Skip to content

By Andrew McLean on

Shildon, the Cradle of the Railways and Locomotion No.1

Andrew tells us about the significance of Locomotion No.1, which made a momentous journey on 27 September 1825.

Please note that comments are now closed on this post.

On 27 September 1825 a small steam locomotive coupled up to a train at Shildon in County Durham. There were officially around 300 ticket holders but many more—possibly twice as much again—had jumped on board. As the train headed eastwards to the port of Stockton, huge crowds gathered to watch its progress. This was a momentous day indeed for this was the first steam-hauled passenger train on a public railway, a journey that would change the world forever.

Cuneo painting of the S&DR
Oil painting by Terence Cuneo, 1949. The Stockton & Darlington Railway was the world’s first steam-hauled passenger public railway. It was built under the guidance of chief engineer George Stephenson (1781-1848), to link collieries in West Durham and Darlington with the docks on the River Tees at Stockton in Durham. At the opening on 27 September 1825, large crowds saw Stephenson at the controls of ‘Locomotion’, the locomotive built for the railway by Robert Stephenson & Co, as it pulled 36 wagons to the Stockton terminus

Named Locomotion, the locomotive on that historic day had been the first to be built at the celebrated Stephenson works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but for its working life it was indelibly associated with Shildon—the world’s first railway town—where it will return for the first time in over 150 years as part of ambitious plans to redevelop the town’s railway museum, itself named Locomotion after the history-making locomotive.

Locomotion was not the first steam locomotive, nor did it possess innovative technology. Its significance and fame rests with its involvement on that September day in 1825. However, it also enjoyed a lengthy career on the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) where it was directly associated with Shildon for the majority of its working life. This may come as a surprise to some as the name of the railway on which the locomotive served was, of course, S&DR even though the line itself began near Shildon some distance west of both Darlington and Stockton.

Locomotion in action
Locomotion in action on the S&DR during the 1925 celebrations

Shildon played a key role in the history of the S&DR beyond that opening day, serving as the company’s locomotive headquarters for most of its existence. However, the story could have been very different. The S&DR’s commitment to steam locomotion was by no means certain with many trains in normal service being horse-drawn. Steam locomotion was at that time unreliable but all that was to change when the company’s resident engineer Timothy Hackworth developed more consistent steam locomotives at his Shildon base.

Hackworth, who remained the resident engineer of the S&DR until 1840, also established his own Soho Locomotive Works at Shildon in 1833. The Shildon Soho works earned a worldwide reputation and provided some of the earliest locomotives to operate beyond the UK including in countries such as Canada and Russia. It was also at Shildon that Hackworth pioneered new innovations in locomotive repair and manufacturing, setting a template of railway works that endures to this day.

Marker stone to commemorate the town of Shildon as 'the cradle of the railways'
Marker stone to commemorate the town of Shildon as ‘the cradle of the railways’, 2004. It stands close to the site of the ‘Mason Arms Level Crossing’ on the original course of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. The crossing marked the end of the Brusselton east incline. The crossing remained in use until the closure of Shildon Works in 1984

Moreover, Shildon developed the culture, traditions and working practices of the ‘railwayman’. As LTC Rolt has written, ‘these first railwaymen, the pioneers…with no precedents whatever to guide them…had to learn by bitter trial and error how to run a railway. In a few years, when railways began to spread across the world, the men trained in the first hard school at Shildon went with them, proud masters of the mysteries of a new power.’

For these pioneers this could also be a dangerous profession. In 1828 Locomotion itself was badly damaged when its boiler exploded, killing its driver John Cree. Locomotion was rebuilt under Hackworth’s supervision at Shildon and its current appearance owes more to this Shildon rebuild than how the locomotive looked on the opening day of the S&DR.

Locomotion continued in the service of the S&DR until 1850 before a short spell as a stationary pumping engine on the West Collieries in the South Durham coalfield, but its fame saw it preserved for posterity and it now forms part of the National Collection—under the direction of the Science Museum Group—alongside such other famous locomotives as Rocket, City of Truro, Mallard and Flying Scotsman.

And what of Shildon? The town continued to overhaul and maintain all the locomotives of the S&DR until the new North Road Works at Darlington opened in January 1863. Locomotive construction ceased in Shildon in 1867 and four years later, in 1871, locomotive repair work also transferred to Darlington—by which time the S&DR itself had passed into history having been subsumed by the North Eastern Railway.

By this time the unbroken connection of Shildon as the base of the S&DR’s locomotives stretched back directly to Locomotion almost half a century before. However, that was not an end to Shildon’s railway story. The site of the locomotive works took on a new lease of life building and repairing railway wagons. So successful did these works become that it was, for a time, the world’s largest manufacturer of wagons.

Wagon frames being manufactured at the North Eastern Railway's Shildon works
Wagon frames being manufactured at the North Eastern Railway’s Shildon works, County Durham, about 1910

In 1875 the 50th anniversary of the opening of the S&DR was celebrated with a number of events large and small. Shildon, somewhat controversially, was largely overlooked as a focus of the celebrations. As one contemporary commentator opined: “It might occur to some minds that Shildon, as being the nursery-ground of the Iron Horse should have been more honoured than by the Tea and Muffin struggle…for was it not the place,—we may say the cradle,—“that bore the fates,” not of Rome but the whole world, a proud distinction for Shildon.”

On 31 August 1975 that slight was righted when a cavalcade of locomotives departed from Shildon’s wagon works to mark the approaching 150th anniversary of the S&DR. With huge crowds and high national interest the cavalcade proved to be one of the UK’s most popular spectator events that year. As the original Locomotion was too fragile to operate, a working replica was commissioned. It was this replica that was chosen to lead the cavalcade again cementing the importance of Shildon in the story of both the S&DR and of Locomotion itself.

A slide of the Locomotion No.1 replica in 1975
Slide showing the replica Locomotion No.1 at Shildon, 1975

In 1984, less than a decade after that momentous August day, the Shildon Wagon Works closed for good thus bringing to an end over 150 years of continuous rail vehicle maintenance and construction. The opening of a new railway museum, appropriately named Locomotion, in 2004 helped give back the town’s railway identity.

The return of Locomotion to Shildon is part of an exciting redevelopment of a museum that will celebrate the history of the world’s first railway town and its role in the first steam-hauled passenger railway, a journey that began in the town almost two centuries ago when Locomotion coupled onto a train and steamed into history.

Please note that comments are now closed on this post. 

34 comments on “Shildon, the Cradle of the Railways and Locomotion No.1

    1. airbrushed much history to create a suitable narrative –
      ? to attract new visitors to fund the museum

      1. NRM got legal ownership of loco No1 by default . You do not have the moral high ground and have cultural appropriated the item from Darlington and its residents. I very much doubt it will be back as you will find some excuse not return it in 2025. Theft plain and simple

    2. Andrew Maclean and Sarah Price are responsible for historical innaccuracies. Shildon was a backwater that just happened to be the first level place available to lay track on land flat enough to take the coal down to Darlington and beyond. If Shildon should be celebrating anyone it should be celebrating Timothy Hackworth who has been cruelly ignored by history. Hackworth made Shildon. Who paid for Locomotion Number One? Darlington and Stockton. Who built Locomotion Number One? George Stephenson started, Robert Stephenson took over but it was Hackworth who finished the job in Newcastle, not in Shildon. Why are they peddling the line ‘Because the journey started from Shildon in 1825, Shildon is the right place for it to be.’? Is their pride too high to take a knock and admit they’re wrong? Active AKA Locomotion Number One was built in Newcastle. Is Newcastle the right place for it to be? It was first put on the line near Heighington. Is Heighington the right place for it to be? It was paid for by Darlington money. Is Darlington the right place for it to be? The first rail was laid in Stocnkton and one of the biggest investors was Benjamin Flounders of Stockton? Is Stockton the place it should be? The S&D officially started at Witton and hauled coals over two inclines before being joined on to the engine at Shildon. Is Witton the right place for it to be? Who took care of it for 160 years when it could have ended up on the scrapheap? Where was Shildon then? This engine is part of Darlington’s culture and pretty much the whole world knows it.

    3. Yes Fiction can be very interesting. However “comprehensive”? “persuasive”? This is a pathetic attempt to re write history. I urge anybody reading this “article” to check out the real facts. The Stockton & Darlington railway was built with two objectives. To provide a passenger connection between Darlington & Stockton. To get Durham coal from the collieries to a more Southerly location than Newcastle thus reducing sea time in getting coal to London & elsewhere. In 1857 the engine was likely to be scrapped. Edward & Joseph Pease of Darlington paid for the renovation of the scrap engine & placed it on a stone plinth near to the original passenger station at North Road Darlington where the first fare paying passengers had started the first journey to Stockton. Apart from 70 years on display in Darlington Bank Top station it has spent the last 163 years in Darlington most recently in the Darlington Head of Steam museum which was formerly Darlington North Road Station. Thus it is back near to the original Darlington to Stockton line as the Darlington based Pease family intended.

    1. Locomotion No1 belongs in Darlington, unfortunately your article is trying to make out that it should be in Shildon , stop trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes

  1. Very poor decision. Kick in the teeth for Darlington where the loco has been preserved for over 160 years. Without the Pease’s the loco wouldn’t still be in existence.

  2. A fascinating and well-written article. It is a pleasure to see the English language being used properly. Thank you.

    1. Disgraceful, It should be kept on Darlington. You are a disgrace forever considering moving it.

  3. A really good and accurate portrayal of the birth of railways. I look forward to seeing Locomotion at the place where it started the amazing transformation of the way people throughout the world could travel. A technical achievement the nation can be proud of.

  4. A very poor and short sighted decision on the part of the NRM. No.1 has spent most of its life in Darlington and deserves to remain there.
    The museum have previously stated they intend to return the replica to steaming condition. It would be fitting to base the replica at Shildon, which has a demonstration line, leaving the original where it truly belongs.

  5. Very interesting article trying to mislead the public by rewrite history and making Darlingtons part in the locomotions huistory insignificant. 98% of the locomotions history revolved around Darlington and thats where it should stay. Do not rewrite history to serve your own agenda.

    1. So much is wrong with this NRM decision
      to benefit the NRM’s museums alterations and improvements at the expense of Darlington’s own museum funded by the local people is not moral.

  6. I only just discovered the NRM and the fact they’re trying to rewrite history. A pretty low-act.

    We’ll be hearing all about the Shildon-to-Stockton railway next and how it was the first in the world… Pfft…

  7. Shildon? Really? I feel that No. 1 should stay at Darlington. Cant believe you want it moved. History is important and No.1 must remain at Darlington.

  8. A good history lesson however didn’t exactly totally remove Darlington’s huge roll in the Financial and construction infrastructure that the town and its patrons supplied.
    I can only conclude that Shildon has always felt like the (poor cousin) in any discussion on S+D railway on a national or global scale .

  9. “It is an accident of history that, following the amalgamation of the S&DR with the North Eastern Railway in 1863, No 1 was inherited by the LNER, British Rail, and ultimately by the NRM,” said Matthew Pease, Joseph’s great-great-great-grandson.
    “For the last 163 years each of these organisations has respected Joseph Pease’s intention that it should be on display in Darlington.

    Why is the NRM being so very disrespectful to the Peases, the past and Darlington residents?
    This situation needs to be urgently reviewed by the NRM Trustees and DfCMS .

    It is no satisfactory answer to say ‘we may be able to have it back later after we have used it at Shildon in 2025 and beyond’ –

    Darlington have looked after it and looked forward to organising celebrations around our iconic Locomotion No 1 and the S&DR LIne as we have at every landmark year since 27th Sept 1825.

    The gathering of a story by AMcLean has deliberately airbrushed history! Where is the mention of the celebrations in Darlington in 1837 when Locomotion No1 was raised as a monument for posterity – where are the list of important guests for that day ? where are the words of the speeches made that day , including about how rail travel had changed the world, speeds travelled by 1857,the journey that day on the S&DR line to the coast….I could go on but , rather than protest to the culprits of this decision to remove S&DR’s L No 1 from Darlington after 163 years, prefer to put my pen to paper and write to the powers that be!!!!!

    1. correction to last para

      please – delete 1837 – input 1857

      apologies for the typo

  10. I represent No. 1 Action Group (N1AG) on FB and we are currently broadcasting these misleading, insensitive and historically inaccurate ideas NRM is pushing concerning Locomotion Number One all over the world to railfans everywhere. Over half a million railfans in the USA have now been informed. Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Canada and Indian are next in line. Meanwhile we leave you with this quote:

    “It is an accident of history that, following the amalgamation of the S&DR with the North Eastern Railway in 1863, No 1 was inherited by the LNER, British Rail, and ultimately by the NRM,” said Matthew Pease, Joseph’s great-great-great-grandson. “For the last 163 years each of these organisations has respected Joseph Pease’s intention that it should be on display in Darlington.
    “The news that his wish is now to be set aside is a great sadness for his descendants and, I am certain, for the town, whose unique Head of Steam museum will inevitably be significantly diminished as a result. I would ask those making the decision to reconsider the historic implications of such a change, to honour the clear wishes of the man who first donated it, and to allow No 1 to remain within the town to which it is inextricably linked.”

  11. Andrew Maclean and Sarah Price are responsible for historical innaccuracies, trying to re-invent history to justify their paymaster’s demands to gobble up historical items from all over the country in some grand circus. This line wasn’t about Shildon. Shildon was a backwater that just happened to be the first level place available to lay track on land flat enough to take the coal down to Darlington and beyond. If Shildon should be celebrating anyone it should be celebrating Timothy Hackworth who has been cruelly ignored by history. Hackworth made Shildon. Who paid for Locomotion Number One? Darlington and Stockton. Who built Locomotion Number One? George Stephenson started, Robert Stephenson took over but it was Hackworth who finished the job in Newcastle, not in Shildon. Andrew Maclean and Sarah Price are peddling the same line ‘Because the journey started from Shildon in 1825, Shildon is the right place for it to be.’ Active AKA Locomotion Number One was built in Newcastle. Is Newcastle the right place for it to be? It was first put on the line near Heighington. Is Heighington the right place for it to be? It was paid for by Darlington money. Is Darlington the right place for it to be? The S&D officially started at Witton and hauled coals over two inclines before being joined on to the engine at Shildon. Is Witton the right place for it to be? Who took care of it for 160 years when it could have ended up on the scrapheap? Where was Shildon then? This engine is part of Darlington’s culture and pretty much the whole world knows it. If they are looking for a candle to put on their birthday cake, they should look elsewhere.

  12. Dear me! Re-Imagining History, is that the NATIONAL Rail Museums strapline? This is misleading account I am very sorry to say. To claim that the Locomotion had any close claims with Shildon is fanciful to say the least from all that I have read. For the inaugural journey Shildon was a tiny settlement some way away from the actual rail line that the S&D had built and the engine was built by G. Stephenson in Newcastle and brought by horse and cart to a convenient place on the line to start the inaugural journey. The locomotive has always been in Darlington and CARED FOR BY Darlington all this time. Its ownership may have changed in more recent times, but it has always been in Darlington and is deeply imbedded in the culture of the town, and is the town’s Icon.

  13. 1. The name of Shildon was not incorporated into the name of the railway because Shildon did not exist in 1825 other than as a tiny village a mile away from the railway. Shildon had ZERO to do with the birth of the modern railway because it didn’t exist.
    2. The S&DR was promoted and funded and owned largely by Darlington, which is accordingly known around the world as the Birthplace of Railways. In acknowledgment of this, Locomotion was, upon retirement, donated to Darlington by the Pease family (of Darlington) for permanent display in the town. Locomotion has been cared for in Darlington ever since and belongs to Darlington in the same way that Timothy Hackworth and his Royal George engine belong to Shildon.
    3. Locomotion’s journey in 1825 did not begin in Shildon as Shildon did not exist as a town then. The first train set off from a field in the countryside at the foot of Brusselton incline and passed about a mile away from Shildon. Shildon owes its existence to the railway and not the other way around (hence known as the first railway town).
    4. Locomotion will not be “returning” to Shildon – it has NEVER been displayed in Shildon before. It may have been repaired and “stabled” there during the 15 or so brief years of its working life, but it has spent ten times longer at home in Darlington, the town whose Pease family ordered it, paid for it, funded the railway, paid for Locomotion’s restoration and donated it for display in the town.

  14. What happened to the replica ?

    Does it belong to Beamish ? I’m sure they quite rightly would want to have their piece of cake derived from the celebrations and probably would not want to lend it to go to Shildon NRM.
    We have plently of time and it’s only a small simple machine. What is to stop us building another if NRM are so keen to have one at Shildon. It could also steam up and down the line carrying passengers in open coaches (with suitable coverings for rainy days) .

    NRM and Darlington Council could share the cost and allow it 6 months each as a working travelling loco.

    Come on guys lets get on with it – and show the world how we can pull together.

    We have more than two organisations quite close to Darlington – with recent experience who could make it ???

  15. Shildon is and always will be the cradle of the railways Shildon changed the whole world that day in 1825 by putting locomotion on the tracks outside the masons arms

  16. Its interesting that Tony has chosen to move the debate from Facebook, where he can conveniently delete any posts or evidence that do not support his views, and just reiterate statements without documented evidence in the hope that, by continually repeating them, they become fact.

    There is no evidence in the Pease diaries that he donated the locomotive to Darlington.

    There is evidence that he never owned the locomotive, and that it was Leased.

    Because it was continually owned by the S&DR, it passed into the ownership of the NER. This wasn’t a historical quirk. It was it was their documented asset.

    The NER -> LNER -> BR -> NRM ownership is hugely well documented, and has never previously been challenged, but as these facts don’t support his rant, they are dismissed,

    The approach is the Nigel Farage approach to facts. Is the next step to write ‘Locomotion belongs to Darlington’ on the side of a bus and drive it around town until you have more support?

Comments are closed.