Hetton Colliery Railway
The Hetton Colliery Railway was opened on 18 November 1822 — three years before the Stockton and Darlington Railway and seven years before the Liverpool and Manchester — making it the world's first railway designed and built to be worked entirely without animal power. Engineered by George Stephenson to carry coal from Hetton-le-Hole colliery in County Durham to staiths on the River Wear at Sunderland, the line combined steam locomotives on the level sections with self-acting inclined planes on the gradients — the coal wagons' weight on the descending inclines hauling the empties back up — creating a system that required no horses at any point on the route.
The five Stephenson-designed locomotives built for the Hetton Colliery Railway were among the most advanced of their era, incorporating the lessons of his Killingworth Colliery experience and anticipating several features of the Locomotion No. 1 that would follow three years later on the Stockton and Darlington. The Hetton line's operating success demonstrated conclusively that steam-powered railways were commercially viable for regular industrial use — a demonstration that directly encouraged the promoters of the Stockton and Darlington and subsequently the Liverpool and Manchester projects.
The Hetton Colliery Railway operated continuously for 137 years, outlasting the colliery itself (which closed in 1950) and finally ceasing operation on 9 September 1959. One of the original Stephenson locomotives from the Hetton system is preserved at the National Railway Museum, York, a direct material link to the very beginning of commercial steam railway operation.
About
The Hetton Colliery Railway was an early British colliery railway opened on 18 November 1822, running from Hetton-le-Hole in County Durham to staiths on the River Wear at Sunderland, a distance of about 8 miles. It was the world's first railway designed and built to be worked entirely without animal power, using a combination of self-acting inclines and steam locomotives engineered by George Stephenson.
The five Stephenson-designed Hetton Colliery locomotives were built at the colliery's own workshops. The opening day saw the engines work the level sections of the line carrying coal in chaldron wagons, with stationary winding engines hauling the loads up the inclines. The line ran successfully for nearly a century-and-a-half, with the original 1822 Stephenson layout in continuous use until 1912.
The line outlasted Hetton Colliery itself (closed 1950) and was finally closed on 9 September 1959. One of the original locomotives, Hetton, is preserved at the National Railway Museum, York. The route is now a footpath in part.