September 27: On This Day in World History … briefly
The company was taken over by the North Eastern Railway in 1863, transferring 200 route miles (320 route kilometres) of line and about 160 locomotives, but continued to operate independently as the Darlington Section until 1876.
1825: Commuters do the Locomotion
A new era of travel began on September 27, 1825, when George Stephenson’s steam engine Locomotion pulled a full load of passengers from Shildon to Stockton via Darlington, inaugurating the world’s first passenger railway service.
Stephenson operated the steam engine himself and the 27 mile (43km) journey took less than three hours. Passengers travelled in a long line of 32 carriages fitted with special wheels which glided smoothly along a steel rail track.
He built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and also surveyed the route, avoiding steep gradients wherever possible. Stephenson and his talented engineer son Robert were in the process of designing a more powerful engine, which they said could have a top speed of as much as 30mph (48km).
It was understood that Stephenson had also been approached by the Liverpool and Manchester Railways.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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