With the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway set to place in September 2025, the Lonely Tower Film & Media company has produced a film with support from Barclays, and collaboration with Stockton Borough Council, Darlington Borough Council and Durham County Council.

Directed by Mark Thorburn and produced by Marie Gardiner, the 90 minute film sees historians tell the story of how the Stockton and Darlington railway first came about and how different industrial ideas were brought to together to create and operate the line.

The start of the railway network began here and expansion of the railways transformed travel on a global scale that has changed the lives of so many around the world.

The film also references what remains of the original structures of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and their significant importance in history

The Lonely Tower Film & Media company based in County Durham, focuses on sharing stories from the local communities in the North East of England.

These have produced documentary films, books, short films, oral history recordings, and multimedia events. Some of their other projects have included:

• ‘Hollowed Ground – The People of the Durham Coalfield’ covers the growth of the Durham Coalfields and its local communities.
• ‘Sunderland Industrial Giant’ This book covers the rise of Sunderland, famed for its shipyards, glass and mining and how it rose to earn a place on the world’s stage, before its decline post war.
• ‘A Passion for Vaux – Sunderland’s Lost Brewery’ is a film that highlights the reasons for the closure of Vaux Brewery in 1999, which ended a 162 year history of brewing in Sunderland.

The film’s main sponsor Barclays also has a connection to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The bankers of the S&DR where from Backhouse Bank, and as such were greatly involved in the building of the line. In 1896, the bank merged with other companies, one of which was Barclays.

A special VIP viewing of ‘Iron & Steam The Dawn of the Stockton & Darlington Railway’ is scheduled to take place on 24th July 2025 at Hopetown – Darlington, at the newly opened railway attraction.

The public premier of the film will take place the following evening on 25th July 2025. It will be available to stream on Amazon Prime and to purchase on DVD after this date.

For those that live, or are planning to attend the North East as part of the Railway 200 celebrations, the film will also be shown in local cinema’s.

The S&DR was a game changer and is rightly seen as a landmark moment in social and transport history. George Stephenson, Edward Pease, Timothy Hackworth and many others had the courage to build a steam powered railway on a scale never seen before’. Bringing this story to the big screen is a wonderful way of ensuring that everyone is ready for the S&DR Bicentenary Celebrations in 2025.

Mark Thorburn (Director– Lonely Tower Film & Media)

Excitement is really building for the celebrations in 2025 and we are delighted to be a part of that. To launch the film at the Goods Shed, Hopetown is perfect, the brand-new attraction is at the heart of the S&DR story’

Marie Gardiner (Producer – Lonely Tower Film & Media)