America

We know that before, during and after the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, engineers and railway promoters came to visit to see how a modern railway was run.

By modern railway we mean a railway that was a publicly available, permanent transport infrastructure that carried anything, including passengers) for a fee.

There was a period of time from 1825-1830 that the S&DR was really the only place that could be done. So this month we consider to what extent the Stockton & Darlington Railway influenced the development of railroads in America.

Joining us to help us navigate American railroads is Jonathan Ratcliffe, the secretary for the Friends of the S&DR.

In Stars of the S&DR we will visit Edward and Rachel Pease on Northgate in Darlington. Without them there would have been no S&DR.

And as usual, we outline news and events towards the end of the podcast.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Music.

(00:24):
Hello and welcome to our seventh Tales from the Rails, our monthly podcast on
the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the railway that got the world on track.
In 2025, we'll be celebrating 200 years since the railway revolution and indeed
the second phase of the industrial revolution, which was kicked off by the Stockton
and Darlington Railway and the world was never the same again.

(00:46):
These podcasts explore in some depth the pioneering days of the Stockton and
Darlington Railway and how we're steaming ahead towards 2025.
My name is Caroline Hardie. And my name is Archie Mackay.
I'm an archaeologist and the editor and a trustee for the charity The Friends
of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
And I'm managing editor of South West Durham News, a small independent publisher

(01:10):
of four community newspapers, including The Shildon and District Town Crier,
produced right here in the cradle of the railways.
So this week on Tales from the Rails, we're talking about America.
In particular, the extent to which
the S&DR influenced the growth and development of railways in America.
To help us through this, we're joined by Jonathan Ratcliffe.

(01:33):
Jonathan is a secretary of the Friends of the S&DR.
He's also a charity worker, and back in 2008, he graduated with an MA in History.
So he knows what he's talking about.
Hello, Jonathan. Hello, Caroline and Archie.
Jonathan, how did you get into researching the influence of the S&DR on railways in America?

(01:53):
It was almost by accident, actually. I was researching some of the early engineers
who were coming and I came across a wonderful article by Horatio Allen,
who is one of the gentlemen we'll be discussing later.
And that got me started thinking about how the relationship between the S&DR
and American railways developed. I'm really looking forward to this because
I've seen sort of, you know, references to American engineers coming over here.

(02:16):
And so I'm really interested and looking forward to finding out more.
On this month's stars from the S&DR will be Edward and Rachel Pease.
And it was to Edward that many engineers and promoters wrote to in order to
arrange official visits to the railway.
These engineers came from other parts of the UK and abroad.
Edward was married to his beloved Rachel and together they had eight children,

(02:40):
two of which made significant contribution to the development and expansion of the S&DR.
We'll also be letting you know about all the events that are coming down the
line and news from the last month.
So plug in your headphones and enjoy the ride on the railway that got the world on track.
Tales from the Rails. This podcast is brought to you by the Friends of the Stockton

(03:02):
and Darlington Railway, a registered charity set up to safeguard and promote
the heritage of the railway that got the world on track.
You can join us by visiting our website at www.sdr1825.org.uk This month we're
looking in a bit more detail at the extent to which what was happening with

(03:23):
the S&DR was influencing the development of railroads in America.
And just before we do that and look at the influence of the S&DR,
we'll have a bit of scene setting.
Because it wasn't actually that long ago from 1825 when this country had actually
been at war with America.
So American independence dates to 1776, but wasn't actually recognised by the

(03:44):
British government until 1783.
And even then, there were still battles, such as the 1812 battle to defend Canada
from American invasion, when
the British actually burnt the White House before retiring to Bermuda.
I think retiring to Bermuda sounds a lot more attractive nowadays than it probably did then.
Then the British tried to control the Mississippi River and invaded New Orleans, and that failed.

(04:09):
So, the background to American-British relations in the lead-up to 1825 might
have been difficult, I should imagine.
Jonathan, did the relatively recent rivalry between the States and Britain hinder
the exchange of engineering ideas between the two countries?
It doesn't appear to have done so, actually. American engineers with adequate

(04:29):
credentials were able to view everything they desired and openly ask whatever questions they liked.
There was an openness to sharing information that seems quite strange in these
days of state and corporate secrets.
Alan did know in a letter that he'd overheard anti-American sentiment in conversations,
but this doesn't appear to have impacted on the openness of British engineers to share information.
So the professionals are actually getting on with it and rising above of the politics, if you like.

(04:52):
Yeah, they seem to have been. I've been through Alan's diaries and he's going
to meals, formal lunches, occasions, and seems to have been welcomed quite warmly.
And certainly engineers were sharing incredible details of operations.
Oh, that's quite heartening then. So, you know, setting some of the background,
so Britain had formally recognised the United States as sovereign and independent

(05:14):
nation after the Treaty of Paris on the 3rd of September, 1783.
So the then Prime Minister, the Lord Shelbourne was primarily focused on preventing
the Americans from forming an alliance with France and viewed the new country
as a potential valuable economic trading partner.
The Jay Treaty of 1794 had prevented war and encouraged closer trading connections
between the two countries.
So Britain was looking at America as a potential trading partner.

(05:39):
They were exporting vast quantities
of iron, coal and other manufactured goods to the United States.
While tensions would remain especially over territorial expansion
resulting in the stalemated war of 1812 this war
was largely seen as a side note in Britain as much as a country's focus was
on fighting Napoleon's forces in France at the time so the most important impact

(06:01):
of a the war of 1812 in terms of our interest in early railways was to galvanize
the American government to prevent the United States from ever being economically
dominated by the British again.
During the war, Britain had cut off supplies of vital raw materials to America,
including iron and coal.
This had had a significant effect on the ability of America to produce the necessary
armaments, and also on the economy.
The American government at various times after independence had imposed import

(06:24):
tariffs on goods into the United States due to the heavy imbalance of trade within Britain.
The aim of this was to protect American manufacturers from cheap goods coming
in from Britain, putting American producers out of business,
and also over concerns of being dominated in case of future territorial and economic wars.
So Britain could quite easily shut off all the supply lines into the United States.

(06:45):
Why was the development of railways in the States so important at this time?
So the United States in the aftermath of the War of 1812 was an emerging power on the world stage.
Expeditions further west were
beginning to discover the vast natural resources in the American West.
America had been overly reliant on Britain and Europe for the importation of manufactured goods.

(07:05):
It had the materials but the problem was getting them to population centres.
An 1816 report by the American Senate Committee on Commerce and Manufactures
noted that it would cost just $9 per tonne to transport goods across the Atlantic,
and once an American sold the same $9 would only move the goods further 30 miles inland.
85% of the population in 1815 were living on the Atlantic coast, and only 15% inland.

(07:29):
Clearly America needed a transport revolution to allow it to develop into a
global power and tap into its vast natural resources.
Resources president James Madison asked congress to support internal improvements
in 1815 as a way to strengthen the nation after the war of 1812 through state
and federal investment in infrastructure,
Shall I have a go at reading this this quote that you've extracted for us?

(07:51):
"that among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is a proper
one for recalling the attention of congress to the great importance of establishing
throughout our country the roads and canals which can best be executed under
the national authority.
No objects within the circle of political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on them.

(08:12):
There are none the utility of which is more universally ascertained and acknowledged,
none that do more honour to the governments whose wise and enlarged patriotism duly appreciates them.
Nor is there any country which presents a field where nature invites more the
art of man to complete her own work for his accommodation and benefit.

(08:33):
These considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the political effect of
these facilities for intercommunication in bringing and binding more closely
together the various parts of our extended confederacy."
While the individual states that form the Union continue to provide the biggest
investment in infrastructure, Madison began a federal programme of infrastructure development.

(08:53):
The States also developed internal improvement societies that push forward development
in transport infrastructure.
The wealthy merchants were also investing in transport schemes recognising the
value of improved transport on their business.
The states were also willing to invest in these schemes as well to ensure they went ahead.
A letter to John B. Jarvis of the Delaware and Hudson notes the approval by
New York State Legislature for a state loan of half a million dollars to the

(09:17):
company to finance the importation of British iron plates and locomotives.
The United States was still trying to find the balance between state autonomy
and federal control, and there were numerous debates on the constitutional impact
of federal intervention and internal improvements throughout the period.
The importance of the need for improved transport is shown by the speech given
by the last surviving signatory of the Declaration of Independence,

(09:39):
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who said as he laid the foundation stone for
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on Independence Day 1828,
"I consider what I have just now done to be among the most important acts of my life,
second only to my signing of the Declaration of Independence,
if indeed it be second only to that."

(10:02):
Carroll recognised the vital importance for the future of America that the development
of rail transport would have that day.
Without an adequate transport infrastructure, the United States would not have
been able to move west, exploit the natural resources and become the economic
powerhouse of the world by the start of the 20th century.
Without the railroad, America would have continued to be vulnerable to domination by European powers.

(10:24):
It wasn't good news for all Americans, however. Indigenous communities would
be pushed out as the United States pushed west and the brutality of the rapid
building of the railroad would be punishing for black slaves and other minority
groups that built these vast railroads in highly challenging conditions.
We obviously don't have time to look into that today, but,
It's something that sounds so interesting looking at the impact on the indigenous

(10:47):
communities of the railroad heading west and also the impacts of people who
are being forced to actually build the railroads.
But yeah, we'll have something for another day, perhaps.
What was happening in America in the time of industrialisation in the lead up to 1825, Jonathan?
So America in the early 19th century was primarily an agrarian mercantile economy.

(11:11):
In comparison, Britain was leading the Industrial Revolution,
supported by its world-leading canal and road networks that developed through the 18th century.
Manufacturing was centralising in the towns and cities of Britain,
where the steam engine meant the mills and factories were able to produce goods cheaply and in volume.
America had been late to build canals. While Britain had developed a significant
canal network, by the 1820s America was just beginning their own truncated canal boom.

(11:36):
However, not all Americans agreed that canals were the answer to the American transport problem.
America was less suited to canal transport due to its mountainous landscape
and rivers that ran unfavourably.
Engineers such as Benjamin Latrobe, John Stevens and Oliver Evans had been advocating
for America to adopt rail transport since the turn of the 19th century.
Evans was one of the first Americans to build steam engines and contemporaneously

(11:58):
developed high-pressure steam engines in the USA at the same time as Trevithick was in England.
That's really interesting. I didn't know that. Is Evans celebrated in America
the way that Trevithick is in England?
He's far more well-known in America than he is here. So it's a bit of a sore point,
I think, with Americans.
We claim everything, but he's increasingly getting known.

(12:21):
Fascinating. This is really interesting. Carry on. Benjamin H.
Latrobe had been born in England near Leeds and had worked with many notable
English engineers before he emigrated to the US, and he would have been aware
of early tramway developments.
Latrobe had been an early advocate of railroads in America, promoting the development
from as early as 1808 writing.
Railways would be invaluable in overcoming the most difficult parts of artificial navigation.

(12:45):
Colonel John Stevens was a New Jersey engineer and builder of steamboats and
had written a pamphlet called Documents Tending to Prove the Superior Advantages
of Railways and Steam Carriages over Canal Navigation in 1812,
promoting the use of railways and steam locomotion, and he would go on to build
a steam carriage running on a circle of track in his garden in 1825.

(13:07):
While America lagged behind Britain in terms of infrastructure,
the country was industrialising rapidly, especially in relation to mechanisation
of agriculture and manufacturing.
Oliver Elphins was developing industrial mills and Eli Whitney developed the
cotton gin to speed up production.
America had good universities and colleges and a strong scientific community.
So how did railway promoters or engineers in America hear about what was happening

(13:30):
with the Stockton and Darlington Railway?
There were a number of avenues that allowed the transatlantic dissemination
of engineering knowledge from Britain to the United States.
Firstly, the two countries were trading heavily. American merchants and bankers
held offices in the industrial and economic centres of Britain,
and they were able to send letters detailing the technological advancements happening in Britain.

(13:51):
For example, we know that the banker Evan Thomas was based at the Family Bank
in Liverpool, and was sending letters talking about the Stockton & Darlington Railway
back to his brother Philip in Baltimore.
Engineers and scientists were able to travel the Atlantic to view engineering
works in Britain. Religious ties between the two countries were also vitally important.
The United States was a refuge for non-conformist Christians fleeing persecution in Europe.

(14:14):
Quakers living in the United States maintained close ties with their brethren
in Britain, and we know from letters that they would frequently visit their
cousins in the UK and witness the Industrial Revolution happening.
Many Quakers were involved deeply with business and finance,
and they took home information and ideas.
That's amazing. Amazing. So we've got quite a lot of Quaker involvement in early

(14:34):
railways in America, as well as with the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Particularly in Baltimore. The Baltimore and Ohio was America's Quaker line. Wow.
So the Thomases were both Quakers.
So emigration would continue as well after the War of Independence.
And including this were businessmen, engineers and scientists who emigrated

(14:55):
to the United States at the end of the 18th century, taking information about
the developments of railways in
Britain. and then they also trained new generations of American engineers.
Most important of all was the role of print, with newspapers and periodicals
disseminating scientific information across the Atlantic.
British books on engineering were reprinted in the United States for domestic consumption.
For instance, Treadgold's Treatise on Railroads had a print run in New York in 1825.

(15:21):
We know that this was read by Allen as he recommended the work to John Jarvis in
one of his letters as an authoritative source of information on railways.
Nicholas Wood's treatise was also read by American engineers and had a print
run in New York in the early 1830s.
The opening of the S&DR was reprinted from articles in British newspapers into
the American journals for the consumption of the domestic market.

(15:42):
Niles Register reprinted a long and detailed account of the opening date from
an unnamed English paper.
It also continued to report back on developments such as On the Darlington and Stockton Railway,
the first constructed in England for the conveyance of persons,
since six or seven coaches already start daily from each place and upon average
150 passengers per day are 54,750 per year travelled by this novel mode.

(16:05):
And that's from Niles Register, December 23rd, 1826.
Were there any American engineers or promoters at the opening day of the S&DR in September 1825?
We know from contemporary accounts that there were some American engineers at
the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
The most likely candidate was Philadelphia-placed architect and civil engineer

(16:26):
William Strickland, who had been a student of Benjamin Latrobe.
We know that he was in the country at the time, along with his assistant Samuel Kneass.
As a result of the post-war push for internal improvements we mentioned earlier,
a number of internal improvement societies were set up to direct the public works required.
One of the most active of these was the Pennsylvania Society for Internal Improvement,

(16:47):
who sent William Strickland with his assistant to England in February 1825 to
learn from the roads, canal, and railway networks in Britain.
Strickland visited the Middleton and Hetton Railways, among others,
and documented the construction of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
While he was in Britain, Strickland would constantly report back his findings,
some of which were printed in American newspapers and journals.

(17:09):
When he returned to the US in December 1825, he pulled together his findings,
along with very detailed diagrams
drawn by Kneass, into a report that was printed and widely consumed.
I've been lucky enough to view an original copy in the archives at Beamish,
and the illustrations are simply stunning.
Strickland's reports were very influential in the future of American transport

(17:30):
developments, and promoted the benefits of railways over road and in-house transportation,
transportation but also this and other reports from visiting engineers give
us a fantastic insight into the construction operation of early railways.
We get a detailed description of the construction methods used by contractors
who are building the S&DR to level the roads and how they formed crossings and

(17:50):
inset the rails to form level crossings.
Actually, thanks to you, I was having a look at some of those drawings just the other day.
In particular, of the level crossings, I have seen nothing else like it by people in this country.
I know the Act of Parliament specified, you know, the rails couldn't be more
than three inches above the ground.
But here we've got this picture of beautiful setts and cobbles leading up to

(18:11):
the rails where the railway crosses the road. They're fantastic drawings.
They are, and coupled with drawings by the Prussian engineers as well and comments,
we get a really good insight into how the Stockton and Darlington Railway is
constructed from other countries that we don't get from domestic sources.
So after the opening day of the Stockton and Darlington Railway,

(18:33):
who came to the UK and when and who was sending them here? You've mentioned
the improvement societies.
And what in particular are they after in terms of information?
Yes. So after the opening day, there seems to be a constant flow of engineers
coming to the Stockton and Darlington Railway from the USA.
And also Europe as well, as we've mentioned, Oyenhausen and von Dechen as well.

(18:56):
And they were looking to gather information about this new technology.
I get the impression that they all end up with Timothy Hackworth in Shildon
and he must have spent a huge amount of time actually on locomotives with engineers
going backwards and forwards,
probably between Shildon, Aycliffe and Aylcliffe Lane or towards Darlington

(19:16):
where it's good and straight and you can do lots of tests which makes me wonder
how on earth he actually had the time to maintain the locomotives as well which was his primary job,
I know and you know Edward Pease was
asking him to do this as well. That's right. And one of his letters,
I think it was when people were coming actually from Liverpool,
but it was, you know, make sure the engines and the workers are as neat and as clean as can be.

(19:40):
So he's got to clean everybody and make sure everyone's well turned out as well. Absolutely. Busy man.
Yeah. Yeah, I've got a little bit of a theory here. You know,
Edward Pease had significant shareholdings in Robert Stephenson & Co.
As well. And so is he looking at the opportunity to make sales?
Yes, a potential major American market out there.

(20:00):
So we've already come across William Strickland. His report,
while it didn't persuade the Pennsylvanians to change course on their canal,
was to have a massive impact on the future of the railroad in America.
So the next arrival to visit the S&DR was Evan Thomas.
So Thomas we've already met was a banker from Baltimore and Maryland and the
brother of Philip E. Thomas, the first president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway.

(20:20):
They were sons of a Quaker minister and started out importing and selling hardware.
Philip had moved into banking at the turn of the century and become an active
participant in the affairs of Baltimore.
Evan, who was known as being enthusiastic and impulsive in comparison to his
older brother's reputation for being quiet and painstaking,
William Thomas later gained the epithet, the father of American railways,

(20:41):
very much was a counterpart of his British Quaker counterpart Edward Pease,
and championing the building of what is generally considered America's first railroad.
Baltimore, then America's third biggest city, was under pressure after the opening
of the Erie Canal in 1825, which was causing export trade to be diverted through
its biggest rival, New York.
The great and good of Baltimore were, to say the least, rather concerned,

(21:03):
and needed their own transport solution to keep the city competitive with its northern neighbour.
Baltimore's own attempts to build a canal to join with the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal were stuttering, due to a mix of geographic challenges and rising cost.
Philip Thomas quit the board of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1827,
in frustration that Baltimore wasn't going to benefit from the canal,
and that trade would be diverted to other cities, including Washington.

(21:28):
William Brown, a member of the famous Alexander Brown banking family,
and the younger brother of one of the other major figures in the formation of
the Baltimore and Ohio, George Brown, had moved to Liverpool to found a bank
to service the American merchants sailing into Liverpool in 1810.
William had been writing back to his brother informing him of the development
of the railroads and was sowing the seeds.
Sir Evan Thomas had travelled to England in the summer of 1826,

(21:50):
where he had viewed the Stockton-Darlington Railway.
On his return, he gave an enthusiastic report at a dinner at the home of revolutionary
war hero and engineer, near Colonel John Eager Howard.
At this dinner, Thomas suggested the large-scale railway on the pattern of the
Stockton-Darlington Railway could be built to serve Baltimore.
At this dinner, the minds of Baltimore changed from a canal to a railway.
The Baltimore party, acting quickly, met for a brief and business-like meeting

(22:13):
on February the 12th to discuss the best means of restoring the city of Baltimore,
that portion of the Western trade which has recently been diverted from it by
the introduction of steam navigation and other causes.
A committee was formed to include the two Thomas brothers and George Brown and
just a week later on February the 19th 1827 the committee presented their report
concluding that the railway was the answer.

(22:35):
Looking at the effect of the S&DR shifting the focus in Britain from canals
and railroads and considering the much more favourable topology and climate
towards canals that Britain had they concluded that the railway was the future.
They had considered a wide range of reports including Strickland,
Nicholas Wood and Thomas Gray's.
Acting quickly they developed a charter for the railway which which was immediately

(22:56):
passed by the state legislature, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was incorporated
on the 27th of February 1827 by the state of Maryland.
Clearly they did not face the same resistance that the promoters of the S&DR
and other British Railways did from the establishment.
And that 27th of the month date there again. So it is. It is.

(23:18):
It's incredible, isn't it? Within a month,
all of this from a dinner party yeah
it's the importance of dinner parties in the development
of railways absolutely it's almost mirrors the
formation of the Stockton & Darlington Railway but rather than being 15
years it's reduced condensed and done much more quickly. In December 1828 three

(23:40):
of the engineers from Baltimore and Ohio landed in Liverpool they were George
Washington Whistler William Gibbs McNeil and Jonathan Knight they were gathering
information about railways in England to inform their work on the Baltimore and Ohio.
In their letter of introduction from Alexander Brown to William and James Brown,
they were introduced as engineers engaged in constructing our great railway.

(24:00):
They visited England with a view of obtaining all the practical information on that subject.
The Liverpool office was also instructed to open a count of £2,000 to enable
them to meet 'the practical men of England'.
They spent time with George Stephenson in Liverpool looking at the construction
of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, before touring other railways,
including meeting Timothy Hackworth of the Stockton-Darlington Railway,

(24:22):
who was instructed by Edward Pease to show them everything they wanted to see.
There were no industrial secrets here. After all, these men were also potential
customers for iron rails and locomotives.
As Pease and Stephenson both had interest in Robert Stephenson and co.,
they had an interest in opening up the American market to exports.
The American federal government, to aid the internal improvements,
had seconded West Point Army officers to the big infrastructure projects then

(24:44):
happening in the US and this provided a core of engineers.
These educated army officers were definitely high society compared to their
British railway engineer counterparts who were northeastern blacksmiths and miners.
George Washington Whistler, in particular, comes across as very forthright.
The West Point educator's son of an army officer, he was still a young man,

(25:05):
having graduated in 1819, and he had married the sister of his fellow traveller,
William McNeill, who was called Anna.
George and Anna were to have a son, James McNeill Whistler, who was to become
a famous painter. Ah, that Whistler.
I wondered if that Whistler was involved in this Whistler. Yeah,
so James Whistler's most famous painting was his mother Anna, I know.

(25:27):
Titled Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, or better known as Whistler's Mother.
Yeah, I have to just say to all artists out there, I wouldn't recommend painting
your mother to look miserable in black and grey.
Actually, I did my degree in archaeology at Glasgow University and it's got
a huge Whistler collection, which was left to them by some extended family members.

(25:48):
And so I used to actually go off to the Hunterian Art Gallery and have a look
at a number of Whistler's paintings. So it's really interesting to see this connection.
Yeah. So the elder Whistler was
particularly disdainful of many of his uneducated British counterparts.
However, he was pleasantly surprised by George Stephenson, who he referred to
as a common digger who took to engineering instinctively. Ouch!

(26:13):
Hackworth, who was often discussed in the Baltimore and Ohio offices,
was also positively regarded as another engineer by instinct.
A blacksmith whose engineering consists in tinkering and refining locomotive
engineers on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Oh, tinkering! He did some decent tinkering, didn't he?
Yeah, but, you know, I think they were more pleasantly surprised that these

(26:36):
relatively uneducated British engineers were so successful.
Yes, education by experiment and doing it rather than by training,
yeah. The engineer Nicholas Woods, in contrast, was regarded as a gentleman
whose book on railroads speaks for him as an engineer.
Now that's interesting because when...
George Stephenson goes to see Edward Pease to persuade him to use locomotives.

(27:00):
He allegedly takes Nicholas Woods with him because Nicholas Woods appears to
be more educated and speaks the language, whereas George is a bit worried about
coming across as being like 'a digger who took to engineering'.
And we know from when he was presenting his Liverpool and Manchester Railway

(27:21):
Bill to Parliament as well, he was absolutely destroyed.
Yes. A lot of it was because of his North Eastern accent. Oh dear.
On the Stockton and Darlington Railway, Hackworth was to be their guide.
They visited in late January 1829 after viewing the Killingworth Railway and
Edinburgh and Dalkeith.
They viewed the operations of the S&DR, noting the haulage capacity of the locomotives.

(27:42):
On the 27th of January, Hackworth took the engineers out onto the line between
Darlington and Stockton, where they were allowed to make experiments on the
railway and record their findings.
One of the main concerns the engineers had was the performance of locomotives
on the sharp curves necessary due to the terrain that the Baltimore and Ohio would have to traverse.
They were pleasantly surprised that when the locomotive passed over curves nearly

(28:02):
as tight as those on the Baltimore and Ohio that 'the retardation on their account
was perceptible but not as great as we expected'.
They took numerous speed measurements and were satisfied enough with the results to proclaim.
'Upon the whole we have every confidence that we shall she'll succeed with the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.'
Some histories state that the locomotive they were travelling on was Locomotion No.1,

(28:23):
although I've not found a primary source yet to back this up.
It didn't make much sense to me that Hackworth, who was a big proponent of steam
locomotives, would depict the oldest locomotive on the line to demonstrate.
It could have been that it was just that Locomotion was a famous locomotive,
intimately associated with the Stockton-Darlington Railway, much like how the story
of everyone's grandfather has driven the Flying Scotsman, that it got connected

(28:45):
to this trip due to its fame.
However, Dr. Bailey's findings that we heard in the fifth episode show that
Locomotion had just been extensively rebuilt.
And this makes the story make much more sense. It's obvious that Hackworth would
pick the locomotive that had just been freshly outshopped after an extensive rebuild.
You don't suppose they stopped at the pub at Heighington Station?

(29:07):
I'd like to think so, yeah. For a snifter.
I think they had their license by then, or were just about to get it anyway.
Yeah it'd be good to imagine hopefully we'll have a pint in there soon again that would be great,
the Baltimore and Ohio would open on the 24th of
May 1830 and was to be the first common carrier railroad of
the United States. The other major figure visiting in this time was another young

(29:30):
engineer Horatio Allen one of the engineers at the Delaware and Hudson Canal
company who was working with John B Jervis. The Delaware and Hudson canal began
construction in July 1825 and then and was opened in October 1828.
It was part of America's Lake Canal being driven by the success of the Erie Canal.
Its purpose was to carry the abundant anthracite coal from the coal fields of

(29:52):
Pennsylvania to the Hudson River and then on to the port city of New York.
The success of this canal was to drive the growth of New York as a major economic centre.
While the canal was able to open the coal fields, there was still a need to
feed the canal, so the canal company began the construction of the Delaware
and Hudson Gravity Railroad in 1826.
This was largely gravity operated by five

(30:13):
inclined planes operated by stationary engines and had
a total descent to the canal of over 250 meters between
the inclines the wagons descended by gravity to the top of the next incline
and at the time the empties were hauled back by horses the rails were of local
wood with iron plates fixed to the top of the rails to act as the running surface
of the wagons Allen was sent to England leaving new york on 24th of January

(30:35):
1828 and landed in Liverpool on the 15th of February.
Jarvis had dispatched Allen to Britain to gather information on railway operation
and construction and also to place order for iron bars for the rails as well as locomotives.
From Allen's diaries and writings, the Delaware and Hudson were already convinced
that they were the way forward.
Jarvis had given Allen instructions to source iron bars for the rail

(30:56):
and a specification for the purchase of four locomotives that
should not weigh more than four tonnes for a four-wheeled locomotive or
six tons for a six-wheel locomotive and this will be important shortly
as we discussed earlier the U.S government had
set heavy tariffs on the import of coal mines who encouraged the
development of a domestic heavy industry however the USA had to develop the

(31:18):
domestic capability to roll iron into rails in the quantity and sizes as needed
what America did have access to was vast quantities of timber so the early railroad
engineers used the now antiquated method of attaching iron bars to the top of
wooden rails to provide a running surface and reduce wear.
This was a pragmatic solution to a problem of supply.
These rails were to persist in the USA up until around the outbreak of the Civil War on some lines.

(31:41):
They had some rather frightening effects if the bars separated from the timber rails.
There were numerous stories of iron bars coming loose and penetrating the floor
of passenger carriages.
These were known as snakeheads due to their resemblance to a rattlesnake rearing
up for an attack, and occasionally would cause injury or death to unwitting
passengers. I've seen sketches of those, and it really does look like a nest
of snakes has gone through the floor of the carriage. Absolutely terrifying, it must have been.

(32:05):
It is, and some of the injuries that were caused were horrific.
Oh, let's not discuss that.
So the locomotives that Allen ordered in Britain from Stephenson and Rastrick
were much heavier than had been specified by Jervis, weighing nearly 10 tonnes each.
The first locomotive to be got ready was the Rastrick locomotive,

(32:26):
the Stourbridge line upon which Allen became the first person to drive a steam
locomotive on the railroad in the United States.
John Stevens had demonstrated a steam carriage on the tracks in 1825,
but this was very much a technology demonstration like catch-me-who-can.
These locomotives, two and a half times heavier than was specified,
proved too much for the rails of Delaware and Hudson and were converted to station use.

(32:47):
Parts of both Stourbridge line and the Stephenson-built Parade of Newcastle survived
to this day in the Baltimore and Ohio Museum and the Smithsonian respectively.
While in Britain, Allen had spent a good amount of time on the Stockton and Darlington
Railway taking copious notes.
Timothy Hackworth freely made his notes and calculations available to visiting
engineers, and Alan's diaries and letters hold some interesting data.

(33:08):
Hackworth seems to have been very conservative with his figures,
and Alan notes this in his letters to Jervis.
We can also learn much about the running of the Stockton and Darlington Railway from Allen's writings.
We know for Allen for example that for
a period in the winter of that year the Stockton & Darlington
Railway was entirely locomotive hauled for a period as locomotives
were able to continue work where the horses could not and that the S&DR were

(33:32):
only continuing the use of horses due to a lack of enough locomotives to cope
with the high volumes of traffic. Allen held Hackworth in high regard writing
of him 'a man evidently of strong mature judgment close observation and great
practical skill and experience,
and who appears desirous to exhibit a fair statement and rather wishing to err

(33:53):
against the locomotive engines than for them.'
However, he does also note that Hackworth's knowledge was largely practical
and that his theoretical knowledge was limited.
Alan's assessment of Hackworth's figures showed an even greater advantage to
the steam locomotive over the horse than Hackworth had calculated.
All of Alen's practical running data was gathered from Hackworth and Allen's

(34:14):
observations of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Alan noted to Jervis in a letter sent from Liverpool about the performance of locomotives.
'I have found that the Stockton and Darlington Road was the best place for judging
of their performance and have accordingly derived nearly all my information from that quarter.'
The Stockton-Darlington Railway at that time was at the cutting edge of technology.

(34:34):
It had the largest operational fleet of locomotives running regular services,
over then what was the longest railway line in the country operated by locomotives.
Allen and other engineers visiting the Stockton-Darlington Railway could also directly
compare the locomotives against
horses on the same road in conditions to compare the costs directly.
After his spell at the Delaware and Hudson, Hudson. Allen was later appointed

(34:55):
as chief engineer of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company,
which ran between Charleston and Hamburg in late 1829.
In September 1829, under Allen's direction, the directors authorised the line
to be built for locomotive haulage, based on the figures Allen had gathered
on the Stockton-Darlington Railway and from Timothy Hackworth.
This predates the running of the Rainhill Trials by over a month,

(35:18):
and then it would have been another month or two before the reports of the outcome
would have arrived on American shores.
The South Carolina was to run the first locomotive built in the United States.
Deviating from British practice, this was a small, light, vertical,
boilered locomotive known as the Best Friend of Charleston.
The role of the Stockton Darlington Railway in the adoption of the locomotive has
often been overlooked in American railroad histories, with the success of the

(35:39):
Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Rainhill Trials being put forward
as the main driver of the adoption of the railroad.
But Allen was very clear in his letters and his 1884 article on the beginning of the railroad era.
There was the information that he gleaned solely from the operations of the
Stockton-Darlington Railway that led him to recommend locomotive haulage for this
line, not the outcome of the Rainhill Trials.

(36:00):
America was already on course for the beginning of the railroad era by 1829.
This 136-mile line dwarfed the 31 miles of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
and the 40 miles or so of the Stockton-Darlington Railway system at the time.
The South Carolina became the first successful steam hauled passenger line in the USA.
So from what you're saying, despite these engineers visiting the Stockton-Darlington

(36:23):
Railway, the railways that arose as a result in the States had to diverge from
the British practice.
Can you outline the main areas of divergence and why?
So American, early American railroads were generally lighter built than their
British counterparts, the exception being some such as Baltimore and Ohio that
copied the very solid construction of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in

(36:46):
the Liverpool and Manchester.
It featured large stone viaducts such as the Carrollton Viaduct and solid stone track beds.
However, many American railroads were lightly built with tighter curvature than
the British counterparts.
They also used far more wood than in the construction of British railways
which at the time were using iron rails on stone block sleepers some
American railroads used this form of construction but found that it didn't
hold up outside of the mild climate of Britain. The heavy

(37:08):
frosts would cause the stone sleeper blocks to lift and move stone was also
much more expensive than wooden sleepers eventually Robert Stephenson the engineer
of the Camden and Amboy developed a flat bottom rail that could be spiked directly
to wooden sleepers without chairs that provided cheapness flexibility and durability
and became the standard form of American track.
Wooden bridges and trestles were also far more common in the USA,

(37:30):
as they were much cheaper and quicker to build than masonry bridges.
Several early American railroads, including the Delaware and Hudson Gravity
Railroads and the South Carolina, built the line entirely on trestles to avoid
the time-consuming and expensive need to dig cuttings and build up embankments.
This was not successful due to rapid rotting of timbers in contact with the
soil, and proved difficult and inexpensive to maintain in the long run.

(37:51):
America was much more mountainous than Britain, and railroads were often built
to follow the landscape more than some of their British counterparts.
This resulted in tighter curves and less direct routes in some instances.
This lightness of construction led to the domestic development of lighter grasshopper
type engines that were adapted to run on these lighter railroads and later on
the classic American 440 bogey engine which helped guide the locomotive around sharp curves.

(38:14):
These grasshopper locomotives look very different to Wylam grasshoppers of England
as they're vertical boilers locomotives but the cylinders operated beams on the same principle.
These locomotives were also adapted to the fuel sources prevalent in America.
They were built to burn either wood or anthracite, whichever was available.
A surviving letter in the Kitching Archives from Evan Thomas back to Edward Pease
in 1833 details the improvements the Americans were developing to cope with their situation.

(38:39):
He describes the development of vertical, boiled locomotives that had large numbers of short tubes.
He explains how they got over the difficulty of igniting anthracite to use the
waste steam to drive a fan to blow the furnace.
Anthracite can deliver a large amount of energy with little smoke,
but it's difficult to get going.
The constricted blast pipe as developed by Timothy Hackworth on the S&DR was

(38:59):
advised to provide an adequate draft for burning the anthracite fuel.
These complemented the important locomotives from Britain, with Robert Stephenson & Co.
Providing a number of their standard designs of locomotives to American railroads,
the most famous of these being the John Bull, which is one of the original survivors
of the once prevalent Planet class of locomotives.
Eventually, American builders like Matthias Baldwin developed the domestic locomotive

(39:22):
industry and the importance of British locomotives petered out.
So, just pulling all of this together, together can you quantify the influence
of the S&DR on American railroads on their initial design and how they went to evolve?
The Stockton-Darlington Railway certainly had a much larger impact on American Railroad
than has been traditionally described.
We know from the writings of the engineer that they learned much about practical

(39:44):
railroad operations from their time at the Stockton-Darlington Railway.
At the crucial time they were visiting and gathering data to inform the decisions
the S&DR was the only public railway line that was in regular operation with
a fleet of steam locomotives.
While the scale of the engineering works at the Liverpool and Manchester clearly
impressed the visiting engineers, that railway was still under construction
and wouldn't be operational until after the crucial dates when key decisions

(40:06):
that shaped the adoption of American railroads were made.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway at the time was a functioning railway where
the engineers could go and compare locomotives alongside horses and stationary
engines and also learn the practicalities of running the railway from Timothy Hackworth.
Who was the only figure in Britain then dealing with the challenges of the day-to-day
running of a steam railway.
The impact of the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the proving ground for

(40:28):
the steam hauled public railway is seen in this extract from a report that was
read to Congress in 1828 by the Pennsylvania Board of Canal Commissioners.
This demonstrates that the momentum of shifting from the canals to the railway
is the future of transport.
'The application of locomotive machinery in the beautiful experiment of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway and the introduction of inclined planes and stationary
power over the lines of railway

(40:50):
have enlarged the scope and capability of railways to a degree which some years
since could not have been predicted without incurring the reproach of an overshare of enthusiasm.'
The Americans adapted the technology to suit the environment in terms of topography,
available materials and the environment.
As the century went on, America was to outstrip Britain in railway development,

(41:10):
creating bigger and more powerful
locomotives to suit the vast distances and heavy loads of the USA.
That's amazing. And that reference to the S&DR being a 'beautiful experiment',
I think is a really good note to end on. Thank you so much, Jonathan.
I know we've only touched the surface of this subject, but I can see what a
huge amount of work you've put into doing this. So thank you so much.

(41:33):
Music.
This month on Stars of the S&DR, we're taking a closer look at Edward and Rachel Pease of Darlington.
The S&DR probably wouldn't have happened without the Pease family.
It needed not only their wealth and their Quaker connections,
but also Edward's vision.

(41:55):
When engineers wrote to the company, it was to Darlington and Edward Pease that they wrote.
And it was Edward who would instruct Timothy Hackworth, the locomotive superintendent,
to show visitors how the railway worked.
Edward was born in 1767. He died in 1858, aged 91, which is a fine old age for that time.
He was a wool merchant married to Rachel Whitwell and is often referred to as

(42:19):
the father of the railways.
In fact, he was retired when he became active in the development of the railway
and it soon became a family venture, with his sons Joseph and Henry in particular
being actively involved in
the creation of the railway and in many of the more important decisions.
Although the railway way company was funded through shares and run
by a committee Edward who had built up a vast personal

(42:40):
fortune by 1818 was its main financial backer and
as such held considerable influence over its development he
together with his Quaker banking friends and family had the capital to take
forward the vision of a permanent transport infrastructure capable of being
extended across the country he was an innovative and a risk taker prepared to

(43:01):
change his mind on the original proposed method traction from a horse-drawn
system to a locomotive-drawn railway with a passenger service.
Once the S&DR was up and running, he remained a committee member but took a
less active role in favour of his son Joseph after his wife Rachel died in 1833.
His Quaker beliefs impacted on the nature of the railway.
He believed that his wealth should be used for the good of others and the company

(43:24):
motto, Periculum Privatum Utilitas Publica, which is Latin for at private risk
for public good reflects this.
His religion was opposed to outward displays of wealth, so his house in Darlington
was relatively modest for such a wealthy man.
Although his garden spreading down to the River Skerne millrace and well beyond
was renowned for its fruit trees and the largest acacia tree in town,

(43:49):
he shunned outward displays of celebration.
'The drinking of health and toast, which is followed often by unmeaning speeches
and those maddening huzzahs which better become come the lunatic than the man
of sober sense', was his balanced response to the younger generation participating in such events.
It's often suggested that he didn't attend the opening day celebrations of the

(44:11):
S&DR because of the death of his adult son Isaac that night,
but it's unlikely that he or any other of the leading Quakers of that generation
would have attended anyway.
He continued to wear Quaker dress and use traditional Quaker way of speaking
even when the younger generation had modernised.
Quakers at that time used an antiquated way of speaking using thees and thous.

(44:34):
And they didn't use the names for the months that we use, as they were pagan in origin.
So instead they numbered the months, so letters are headed with dates such as
the 27th day of the 9th month, 1825.
He was renowned for his integrity and generosity to the family's employees and to schools.
When he was 90, some Darlington citizens, led by his old friend Francis Mewburn,

(44:59):
who had been the railway company's solicitor,
started a campaign to recognise Edward's contribution to the start of the railways
by creating a memorial, possibly a statue.
Edward vetoed this and only permitted a modest congratulatory address outside
his house. This is just a tiny extract.

(45:20):
'In times less enlightened and more prejudiced than these, With amazing foresight,
he penetrated the necessity of unbroken communication by railways,
and in 1818 predicted the extension of that system,
which now spreads a network over the civilised world,
binding nations together for the interchange of mutual interests.'

(45:41):
Less is known about Rachel Pease. Despite being married to Edward Pease,
Rachel Whitwell is elusive.
Qualities of modesty combined with being a woman, overshadowed by a successful
man, rarely leaves an impact on history.
But the woman who ran the Pease house was married to Edward Pease and who gave
birth to eight children, two of which, Joseph and Henry Pease,

(46:04):
became leading S&DR figures. surely she had an influence on the railways.
Rachel Pease, nee Whitwell, was the daughter of John Whitwell and Dorothy Whitwell,
nee Wilson, both of Kendal in Cumbria.
She was born in 1771, although her grave says 1770, so even that is not clear.
She was the youngest amongst two sons and four daughters. Her mother died when

(46:26):
she was two, and her father when she was eleven, and so she was brought up by
an aunt called Sarah Abbott and an uncle in Kendal, living a modest lifestyle, becoming of a Quaker.
Rachel and Edward were married on the 30th of November 1796,
when Rachel was 24, and together they had eight children, many of whom would

(46:47):
have a huge impact on the region, the country and even internationally,
not just in terms of the railways, but as campaigners of peace and as campaigners against slavery.
They also believed in education for all and promoted animal welfare.
Rachel was absolutely central to Edward's life and a huge influence on him.

(47:09):
His shift in later years towards spiritual piety appear to be largely due to
her influence and his desire to rejoin her in the afterlife.
In fact, Rachel was referred to as a Quaker minister and was much loved and
respected by a younger member of the family.
As Quakers, the Pease family travelled frequently around the country visiting

(47:29):
other Quaker families and strengthening bonds.
This gave them quite an insight into the challenges of travel in the pre-railway
era. Typically for a woman of this time, there are few historic records associated with her.
She did keep a journal, but it appears not to have survived,
perhaps deliberately destroyed by Edward after her death or another family member.

(47:52):
There is no formal portrait of her, and in any case, many Quakers,
Edward included, saw portraiture as vanity.
There's a modest description of her when she was young describing her as 'fair,
beautiful in form and having the very sweetest expression' which does make her
sound a bit like the family puppy,

(48:12):
Letters that survive in the Durham Records Office are mainly to other family
members and they cover mostly family matters but also some interest in business
and banking matters. Her extended family included bankers. Some of the letters
reproduced in Pease's diaries were written on behalf of both Rachel and Edward.
Her recipes, which also include remedies for ailments, have been passed down

(48:33):
through the Pease family.
And thanks to Matthew Pease, her great, great, great grandson,
I have a list of her recipes.
Not surprisingly, they include many ways to use oranges, lemons,
plums and gooseberries grown in their garden in Northgate and Darlington,
as well as flummeries, custards, creams,
calf's pudding (two versions!), and brain cakes.

(48:56):
Yum. Her remedies included ones for cancer.
Gallstones and a pain in the face. I don't know about you, but I think this merits republishing.
Rachel knew terrible loss, and her belief in an afterlife must have been a great comfort.
Not only did she lose her parents at an early age, but two of her grown-up children,
Isaac and Mary, both died in 1825, the year the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened.

(49:21):
Indeed, Isaac died the very eve of that opening.
Rachel died unexpectedly young herself on 18th October 1833,
aged just 64 when visiting friends in Manchester.
This is a warning to those of you who get up in the middle of the night or who visit Manchester.
This is an extract of a letter from Edward Pease on the afternoon of her death

(49:43):
in Manchester to his youngest son Henry who was visiting Leeds.
'Last night thy most precious mother retired to rest
as usual well but getting into her bed from which
she had risen in the course of the night and placing her
knees down on the side to raise herself again into it
she slipped down upon her knees with much force and
the shock to her system has been such as the doctor's fear

(50:04):
has caused an alarming concussion on the brain she only
complained of her knees and said she had a violent shock when she returned to
bed and she was soon asleep but it was short and when she awoke was slightly
delirious that in the course of the day has given way to a constant stupor and
unconsciousness of all that is doing around her has not recently opened her eyes

(50:27):
nor could i say there was a ray of hope to seize upon except in
the goodness of the pulse but now the affecting end has
come about at half past the peaceful and
purified spirit took its flight my belief is that after the first two hours
it was granted to her to be free from the knowledge of pain and she gradually
sunk into the arms of the everlasting mercy with all the peacefulness but the

(50:48):
infant sinks into sleep my spirit entertains no doubt but a mansion of the The blessedness is hers.'
And thank you there to Lee Morris, who was an emotional and tired Edward Pease.
Her body was brought back to Darlington, and she is buried in the Quaker burial
ground there, as is Edward.
You can still visit this tranquil spot and pay your respects to Rachel and all

(51:12):
the other Peases from the Stockton and Darlington Railway days.
Thousands attended her funeral. rule. According to Francis Mewburn,
the railway company's first solicitor and responsible for seeing the Stockton
and Darlington Railway built through Parliament.
She was kind and benevolent to the poor and of a sweet disposition.
Edward visited her grave every week for the rest of his life.

(51:32):
He regularly referred to his love for her.
Ah, so sweet, so pure was the affection which existed between my beloved Rachel
and myself, that if a sense of it could be renewed in the interminable bliss
of heaven, my joy would be full.
So Rachel Pease was fair in youth, had a sweet disposition. She was

(51:55):
charitable and must have made a difference to the lives of the poor.
She ran a household, had modest requirements and was mother to eight children.
But this sounds a bit like a cardboard cutout of the ideal 19th century woman to me.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to find out more about Rachel Pease?
Caroline, you've been working inside the Pease family home in Darlington.

(52:16):
Can you tell us a bit about that?
I can tell you a little bit about it. I mean after Edward Pease died,
his home got subdivided into four shops with accommodation above.
And that meant that there were quite significant changes to the buildings.
That took place in 1866.
After that, the shops went through a variety of changes.

(52:36):
And as you often find nowadays, the upper floors fell out of use and they weren't
really being used for accommodation anymore.
And consequently, the whole building has rather gone into decline.
His beautiful back gardens, which had been full full of fruit trees and vineries
and seating areas, it got developed into lots of 19th century terraced housing.
And that in itself has since been demolished and is now a car park.

(53:01):
The Darlington Borough Council have been looking at carrying out some form of restoration there.
And most recently I was in the sort of central part where Edward Pease's parlour
was, which used to overlook his back garden but now overlooks a car park.
It's interesting that some of the room layouts are exactly the same as they

(53:22):
were when Edward lived there and when you peel back layers in the walls you
can actually see different layers of wallpaper and they go all the way back
to the time that Edward Pease was there.
And we've also got some pictures of some of the rooms. So it's entirely possible
that we could reconstruct at least Edward Pease's parlour which is where George

(53:43):
Stevenson went to to report back to him every week on progress building the
Stockton and Darlington Railway.
We know what colour the curtains were, we know what the windows look like,
we know what the fireplace look like, we know what the wallpaper look like.
So actually, potentially, there's quite an exciting project there.
And I'll keep you all up to date as we find out more.
Music.

(54:09):
So, what's this month's news? The Friends are looking for subscribers for a
beautiful new arty limited edition coffee table book which will come out early in 2025.
The first 300 people to subscribe to this book will have their names listed
at the front or if you prefer you can have the names listed of dearly departed

(54:30):
loved ones who perhaps worked for the railways or who had a passion for the railways.
The photography is going to be mostly by Darlington-based photographer Peter
Giroux and the accompanying text by me, Caroline Hardie.
The renowned railway artist John Wigston is contributing the specially commissioned
painting of Locomotion and its train having arrived at Stockton's Riverside

(54:51):
on the 27th of September 1825.
So if you'd like to pre-order this book and become a subscriber,
then just go to the Friends website at www.sdr1825.org.uk and all should be clear from there.
Remember to tell us how you'd like to be referred to in the list of subscribers.

(55:12):
The Friends have now submitted an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £230,000.
Jonathan, tell us what this money is for. So this is for an 18-month project
to transform the Friends into a more professional organisation so that we can
continue to support the S&DR long after the 200th anniversary celebrations are over.

(55:34):
It involves working on the structure of the Friends, but also developing conservation
management plans for the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Yeah, we've had a generous boost to our campaign to save Heighington Station recently.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped with this project after our setback
in July resulting in the grant fund being closed down when the general election was called.

(55:58):
If you think you can help us save the world's first railway station,
please take a look at our website and follow the links.
Much of August has been spent at various family fun activities spreading the
world about the Stockton and Darlington Railway and how it changed the face of the world.
Thanks to everyone who attended and thank you to all the organisers.
A reminder about the S&DR Bicentenary Creative Writing Competition that is being run.

(56:23):
We're looking for poetry, short
stories and memoir pieces relating in some way to trains and railways.
These don't need to be specifically about the Stockton and Darlington Railway
we just want to see a clear link to railways, tracks and trains within the work.
The competition is open to anyone living in the areas along the original 26
mile route of the 1825 train line.

(56:43):
See the terms and conditions for a full list of eligible postcodes and is free to enter.
All entrants are in with the chance to win a cash prize as well as have
their work professionally recorded to perform it at the awards ceremony and
to have it displayed at stations along the S&DR.
The entry deadline is midnight 15th December 2024 You can find out more at the

(57:04):
Tracks Darlington website and we'll add the link into the podcast info later.
Many of you will know that the opening day of the S&DR was accompanied by music
between Darlington and Stockton, courtesy of Mr Meynall's band from Yarm.
Many of you will also know that with the help from the S&DR Community Grant
Fund, we commissioned a specialist group of musicians, the Queen Victoria's

(57:25):
Consort, to replicate this music on authentic instruments of the period.
This music will be available for anyone to download for whatever events you plan for 2025.
So the musical arrangements have now been done and the recording of the music
has also been done and there's some photos of this taking place on the Friends' Facebook page.
The 27th of September will be the 199th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton

(57:50):
and Darlington Railway.
Check out the Friends website for details of events.
There will be a stallholders event at Toft Hill Community Centre at 1pm with
a talk on the greeners of Etherley and you can watch the model steam engine
up and running that may well have had its origins in 19th century Etherley.
You can find out more by popping along on the day or buy Tom Walker's book from

(58:10):
the Friends website shop on the three greeners of Etherley and a model steam engine for £10.
Now this date I'm about to give you is really important. People have been asking
for some time what's happening in 2025?
Well on the 19th of September this year the S&DR 200 festival programme will be announced.
Keep an eye out wherever you get your news from and hopefully you'll have a

(58:32):
better idea of what 2025 will have in store by the end of that day.
Tales from the Rails This podcast is brought to you by the Friends of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway A registered charity set up to safeguard and promote
The heritage of the railway that got the world on track.

(58:59):
That's it for another month. Thank you so much to you, Jonathan,
for enlightening us about the
amazing journey of railway development in America after the S&DR opened.
And thank you too to Lee Morris for being Edward Pease in mourning.
Do take a note of the S&DR 200 festival fringe dates for 2025.

(59:21):
Those are 29th of March until November 2025. but
also start planning what you can do
for 2025 and get your events listed in
the S&DR 200 fringe programme which is
a little more fluid than the festival one and remember the festival programme
is being announced on the 19th of September the email to contact anyone to do
with festival or fringe events the S&DR community grant scheme or the youth

(59:45):
education programme is [e-mail].
Thank you once again to Dave Reynolds for our theme music. Thank you to Jonathan
for joining us again. And nice to see you back, Archie. And nice to be back.
Music.