What is Stockton and Darlington Railway?
{{Infobox rail |railroad_name = Stockton and Darlington Railway |logo_filename = |logo_size = |system_map = Tracts vol 57 p252 1821 Plan of intended Stockton and Darlington Railway.jpg |map_caption = Map of the original planned route of the railway, taken from the prospectus of 1821 |map_size = |marks = |image = Opening of Stockton and Darlington Railway (crop).jpg |image_caption = In the ''Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway'', a watercolour painted in the 1880s by [[John Dobbin]], crowds are watching the inaugural train cross the [[Skerne Bridge]] in Darlington. |locale = [[County Palatine of Durham|County Durham]] |start_year = 1825 |end_year = 1863 |predecessor_line = |successor_line = [[North Eastern Railway (UK)|North Eastern Railway]] |gauge = |length = |hq_city = |website = }} The '''Stockton and Darlington Railway '''was a [[Railroad company|railway company]] in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. It was the world's first public railway to use [[steam locomotive]]s. Its first line connected [[coal mining|collieries]] near [[Shildon]] with [[Darlington]] and [[Stockton-on-Tees|Stockton]] in [[County Durham]]. It was opened on 27 September [[1825]]. The movement of [[coal]] to ships was profitable. The line was soon extended to a new port at [[Middlesbrough]]. Coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from the start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833. It was involved in building the [[East Coast Main Line]] between [[York]] and Darlington, but its main expansion was at Middlesbrough Docks and west into [[Weardale]] and east to [[Redcar]]. It suffered severe financial difficulties at the end of the 1840s and was nearly taken over by the [[York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway]], before the discovery of [[iron ore]] in [[Cleveland, Yorkshire|Cleveland]] and the subs