The
Stockton and Darlington Railway (
S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use
steam locomotives, its first line connected
collieries near
Shildon with
Stockton-on-Tees and
Darlington, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port and town at
Middlesbrough. While 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.