First in the World

A detailed account of the Stockton to Darlington line, recalling a momentous step in technical progress. The author ranges widely over the social, economical and technical aspects of the history, while also focusing on the political manoeuvrings and personality clashes that played such an important role. He gives a telling portrait of the powerful individuals who drove the project forward - locomotive pioneer George Stephenson, for example, and businessman Edward Pease, whose combined efforts created the line. The book shows how the Stockton and Darlington line developed and surmounted the extraordinary obstacles that confront such an original enterprise. In doing so, it set the standards that have become the basis of practice and procedure throughout the railway industry, serving as a model for railways in Britain and across the world.