AN in-depth investigation into one of the world’s most iconic steam locomotives has begun in a bid to find out how much really survives from the earliest days of the railways.
World expert Dr Michael Bailey is probing and analysing every component of Locomotion No 1 to fully understand the story of the engine which will be centre stage in 2025 for the 200th anniversary of it pulling the first train on the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
In its earliest days, the engine had a worrying habit of exploding – it killed its own driver in 1828 and various bits of it had to be collected from several fields near Heighington after a catastrophic blast – and so it has been rebuilt on several occasions.
“So much has been written about this locomotive,” said Dr Sarah Price, head of the Locomotion museum in Shildon where the engine is now spending much of its time after an unseemly tug-of-love over its location with Darlington. “It has been so iconic for so long, but we don’t really know that much about it.”
Dr Michael Bailey and his colleague Peter Davidson inspect the wheels of Locomotion No 1 in Shildon
“This form of wheel,” said Dr Bailey, standing beside the 1825 engine, “was developed in the late 1820s and 1830s and it replaced the original ones, which were very brittle and subject to failure, so we are seeking to trace the locomotive’s true history.
“We know it had a new boiler in 1828 after an explosion, and it probably had a third boiler while it was still in service, so this could be the fourth boiler.
“We believe there is very little, if anything, surviving from 1825.”
Locomotion No 1 was built by George Stephenson, and his son Robert, in Newcastle, and was looked after by engineer Timothy Hackworth in Shildon, and Dr Bailey feels like he is peering into the minds of those railway greats as he peers into the engine.
“It is a privilege to work on a locomotive of his vintage,” he said.
The opening day of the Stockton and Darlington Railway between Yarm and Stockton. A stagecoach races Locomotion No 1
Locomotion No 1 has at least two major claims to fame. It pulled the first train on the opening day – September 27, 1825 – of the railway which got the world on track, but then in 1857, Darlington’s Pease family rescued it from the wrecker’s yard and turned it into a museumpiece which went on display outside North Road station in the town.
“They spent £50 on it, a lot of money in those days, to build it up to the form we now see it,” said Dr Bailey. “This was the first time that a locomotive was revered in a sentimental way. Before that locomotives were strictly business pieces of machinery that were expected to turn a profit, but from 1857, suddenly the attitude changed.
“Then in 1875 there was a massive celebration for the 50th anniversary of the S&DR and that was a turning point in railway history – the interest in railway history blossomed from then on.”
So not only did the Peases play a major role in creating the railways, they played a very significant part in creating railway nostalgia.
But for the last 10 years of its working life, Locomotion No 1 was a static engine pumping water out of the Peases’ colliery near Crook. The question is how much “restoration” did the engine undergo before it was ready to be placed on a plinth as a museumpiece?
“William Bouch had the task of assembling it as a lookalike: where did he get all the components from?” said Dr Bailey, who has studied historic engines like Killingworth Billy, the Hetton Lyon and Rocket with his colleague Peter Davidson. “I would really like to know from which locomotive the boiler came – it’s from an early locomotive, maybe a Stephenson engine, which they adapted.”
Dr Michael Bailey working on Locomotion No.1 at Locomotion, Shildon Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT
By cross referencing to material in archives across the country, the full story of Locomotion No 1 should take about six months to emerge. Then the Shildon museum will begin to put the engine at the centre stage of its new exhibition ready for the bicentenary.
“When we open our new building in the summer of 2023, we will take the opportunity to tell stories that position Locomotion No 1 at the start of what became a global railway story, with railways changing the whole world,” said Dr Price. “To understand the railway story, you have to understand this locomotive. Rocket, which was built five years after it, is placed on a pedestal as being really transformative but Rocket could not have happened without Locomotion No 1 so it is imperative we understand it fully.”
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