The Stockton & Darlington Railway is the railway that got the world on track, and in 2025 it celebrates its 200th anniversary. Its iconic steam engine, Locomotion No 1, made its inaugural journey on September 27, 1825, and set in motion a transport revolution that changed the globe. The Northern Echo’s special publication looks at how a rural corner of south Durham came to be the birthplace of the modern railway, and look at the truly ingenious characters – many of them from the Quaker town of Darlington – who were determined to overcome all obstacles that either nature, machinery or their opponents could throw in their way.