APPEARANCES are deceptive, whereas reality is more complex, as Marx observed when developing his ideas of dialectical materialism. This year marks Railway 200, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway, occasioned by the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) on September 27 1825 with a passenger train hauled by the Stephenson-designed steam engine “Active,” later renamed “Locomotion No 1,” which is now in preservation.

But what exactly was brought to birth on that day? I must admit I’m not a historian nor have I worked on the railway for a living, but I did grow up with railways at the bottom of my garden where I used to race excursion trains coming into Blackpool along a cinder track on my tricycle.

I was brought up on stories of Thomas the Tank Engine, trainspotted up and down the country, and wanted to be an engine driver like most boys of my generation. Eventually in later life I have ended up volunteering as a responsible officer overseeing the safety of trains on the Llangollen and Corwen Railway in north Wales which celebrates its 50th anniversary in preservation this year.

But what I do know is that the S&DR was not the first railway to be constructed following an Act of Parliament. It was also not the first to use wrought iron rails, nor the first authorised public railway, and it certainly wasn’t the first to use a steam locomotive to pull passengers.

In dialectical terms it could not have existed without the two centuries of railway history which came before it, where crucial ideas and technologies were worked out through a series of contradictory processes from the track to the locomotives and from carrying passengers to introducing the necessary legal structures.

So, while the Stockton & Darlington wasn’t really the first of anything, it was the culmination, and a higher and more complex form, of all that had gone before, and represented the bringing together and synthesising of existing ideas into a new concept, only to be further developed by Timothy Hackworth as its first locomotive superintendent.  

In fact there is much about the S&DR that served as a blueprint for the modern network and that’s thanks to George Stephenson, who saw the future possibilities of railways much further than his contemporaries, while standing on the shoulders of those who had gone before.

These would include Huntingdon Beaumont who in 1604 introduced a wooden Waggon-Way to carry coal from his pits at Wollaton near Nottingham down to the River Trent, Joseph Banks who substituted oak rails for cast-iron upper rails at Coalbrookdale in the Ironbridge Gorge, Richard Trevithick who is credited with giving us the first steam locomotive in 1804 on the Penydarren Tramroad in Wales, and John Blenkinsop whose steam locomotive in 1812 operated on a rack and pinion track on the Middleton Railway just outside Leeds.

The first regular steam-worked passenger service wasn’t begun until 1830 with the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway, which opened that May, pre-dating the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in September 1830 by a matter of months. Stephenson’s Rocket had won the Rainhill speed trials the year before, and remained in service for the next four years.

Such was the subsequent success of the railways that everywhere wanted one of their own and investment took off.

“Railway mania” was a stock market bubble in Britain during the 1840s, driven by this speculative investment in railway companies. The mania was fuelled by economic recovery, low interest rates, and the growing middle-class eager to invest.

Investors could buy shares with just a 10 per cent deposit, leading many to overextend themselves financially. When the bubble burst, railway share prices collapsed, causing significant financial losses, and substantial damage to the economy.

Despite the financial turmoil, the period led to the expansion of Britain’s railway network, shaping modern transportation. It had profound social effects on Britain, transforming daily life, mobility, and communities.

Railways made long-distance travel more accessible, allowing people to move between cities and towns with ease. Lower travel costs enabled working-class individuals to seek jobs in different regions, improving employment opportunities. Many towns grew around railway hubs, leading to increased urbanisation.

Railways made seaside resorts and countryside retreats more accessible, contributing to the rise of tourism. The need for synchronised train schedules led to the standardisation of time across Britain.

Faster transport meant quicker delivery of newspapers and mail, improving communication. Railways enabled teams from different regions to compete, contributing to the growth of organised sports like football. They even gave us fish and chips!

Railways in many respects forged the modern world and helped to consolidate the industrial phase of capitalism, facilitating both the development of the productive forces and increasing trade. Abroad railways were built to serve British imperialist interests in competition with other imperialist powers which eventually led to the first world war.

In Britain the government took control of the railways in 1914, and in order to stem the losses and inefficiencies of the 120 different companies ravaged by war, introduced an Act in 1921 to form them into four separate companies on a regional basis. In 1923 these were to become the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, the London North Eastern Railway, the Great Western Railway and the Southern Railway.

Following the second world war in 1948 the whole severely damaged network was nationalised only to be privatised in 1997. Now the railways are to be taken back into public ownership once again as franchises expire to become Great British Railways, although rolling stock will continue to be leased from private companies and open access operators will continue to provide competition.

As for helping to forge a socialist future, the railways could play their part as in China’s Belt and Road initiative, which provides investment and finance in major infrastructure projects across the world, and where countries of the global South work towards a multipolar world promoting peaceful co-operation and integration.

By opening up a path for greater sovereignty for developing countries multipolarity also has the potential to break the imperialist hegemony of the US, Europe and Japan and open up possibilities for the overthrow of capitalism.

Gareth Dennis in his book, How The Railways will Fix The Future, argues that railways are the safest and most energy-efficient means of mass transport, increasing the mobility of both people and goods, which under democratic control and making use of the latest technology, could help shape a better future for humanity.

Instead of serving the interests of capital they could be harnessed for the social good and in this organised labour will be crucial. We may have come a long way from the Stockton and Darlington Railway 200 years ago but this year of celebration provides an opportunity to develop its legacy so that our railways are more about people rather than profit and are freed to play their part in the building of socialism.

For information about national events and local activities celebrating 200 years of the modern railway visit railway200.co.uk.