Next year is a significant milestone for the railway industry, and society. 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of rail, which began with the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in September 1825. A cross-industry organisation, Railway 200, set up to co-ordinate and highlight the anniversary year events*, is starting the year off with a nationwide ‘Whistle Up’**.

Led by the Railway Heritage Association, locomotives old and new will be sounding their whistles & horns all over the country (and perhaps overseas) at midday on 1st January.

Contributing to the celebratory cacophony will be the National Railway Museum’s locomotive 910 (North Eastern Railway), which is currently undergoing restoration by the museum ahead of its display next year and is the only locomotive to have appeared in all three of the previous Stockton and Darlington Railway anniversaries, in 1875, 1925 and 1975.

The birth of the Stockton and Darlington Railway is being celebrated with a 9-month festival taking place across County Durham and Tees Valley in 2025. From March to November, the S&DR200 Festival will present a series of free large-scale outdoor spectacles, events, exhibitions and new art commissions, hosted in the public spaces, libraries and museums of County Durham and Tees Valley.

I’ll update this post if/when I get more details on who is whistling, where.

* Railway 200 is a cross-industry partnership with a small core team working on some national initiatives while partner organisations run most of the nationwide activities and events.

** Some people are also referring to it as a ‘Whistle Off’.

Feature image: Steam locomotive and tender, North Eastern Railway, 2-4-0 No 910, designed by Edward Fletcher and built at Gateshead in 1875. © Science Museum Group