The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1875-12-29
The First Railway.

The 9th OF September, 1875, will bn
long remembered in South Durham. Il
was day of holiday making and iestix-
ity; and from all parts OF the north OF
England, as we'll as from places more
distant, crowds of welldressed people,
bent on making the occasion memorable,
poured into the district. 1t was the
greatest gala day Darlington had ever
known.s
Fifty years before, the first railway ON
which the locomotive engine. ever trav-
eled had been opened in the district, and
the jubilee of the railway interest which
has developed into such colossal propDr-
tions, had come. A new force, the DOW
er of which was but Nebly estimated by
the most sanguine, had then arisen, cre-
ating new industries and developing old
ones a hundred fold, calling towns and
villages into existence, and changing
the whole face of the country.
The little Stockton and Darlington
Line, opened on the 9th of September,
1925, was the herald of this revolution,
and the people of the North felt it was
fitting that they should celebrate, with
all the emblems of local rejoicing, the
greatest landmark in our modern indus
trial history--a landmark which the
world owes to the sagacity and perse-'
verance OF handful OF north-couutrF
Qgakers. The idea OF celebrating the
tiltieth anniversary OF the opening of
the Stockton and Darlington railway
originated with the Directors of the
Northeastern Company, whose system
is the direct result of the little Line. 81
Its twenty-five miles, constructed
with capital OF f125,000, and bringing
in a revenue or f1S.305, owning two loco
motives, one carriage and few wagons,
was the nucleus Of all agglomeration Hf
local aud other lines now extending
over fifteen hundred and eight miles,
and having an authorized capital OF 957ss-
332, ,SO4. The one engine wnicA
first started, baptized "LoccmG-
ton" by its maker, George Stephenson,
pie country folks OF South Durham, has
grown into thirteen hundred, and tluB
passenger carriage and wagons have
developed into seventy-seyen thousand
nine hundred and forty-nine carriages
anu wagons OF all sorts and sizes, which
if spread out in a straight line would
extend over nealy two hundred miles.
The success OF the Northeastern system
was heralded by that OF its first pro-
genitor, which paid q dividend the first
year, and after ten years was returning
IA and 10 per cent. to It's sharehold-
ers. Like the.rest of the railways, the
i'll the times when the over-sanguine
l"King Hudson" controlled its fortunes,
they were at sufficiently low ebb; bus
it has long since taken its place as Qua
of the best paying and best managed
lines Of therU nited Kingdom. In voting
92, 900 to help to commemorate the Open
ing Of the first railway, the Directors OF
the Northeastern were, therefores only
mindful OF their due responsibilities.
Their suggestion was warmly seconded
not only in South Durham, but through
out the north of England, and the inter-
est OF the railway jubilee spread'far aud
wide. 1t would have been strange had
it been otherwise. Iu fifty years the
railway system, Of which the founda.
tions were laid In the Stockton and Bar
lington, has attained enormous propDr-
tions, and, by its conquests over timo
and space, has, with its relative,
the electric telegraph, revolution
izcd the manufacturing, commercixI
ana social conditions OF the civilized
world. In Great Britain the tWef.-
ty-iive miles OF 1925 had become, i'm 1874,
more than sixteen thousand miles. The
same year the United States could boast
OF over seventy-four thousand miles. All
the countries Of Europe, in greater or loss
degree, have followed suit, and the iron
horse and iron road have won further
triumphs in Asia and South America.
The railways OF The world elibraee Z
total mileage Of more than one hundred
and sixty-tour thousand miles, the cog
struction Of which has been estimated
by Sir. John Hawkshaw to have coak
4S, 200, 900, 900, or about four times the
amount Of England's national debit
[Good Words.