200 Years of Railways (1825)

george stephenson (1781 — 1848) is known as the inventor of the first practically usable locomotive. Stephenson's father worked as a stoker at a coal mine, and George became an engineer at the Killingworth mine. He had a great interest in technology, and especially in the steam engine. Stephenson was promoted to maintenance mechanic and received permission from the mine management to experiment with the steam engine.

Although the first steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick as early as 1804, 10 years before Stephenson's first locomotive, because Trevithick's locomotive suffered from many teething problems and was practically unusable, Stephenson is regarded as the builder of the first usable locomotive. Construction of the Stockton and Darlington railway began in 1823. Originally, the intention was to use horses to move the metal wagons over the metal rails. After company director Edward Pease met Stephenson, the plans were changed. Construction began in 1822, and by September 1825, Stephenson had designed his new locomotive for this railway. It was initially called Active, and later Locomotion. The line was opened on September 27, 1825. Locomotion, driven by Stephenson, pulled 80 tons of coal and lead. The Locomotion took 2 hours, reached a top speed of 24 miles per hour, and covered the distance of 9 miles in one go. As an experiment, a passenger vehicle was also coupled with a few people on board. In 1829, Stephenson was the winner of a competition for £500 organized by the Liverpool & Manchester railway directors to determine which steam locomotive they would use for their railways. Stephenson participated with The Rocket with which he won in an impressive manner and became a celebrity. Due to this success, he received many contracts. He invested the money he earned in numerous projects.

The first three trains outside Great Britain ran in a convoy from Brussels to Mechelen on May 5, 1835, and were pulled by British-made steam locomotives named la Flèche, de Stephenson, and l' Éléphant.

The Stockton & Darlington Railway, put into operation in 1825, was the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives for freight transport. In the early years, passengers were still transported along the track in horse-drawn coaches and wagons. This railway is of particular significance to the history of railways because the track gauge of 1435 millimeters chosen here became the standard gauge at many railway companies worldwide.

The forty-kilometer-long route in Northeast England connected the coal mines around Bishop Auckland with Shildon, Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees, and later also with 'Port Darlington', the present-day Middlesbrough. Despite serious teething problems, this new form of transport made a great impression on contemporaries from the very beginning and thereby contributed significantly to the rapid development of the railways.