George Stephenson (Hetton Colliery Ry)

About

'George Stephenson (Hetton Colliery Ry)' refers to the locomotive workshops at the Hetton Colliery Railway in County Durham, where five locomotives were built to George Stephenson's design for the railway's opening on 18 November 1822 and for working in the years immediately after. The line was the world's first railway designed and built to be worked entirely without animal power.

The Hetton-built engines included Dart, Tallyho, Star, Hetton and Wilberforce. Some of the original 1822 Stephenson layout was in continuous use at Hetton until 1912; the original locomotive 'Hetton' is preserved at the National Railway Museum, York.

The colliery's locomotive workshops were one of several small works at which Stephenson assisted in early locomotive construction in the 1810s and 1820s, alongside Killingworth Colliery and (later) the new Robert Stephenson and Company works at Newcastle.

Locomotives built here

Diligence — An 1827 George Stephenson 0-4-0 built for the Hetton Colliery Railway, broadly similar to Hope of the previous year. One of the longer-serving Hetton engines.
Hetton Colliery Wilberforce — An 1822 George Stephenson 0-4-0 built for the Hetton Colliery Railway and named after the abolitionist William Wilberforce. The most celebrated of the Hetton engines: rebuilt at intervals through the 19th century, it remained in working order for over 50 years and was exhibited at the Stephenson Centenary in Newcastle in 1881.
Hetton Colliery locomotives — A family of 0-4-0 locomotives designed by George Stephenson for the Hetton Colliery Railway in County Durham, which opened in 1822 as the first railway worked entirely without animal power. The Hetton engines pioneered the layout — long boilers, simple coupled wheels, edge-rail track — that Stephenson would refine for the Stockton & Darlington Railway and ultimately for Locomotion No. 1.
Hetton Dart — One of the original 1820 George Stephenson 0-4-0 locomotives built for the Hetton Colliery Railway, part of the family of engines that worked the line from its 1822 opening. See Hetton Colliery locomotives for the design and operation history of the class as a whole.
Hetton Hetton — One of the original 1820 George Stephenson 0-4-0 locomotives built for the Hetton Colliery Railway, part of the family of engines that worked the line from its 1822 opening. See Hetton Colliery locomotives for the design and operation history of the class as a whole.
Hetton Star — One of the original 1820 George Stephenson 0-4-0 locomotives built for the Hetton Colliery Railway, part of the family of engines that worked the line from its 1822 opening. See Hetton Colliery locomotives for the design and operation history of the class as a whole.
Hetton Tallyho — One of the original 1820 George Stephenson 0-4-0 locomotives built for the Hetton Colliery Railway, part of the family of engines that worked the line from its 1822 opening. See Hetton Colliery locomotives for the design and operation history of the class as a whole.
Hope — An 1826 George Stephenson 0-4-0 built for the Hetton Colliery Railway, an enlargement of the earlier Hetton pattern. Worked the colliery sections alongside the original 1820–22 engines.

Location	Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham
Founded	1 January 1822
Closed	1 January 1912
Parent railway company	Hetton Colliery Railway