George Stephenson built a number of experimental steam locomotives to work in the Killingworth Colliery between 1814 and 1826.
One of the Killingworth engines
Half-lap jointed fishbelly rail patented in 1816
Killingworth Billy at the North Tyneside Steam Railway
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", was the basis for the 4-foot-8+1⁄2-inch (1.435 m) standard gauge used by most of the world's railways.
George Stephenson
Dial Cottage, West Moor, Killingworth. The sun-dial made and installed by George Stephenson is above the front door.
Stephenson's safety lamp shown with Davy's lamp on the left
Early Stephenson locomotive in Samuel Smiles' Lives of the Engineers (1862). Called an 1816 Killingworth Colliery locomotive (often claimed to be Blücher), it looks more like the slightly later Hetton colliery railway locomotives whose 1852 replica Lyons was still operating in Smiles' time.