All Change!

All Change! is a colourful new exhibition focusing on the impact of passenger railways on north-east life, and will be coming to The Story in May 2025.

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the first locomotive passenger train – a local invention that transformed the world – the importance and magnitude of the birth of the Stockton and Darlington Railway on transport systems around the globe cannot be measured.

Drawing on collections from The Story, visitors will have the chance to explore the remarkable changes brought about by the railway system since the early 19^th Century, including: industrial growth; work opportunities; seaside holidays; the war front; the diversification of goods in shops; the impact on news and even the influence railways had on where we would call home.

All Change! aims to tell the story of how the railway redefined life for local people and communities; making travel faster, more comfortable, and more accessible to a broader segment of the population.

Unlike other phenomena of the modern age, railways exert a powerful emotional appeal on us, perhaps through nostalgia, or maybe just with the excitement of being on board! We hope that visitors will enjoy the ride!

Images courtesy of SDR200; for more information on celebrating the birth of the modern railway visit: S&DR200 – Stockton and Darlington Railway