As a Stockton lass born and bred, I must say whoever had the bright idea of pulling down that work of Victorian art we locals called STOCKTON STATION took away the heart of the town, that station was a working museum itself and to think people would have traveled from afar to visit, I left 40 years back only to call back again 10 years ago to see nothing but a glorified bus stop I was shedding a tear as a spent my transporting days there, spotting the Scotsman in 68 and memories of that victorian carriage that stood on its platform now in york museum great video I know most of the areas you covered
Yes I worked for the railways for 19 years and have to say we should have copied the Indian Railways idea! The whole reasoning for HS2 was to alleviate the congestion on the West Coast mainline (old LMS Route). So politicians went straight for the build an extra costly passenger railway. What India has done successfully is build not one but two dedicated freight lines less expense and sorting out the overcrowding problems? Ming you in 6 years when the rail network grinds to a halt and the airlines are overbooked and the motorways are packed the BBC and all the other idiots will be the first to complain why didn’t we finish HS2 (imagine poor old Brunel trying to build the GWR these days?)
@@nicktrains2234- Ironic how UK place names are so common in Pennsylvania. The Reading Railroad had a station in Telford. On the way there on that line, it passed North Wales.
The remains of the Gaunless bridge are being reconstructed at Locomotion Shildon. The stone abutments seen in the video are planned to be reused and a new bridge deck put in for the S&DR multi-use path.
@@nicktrains2234 Iron Railway bridge, commentator said. Telford is first Iron bridge. Telford bridge was actually an advert of what could be done with iron.
Ollie, you get "over excited and over enthusiastic," never -- just kidding, that's one of the best parts of your channel. This was a great piece of Railroad History -- nothing beats vintage steam. The Skerne Bridge just goes to show if you do it right the first time, it will last. Thanks for your time, work and posting..... mike
Thanks Mike! Love a bit of vintage steam! Yes the Bridge is even better in real life than on video. It's great that it's still there just doing it's job, no fuss.
@@BeeHereNowuk Actually, almost every picture of the Skerne Bridge on opening day is wrong, because they were painted 50 years after the event. The bridge embankments started to give way under the strain of the heavy trains, and had to be strengthened. The only known picture of it as originally built is this: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skerne_Bridge,_Darlington,_in_1825,_by_Revd._John_Skinner.jpg
I share your enthusiasm unabashedly for railroading history. I live in Colorado, USA, and enjoy the more recent history railroading has to offer here. My goal is to take an extended journey to England for the main purpose of experiencing first hand the great railroading offered there. I’ll be sure to visit the Stockton-Darlington railway, thanks to your absolutely fabulous video.
From UK been to Colorado several times love the Cumbres and Toltec, the Engineer for the Denver & Rio grand got the idea for the narrow gauge system was after he spent his honeymoon at the Ffestiniog railway in Wales, bet his new wife was impressed
From a country that invented the railways, and subsequently sold the concept of them to the rest of the world.........to a country that can no longer build new railway lines - is a monumental decline. My, how far we've fallen as a country. Tragic.
It is amazing how quickly the transformation caused by steel wheels on steel rails occurred. 1825 the S&D started. 1829 the L&M - common carrier travel, the 'Rocket'. 1869 the Transcontinetal railway in the US and a person or goods could travel between the Atlantic and Pacific on a steam railway. This is the first time the Algorithm has brought me to your channel. I'm going to have to look up those L&M videos.
Ehh, there were actually railways several centuries before, usually used at mines and with horses pulling carts along small sections of track. It was the steam engine that made railways really take off
A great hommage to the first railway in Great Britten. Greetings from Bavaria, Germany, where the first railway was build in Germany, due to operation December 1835, ordered by King Maximilian from Bayern. This Stock corporation railway from Nürnberg to Fürth is a tramway today and was never connected with the later states owned railways.
@katishindus691 he never built one. He just described a very rudimentary one in a book. So no he didn't invent the steam engine. The Greek Egyptian mathematician and engineer hero of alexandra described the device in the 1st century AD. So technically he invented it.
By the way, the one in this video isn't just the first in Great Britain, but the first in the world. We invented the steam engine and the industrial revolution.
@@yourmum69_420 The S&D wasn't the first, its Act of Parliament came in 1821. There were other railways that had been running steam locomotives for more than a decade. The Middleton Railway is with no doubt the first railway to be granted powers by Act of Parliament, that came in 1757. It started successful steam locomotive operation in 1812 and operates to this day, it is the worlds oldest continuously working railway. The S&Ds claim to fame is being the first public railway.
What I enjoy most about your excursions is the connections between English history and American: the differences and similarities. in 1825 the Erie Canal was completed, which connected the large east coast ports, especially New York, with the Great Lakes and the raw materials of the Midwest, and even the huge coal deposits of western Pennsylvania. As with that first rail line, when developed to full potential, the effect on world trade would eventually be enormous, not to mention the spread of national culture into the far reaches of the two empires. 1825 is quite a pivotal year.
Truly great research gone into your program here Ollie. The maps and the photographs plus finding parts of this earliest system have made this very enjoyable, indeed. Many thanks for this production.
It is remarkable that the very first known conveyance of passengers behind a steam locomotive had occurred 21 years earlier on Trevithick's Pen-y-Darren tramroad in South Wales. Trevithick's invention was completely unreliable but the concepts were sound and some 21 years later we had the first reliable steam hauled train. How exciting it must have been to have been living at that time!
Not sure from what angle Trevithick`s machine was completely unreliable - but, I suppose, being a first and one of - it would have had some undiscovered necessary modifications needed. Richard went straight for the jugular - "What we need is strong steam", (as he put it) - and his road vehicles were really amazing. Also, his steam railway engine showed a very advanced feature - having the cylinder immersed in the boiler steam jacketing! I`ve always been fascinated by that wonderful "Trombone" crosshead and the enormous flywheel. Today, we can see replicas and give the road machines the benefit of our road surfaces, when they are in good order, that is!
What a great video. I was born and grew up in Etherley and, as kids, we used to play on the old track bed next to Pheonix Row. Also walked the track through Greenfields and Brusselton to Shildon many times. Thanks for such a well produced film.
Thanks Ollie, great video. My wife works up the road from Phoenix Row, and I had no idea of its particular importance. I travel all over the North East with work and have sat out the 'station' building in Stockton so many times waiting for the traffic lights to change! I'll look upon it with renewed interest next time 😊
Beamish Museum has a working replica of 'Puffing Billy' (c.1814) which travels a short distance at about five miles an hour. I thought it was an excellent way to understand how "speed" must have felt to early rail passengers. To me, it felt steady and not that slow.
I think this is your finest mini-documentary to date and it shows in the fact that only a short time after this was published it is already one of your most popular videos
Australia's very first railway was located in Newcastle NSW, but it was not steam operated, it was a gravitational railway built in 1831 by the Australian Agricultural Company. - On 12 September 1854 the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company opened Australia's first steam railway line in Melbourne. The 2.5-mile (about four-kilometre) track went from Flinders Street Station to Sandridge, now known as Port Melbourne.
I love that photo of old 54. The engineer and fireman (shoveling coal) are very dandy in their top hats and tails! And all of those folks in the wagons appear to be amidst absolute chaos. How fun!
Absolutely brilliant, thank you so much for posting. Please be sure to cover the Bicentenary of the line in two years time for those who cannot make it. I haven't been up for a few years, and it is good to see all the rebuilding going on. The area around Skerne bridge look so much better now.
Great to see you spreading your wings broader than the North West. I have been interested and worked or the railway for 40 years but never understood where and how the Stockton and Darlington worked. I do now. You have a real talent and are better than most if not all of the you tube competition in this field. Please do more like this.
The first passenger Railway Station is at Heighington on the line, dating from 1827....it still survives albeit as an abandoned public house, but there are plans to restore it. 😁......you missed that one Ollie !
He missed the entire Locomotion museum in Shildon too, which is right next to spot of the line where Locomotion first departed with the first train hooked up to it
This is fascinating! I live in Forest Hall about a five minute walk from the old pit in Killingworth and about five minutes walk from "The George Stephenson museum" which was his house where he lived and worked on "The rocket" We still have the old coal train tracks as public spaces and walkways called "Wagon ways" They're a beauty to be in. This line you're walking looks beautiful to walk. Great to know you can walk it! Thanks! Continued success!
My granddad joined the North Eastern Railway as an apprentice fireman in 1909 at Newport Shed. In 1928 he became a locomotive driver and moved to Saltburn Shed, where he stayed until retiring in 1961, having made the change from steam to diesel. He must have known the track to Darlington-Stockton like the back of his hand.
When steam power married rail, that is when modernity started. Yes, there was steam power elsewhere, wind and water mills, but this is the match that lit the candle that started the Industrial Revolution full tilt. It was the synergy of steel, coal, and steam. TY for posting. This is an important place.
Another excellent industrial heritage video. Stockton-darlington railway was always just a date in my history notes at school ( I was taught by people without any soul ! ) Thanks for bringing it to life !
The iron trusses of the Gaunless Bridge were kept and are to displayed at Shildon, also I think a new bridge is to be installed between the historic abutments as part of a cycle way.
the original Locomotion No 1 is preserved at Shildon and it has been confirmed that she (or most likely her replica) will be restored back to working order in time of the Bicentennial of the S&D
Superb Ollie, love your stuff. The old carriage shed near Darlington North Road station was where, only a few years ago, 60163 Tornado, the first new build British mainline steam locomotive since 1960 was built.
Great video, thanks! I was raised in Stockton-on-Tees and remember having a project to do at school for the. 150th anniversary in 1975. I just went to the museum (in the original ticket office on the right of the block you filmed) and copied down all the writing in the museum! Probably got a really crap mark. By the way I understand the reason the building wasn't used or developed as some sort of souvenir or continued as a museum was that it is now used as a charitable home for blokes.
Fascinating video. I have had intentions to visit Stockton and Darlington for years thinking that the first train ran from one of those places. Now know it's not quite as simple as that! Would love to visit those places you featured in the video. To stand on a spot so important in terms of world history yet ignored by most people!
Ignoring (and demolishing) history is a typical human frailty. Governments rather spend money on wars. Just think of the massive historical reconstruction that could be realized with just 20% of the money spent on armaments.
Excellent video but I have a few little niggles about the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) being portrayed as a great innovator. The first public passenger railway was the Swansea & Mumbles Railway of 1807. Trains were pulled by horses but, as the video says at 19:40, passenger traffic on the S&DR was also pulled by horses. The S&DR inaugural train was the exception and not the rule. I consider Richard Trevithick's "Catch Me Who Can" show of 1808 as more like a fairground attraction than a working railway. It did, however, haul passengers around a loop using a steam engine. The first railway to use steam locomotives (other than as experiments) was the Middleton Railway in 1812. As I see it, the S&DR was the next step in an evolution. It was longer than most of the railways that preceded it and it had some smaller innovations (eg first iron railway bridge). Calling it the "first steam powered passenger line" I think is a bit of a stretch.
Given the winding engines were also powered by steam (as the winding ones for some of the inclines at Middleton were when the locomotives were indisposed/prior), I think the title is correct. Strictly Middleton was a private railway (unlike the surrey iron railway - which was public line but not mechanically hauled nor passenger) when created and although passengers may have been unofficially transported in coal trucks I think we have to recognise that the haulage of dedicated and improvised carriages and trains of passengers at Stockton and Darlington gives it a first. The presenter queries the sale of tickets etc, presumably for persons without their own carriage at Stockton. I would imagine they would be few in number as travel to Darlington/Shildon was the limit and most people would not have money, or inclination, to make the trip. Was there also the problem of passenger carriages really slowing done / blocking the trains of the (more profitable?) coal and other goods trains ?
FFS, the first time a steam locomotive was used to pull a passenger train from one town to another along iron railway lines was on 27 Sep 1825 when 'Locomotion' made the first journey from Darlo to Stockton (in 3 hours 7 minutes) on the Stockton & Darlington railway.
@@CattusHorribibis You said "from Darlo to Stockton". The first train went from Shildon (which at that time was only a village) to Stockton. The route skirted around Darlington but did not go in. I would say it went from a village to a town. Besides, if you are just including single trips then Richard Trevithick's "Pen-y-Darren" hauled a train from Penydarren (Merthyr Tydfil) to Abercynon on 21st February 1804. In the wagons were "10 tons of Iron and 70 men". It was painfully slow but it got there in the end.
Thanks Ollie for doing this. I thought the original railway was incorporated into the modern network, but in reality it was not. On the the whole a very interesting and informative documentary. Thanks for doing this for us. The research and preparation must have taken a bit of time - Regards - RC
Thank you for this engaging production. I learned a lot I didn't know. Appreciated as well is the information contained in the comments your video generated.
Excellent video. Love your passion for industrial history. From that random guy who bumped into you at the railway garden bridge in Manchester a few weeks ago!
In Wales Richard Trevithick was the first to build a steam train on the 21st of February in 1804 to pull horse drawn coal wagons loaded with iron and 70 passengers from Merthyr Tydfil iron works along the Penytorren Tramroad to the Navigation Yard in Abercynon where the iron was loaded on to barges that went down the carnal to Cardiff and it was followed by a a load of coal a few days later which was earlier than the event you are speaking of in England in 1825.
Another great video. Thank you for bringing the past to life so entertainingly and with such an eye for beauty. The lack of respect given to our world historical industrial heritage really makes you want to join the NIP.
Very well shot and edited. You have a natural talent for documentaries and presentation. Subscribed! I'm so jealous of people who get to live in a place with so much history to explore.
Not in your part of the world but I really enjoyed your work, I love all the old technology etc no matter what the industry but steam and early steam are always a winner with me, once again thank you for the work put into the making of this video because I know it is a lot more than walking around with a camera, cheers.
Brilliantly produced and researched. Many many hours went in to this. I loved it, it gave me food for thought for how I produce my own videos. I love constructive feed back, hope you do too, it helps me evolve. A couple of the captions especially at the start could have been shown a second or too longer, I could not read or take in all the info they portrayed before they disappeared. One in particular at the very start, showing where the line started, I had to stop the video and try and work out what you were referring too. May be a finger or pen directing us to what you were referring to in the commentary would have helped. These are not criticisms, just feedback to be constructive. One of the projects I have in mind to do is East Indiamen, the 18th century sailing ships that carried good from India and China to and from Britain. I will reflect a lot on what I have learnt here from you today. Thank you, for a superb job done.
Interesting video, although you missed an opportunity to explain why the original trackway used separate stone "sleepers" rather than full width wood as is used today. This was done because the original rail wagons were pulled by a horse, and the separate sleepers gave the horse a smooth surface to walk on. In addition, since standard coal wagons were used, they did not have flanged wheels, so the first trackway incorporated an angle shaped rail. The original rail spacing was 4 feet 8 inches because of using existing coal wagons, which were sized (similar to Roman chariots) to accommodate two horses side by side. Ultimately, the 4 feet 8 inch spacing became 4 feet 8- and one-half inches, the "standard" rail gauge used today.
Now this "standard gauge" information is a real find. My family has been in the U.S. railroad business since its inception and we were always told that the standard gauge was patterned after the chariot ruts in ancient Pompeii.
Oh what a great video! I have lived all along the S&DR, can remember locomotion 1 when it lived in Darlington Bank top station. I was taken as a boy to the 150 celebration and I can let you know that the Stockton ticket office looks much better now than it did then. Brusselton incline is very near me in the Gaunless Valley. Hope you enjoyed making this vid as I enjoyed watching it. I hate to be parochial but it's good sometimes to see very familiar places. Many thanks Darren
Fascinating history, indeed. My family lived way down south in Kent County. The family rode the trains in 1870 as they emigrated to Genesee County on the corner of Bristol and Duffield Roads in Michigan. They left England on the PSS Edith arriving in NY.
Interesting that the fish bellied rail sections are evident in your video. There were so many parallels occurring outside of Plymouth. The Plymouth Dartmoor Railway that was meant to bring products like granite from Dartmoor and lime up onto the moor to neutalise the acid soils. That was between 1812 to 1820. It was horse drawn and steam trains did not appear some 30 years later on a parallel purpose built modern railway track. Bearing in mind, there were arguments as to whether the standard gauge or the wider GWR guage should be the standard. Thanks for the detailed video.
18.23..... In 1936 my mum worked in there ( junior typist ). She was quite proud to have been employed in the place where "the first train tickets were sold" ( o.k.... she always was a bit of a fantasist ) but I never paid it much heed, always hurrying on to get to Stockton market. Now I'll bookmark this to the family archive, in case any of the grandkids want to pick up their connection with the history of the world. Thank you.
Although the S and D was the frist line to carry passengers, the south hetton line was the first to use only steam power, also designed by Stephenson in 1822
The re-created section of rails at 11m30 is an excellent example of cast iron rails on stone blocks. It was later found that this gave a rough ride at higher speeds, so timber cross sleepers were introduced, and longer rails. Cast iron is brittle and early rails often fractured.
Hello from Australia. One of the most popular street names in Australia is Railway Terrace, as just about every town had one in front of its Railway station, and one of the most popular pub names is the Railway Hotel, as just about every town had one to provide a bar to Railway workers and overnight accommodation to Railway travellers. It was nice to see a video showing the originals.
Great video. You have found a very rare picture of the Tees Bridge when you said about it being extended to Middlesbrough. The picture shows the Bridge when it was electrified. Not well known that two short parts of the S&D were electrified between 1915 and 1935 There are 2 sections of the original line abandoned between Darlington S&D crossing and the section from eaglesciffe 4to bowesfield which was a few hundred yards to the east of the present line Cheers Russ
@@BeeHereNowukyes the frontmost tree covered strip of land at the front of Preston Park is the original alignment, they moved it away from the Manor house grounds
As a Stockton lass born and bred, I must say whoever had the bright idea of pulling down that work of Victorian art we locals called STOCKTON STATION took away the heart of the town, that station was a working museum itself and to think people would have traveled from afar to visit, I left 40 years back only to call back again 10 years ago to see nothing but a glorified bus stop I was shedding a tear as a spent my transporting days there, spotting the Scotsman in 68 and memories of that victorian carriage that stood on its platform now in york museum great video I know most of the areas you covered
Closer to completion than HS2 will ever get.
😂
Yes I worked for the railways for 19 years and have to say we should have copied the Indian Railways idea! The whole reasoning for HS2 was to alleviate the congestion on the West Coast mainline (old LMS Route). So politicians went straight for the build an extra costly passenger railway. What India has done successfully is build not one but two dedicated freight lines less expense and sorting out the overcrowding problems? Ming you in 6 years when the rail network grinds to a halt and the airlines are overbooked and the motorways are packed the BBC and all the other idiots will be the first to complain why didn’t we finish HS2 (imagine poor old Brunel trying to build the GWR these days?)
Well obviously, it's already been built
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤
HS0.2
The bridge over the gaunless actually still exists. It's on display in the car park of the National Railway Museum in York.
It can be seen from indoors, through the windows near the Pedestrian Subway that connects the two main buildings of the museum
Its actually now being reconstructed at Locomotion Shildon at the time of writing.
Then Put it back where it came from!
Aah, then I have seen it, in 1987 when I visited the NRM in York.
Yeah he said in the video
Just so sad the bridge is not there. Surely it's a national treasure being the first ever Iron Bridge.
It's not. The first iron bridge is in Telford, in a place named, fittingly enough, Ironbridge
@@nicktrains2234- Ironic how UK place names are so common in Pennsylvania. The Reading Railroad had a station in Telford. On the way there on that line, it passed North Wales.
@@OldsVistaCruiserits not ironic, settlers from England named the towns they were founding after towns in England.
The remains of the Gaunless bridge are being reconstructed at Locomotion Shildon. The stone abutments seen in the video are planned to be reused and a new bridge deck put in for the S&DR multi-use path.
@@nicktrains2234 Iron Railway bridge, commentator said. Telford is first Iron bridge. Telford bridge was actually an advert of what could be done with iron.
Ollie, you get "over excited and over enthusiastic," never -- just kidding, that's one of the best parts of your channel. This was a great piece of Railroad History -- nothing beats vintage steam. The Skerne Bridge just goes to show if you do it right the first time, it will last.
Thanks for your time, work and posting.....
mike
Thanks Mike! Love a bit of vintage steam! Yes the Bridge is even better in real life than on video. It's great that it's still there just doing it's job, no fuss.
I bet if the builders/workers could see that the bridge is still standing and being used, they would be proud and amazed.......@@BeeHereNowuk
@@BeeHereNowuk Actually, almost every picture of the Skerne Bridge on opening day is wrong, because they were painted 50 years after the event. The bridge embankments started to give way under the strain of the heavy trains, and had to be strengthened. The only known picture of it as originally built is this: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skerne_Bridge,_Darlington,_in_1825,_by_Revd._John_Skinner.jpg
I share your enthusiasm unabashedly for railroading history. I live in Colorado, USA, and enjoy the more recent history railroading has to offer here. My goal is to take an extended journey to England for the main purpose of experiencing first hand the great railroading offered there. I’ll be sure to visit the Stockton-Darlington railway, thanks to your absolutely fabulous video.
From UK been to Colorado several times love the Cumbres and Toltec, the Engineer for the Denver & Rio grand got the idea for the narrow gauge system was after he spent his honeymoon at the Ffestiniog railway in Wales, bet his new wife was impressed
Oops engineer was Palmer
Fabulous piece of work. The effort that went into this production is unbelievable.
Subscribed.
He's a real gem.
From a country that invented the railways, and subsequently sold the concept of them to the rest of the world.........to a country that can no longer build new railway lines - is a monumental decline. My, how far we've fallen as a country. Tragic.
It is amazing how quickly the transformation caused by steel wheels on steel rails occurred. 1825 the S&D started. 1829 the L&M - common carrier travel, the 'Rocket'. 1869 the Transcontinetal railway in the US and a person or goods could travel between the Atlantic and Pacific on a steam railway. This is the first time the Algorithm has brought me to your channel. I'm going to have to look up those L&M videos.
It rapidly made a big difference to human genetics, too.
Ehh, there were actually railways several centuries before, usually used at mines and with horses pulling carts along small sections of track.
It was the steam engine that made railways really take off
@6:35 There wouldn't be wooden sleepers, the rail chairs were directly bolted to the stones, like @11:34
A great hommage to the first railway in Great Britten. Greetings from Bavaria, Germany, where the first railway was build in Germany, due to operation December 1835, ordered by King Maximilian from Bayern. This Stock corporation railway from Nürnberg to Fürth is a tramway today and was never connected with the later states owned railways.
A Muslim Turk Taqqidin invented the steam engine 300 years before. Muslim Turks development and invented a lot of steam technology.
@katishindus691 he never built one. He just described a very rudimentary one in a book. So no he didn't invent the steam engine. The Greek Egyptian mathematician and engineer hero of alexandra described the device in the 1st century AD. So technically he invented it.
By the way, the one in this video isn't just the first in Great Britain, but the first in the world. We invented the steam engine and the industrial revolution.
@@katishindus691 That is absolutely not true. Keep dreaming.
@@yourmum69_420 The S&D wasn't the first, its Act of Parliament came in 1821. There were other railways that had been running steam locomotives for more than a decade. The Middleton Railway is with no doubt the first railway to be granted powers by Act of Parliament, that came in 1757. It started successful steam locomotive operation in 1812 and operates to this day, it is the worlds oldest continuously working railway. The S&Ds claim to fame is being the first public railway.
What I enjoy most about your excursions is the connections between English history and American: the differences and similarities. in 1825 the Erie Canal was completed, which connected the large east coast ports, especially New York, with the Great Lakes and the raw materials of the Midwest, and even the huge coal deposits of western Pennsylvania. As with that first rail line, when developed to full potential, the effect on world trade would eventually be enormous, not to mention the spread of national culture into the far reaches of the two empires. 1825 is quite a pivotal year.
Truly great research gone into your program here Ollie. The maps and the photographs plus finding parts of this earliest system have made this very enjoyable, indeed. Many thanks for this production.
History like this needs to be preserved.
I'm a proud Stockton lad . An amazing town with amazing people. And full of history. Great video my friend. Thank you 😊
It is remarkable that the very first known conveyance of passengers behind a steam locomotive had occurred 21 years earlier on Trevithick's Pen-y-Darren tramroad in South Wales. Trevithick's invention was completely unreliable but the concepts were sound and some 21 years later we had the first reliable steam hauled train. How exciting it must have been to have been living at that time!
Another first for Merthyr.... Along with Adrian Stephens' steam whistle!
Not if you were a coal miner. It was awful.
@@garryferrington811 Fair comment.
Not sure from what angle Trevithick`s machine was completely unreliable - but, I suppose, being a first and one of - it would have had some undiscovered necessary modifications needed. Richard went straight for the jugular - "What we need is strong steam", (as he put it) - and his road vehicles were really amazing. Also, his steam railway engine showed a very advanced feature - having the cylinder immersed in the boiler steam jacketing! I`ve always been fascinated by that wonderful "Trombone" crosshead and the enormous flywheel. Today, we can see replicas and give the road machines the benefit of our road surfaces, when they are in good order, that is!
What a great video. I was born and grew up in Etherley and, as kids, we used to play on the old track bed next to Pheonix Row. Also walked the track through Greenfields and Brusselton to Shildon many times. Thanks for such a well produced film.
I love the way you embrace the subject and have a real passion for the history. Your videos are great and informative about bygone times.
So nice of you. Glad you like them!
Thanks Ollie, great video. My wife works up the road from Phoenix Row, and I had no idea of its particular importance. I travel all over the North East with work and have sat out the 'station' building in Stockton so many times waiting for the traffic lights to change! I'll look upon it with renewed interest next time 😊
Aw amazing! Glad you found it useful 🙂
Well done, great research and little. I knew most of this but thanks for putting i together.
Beamish Museum has a working replica of 'Puffing Billy' (c.1814) which travels a short distance at about five miles an hour. I thought it was an excellent way to understand how "speed" must have felt to early rail passengers. To me, it felt steady and not that slow.
*1914
@@ArthurD No. 1814.
Technically it was used to moving alot of heavy coal wagons not so much passengers.
Also back in those days alternative was walking or horse and cart.
It would be the amount it could move at one time that would count. A stagecoach would be much faster.
Danke! Thanks for that wonderful trip into the past. I was not aware of how much still exists :-)
Thank you so much Thomas, that's so kind of you! Glad you found the video useful and entertaining. Vielen Dank!
I think this is your finest mini-documentary to date and it shows in the fact that only a short time after this was published it is already one of your most popular videos
Thanks very much, that's a top class comment right there 😀
Australia's very first railway was located in Newcastle NSW, but it was not steam operated, it was a gravitational railway built in 1831 by the Australian Agricultural Company. - On 12 September 1854 the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company opened Australia's first steam railway line in Melbourne. The 2.5-mile (about four-kilometre) track went from Flinders Street Station to Sandridge, now known as Port Melbourne.
Excellent video.Again coming from County Durham,its was amazing to hear the story and see some of the remains of the railway route!
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
I read the title and you are wrong
Another excellent video Ollie some interesting facts and shots along the line I have not seen before. Keep these railway history videos coming .
This is my hometown. I haven’t seen this place in forever.
I love that photo of old 54. The engineer and fireman (shoveling coal) are very dandy in their top hats and tails! And all of those folks in the wagons appear to be amidst absolute chaos. How fun!
Absolutely brilliant, thank you so much for posting. Please be sure to cover the Bicentenary of the line in two years time for those who cannot make it. I haven't been up for a few years, and it is good to see all the rebuilding going on. The area around Skerne bridge look so much better now.
Another quality production as always mate.
Much appreciated amigo
Great to see you spreading your wings broader than the North West. I have been interested and worked or the railway for 40 years but never understood where and how the Stockton and Darlington worked. I do now. You have a real talent and are better than most if not all of the you tube competition in this field. Please do more like this.
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪.
The first passenger Railway Station is at Heighington on the line, dating from 1827....it still survives albeit as an abandoned public house, but there are plans to restore it. 😁......you missed that one Ollie !
He missed the entire Locomotion museum in Shildon too, which is right next to spot of the line where Locomotion first departed with the first train hooked up to it
This is fascinating! I live in Forest Hall about a five minute walk from the old pit in Killingworth and about five minutes walk from "The George Stephenson museum" which was his house where he lived and worked on "The rocket"
We still have the old coal train tracks as public spaces and walkways called "Wagon ways" They're a beauty to be in.
This line you're walking looks beautiful to walk. Great to know you can walk it! Thanks!
Continued success!
Thanks so much, that's so nice to hear 😊
My granddad joined the North Eastern Railway as an apprentice fireman in 1909 at Newport Shed. In 1928 he became a locomotive driver and moved to Saltburn Shed, where he stayed until retiring in 1961, having made the change from steam to diesel. He must have known the track to Darlington-Stockton like the back of his hand.
When steam power married rail, that is when modernity started. Yes, there was steam power elsewhere, wind and water mills, but this is the match that lit the candle that started the Industrial Revolution full tilt. It was the synergy of steel, coal, and steam. TY for posting. This is an important place.
Another excellent industrial heritage video. Stockton-darlington railway was always just a date in my history notes at school ( I was taught by people without any soul ! ) Thanks for bringing it to life !
Aw thanks very much!
A superb,clear and concise documentary. Very professional and enjoyable. Makes me want to go there. Should be on mainstream TV. Thankyou.
Wow, thank you!
The iron trusses of the Gaunless Bridge were kept and are to displayed at Shildon, also I think a new bridge is to be installed between the historic abutments as part of a cycle way.
the original Locomotion No 1 is preserved at Shildon and it has been confirmed that she (or most likely her replica) will be restored back to working order in time of the Bicentennial of the S&D
Great stuff Ollie! I always look forward to your work. Bravo!
Much appreciated Jimmy! Glad you liked it!
From here in the States we thank you for sharing your excellently presented video! Best of luck to you!
Superb Ollie, love your stuff. The old carriage shed near Darlington North Road station was where, only a few years ago, 60163 Tornado, the first new build British mainline steam locomotive since 1960 was built.
Excellent video!
Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱.
Great video, thanks! I was raised in Stockton-on-Tees and remember having a project to do at school for the. 150th anniversary in 1975. I just went to the museum (in the original ticket office on the right of the block you filmed) and copied down all the writing in the museum! Probably got a really crap mark. By the way I understand the reason the building wasn't used or developed as some sort of souvenir or continued as a museum was that it is now used as a charitable home for blokes.
Really enjoyed your video. I love Great Britain, it seems everywhere you look there's history to be discovered. Best wishes from the US.
Lovely brass band sounds at start and finish. Superb bookends.
Lovely film . Very informative and entertaining. Thanks for effort that must have been required. Loved it .
Fascinating video. I have had intentions to visit Stockton and Darlington for years thinking that the first train ran from one of those places. Now know it's not quite as simple as that! Would love to visit those places you featured in the video. To stand on a spot so important in terms of world history yet ignored by most people!
Ignoring (and demolishing) history is a typical human frailty. Governments rather spend money on wars. Just think of the massive historical reconstruction that could be realized with just 20% of the money spent on armaments.
Absolutely superb documentary. Merry Christmas from Queretaro, Mexico.
As ever, a really well-researched and well-presented video
Excellent video but I have a few little niggles about the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) being portrayed as a great innovator.
The first public passenger railway was the Swansea & Mumbles Railway of 1807. Trains were pulled by horses but, as the video says at 19:40, passenger traffic on the S&DR was also pulled by horses. The S&DR inaugural train was the exception and not the rule.
I consider Richard Trevithick's "Catch Me Who Can" show of 1808 as more like a fairground attraction than a working railway. It did, however, haul passengers around a loop using a steam engine.
The first railway to use steam locomotives (other than as experiments) was the Middleton Railway in 1812.
As I see it, the S&DR was the next step in an evolution. It was longer than most of the railways that preceded it and it had some smaller innovations (eg first iron railway bridge). Calling it the "first steam powered passenger line" I think is a bit of a stretch.
Given the winding engines were also powered by steam (as the winding ones for some of the inclines at Middleton were when the locomotives were indisposed/prior), I think the title is correct. Strictly Middleton was a private railway (unlike the surrey iron railway - which was public line but not mechanically hauled nor passenger) when created and although passengers may have been unofficially transported in coal trucks I think we have to recognise that the haulage of dedicated and improvised carriages and trains of passengers at Stockton and Darlington gives it a first. The presenter queries the sale of tickets etc, presumably for persons without their own carriage at Stockton. I would imagine they would be few in number as travel to Darlington/Shildon was the limit and most people would not have money, or inclination, to make the trip. Was there also the problem of passenger carriages really slowing done / blocking the trains of the (more profitable?) coal and other goods trains ?
The first steam operated passenger raiway was Canterbury-Withstable, but it had an incline with fixed steam engines too. It was opened in May 1830.
Born and bred in Stockton and it's the one thing we have. We're going to hold on to it as best we can however contrived it may be!
FFS, the first time a steam locomotive was used to pull a passenger train from one town to another along iron railway lines was on 27 Sep 1825 when 'Locomotion' made the first journey from Darlo to Stockton (in 3 hours 7 minutes) on the Stockton & Darlington railway.
@@CattusHorribibis You said "from Darlo to Stockton". The first train went from Shildon (which at that time was only a village) to Stockton. The route skirted around Darlington but did not go in. I would say it went from a village to a town.
Besides, if you are just including single trips then Richard Trevithick's "Pen-y-Darren" hauled a train from Penydarren (Merthyr Tydfil) to Abercynon on 21st February 1804. In the wagons were "10 tons of Iron and 70 men". It was painfully slow but it got there in the end.
A cracking video and I much appreciate your enthusiasm and passion for the subject. You're a man after my own heart!
Thanks Ollie for doing this. I thought the original railway was incorporated into the modern network, but in reality it was not. On the the whole a very interesting and informative documentary. Thanks for doing this for us. The research and preparation must have taken a bit of time - Regards - RC
Parts of it was integrated into the modern network.
Thank you for this engaging production. I learned a lot I didn't know. Appreciated as well is the information contained in the comments your video generated.
Excellent video. Love your passion for industrial history. From that random guy who bumped into you at the railway garden bridge in Manchester a few weeks ago!
Hey thanks very much mate. It was lovely to meet you! I'm glad you like them and I hope you had a good rest of your trip to Manchester!
Great history marvellously presented . Thank you Ollie
The very first steam locomotive hauled train was in 1804 by Richard Trevethick in Merthyr Tydfil Part of the original track is still there today
Thanks for sharing this most interesting tale. Great detail
In Wales Richard Trevithick was the first to build a steam train on the 21st of February in 1804 to pull horse drawn coal wagons loaded with iron and 70 passengers from Merthyr Tydfil iron works along the Penytorren Tramroad to the Navigation Yard in Abercynon where the iron was loaded on to barges that went down the carnal to Cardiff and it was followed by a a load of coal a few days later which was earlier than the event you are speaking of in England in 1825.
Did you read the title? First PASSENGER railway.
I was there in 1975, from Holland, just to see the steam cavalcade.
Another great video. Thank you for bringing the past to life so entertainingly and with such an eye for beauty. The lack of respect given to our world historical industrial heritage really makes you want to join the NIP.
Great story and great presentation. Thank you.
With these videos I learn a lot and I get used to understanding English accent.
Thank you very much for your videos!!!
I love history and found this video very informative and enjoyable to watch. Thank you for producing this video! Regards, Nic
Excellent video presentation. What a journey!
Very well shot and edited. You have a natural talent for documentaries and presentation. Subscribed! I'm so jealous of people who get to live in a place with so much history to explore.
Great vid Ollie - really enjoyed every minute. Now I know where to be in a couple o' years!
Not in your part of the world but I really enjoyed your work, I love all the old technology etc no matter what the industry but steam and early steam are always a winner with me, once again thank you for the work put into the making of this video because I know it is a lot more than walking around with a camera, cheers.
Excellent programme Sir thank you
Brilliantly produced and researched. Many many hours went in to this. I loved it, it gave me food for thought for how I produce my own videos. I love constructive feed back, hope you do too, it helps me evolve. A couple of the captions especially at the start could have been shown a second or too longer, I could not read or take in all the info they portrayed before they disappeared. One in particular at the very start, showing where the line started, I had to stop the video and try and work out what you were referring too. May be a finger or pen directing us to what you were referring to in the commentary would have helped. These are not criticisms, just feedback to be constructive. One of the projects I have in mind to do is East Indiamen, the 18th century sailing ships that carried good from India and China to and from Britain. I will reflect a lot on what I have learnt here from you today. Thank you, for a superb job done.
Interesting video, although you missed an opportunity to explain why the original trackway used separate stone "sleepers" rather than full width wood as is used today. This was done because the original rail wagons were pulled by a horse, and the separate sleepers gave the horse a smooth surface to walk on. In addition, since standard coal wagons were used, they did not have flanged wheels, so the first trackway incorporated an angle shaped rail. The original rail spacing was 4 feet 8 inches because of using existing coal wagons, which were sized (similar to Roman chariots) to accommodate two horses side by side. Ultimately, the 4 feet 8 inch spacing became 4 feet 8- and one-half inches, the "standard" rail gauge used today.
Now this "standard gauge" information is a real find. My family has been in the U.S. railroad business since its inception and we were always told that the standard gauge was patterned after the chariot ruts in ancient Pompeii.
Please also see footnote on track gauge on p.81 of Tomlinson's North Eastern Railway (1967 reprint)
Thanks Ollie...always a fun walk through history when you get the bit between your teeth and go rambling along an old rail line.
Just watched this.
Fantastic! I'm passionate about industrial archeology but especially the railways.
Subbed. 😊
keep up the great historical work.
Love the brick engine at 17:42!
Oh what a great video! I have lived all along the S&DR, can remember locomotion 1 when it lived in Darlington Bank top station. I was taken as a boy to the 150 celebration and I can let you know that the Stockton ticket office looks much better now than it did then. Brusselton incline is very near me in the Gaunless Valley. Hope you enjoyed making this vid as I enjoyed watching it. I hate to be parochial but it's good sometimes to see very familiar places. Many thanks Darren
I mean Ollie. Sorry
Thanks so much! Yeah I loved making this video. Fantastic part of the world!
More great work Ollie, keep it up. Always fascinating
Wow fantastic history Thanks you did a great job. Just amazing how much it change history as we know to day.
Fascinating history, indeed. My family lived way down south in Kent County. The family rode the trains in 1870 as they emigrated to Genesee County on the corner of Bristol and Duffield Roads in Michigan. They left England on the PSS Edith arriving in NY.
Interesting that the fish bellied rail sections are evident in your video. There were so many parallels occurring outside of Plymouth. The Plymouth Dartmoor Railway that was meant to bring products like granite from Dartmoor and lime up onto the moor to neutalise the acid soils. That was between 1812 to 1820. It was horse drawn and steam trains did not appear some 30 years later on a parallel purpose built modern railway track. Bearing in mind, there were arguments as to whether the standard gauge or the wider GWR guage should be the standard.
Thanks for the detailed video.
Excellent presentation thank you
18.23..... In 1936 my mum worked in there ( junior typist ). She was quite proud to have been employed in the place where "the first train tickets were sold" ( o.k.... she always was a bit of a fantasist ) but I never paid it much heed, always hurrying on to get to Stockton market.
Now I'll bookmark this to the family archive, in case any of the grandkids want to pick up their connection with the history of the world. Thank you.
The first ticket office in Stockton is now a hostel for the homeless
Although the S and D was the frist line to carry passengers, the south hetton line was the first to use only steam power, also designed by Stephenson in 1822
Love the horse replacement service!
Great video, just found yr channel. Subscribed.
really enjoyed that. those stone sleepers were amazing
Fascinating history that then spanned the whole world, something to be proud of 👍🇬🇧
That was wonderful, very informative and well presented, I really enjoyed that.
Thank you, Informative, interesting and well done.
The re-created section of rails at 11m30 is an excellent example of cast iron rails on stone blocks. It was later found that this gave a rough ride at higher speeds, so timber cross sleepers were introduced, and longer rails. Cast iron is brittle and early rails often fractured.
Really enjoyed your presentation. So informative. Thank you for all your hard research and production.
Great video, nice amount of detail too.
Very nicely done.
Great video and thoroughly enjoyable.
Very professional and entertaining video
Thank you for the documentary.It is very interesting.
Hello from Australia. One of the most popular street names in Australia is Railway Terrace, as just about every town had one in front of its Railway station, and one of the most popular pub names is the Railway Hotel, as just about every town had one to provide a bar to Railway workers and overnight accommodation to Railway travellers. It was nice to see a video showing the originals.
Absolutely superb . Many thanks
Extremely enjoyable video, and nicely put together.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video. You have found a very rare picture of the Tees Bridge when you said about it being extended to Middlesbrough. The picture shows the Bridge when it was electrified. Not well known that two short parts of the S&D were electrified between 1915 and 1935
There are 2 sections of the original line abandoned between Darlington S&D crossing and the section from eaglesciffe 4to bowesfield which was a few hundred yards to the east of the present line
Cheers Russ
I did not know that, so thank you!
@@BeeHereNowukyes the frontmost tree covered strip of land at the front of Preston Park is the original alignment, they moved it away from the Manor house grounds
Brilliant video. I must have a look at some of those places when I'm up North one time
Thank you from New Zealand this was so interesting