<Tr> <Th> Dates of operation </Th> <Td> 1825--1863 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Successor </Th> <Td> North Eastern Railway </Td> </Tr> <P> The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) 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, 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 . </P> <P> 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 . At the beginning of the 1860 it took over railways that had crossed the Pennines to join the West Coast Main Line at Tebay and Clifton, near Penrith . </P>

When did the stockton to darlington railway open