From Stockton to Crystal Palace: How the steam railway made Victorian Britain.

Tuesday 2nd September. Somer Centre, Midsomer Norton. 7:30-8:30pm. £5 admission on the door, no booking required. Raffle available. Funds to Radstock Museum, charity no: 03094854.

The first public steam railway, the Stockton and Darlington, opened 200 years ago this September. The guests at the opening were largely unaware that they were witnessing the very beginnings of a transport revolution that would transform large parts of Britain within a generation, and lay the foundations for our modern hyper-connected age. Twenty-six years later, in May 1851, Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in London. The Great Exhibition was only possible because of the explosive growth of the railway network and its success highlights the huge transformation that the burgeoning railway network had already wrought quarter-century since the first trains ran from Stockton to Darlington.

But where did the Steam Railway come from? What were the early railways like? how did they bring such rapid change? and did the trains ever run to time?

Richard Ellam, historian, singer, (and unapologetic railway enthusiast) will be exploring this fascinating chapter in British history.