Transcript
Dan Snow (0:00)
Hello folks. Dan Snow here. I am throwing a party to celebrate 10 years of Dan Snow's history. I'd love for you to be there. Join me for a very special live recording of the podcast in London in England on 12th September to celebrate the 10 years. You can find out more about it. Get tickets with the link in the show notes. Look forward to seeing you there.
Commercial Advertiser 1 (0:26)
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Steven Brindle (0:56)
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Commercial Advertiser 1 (1:27)
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Dan Snow (2:02)
On 27 September 1825, a bizarre a brilliant contraption billowing steam and smoke, traveled down a track from the collieries near Shildon, County Durham, in the north of England, through Darlington to the port of Stockton on Tees. There was such a buzz about it, such excitement, that 300 passengers had bought tickets to go on this train ride. But in the end, she pulled probably twice that, as well as 11 wagons of coal. This astounded eyewitnesses. They thought it was brilliant. They thought it was bewildering. They knew that they were getting a glimpse into the future. This was the very first passenger steam train, Locomotion number One, a steam train devised by the brilliant engineer George Stephenson to move coal and people over long distances smoothly and reliably. As well as the passengers, there were plenty more people who turned up that day. Onlookers walked the length of the 25 mile track to catch a look at this new fangled machine. Affectionately, people referred to it as an iron horse. These onlookers waved their hats and their handkerchiefs and they cheered themselves hoarse. Locomotion traveled at about 12 miles an hour. And the passengers who were lucky enough to ride described the sensation of moving so quickly. It was exhilarating. It was unsettling. It was history being made. The world would never be the same again. Now, this September in 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of that landmark journey, the beginning of the Stockton Darlington Railway, which would go on to carry millions more passengers over the centuries. Not to mention all of the other railways that grew out from it. The story of the railway in Britain is a story of the nation's industrialization and modernization. Initially devised for coal fields to get coal to market, they were perfected by men like George Stephenson. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, of course, were still making better and faster trains than ever before. And those railways shrank distances. They sped up trade and communication. They revolutionized daily life. They fueled industrial growth. They linked factories and ports with raw materials. Cities grew enormously as people could flock to them and fresh food could be brought in regularly from the countryside. Railways gave people new mobility and leisure opportunities. Britain became the workshop of the world, not the crucible for this explosion of railways. Britain's railways were exported across the Empire and beyond. They carried British goods. They carried British influence. Though sadly, in more recent decades, they've been challenged by cars and planes. The railways remain a symbol of that first great spasm of the Industrial Revolution, as well as being a symbol of Britain's ingenuity and the transformation it unleashed on the planet. To tell that story, I'm joined by friend of the podcast historian Steven Brindle. This is Dan Snow's history hit and we're talking about the big anniversary of the first passenger carrying train. Enjoy.
