page_title: Stockton and Darlington Railway
section_title: Wear Valley Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Stockton and Darlington Railway / Wear Valley Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Preferential Share of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, issued 24. September 1858 Deutsch: Vorzugsaktie der Stockton and Darlington Railway vom 24. September 1858
context_page_description: The Stockton and Darlington Railway 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 in County Durham, 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.
  The S&DR was involved in the building of the East Coast Main Line between York and Darlington, but its main expansion was at Middlesbrough Docks and west into Weardale and east to Redcar. It suffered severe financial difficulties at the end of the 1840s and was nearly taken over by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, before the discovery of iron ore in Cleveland and the subsequent increase in revenue meant it could pay its debts.
context_section_description: The Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway (BA&WR) received permission in July 1837 to build an 8 ¹⁄₄-mile (13.3 km) line from South Church to Crook. The line opened on 8 November 1843 with a station at Bishop Auckland.
  The Stanhope and Tyne Railway, a 33 ³⁄₄-mile (54.3 km) line between South Shields and Stanhope had opened in 1834. Steam locomotives worked the section east of Annfield, and in the western section inclines were worked by stationary engines or gravity, with horses hauling waggons over level track. The lime kilns and the line between Stanhope and Carrhouse closed in 1840, and with the Stanhope to Annfield section losing money, the insolvent railway company was dissolved on 5 February 1841. The northern section became the Pontop and South Shields Railway and the southern section from Stanhope to Carrhouse was bought by the newly formed Derwent Iron Company at Consett, renamed the Wear & Derwent Railway, and used to transport limestone from quarries in the Stanhope area to its works at Consett. The Weardale Extension Railway ran from Waskerley on the Wear & Derwent to Crook on the BA&WR and included the Sunniside Incline worked by a stationary engine. Sponsored by the Derwent Iron Company, the 10-mile (16 km) line was built by the S&DR and opened on 16 May 1845. A passenger service started to Hownes Gill and Stanhope (Crawley) on 1 September 1845; the Stanhope service was withdrawn at the end of 1846. Travelling north from Crook the carriages and waggons were drawn up the Sunniside Incline, a locomotive hauled the mixed train to Waskerley Park Junction, then they were let down Nanny Mayor's Incline and a locomotive took them forward. When returning, regulations required that the carriages run loose down the Sunniside Incline and they were let to run into Crook station, controlled by the guard using the carriage brakes. Later, a 730 feet (220 m) viaduct replaced the two inclines at Hownes Gill ravine on 1 July 1858. A deviation replacing Nanny's Mayor's Incline and a curve that allowed trains from Crook direct access to Rowley opened for freight on 23 May 1859 and for passenger traffic on 4 July 1859.
  The Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway, a short extension to Redcar, received permission on 21 July 1845. The line branched off before the Middlesbrough terminus, which was closed and a new through station opened with the line on 4 June 1846. Also authorised in July 1845 was the Wear Valley Railway, a 12-mile (19 km) line from the Bishop Auckland & Weardale line to Frosterley. The line opened on 3 August 1847, and the Act also gave the S&DR permission for the Bishopley branch, over which 500,000 tons of limestone travelled in 1868. The line was extended in 1862 from Frosterley to Stanhope.
  Just before the line opened on 22 July 1847, the Wear Valley Railway absorbed the Shildon Tunnel, Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway, Weardale Extension Railway and Wear & Derwent Railway and then the S&DR leased the Wear Valley Railway and Middlesbrough & Redcar Railways for 999 years. This required a payment of £47,000 each year, exceeding the SD&R's net revenue; traffic from the Derwent Iron Company was reduced during a period of financial difficulty and the Black Boy colliery switched to sending its coal to Hartlepool. No dividend was paid in 1848 and the next few years; lease payments were made out of reserves. The S&DR announced a bill in November 1848 to permit a lease by and amalgamation with the YN&BR, but this was withdrawn after the YN&BR share price crashed and its chairman Hudson resigned after questions were raised about his share dealings. In 1850 the S&DR had share capital of £250,000 but owed £650,000, most of this without the authority of Parliament until 1849; the debt was converted into shares in 1851.
caption: Preferential share certificate of the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, issued 24. September 1858
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