Celebrating 200 Years Of The Stockton & Darlington Railway
Join us at Kirkby Stephen East to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. With its historic roots in the S&DR, Stainmore Railway Company is the perfect location to honour this milestone in railway history.
History Of The Stockton & Darlington
Delve into the Stockton & Darlington Railway's fascinating, yet often untold, history west of the Pennines.
The Rebirth Of Kirkby Stephen East
Learn how a group of volunteers saved the 1861 building from demolition and created a unique survivor of the S&DR.
Bicentenary Celebrations
Join us as we celebrate 200 years of the Stockton & Darlington Railway with a grand reunion of surviving artefacts, travelling photo exhibition, and other special attractions.
Purpose
Honouring the long lasting legacy of the
S&D West of the Pennines.
In September 2025, we will celebrate the bicentenary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR). Since that famous day in September 1825, there have been celebrations of the 50th , 100th & 150th anniversaries of opening in 1875, 1925 & 1975 respectively
However, the S&DR system was far more than a railway between Shildon, Darlington & Stockton, it operated as far west as Furness and West Cumberland, yet this part of the S&DR story has essentially been completely ignored in all previous celebrations.
In early 2023, a successful application was made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a project entitled ‘West Side Story – the forgotten history of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in Cumberland, Westmorland & Furness’.
The purpose of this website, along with the associated Facebook page and blog is not to repeat the history of the S&DR system in the North-East which is extensively covered elsewhere but, instead, (i) to tell the story of operations by the S&DR, and its successors, west of the Pennines and (ii) to outline all the other various capital and activity aspects of the project taking place over the next 2½ years.
The Event
Celebrating the grand bicentenary
In August 2025 the Stainmore Railway Company, based at the site of the 1861 built Kirkby Stephen East Station, plan to host a grand event to celebrate 200 years of the Stockton and Darlington Railway - the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives.
More information to follow soon on the event page.
Get in touch
Telephone: 017683 71700
E-mail: kseonlineshop@gmail.com
Address: Station Yard, Kirkby Stephen, CA17 4LA, Cumbria, United Kingdom
©Copyright. All rights reserved.
A big thank you to the North Eastern Railway Association, JW Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust and the
Cumbrian Railways Association for kindly allowing us to reproduce some of their photos.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.