SHILDON:

Blood, Muscle & Bone

The People of the First Railway Town

EXHIBITION 27-29 JUNE 2025

Shildon Railway Institute has played its part in every milestone celebration of the Stockton & Darlington Railway since its founding in 1833. This year will be no exception.

This event - part of the S&DR 200 Fringe - celebrates the pivotal role of Shildon and its people in the Stockton & Darlington Railway story.

Shildon didn't have the money or influence to feature in the railway company's name. Yet the town was in exactly the right place to become its first industrial operating powerhouse.

For almost 160 years the people of Shildon provided blood, muscle and bone; operating the railway, building many of its early locomotives and building and repairing its wagons as successive railway companies came and went.

What can I expect to see at this exhibition?

SHILDON: Blood, Muscle and Bone will be Shildon Railway Institute's biggest ever rail heritage exhibition, building upon the success of its recent annual exhibitions, most recently the popular and well-received Shildon Works 40 exhibition in the summer of 2024.

Where that exhibition focused on the closure of the Shildon Works in 1984, this time we're releasing the brake and going full steam to show-off this community's contribution to the world's railway story in all its brilliant glory.

Through images, art, objects, stories, models and documents we'll, among other things, be bringing to light:

Coal, the catalyst of the Shildon story.
Timothy Hackworth - the modest genius of the S&DR's principal mechanical engineer.
How Hackworth's "Royal George" changed the world forever.
How the Brusselton Incline brought coal to the locomotives.
Being the battleground in the rivalry between the S&DR and the Clarence Railway.
The New Shildon-built locomotives of Timothy Hackworth and William Bouch.
How pioneers who learned their trade at Shildon helped shape Britain's industry.
The growth of New Shildon.
The Shildon Works and the Soho Works.
Hackworth's pioneering Railway Institute - the great man's living legacy.
Evolution of the 'humble' wagon - Shildon's specialism.
Our part in Vincent Raven's rail electrification trials.
Railway roles - what jobs our Shildon people undertook.
The women of Shildon Works - in wartime and beyond.
Our milestone celebrations - how Shildon celebrated the S&DR in 1875, 1925 and 1975.
The British Rail era, and the end of rail engineering in Shildon.

What if I have something that I think you should show at this exhibition?

Though we have a quite extensive collection of our own, this exhibition, like most of our major exhibitions will be co-curated with other groups and individuals in the Shildon area.

If you have items that you feel would be important to show at this once-in-a-lifetime event marking the 200th Anniversary of the opening of the worlds first steam-hauled public passenger railway, and Shildon's very important part in that story, then we'd be very interested to hear from you.

You can drop a line to our Chair via this email address: exhibitions@shildonrailway.institute

Our thanks to our exhibition supporters and partners.

Mr Alan Ellwood
Brusselton Incline Group
Locomotion
Mr Paul Tweddle
Shildon Heritage Alliance CIC