locomotive (William Lister) (crop)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Middlesbrough_locomotive_%28William_Lister%29_%28crop%29.jpg)
The railway had modern passenger locomotives, some with four wheels There were passenger stations at Stockton, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Shildon and West Auckland, and trains also stopped at Middlesbrough Junction, Yarm Junction, Fighting Cocks and Heighington. Some of the modified road coaches were still in use, but there were also modern railway carriages, some first class with three compartments each seating eight passengers, and second class carriages that seated up to 40. Luggage and sometimes the guard travelled on the carriage roof; a passenger travelling third class suffered serious injuries after falling from the roof in 1840. Passenger trains averaged , and a speed of was recorded. Over 200,000 passengers were carried in the year to 1 October 1838, and in 1839 there were twelve trains each day between Middlesbrough and Stockton, six trains between Stockton and Darlington, and three between Darlington and Shildon, where a carriage was fitted with
Rankine Rankine is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* William Rankine (1820–1872), Scottish engineer and physicist
** Rankine body an elliptical shape of significance in fluid dynamics, named for Rankine
** Rankine scale, an absolute-te ...
's self-acting brake, taken over the
Brussleton Inclines, and then drawn by a horse to
St Helen Auckland
St Helen Auckland is a village in County Durham, in England. It is south-west of Bishop Auckland. It is named after St. Helen in distinction from Bishop Auckland as the church is dedicated to her (the Church of St Helen, St Helen Auckland
The ...
. The
Bradshaw's railway guide
''Bradshaw's'' was a series of railway timetables and travel guide books published by W.J. Adams and later Henry Blacklock, both of London. They are named after founder George Bradshaw, who produced his first timetable in October 1839. Althou ...
for March 1843, after South Church opened, shows five services a day between Darlington and South Church via Shildon, with three between Shildon and St Helens. Also listed were six trains between Stockton and
Hartlepool
Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...
via
Seaton over the Clarence Railway and the
Stockton and Hartlepool Railway that had opened in 1841.
By this time, Port Darlington had become overwhelmed by the volume of imports and exports and work started in 1839 on Middlesbrough Dock, which had been laid out by
William Cubitt
Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of ...
, capable of holding 150 ships, and built by resident
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
George Turnbull.
The suspension bridge across the Tees was replaced by a cast iron bridge on masonry piers in 1841. After three years and an expenditure of £122,000 (equivalent to £9.65m at 2011 prices), the formal opening of the new dock took place on 12 May 1842.
The S&DR provided most of the finance, and the dock was absorbed by the company in 1849.
Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway
![Timber Viaduct on the Darlington & Newcastle Railway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Timber_Viaduct_on_the_Darlington_%26_Newcastle_Railway.png)
The GNER had authority for a railway from York to Newcastle; it opened to Darlington in 1841 having spent all of its authorised capital and could not start work on the extension to Newcastle. At the time Parliament was considering the route of a railway between England and Scotland and favoured a railway via the west coast. Railway financier
George Hudson
George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferr ...
chaired a meeting of representatives of north-eastern railways that wished a railway to be built via the east coast. In the 1830s a number of railways had opened in the area between Darlington and Newcastle, and Robert Stephenson was engaged to select a route using these railways as much as possible. The
Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...
(N&DJR) differed slightly from the GNER route in the southern section before joining the Durham Junction Railway at
Rainton
Rainton is a village in the Harrogate borough of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated about north of Boroughbridge, north-east of Ripon and south-west of Thirsk. The area has a village green and a maypole. There are approximately 120 hou ...
and using the
Pontop & South Shields Railway from Washington to Brockley Whins, where a new curve onto the
Brandling Junction Railway
The Brandling Junction Railway was an early railway in County Durham, England. It took over the Tanfield Waggonway of 1725 that was built to bring coal from Tanfield to staiths on the River Tyne at Dunston. The Brandling Junction Railway itself ...
allowed direct access to Gateshead. This required the construction of of new line, less than the GNER route, but trains would need to travel further.
This route ran parallel to S&DR lines for and Pease argued that it should run over these as it would add only . The bill was presented unchanged to Parliament in 1842, and was opposed by the S&DR. Despite this, the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway Act received royal assent on 18 June 1842, and a second Act the following year secured the deviations from the GNER route in the south recommended by Stephenson. After the opening celebration on 18 June 1844, through services ran from London to Gateshead the following day.
The N&DJR made an offer to lease the GNER and buy it within five years, and GNER shares increased in value by 44 per cent as the N&DJR took over on 1 July 1845; the N&DJR became part of the larger
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...
(YN&BR) in 1847.
Wear Valley Railway
![Stockton and Darlington Railway 1858](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Stockton_and_Darlington_Railway_1858.jpg)
The
Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway (BA&WR) received permission in July 1837 to build an line from South Church to . The line opened on 8 November 1843 with a station at .
The
Stanhope and Tyne Railway
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway, that ran from Stanhope in County Durham, to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne. The object was to convey limestone from Stanhope and coal from West Consett and elsew ...
, a line between
South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...
and Stanhope had opened in 1834. Steam locomotives worked the section east of Annfield, and in the western section inclines were worked by stationary engines or gravity, with horses hauling waggons over level track. The lime kilns and the line between Stanhope and Carrhouse closed in 1840, and with the Stanhope to Annfield section losing money, the insolvent railway company was dissolved on 5 February 1841. The northern section became the Pontop and South Shields Railway and the southern section from Stanhope to Carrhouse was bought by the newly formed
Derwent Iron Company
The Consett Iron Company Ltd was an industrial business based in the Consett area of County Durham in the United Kingdom. The company owned coal mines and limestone quarries, and manufactured iron and steel. It was registered on 4 April 1864 ...
at Consett,
renamed the
Wear & Derwent Railway, and used to transport limestone from quarries in the Stanhope area to its works at Consett. The
Weardale Extension Railway
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway, that ran from Stanhope in County Durham, to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne. The object was to convey limestone from Stanhope and coal from West Consett and elsew ...
ran from Waskerley on the Wear & Derwent to Crook on the BA&WR and included the Sunniside Incline worked by a stationary engine. Sponsored by the Derwent Iron Company, the line was built by the S&DR and opened on 16 May 1845. A passenger service started to Hownes Gill and Stanhope (Crawley) on 1 September 1845; the Stanhope service was withdrawn at the end of 1846. Travelling north from Crook the carriages and waggons were drawn up the Sunniside Incline, a locomotive hauled the mixed train to Waskerley Park Junction, then they were let down Nanny Mayor's Incline and a locomotive took them forward. When returning, regulations required that the carriages run loose down the Sunniside Incline and they were let to run into Crook station, controlled by the guard using the carriage brakes. Later, a viaduct replaced the two inclines at Hownes Gill ravine on 1 July 1858. A deviation replacing Nanny's Mayor's Incline, as well as a curve that allowed trains from Crook direct access to Rowley, was opened for freight on 23 May 1859 and for passenger traffic on 4 July 1859.
The
Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway, a short extension to Redcar, received permission on 21 July 1845. The line branched off before the Middlesbrough terminus, which was closed and a new through station opened with the line on 4 June 1846. Also authorised in July 1845 was the Wear Valley Railway, a line from the Bishop Auckland & Weardale line to . The line opened on 3 August 1847, and the Act also gave the S&DR permission for the Bishopley branch, over which 500,000 tons of limestone travelled in 1868. The line was extended in 1862 from Frosterley to .
Just before the line opened on 22 July 1847, the Wear Valley Railway absorbed the Shildon Tunnel, Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway, Weardale Extension Railway and Wear & Derwent Railway and then the S&DR leased the Wear Valley Railway and Middlesbrough & Redcar Railways for 999 years. This required a payment of £47,000 each year, exceeding the SD&R's net revenue; traffic from the Derwent Iron Company was reduced during a period of financial difficulty and the Black Boy colliery switched to sending its coal to Hartlepool. No dividend was paid in 1848 and the next few years; lease payments were made out of reserves. The S&DR announced a bill in November 1848 to permit a lease by and amalgamation with the YN&BR, but this was withdrawn after the YN&BR share price crashed and its chairman Hudson resigned after questions were raised about his share dealings. In 1850 the S&DR had share capital of £250,000 but owed £650,000, most of this without the authority of Parliament until 1849; the debt was converted into shares in 1851.
Cleveland iron ore
In mid-1850,
Henry Bolckow
Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow, originally Heinrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Bölckow, (8 December 1806 – 18 June 1878) was a Victorian industrialist and Member of Parliament, acknowledged as being one of the founders of modern Middlesbrough.
In a ...
and
John Vaughan discovered a seam of
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
at
Eston
Eston is a Village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. The ward covering the area (as well as Lackenby, Lazenby and Wilton) had a population of 7,005 at the 2011 census. It is part of Greater Eston, which include ...
. They opened a mine, laid a branch line to the Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway and started hauling ironstone over the S&DR to their
blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
s west of Bishop Auckland. By 1851, Derwent Iron had opened a mine in the area and began moving ironstone to Consett, and the S&DR had paid the arrears on its debt and was able to pay a dividend the following year, albeit only 4 per cent; between 1849 and 1853 the traffic more than doubled.
In 1852, the
Leeds Northern Railway
The Leeds Northern Railway (LNR), originally the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, was an English railway company that built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk. In 1845 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission for ...
(LNR) built a line from
Northallerton
Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...
to a junction with the Stockton to Hartlepool line and a section of the route ran parallel to the S&DR alongside the Yarm to Stockton Road. The S&DR was originally on the east side of the road, but the LNR built its line with four tracks on the other side of the road, leasing two to the S&DR for a rental of 1s a year. On 25 January 1853, the LNR and SD&R opened a joint station at with an island platform between the tracks, and one side was used by S&DR trains and the other by the LNR. Rather than allow trains to approach the platform line from either direction, the
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
inspecting officer ruled that trains approaching on a line without a platform must first pass through and then reverse into the platform line.
![Railways in Cleveland 1863](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Railways_in_Cleveland_1863.jpg)
The Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway, with two branches into the iron-rich hills, was approved by Parliament on 17 June 1852; Pease had to guarantee dividends to raise the finance needed. The single-track railway was worked by the S&DR, and opened to minerals on 11 November 1853 and passengers on 25 February 1854. With
electric telegraph
Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...
installed between stations, passenger trains were not permitted to leave a station until confirmation had been received that the line was clear.
By 1857, a blast furnace had opened close to the Durham coalfield on the north side of the Tees. Backed by the rival
West Hartlepool Harbour & Railway, the Durham & Cleveland Union Railway proposed a line from the mines in
Skinningrove
Skinningrove is a village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England.
Its name is of Old Norse etymology and is thought to mean ''skinners' grove or pit''.
History
The village had an agricultural and fishing economy until the opening ...
and
Staithes
Staithes is a seaside village in the borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Easington and Roxby Becks, two brooks that run into Staithes Beck, form the border between the Borough of Scarborough and Redcar and Cleveland. The area l ...
, via Guisborough and a bridge over the Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway to a jetty at
Cargo Fleet, from where a ferry would carry the ore across the Tees to the blast furnaces. When the proposal was before Parliament the S&DR suggested that their Middlesbrough & Redcar could be extended to
Saltburn
Saltburn-by-the-Sea, commonly referred to as Saltburn, is a seaside town in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England, around south-east of Hartlepool and southeast of Redcar.
It lies within the historic boundaries of the North Rid ...
, and the Tees crossed by a swing bridge. The
Cleveland Railway received permission for a line from Skinningrove as far as Guisborough, and the S&DR permission for an extension to Saltburn and a branch to a mine at Skelton. This 1858 S&DR Act also authorised the merger of the S&DR with the railways it held on lease.
An application to Parliament for a jetty in the following year was unsuccessful, but in 1860 the Upsall, Normanby & Ormesby Railway received permission for a line with access to the river, the S&DR claim of exclusive rights to the foreshore having been rejected. The jetty was also opposed by the Tees Conservancy Commissioners and they moored barges along the foreshore to obstruct construction. In what became known as the Battle of the Tees, a fight broke out when a steam tug sent by the Commissioners interrupted men moving the barges. The barges were successfully moved, but a more serious fight developed the following night when three of the Commissioners' steam tugs arrived. The police then kept watch on the works until they were finished.
Henry Pease, a S&DR director and Quaker, visited his brother Joseph in mid-1859 at his house by the sea at
Marske-by-the-Sea
Marske-by-the-Sea is a village in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England.
It is located on the coast, between the seaside resorts of Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea, although it is not ...
. Returning late for dinner, he explained he had walked to Saltburn, then a group of fisherman's cottages, where he had had a "sort of prophetic vision" of a town with gardens. With other S&DR directors he planned the town, with gardens and
Zetland Hotel
The Zetland Hotel is located on the north east coast of England at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire. It was designed by William Peachey, architect to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The seaside resort of Saltburn was developed by ...
by the station, and bought a house at 5 Britannia Terrace, where he stayed for a few weeks every summer. The extension opened in 1861, a station on the through line replacing the terminus at Redcar.
Over Stainmore
A railway to serve
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...
, from the S&DR at a junction near North Road station and along the River Tees, was proposed in 1852; this route bypassed as far as possible the Duke of Cleveland's estate, as he had opposed an earlier railway. An application that year failed, but the
Darlington & Barnard Castle Railway Act was given royal assent on 3 July 1854 and the railway opened on 8 July 1856.
Cleveland iron ore is high in
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
and needs to be mixed with purer ores, such as those on the west coast in
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
and
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
. In the early 1850s, this ore was travelling the long way round over the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway to the Barrow-in-Furness area, and Durham coke was returning. Both the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) and the Eden Valley Railway (EVR) companies were formed on 20 September 1856. Taking advantage of the new railway at Barnard Castle, the SD&LUR crossed the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
via Kirkby Stephen to meet the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
(WCML) at Tebay, on the section then controlled by the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway, and also linked Barnard Castle with West Auckland. The EVR was a branch from Kirkby Stephen to the WCML near Penrith, Cumbria, Penrith via Appleby-in-Westmorland, Appleby. The routes were surveyed by Thomas Bouch and SD&LUR received permission on 13 July 1857. The EVR route followed the east bank of the River Eden, Cumbria, River Eden, a mile longer than a more expensive route on the west bank, and its Act received royal assent on 21 May 1858.
Bouch had laid out an economical route that followed the contours and avoided tunnels, but there were formidable gradients up to the Stainmore Summit. Land for two tracks was purchased, and a single track line was laid; valleys were crossed by viaducts, three made from wrought iron, including the Belah Viaduct, long and high. A new station was built to replace the terminus at Barnard Castle. A mineral train ran between Barnard Castle and Barras on 26 March 1861, and mineral traffic worked through to Tebay from 4 July 1861. There was an opening ceremony on 7 August 1861 and the SD&LUR west of Barnard Castle opened to passengers the following day. Two 4-4-0 locomotives with enclosed cabs had been built for the line in 1860 by Stephenson and Co, and the S&DR worked traffic from the start: two return services a day were provided for passengers. The EVR opened to mineral traffic on 8 April 1862 and passengers on 9 June 1862, to the south-facing junction at Clifton (later ). The S&DR had presented a bill in 1861 to provide better connections for passengers on the WCML by extending the line up to , and to link up with the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway to provide access for mineral traffic to Cumberland. The L&CR agreed to allow the S&DR running rights over its line and services were extended to Penrith from 1 August 1863.
Progress and amalgamation
![Stockton & Darlington Railway - Christmas Day 1856 timetable](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Stockton_%26_Darlington_Railway_-_Christmas_Day_1856_timetable.jpg)
In 1854, there were five or six trains a day between Darlington and Redcar and three a day between Darlington and Frosterley. Travelling at average speeds of , passengers were charged from 1d per mile for third class to 2.2d per mile for first. Horses were still used on trains in the mid-1850s: a horse-drawn coach was still independently operated between Middlesbrough and Stockton in 1854 on Sundays, as the only S&DR services that run on that day were the mail trains, and locomotives replaced horses on passenger trains to West Auckland in 1856. The S&DR opened a Hopetown Carriage Works, carriage works south of Darlington North Road station in 1853 and later it built a Darlington Works, locomotive works nearby to replace its works at Shildon. Designed by William Bouch, who had taken over from Hackworth as Locomotive Supervisor in 1840, it completed its first locomotive in 1864. In 1858 the Brusselton Inclines were bypassed by a line from the north end of Shildon Tunnel; the same year a passenger service started on the Hagger Leases branch and a mineral line opened from Crook via two inclines to Waterhouse. The section of the SD&LUR between West Auckland and Barnard Castle opened for minerals in July 1863 and passengers on 1 August 1863, together with a direct line from Bishop Auckland to West Auckland. Stations at Evenwood and Cockfield replaced stations on the Hagger Leases branch.
In 1859, a company had been formed to link the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway with the SD&R via the Derwent Valley; by 1860 this had grown into the Newcastle, Derwent & Weardale Railway, which now bypassed the SD&R and linked with the SD&LUR, and the North British Railway, North British and London and North Western Railway, London and North Western (LNWR) railways were providing two-thirds of the capital. The LNWR proposed to build warehouses in Hartlepool and buy shares in the West Hartlepool Harbour & Railway. The
North Eastern Railway (NER), formed in 1854 by amalgamation, at the time was the largest railway company in the country and controlled the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
from Knottingley, south of York, through Darlington to Berwick-upon-Tweed. When they approached the S&DR with a proposal to merge, the directors deciding they preferred a merger with the NER than eventually becoming part of the LNWR, entered negotiations. Opposed by the NER, the Newcastle, Derwent & Weardale Railway bill was approved by the House of Commons in 1861, but the line was eventually rejected by the House of Lords. The SD&LUR and EVR were absorbed by the S&DR on 30 June 1862.
With of line and about 160 locomotives, the Stockton and Darlington Railway became part of the North Eastern Railway on 13 July 1863. Due to a clause in the Act, the railway was managed as the independent Darlington Section until 1876, when the lines became the NER's Central Division. After the restoration of the dividend in 1851, by the end of 1854 payments had recovered to 8 per cent and then had not dropped below per cent.
Later history
The NER had built a branch in the late 1850s from Durham to Bishop Auckland, but used a separate station in the town until December 1867, when all services began to use the S&DR station. The Sunniside Incline was replaced by a deviation, albeit with gradients of 1 in 51 and 1 in 52, which opened for mineral traffic on 10 April 1867 and for passengers on 2 March 1868; after 1868 trains on this line were extended to serve Benfieldside station (later known as Blackhill and then Consett railway station, Consett). In Cleveland, a branch from Nunthorpe to Battersby opened on 1 June 1864; passengers were carried from 1 April 1868. A branch from Barnard Castle to Middleton-in-Teesdale railway station, Middleton-in-Teesdale opened on 12 May 1868.
The locomotive works at Darlington operated independently under Bouch until 1875, the locomotives having been renumbered by the NER a few years earlier. There was a varied range of locomotives, but the most common type was used on the mineral trains and had a wheel arrangement of 0-6-0; the later engines were of the NER 1001 Class, Stephenson long boilered type. Most passenger locomotives had four driven wheels in the form 2-4-0; some were 2-2-2. Bouch had designed two bogie 4-4-0 locomotives for the line over Stainmore in 1860, and another fourteen with this wheel arrangement had been built by 1874. S&DR services and those on the ECML called at different stations in Darlington until 1887, when S&DR trains were diverted through a rebuilt Darlington Bank Top station, rejoining the route to Stockton from a junction south of Darlington and a new line to Oak Tree Junction. An extension from Stanhope to opened in 1895, and the line over Stainmore to Tebay was doubled by the end of the century.
From 1913 former S&DR lines were electrified with 1,500 Vdc overhead lines and British Rail Class EF1, electric locomotives hauled coal trains between Shildon and Erimus Marshalling Yard, which had opened in 1908 between Middlesbrough and Thornaby. The trains took the former S&DR line from Shildon to Simpasture Junction, joining the former Clarence Railway line to Carlton, where a later line allowed access to the Stockton to Middlesbrough extension. The locomotives operated for 20 years, but then coal traffic had reduced, which made it uneconomical to maintain the electrification system.
As a result of the Railways Act 1921, on 1 January 1923 the North Eastern Railway became the North Eastern area of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). The passenger service was withdrawn north of Tow Law on 1 May 1939. Britain's railways were nationalised on 1 January 1948 and the lines were placed under the control of British Railways. In the early 1950s control was split between the North Eastern and London Midland regions with Kirkby Stephen as the boundary. Local passenger trains were withdrawn between Kirkby Stephen and Tebay on 1 December 1952. The service along Weardale was withdrawn on 29 June 1953 and services north of Crook on 11 June 1956.
The 1955 Modernisation Plan, known formally as the "Modernisation and Re-Equipment of the British Railways", was published in December 1954. With the aim of increasing speed and reliability steam trains were replaced with electric and diesel traction. From 1954 diesel multiple units took over passenger services in the north east except those on the ECML, and were introduced to the line over Stainmore in February 1958. The passenger service was withdrawn between Barnard Castle and Penrith on 20 January 1962, and between Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle on 12 June 1962.
In 1963, Richard Beeching published his report ''The Reshaping of British Railways'', which recommended closing the network's least used stations and lines. This included the remaining former S&DR lines except for the line between Darlington and Saltburn via Stockton and Middlesbrough. Passenger service between Nunthorpe and Guisborough was withdrawn in 1964; the service between Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe was retained. The line between Darlington and Barnard Castle and the branch to Middleton-in-Teesdale were closed to passengers on 30 November 1964. Trains were withdrawn north of Bishop Auckland on 8 March 1965, but the passenger service to Bishop Auckland was saved because of regional development concerns.
Locomotives
Accidents and incidents
*On 19 March 1828, the boiler of locomotive No. 5 exploded at Simpasture Junction. One of the two firemen was killed, the other severely scalded. The driver (
George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...
's older brother) was unharmed.
*On 1 July 1828, the boiler of ''
Locomotion No. 1
''Locomotion'' No. 1 (originally named ''Active'') is an early steam locomotive that was built in 1825 by the pioneering railway engineers George and Robert Stephenson at their manufacturing firm, Robert Stephenson and Company. It became the ...
'' exploded at station, killing the driver.
*On 4 April 1865 at Hartburn (Stockton), the 3:55 pm passenger train from Darlington to Saltburn collided with some chaldron wagons which had become detached from a Shildon to Middlesbrough coal train. Though this was not a serious accident it was to result in the S&DR adopting the Signalling block system, block system, well before their colleagues at the NER headquarters in York felt this to be necessary. At a conference the next day attended by several company officials including Thomas MacNay and William Bouch it was noted that one of the options to achieve greater security was ‘to adopt the ‘block’ system of telegraph at intervals of 2 or 3 miles; that is not to allow an engine to pass any of such stations until it has been signalled that the previous train was passed the station to which it was approaching.’
Anniversary celebrations
The Stockton and Darlington was not the first railway and a train had previously carried passengers, but its opening in 1825 was seen as proof of the effectiveness of steam railways as a means of public transport. A jubilee was held on 27 and 28 September 1875 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the world's first steam operated public railway: the Darlington North Road workshops housed a locomotive exhibition, a statue of Joseph Pease was unveiled in Darlington, his portrait presented to the Darlington Corporation and a banquet held. Fifty years later centenary celebrations were held in July to allow foreign men visiting the International Railway Congress to take part. An exhibition of rolling stock at the new Faverdale#Faverdale Wagon Works, Faverdale Wagon Works in Darlington was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and the Queen Mother). The following day the royal couple watched as procession of locomotives passed between Stockton and Oak Tree Junction, starting with a Hetton colliery railway, Hetton Colliery locomotive that had been built in 1822 and finishing with a replica train of ten chaldron waggons and "the company's coach" hauled by ''Locomotive No.1'' propelled by a petrol engine in a specially built tender.
![Locomotion No 1 at Shildon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Locomotion_No_1_at_Shildon.jpg)
A festival was held in Belle Vue, Manchester on 27 September 1925, a Sunday to allow railwaymen to attend, where a pageant showed how transport had changed through time, beginning with a group of ancient Britons dragging a log with their belongings on top and ending with Stephenson's Rocket; another procession included ''Locomotion No.1'', propelled by its tender, and more modern locomotives. On 31 August 1975, to celebrate the 150th anniversary, a cavalcade was held between Shildon and Heighington, where a replica of ''Locomotion'' headed a procession of locomotives, which was completed by the British Rail Class 252, prototype high-speed train. In the same year the National Railway Museum opened in York, combining exhibits from the former LNER museum in York, which had opened after the 1875 festivities, and from the National Transport Museum at Clapham.
Legacy
The current
Tees Valley Line
The Tees Valley Line is a rail route, in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of , and connects to via , and 14 other stations in the Teesdale.
The sect ...
uses the most of the former Stockton and Darlington Railway between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn. From Bishop Auckland the non-electrified line is single track to Shildon, double track to Heighington, and single track to the junction with the East Coast Main Line north of Darlington. This section is a Community rail, Community Rail service called the Bishop line, and is sometimes known as the Heritage Line because of its links with the S&DR. South of Darlington, trains take the 1887 line before joining the original 1825 route to Stockton at the site of Oak Tree Junction. The line is to Eaglescliffe South Junction, where the 1853 Leeds Northern route is taken through Eaglescliffe station to Stockton Cut Junction. The non-electrified line then follows the S&DR route for to Saltburn, except for later deviations at Thornaby (1908) and Redcar (1978). The former Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway line is open between Guisborough Junction and Nunthorpe as part of the Community Rail Esk Valley Line to Whitby.
On 14 June 2007, during excavations for road building, some of the original stone sleepers used by the railway in 1825 were discovered intact near Lingfield Point. The stones each weigh about and have bolt holes for the chairs that secured the rail. Officials involved in the road project hope to preserve the stones along a new bicycle path.
![Redcar East railway station MMB 02 142066](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Redcar_East_railway_station_MMB_02_142066.jpg)
a two train per hour off-peak service is provided by
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
between Saltburn and Darlington, and ten trains a day continue to Bishop Auckland. One train per hour leaves Middlesbrough going south to Manchester Airport via Yarm and another travels north to Newcastle via Sunderland. There are eighteen trains a day between Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe, and four of these continue to Whitby. Tees Valley Unlimited, the local enterprise partnership, published its ambition to improve passenger services, with the priority of an all day two trains an hour service over the Darlington to Saltburn and Nunthorpe to Hartlepool routes using new trains; additional platforms are needed at Darlington station to allow this service frequency. A station serving James Cook University Hospital opened in May 2014. A Hitachi train plant opened in September 2015 at Newton Aycliffe to build trains for the Intercity Express Programme.
![Skerne Railway Bridge South Side May 2021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Skerne_Railway_Bridge_South_Side_May_2021.jpg)
At North Road railway station, the station buildings and goods shed are Grade II* listed. The station building is now the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum, which has particular reference to the Stockton & Darlington Railway and housed ''Locomotion No. 1'', until it was moved in March 2021. Nearby, the former carriage works are now used as workshops for steam locomotives. A little further east is
Skerne Bridge
The Skerne Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Skerne in Darlington, County Durham. Built in 1825 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, it carried the first train on the opening day, . It is still in use, being the oldest railway brid ...
, the oldest railway bridge in continuous use in the world. At Shildon is "Locomotion" or National Railway Museum Shildon, part of the National Railway Museum, which contains heritage railway vehicles, now including ''Locomotion No. 1''. The site includes Timothy Hackworth's house, the Shildon railway works, Soho Workshop and a former coal drops, which are listed buildings. The heritage Weardale Railway runs special services over its line from Bishop Auckland to Eastgate-in-Weardale.
Notes and references
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References
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Further reading
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External links
The History of the Stockton and Darlington Railway(North East History)
The Stockton and Darlington RailwayThe Bishop Line to Bishop Auckland* {{cite Wikisource , wslink=Bradshaw's Monthly Railway and Steam Navigation Guide (XVI)/Stockton and Darlington , title=March 1843 Timetable , publisher=Bradshaw's Guides
Historic Environment Audit October 2016 (2019 revision)
Stockton and Darlington Railway,
Railway companies established in 1821
Railway lines opened in 1825
Railway companies disestablished in 1863
Early British railway companies
History of County Durham
Rail transport in County Durham
Transport in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees
North Eastern Railway (UK)
Rail transport in Darlington
Horse-drawn railways
Standard gauge railways in England
British companies established in 1821
Stockton-on-Tees
4 ft 8 in gauge railways
George Stephenson
British companies disestablished in 1863