Historedia
Episode 3 of 3

Inaugural Train

When
27 September 1825
Where
Stockton-on-Tees
Part of
Stockton and Darlington Railway opens

On 27 September 1825, Locomotion No. 1 hauled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, driven by George Stephenson.

This event marked the first time a steam locomotive hauled a passenger-carrying train on a public railway. The train ran from Phoenix Pit to Stockton, covering a 25-mile route. The opening was seen as proof of steam railways' effectiveness.

Sources

  1. Locomotion No. 1 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-21
  2. Stockton and Darlington Railway Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-28

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.