The railways were one of the main driving forces of the industrial revolution. For the first time goods could be transported over long disances quite quickly which meant that the factories could speed up their manufacture and distribute their produce round the country rather than have storage warehouses. One of the key inventions at the beginning of railways came from George Stephenson. He had been building steam engines to move coal at the mines and his first engine was similar to those he already had running at the collieries.
In 1824 Edward Pease joined with Michael Longdridge, George Stephenson and his son Robert, to form a company and Robert Stephenson & Company, at Forth Street, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, became the world's first locomotive builder. Stephenson recruited Timothy Hackworth, one of the engineers who had helped William Hedley to produce Puffing Billy, to work for the company.
The first railway locomotive was finished in September 1825. Initially called Active, it was later given the name Locomotion. The boiler of the Locomotion had a single fire tube and two vertical cylinders let into the barrel and the four wheels were coupled by rods rather than a chain. The Stockton & Darlington Railroad was opened on 27th September, 1825. Large crowds saw George Stephenson at the controls of the Locomotion as it pulled 36 wagons filled with sacks of coal and flour. The intial journey of just under 9 miles took two hours. However, during the final descent into the Stockton terminus, speeds of 15mph (24kph) were reached. This increased speed surprised one man and he fell from one of the wagons and was badly injured. Although the Locomotion was not a long term success, it laid the foundations for all future generations of steam locomotives.
Our Cover
Our cover features the Pioneers of the Industrial Revolution stamps issued by Royal Mail on 10th March 2009. We sponsored two postmarks for this issue (the Stephenson Locomotive Society and Shildon, Co. Durham), which means we have two official covers. We also have a third option (Darlington) which was very relevant even though it wasn't ours, so we produced a limited edition of just 50 of these.
An Inventive Signature
We're proud to be able to offer this cover signed by inventor Trevor Baylis OBE, who's probably best known for inventing the wind-up radio. He now runs a company to help up and coming inventors to develop and protect their ideas. We're delighted that he could take some time out of his busy schedule to sign some covers for us.
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Quick Facts: Industrial Revolution stamps cover is a First-day Cover Issue date (2009-03-10): 10 March 2009
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