The journey that changed the world 200 years ago celebrated with 100,000 fans

Shrouded in smoke and steam and drenched in nostalgia, the Mirror took a journey back in time yesterday to celebrate the birth of modern travel.

It is 200 years since the first public railway using steam locomotives to haul passengers clanked and hissed its way into the history books. We climbed aboard a magnificent working replica of Locomotion No.1 to recreate that historic first for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which rolled out on September 27, 1825.

Built by the rail pioneer George Stephenson of Newcastle, the Locomotion pulled a carriage called, worryingly for passengers, Experiment. Today marks the start of a programme of events to celebrate that first pioneering journey from Shildon, Co Durham to Stockton-on-Tees.

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Around 100,000 spectators and rail enthusiasts are expected to gather to witness the Locomotion in action as part of the S&DR 200 festival.

Two centuries ago, spectators from South America, Canada, Russia and India travelled to get a glimpse of the 26-mile journey that revolutionised not only rail travel but modern life.

TV presenter Guy Martin, filming a C4 show on the project, joked: "We should shout it from the rooftops. We couldn't do it nowadays. Too much bureaucracy and bull****."

The ability to travel easily and cheaply meant commuting became an option for the first time as people were able to live further from their workplaces.

Businesses prospered, seaside resorts and tourism boomed. And it standardised clocks across the country because various local times, which changed depending on how far east or west one was, made a nonsense of railway timetables.

Rail travel was also the key to the modern postal service, milk deliveries and even getting fresh fish inland for good old fish and chips.

The success of the Stockton and Darlington demonstrated the viability of steam-powered passenger railways and paved the way for the growth of our network.

S&DR festival director Niccy Hallifax said: "It changed the way we did everything." The replica the Mirror boarded yesterday at Shildon's Locomotion Museum was built in 1975 as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations.

But it has needed major modifications over the past two years to allow it to run on the East Coast main line.

Driver Chris historic Flyer for Cubitt, 78, from Middlesbrough, pictured left, told me: "This is an honour and a pleasure.

"Steam is in my blood." Steve Davies, 66, a former colonel in The Queen's Lancashire Regiment and project manager of Locomotion No. 1, said: "I am so proud.

"They have played an absolute blinder to close the main east coast line to allow us to travel on it. It shows how important this anniversary is.

"They did a test run of the Locomotion on September 26, 1825, just as we are, before we repeat that first journey on Saturday. We will stand alongside a new Azuma in Darlington at the end of it all and that will mark 200 years of rail travel right there, side by side."

Experiment bears the Latin motto Periculum Privatum Utilitas Publica. It translates as Private Risk for Public Good - a tribute to those early railway investors.

Back in 1825 the original Locomotion No 1 pulled up to 30 wagons, most carrying coal, at an average 8mph and was seen off with a 21-gun trip salute. The restored replica will not carry passengers this weekend for safety reasons but the public can line the route. It will be an inspiring sight.

Full details of viewing sites at www.sdr200.co.uk