As Britain celebrates 200 years of the modern railway, discover the world’s oldest track or become a steam train driver for a day
Surprisingly, the weather 200 years ago obliged, with the Durham County Advertiser describing it as “propitious”, which is just as well given that the vast majority of the reported 533 train passengers were seated in open wagons.
There was, though, one covered coach on the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR), the world’s first public rail service, on September 27, 1825. That coach, named The Experiment and the precursor to today’s train carriages, was reserved for the railway’s owners.
The success of the S&DR triggered rail-mania in Victorian-era Britain, and much of today’s network has its origins in that time. It is still possible to travel between northeast England’s Stockton and Darlington by public train, and the line follows much of the route from 200 years ago, even making use of the 1825 Skerne Bridge, now a grade one listed building.
Hundreds of railway companies sprang up and at its peak, just before World War I, the network traversed 37,720km of Britain. Many never made money and in 1923, the networks were grouped together to create the Big Four.
