Railway 200 has been quite the event for shining a light on the role that railways have played in shaping Britain since 1825. Given that the subject is so vast, we first looked at this in our May edition as ‘First thoughts,’ while knowing that we were coming back to honour the first ‘modern railway’ more fully with the September issue. That railway is, of course, the Stockton & Darlington, which set the new benchmark, being built as a public railway, investing in steam locomotives from the outset, and offering a passenger service from day one, September 27, 1825, when it linked Witton Park Colliery and the Tees at Stockton, and with it the coal enjoyed transportation to a much wider market. However, that railway did not rest on its…
