George Stephenson with his son Robert, and partners Edward Pease and Michael Longridge established the first locomotive works in the world, the Forth Banks Works, in 1823. The original factory occupied eight acres adjacent to Forth Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, much of its machinery being designed and built by George Stephenson. Between 1814 and 1825, George and Robert Stephenson were the only builders of locomotives in the country, the first - Locomotion No 1 – was for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, though it was Rocket’s triumph at the Rainhilll Trials in 1829 which established the works pre-eminence. Between 1824 and 1827, the Forth Street works were not limited to the manufacture of locomotives and there is evidence of wagons, wheels, and engines of all kinds being ordered. Locomotives were also exported to France and America following a visit to the works by engineers from both countries in 1828 and early 1829. The first passenger locomotive – INVICTA (0-2-2) was built in 1830 for the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway. The Planet class (2-2-0s) with inside cylinders under the smokebox and outside frames was adopted as standard on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, further developed in 1833 with a pair of trailing wheels fitted behind the firebox making it a 2-2-2 (the Patentee). The Patentee class was generally accepted as “the best of its day” (Warren, 1923). Orders for these two types were so numerous that many had to be passed on to other locomotive builders such as Tayleur & Co (later Vulcan Foundry). With the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, Charles Tayleur entered into a partnership with Robert Stephenson in 1832, although there is some indication that this lasted no more than a year or two. Associated with this partnership may be the discontinuation of the old series of works’ numbers in 1831 (up to c 40) and the commencement of a fresh series is evidenced in the order books (i.e. Samson old 34, new 14; Jupiter old 35, new 15; Goliath old 36, new 16). Another important development in this period was the appearance of the ‘long boiler’ type that resulted not only in a greater heating surface but a better ratio of tube length to tube diameter without increasing the wheelbase. In 1839 two 2-2-2s were supplied for Brunel’s 7ft gauge of the Great Western Railway. In 1846 when the works had 224 engines on order, railway mania was at its height. By 1855 over 1000 locomotives had been built, the firm’s order books graphically reflecting both national and worldwide interest in their acquisition. A visitor to Newcastle in 1838 records “the marvellous manufactory of Mr Stephenson alone occupies four hundred workmen for the supply of steam engines to all parts of the world” (Lowe 1975). It is right to say that “where there were railways, very few had no locomotives from this builder” (Lowe 1975). George Robert, Robert Stephenson’s cousin, who had taken on responsibility for the firm’s orders on the latter’s death in October 1859, energetically pursued overseas’ companies through frequent absences abroad, adding the Australian continent, the Far East, Africa and South America to those countries already supplied. A private company was formed in 1886, voluntarily wound up in 1899, and a new public limited company formed as Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd. The Forth Street works could expand no more and new works were built at Darlington on 54 acres of land. Although modern in their equipment, the works were laid out for small batch orders with locomotives being carefully built and quality coming before quantity. One of the important decisions of the new company was to remove locomotive building to Darlington, leading to the separation of the marine and boiler works. In 1902, the first of a long series of 2-8-0 heavy goods locomotives were built for India, soon followed by an exceptionally large 2-10-0 locomotive for Argentina. This began a remarkable series of engines, which became the prototype for large and successful classes of heavier locomotives. At the beginning of the First World War some manufacture of munitions was undertaken but it soon became apparent, as military operations progressed, that locomotives for transportation were increasingly demanded. The firm fell victim in the early 1920s to many industrial disputes amongst suppliers leading to the cancellation of orders. On 1 January 1937, Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd combined with R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co Ltd, becoming Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Ltd. The policy was to concentrate on the building of main line locomotives at Darlington and industrial locomotives at the Forth Banks works of the former Hawthorn Leslie Company. Standard 0-4-0ST and 0-6-0ST continued to be built in large numbers from 1938 for collieries, steel works, chemical plants and many other industries: war time requirements were such that the works were fully extended and very few orders were obtained from abroad. In 1944 the Vulcan Foundry acquired a substantial holding in the company and later the two firms became members of the English Electric Co Ltd with works at Newton-le-Willows, Darlington, Newcastle, Bradford and Preston forming the main units of the railway traction division. The Forth Banks works, established in 1823, were closed in 1960 and all diesel and electrical locomotive building concentrated at Darlington. The joint company built approximately 1000 steam locomotives. As from 1 January 1962 the works became the English Electric Co Ltd, Stephenson Works, Darlington: retention of the work’s name perpetuating the long association of locomotive building with George and Robert Stephenson. However, the last diesel locomotive left the Darlington Works in 1964.

The construction of a rail link between London and Birmingham was first mooted in 1823 by John Rennie, who surveyed the route via Oxford and Banbury. Over the next two decades two rival schemes emerged to build the railway, over the two factions joined together and called on George Stephenson to adjudicate over the best route. Stephenson and his son Robert were prevailed on to act as engineers for the venture. Facing stiff opposition from landowners the Bill was presented to Parliament in 1832, it failed on its first attempt to pass but was successful the following year after an appropriate amount of compensation was offered to landowners affected by the line's construction. The London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was 112 miles long and was reckoned to be some of the largest civil engineering works at the time. In addition to the scale of the project, the civil engineers' also encountered several technical challenges in the course of its construction, notably at Kilsby Tunnel, the Tring cutting and Wolverton embankment amongst others. Multiple connecting railways were proposed during the L&BR's construction as a nascent national rail network began to be posited and the L&BR emerged as a trunk line. The line opened in sections from London with the first section from London to Tring opening on 1 January 1838, with the final section from Rugby to Denbigh Hall opening on 17 September 1838, previously a rail replacement coach was used on this section. The London terminus was located at Euston, which included the imposing Doric Arch and the world's first railway hotel. Until 1844, the section from Euston to Camden was hauled by stationary engine due to the gradient. The Birmingham terminus was located at Curzon Street and the Principal Building was completed in complementary neo-classical style. The railway proved to be financially successful and came to absorb other lines. In 1846 the L&BR merged with Manchester and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway to form the London and North Western Railway, connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.

The Great Western Railway, also known as the GWR, was founded by Royal Assent on 31 August 1835. The idea of a railway from Bristol to London had first been mooted in 1824, and finally in 1833 a committee of four prominent Bristol businessmen, namely George Jones, John Harford, Thomas Richard Guppy and William Tothill, had joined together and provided impetus and capital for the project. It took two years to survey the line and push the necessary legislation through Parliament. The first train ran from Bristol to Bath on 31 August 1940, full services started in 1841 and in 1842 Swindon Locomotive Works started operation. The London terminus of the GWR was at Paddington station. At its inception, the GWR had a board of 24 directors which was divided into two committees based in London and Bristol. The first chairman, who sat on the London committee, was Benjamin Shaw and the first deputy chairman was Robert Bright, a member of the Bristol committee. Sir Daniel Gooch was the first Locomotive Superintendent, a post that came later to be known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer. The GWR did not have the post of General Manager until 1863, when Charles Grierson was appointed. The first Secretary was Charles Saunders. Charles Russell became chairman in 1839. The GWR’s first Engineer (a post that would later be called the Chief Civil Engineer) was the renowned Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and he held the post from March 1835 to September 1859. The GWR was overseen by a Board of Directors. At the turn of the century there were three departments under the General Manager. These were the General Department, New Works and Government Enquiries and Staff and Expenses. On the operational side of the GWR, the various different departments such as the Locomotive, Carriage and Superintendent, the Superintendent of the Line, the Goods Department and the Traffic Manager all used a similar administrative structure. These departments were headed by one manager and beneath this post responsibility was distributed into divisions based on geographical areas, which varied by department. The docks which were owned by the GWR were administrated separately from the railways under the control of the Chief Docks Manager. There were also facilitative administrative departments, as well as Hotels and Catering, Surveyor, Estate Agent, Stores departments and a Road Motor Engineer’s Department which operated the GWR’s road haulage service. Brunel insisted on using a broad gauge track, which caused problems both in the civil engineering projects to build the railway and also during operation. A Gauge Commission had been appointed in 1846 and brought about the Gauge Act of 16 August 1846 which noted the systemic advantages of narrow gauge but did not compel the GWR to convert the full length of their track. From 1846 a standard gauge third rail was added to board gauge lines. From around 1868, led by then Chairman Sir Daniel Gooch, the GWR began to convert the entire system to standard gauge, and this was completed on 23 May 1892. The main line of the Great Western Railway ran over the 118¼ miles between Bristol Temple Meads and Paddington station in London. The construction of the main line required several major engineering works. The chief among these was the two-mile long Box Tunnel between Bath and Chippenham. This challenging engineering work took around five years to complete, opening on 30 June 1841. Brunel also constructed viaducts and bridges, including the Maidenhead Bridge, opened on 1 July 1839 and the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash which linked Devon and Cornwall across the River Tamar and which opened on 11 April 1859. The GWR had a road haulage operation, which connected with its rail freight services. The GWR also owned and operated a number of docks and harbours, and after the Grouping in 1923 the GWR became the world’s largest dock-owning company. It wholly owned 16 docks, including Plymouth, Swansea and Cardiff, and jointly owned five other docks. The South Wales ports mainly handled minerals and food, whilst passenger ships used Plymouth and Fishguard. The GWR’s docks and harbours allowed goods and passengers to transfer between rail and sea with ease. The GWR also owned its own hotels, which numbered eight by 1923. The showpiece hotel was the Great Western Royal Hotel which was connected to Paddington station. The Railways Act 1921 came into effect on 1 January 1923 and the multitude of smaller railway companies were consolidated in the Big Four. The GWR absorbed seven larger constituent companies as well as 26 smaller railways covering most of Wales, the Welsh Marches, Somerset, South Devon and Cornwall. It was third largest Big Four railway, with around 3,800 miles of track. The Great Western Railway, along with all the other Big Four railway companies was nationalised and taken over by the Railway Executive, part of the British Transport Commission from 1 January 1948. The Western Region of British Railways took over responsibilty for GWR's sphere of operations.

George Stephenson (1781–1848), colliery and railway engineer, was born at Wylam, Northumberland, on 9 June 1781. He is often credited as being the ‘Father of Railways.’ He was the second son of Robert Stephenson, foreman at the Wylam colliery pumping engine. At fourteen he was appointed an assistant fireman to his father and when he was seventeen Robert Hawthorne employed him in the position of ‘plugman’, or engineman. Robert worked on engines at Willington Quay, Killingworth and Montrose, Scotland, before returning to Killingworth, where in 1812 he was appointed engineman and given responsibility for all the machinery at a number of collieries in the Newcastle area. Stephenson built his first locomotive, Blucher, in 1814 for Killingworth colliery, and in 1816, he patented the ‘steam spring’ with William Losh, of Walker Ironworks, Newcastle. Losh had previously supported Stephenson’s claim that he invented the first safety lamp for underground mineworkers in 1815. In early 1822, George was appointed engineer to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, after submitting survey plans and cost estimates for the proposed line and in May 1823, the company was given permission to use steam locomotives on the line. On 23 June 1823, George Stephenson established the engine manufacturing company Robert Stephenson & Co. with Edward Pease, Thomas Richardson and Michael Longridge, which was to be managed by George’s son, Robert. Work commenced in August 1823 and by the time the Stockton and Darlington line opened for traffic on 27 September 1825, four winding engines had been delivered together with a operational steam locomotive: Locomotion No.1. In 1824, George was employed to undertake surveys and prepare plans for the proposed Liverpool and Manchester Railway, but the bill was rejected in parliament. A new bill was passed in 1826, and Stephenson was appointed engineer. Stephenson fought strenuously for using locomotive power on the line, and his locomotive Rocket, built under the direction of his son Robert, won the Rainhill locomotive trials, held in October 1829, to determine the best means of propulsion on the Liverpool and Manchester line. Stephenson was chief engineer to the Grand Junction line connecting Birmingham with Liverpool and Manchester, begun in 1833 and he was also chief engineer to the following railways: Manchester to Leeds, Birmingham to Derby, Normanton to York, and Sheffield to Rotherham, and others, all begun in 1836. The Derby to Leeds Railway (afterwards called the North Midland line) was commenced under his supervision in 1837. In 1838 Stephenson was elected vice-president of the mechanical science section of the British Association at its Newcastle meeting. In 1845, Stephenson’s party won a parliamentary battle as supporters of the locomotive against the upholders of the atmospheric railway system, led by I.K. Brunel. In 1847 Stephenson became president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which was founded by him that year in Birmingham. He received in 1835 the honour of knighthood from Leopold I of Belgium and in 1845 he also visited northern Spain in connection with a proposed railway. Stephenson consistently refused all proffered honours in England, however, declining a knighthood on two occasions. He died of pleurisy at Tapton House, Tapton, near Chesterfield, on 12 August 1848. He was buried on 17 August at Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield.