Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825

The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) operated in the North East of England from 1825 to 1863. The drawing shows the opening of the world's first publicly accessible railroad line, which connected the towns of Darlington and Stockton with coal mines near Shildon. In addition to coal, several hundred passengers were also seated on the train on its maiden voyage, who were greeted by thousands of spectators in Darlington after a journey time of around three hours. 

The Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, Sept. 27th 1825, drawing in pencil, 1825, artist: J. R. Brown; source: Science Museum Group Collection Online, https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co65770/the-opening-of-the-stockton-and-darlington-railway-drawing, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.