New film to boost Stockton & Darlington’s world presence
A LANDMARK feature-length documentary film is being produced to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 2025.
County Durham-based Lonely Tower Film & Media officially launched the film, called Iron & Steam – The Dawn Of The Stockton & Darlington Railway, at the Head of Steam Museum in Darlington on April 19.
The film, being made in partnership with Darlington Borough Council and Stockton Borough Council, will play an essential role in boosting public awareness of the line’s global historical importance in the build up to and during the 2025 S&DR bicentenary celebrations, which are expected to attract significant numbers of international visitors.
The main supporter of the project is Barclays bank, which has historic links to the S&DR dating back to before its opening in 1825.
One of the key funders of the railway was the Darlington-based Backhouse’s Bank which, working alongside Edward Pease and fellow Quakers in finance, ensured the Stockton & Darlington project came to fruition. Backhouse’s Bank merged with Barclays in 1896; Darlington’s town centre Barclays branch is still in an original Backhouse Bank building.
The National Railway Museum’s senior curator of rail transport and technology, Anthony Coulls, who is interviewed in the film, said: “The S&DR meant more in 1825 than we can possibly imagine now.”
Lonely Tower producer/director Mark Thorburn said: “The S&DR is a shining example of how a bold technological enterprise went on to change the world. There are exciting plans developing to mark 2025, and this film’s role will ensure that everyone in the area, and the wider world, fully understands and is excited about the story behind the headlines.
“It will be about the development of the modern railway, but more than that, this is the story of people and communities taking a leap of faith and seizing opportunities in the face of incredible change.’
Fellow producer/director Marie Gardiner said: “The goal is for the film to be screened in the communities connected with the line, ensuring that by 2025 everyone can feel the pride that comes with living in an area with such an important history.
“Barclays has opened its archive to support the film’s research, and we are very excited about what we’ll discover.”
Barclays Darlington branch manager Susan Theobald added: “Barclays has been an integral part of communities for generations. When James Backhouse and his son Jonathan formally constituted their bank in Darlington in 1774, they established a valued partnership between financial services and society across the North East. The direct connections we have with the origins of the S&DR are something we are truly proud of; we were there in 1825 and we will be there in 2025, helping celebrate the first steam passenger railway.”
Caroline Hardie, of the Friends of Stockton & Darlington Railway, who also appears in the film, said: “The S&DR draws in everything that’s been happening at different places, at different times. Yes, railways had been used to take coal from the coalface to the river, but what happens here is that all the technology is pulled together in one place.
“You’ve got the beginning of a network that’s going to extend not just over the country, but also the world – and it starts here.”