Train ticket, Middlesbrough to Stockton, 1834
Image courtesy of Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum
The railways provided a much quicker way of transporting goods (such as coal) and people than the canals and horse drawn carriages before them. The success of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825, led to new lines opening across the North East. Railways quickly expanded across Britain and the rest of the world linking goods, businesses and people more efficiently than ever before.
In 1830, a new line was built by Joseph Pease (son of Henry) to transport coal to the port he had built in Middlesbrough. The passenger who bought this ticket in 1834, could have had no idea that the port, the discovery of ironstone in the Eston hills and the railways that connected them would lead Middlesbrough to become an industrial powerhouse, growing faster than any town in Britain before or since.
Image courtesy of Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum
