First passenger railway station / line?

[LUSOwner]

Was it the Stockton & Darlington - or the Liverpool and Manchester??

And what station opened to passengers first?

Anyone know??

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Was it the Stockton & Darlington - or the Liverpool and Manchester??

And what station opened to passengers first?

Anyone know??

I believe the former opened to passengers on the 18 January 1825 and the latter on the 15 September 1830. The former carried passengers only on the day of opening and was not until much later so for passengers the latter was first

 

[LUSOwner]

Ah thanks!

 

[LUSOwner]

Oh, and: do you know what the first STILL OPEN passenger station is / was??

 

[steamybrian]

In my opinion one of the original stations on the Liverpool - Manchester line such as Rainhill or Eccles which opened in 1830,
Some of the stations have been resited since 1830 such as Edge Hill.

 

[LUSOwner]

Ok, thanks!

 

[dubscottie]

Technically the first passenger railway was the Swansea & Mumbles which opened in 1807.

The first STEAM railway was the S&D.

 

[LUSOwner]

Technically the first passenger railway was the Swansea & Mumbles which opened in 1807.

The first STEAM railway was the S&D.

I was thinking along the lines (pun intended) of railways that are still open today...

 

[Dr Hoo]

I believe the former opened to passengers on the 18 January 1825 and the latter on the 15 September 1830. The former carried passengers only on the day of opening and was not until much later so for passengers the latter was first

The Stockton & Darlington opened on 27 September 1825.

The first passenger timetable was published and took effect from Monday 10 October 1825 although it was pretty 'thin'. E.g. one service, one way, on Tuesdays. If you caught the only service from Darlington to Stockton on a Friday you couldn't come back until Monday and so on. (The previous stagecoach service hadn't run every day either.)

Obviously the line is no longer open as a through route and there wasn't much by way of station 'facilities' to start with. Nearby hostelries were used for booking of tickets and waiting for the services. I've seen claims that Heighington is the longest surviving station 'site'.

 

[LUSOwner]

The Stockton & Darlington opened on 27 September 1825.

The first passenger timetable was published and took effect from Monday 10 October 1825 although it was pretty 'thin'. E.g. one service, one way, on Tuesdays. If you caught the only service from Darlington to Stockton on a Friday you couldn't come back until Monday and so on. (The previous stagecoach service hadn't run every day either.)

Obviously the line is no longer open as a through route and there wasn't much by way of station 'facilities' to start with. Nearby hostelries were used for booking of tickets and waiting for the services. I've seen claims that Heighington is the longest surviving station 'site'.

Ah, thanks!!

 

[johnmoly]

Back in the 1970's when Edge Hill station in Liverpool was being renovated, all the canopies on the four platforms taken down, a notice from British Rail stated The Worlds oldest still working railway station. As Steamybrain says Edge Hill was moved slightly away from the track leading to Crown Street station to where it is today, as it was still named Edge Hill I suppose British Rail looked at it as technically it was still the same station.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

In my opinion one of the original stations on the Liverpool - Manchester line such as Rainhill or Eccles which opened in 1830,
Some of the stations have been resited since 1830 such as Edge Hill.

It's unrealistic to think that today's L&M line stations are the 1830 originals.
There have been multiple upgrades and rebuilds since the start, and many of the remaining structures date from the 1840/50s or later, but the details don't seem to have survived.
But at least most of them are in much the same place.
Manchester Liverpool Road station (now part of the Museum of Science and Industry) is I think the place with the most original fittings - though its "service" is a bit limited today after the Ordsall Chord severed the route out of the station.
Quadrupling also destroyed many of the original structures at each end of the line (Liverpool-Huyton and Patricroft-Manchester).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Earlestown on the L&M says hi - the waiting-room on the main Liverpool bound platform is claimed to be from 1835 (although the Grade II Historic England listing says c 1840). Edge Hill dates from 1836 when the station was relocated to accommodate the new route into Lime Street, although some of the buidings are later.

 

[dubscottie]

Just had a thought.. surprised as I now live in Dublin... But the first line to be built in the British Isles for sole use by passengers/mail was the Dublin & Kingstown Railway.

Almost all the original stations are still in use today as part of the DART.

 

[NSB2017]

Canterbury West station opened in 1846 and became the new Canterbury terminus - for passenger traffic - of the Canterbury & Whitstable railway, which first carried passengers on May 3 1830.