Railways !Mine owners in the Darlington area of the north-east of England were
looking for a quick and cheap way of moving coal from the coalfields
of South Durham to the port of Stockton on the River Tees. They argued
as to whether a canal or a wagonway was the best solution, and those
supporting the idea of a wagonway - now called a railway - won the
day and the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company was set up.
A private Act of Parliament gave them permission to go ahead, and
the company directors had to look for an engineer to design, plan and
supervise the building of the railway.
George Stephenson, a mining engineer, was much in demand in
collieries in the north-east. Between 1814 and 1821 he designed and built
sixteen steam engines and laid many miles of track. He was the obvious
choice for the Stockton to Darlington Railway Company and in 1821 he
became their engineer.
The line between Stockton and Darlington was carefully surveyed
and 43 kilometres of track laid. The company was happy to have a
combination of horses and fixed, stationary steam engines to pull
the wagons, but Stephenson had other ideas, as you can see from
Source 6. The engine Locomotion, designed by him and built in the
workshop of his son Robert, pulled the whole train. It was made up
of six wagons laden with coal and flour, a covered coach carrying
members of the railway company, 21 wagons carrying passengers and,
finally, 6 wagons laden just with coal. It travelled at between 20 and
23 kilometres per hour through fields full of cheering people. But along
the difficult part of the track, the train was pulled by horses.
The first railway death: The opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway was a grand affair, attended by the prime minister and other politicians. One of them was William Huskisson, Liverpool's MP. When the engine stopped to take on water, people stepped down from the train to watch. One of these was William Huskisson. Sadly, unused to the way railways worked, he was knocked down by a steam engine coming in the other direction. One of his legs was smashed and he died in hospital.
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Natural Causes ! 🌿 
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