Avocet prepares to take flight

How do you celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway? By building a replica of the inaugural train – complete with replica chaldron waggons and the coach Experiment. But updating 1820s technology and design for 2020s standards is no mean feat.

With this year’s ‘Railway 200’ celebrations now upon us, DR JOSEPH BRENNAN looks at the remnants from the original 1825 Stockton & Darlington Railway that we can still see today

As we have seen across five articles so far – see related reading from the authors, page 23 – the provision of an engine shed at Thornton Junction facilitated a broad reach of influence and operation