the station lies on the route of the stockton and darlington railway (s&d), the first public railway. it was here in 1825 that "locomotion no. 1" designed by george stephenson was placed on the track prior to first journey. once it was placed on the line and all was ready, it was found that nobody had means of lighting the boiler. stephenson sent a messenger to get a lit lantern. however, at this point a navvy called robert metcalf stepped forward and offered use of his "burning glass" (a piece of glass similar to a magnifying glass) which he used to light his pipe. it was with this that stephenson was able to light the boiler for that first journey.