To mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825, an exhibition of Locomotives, Rolling Stock and other relics, took place at Shildon, Co. Durham, in August, 1975. At the time of the 1925 Exhibition, the then Chairman of the L.N.E.R. was Mr. William Whitelaw. 50 years later, the distinguished visitor, was William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, his grandson.

As part of the opening ceremony the name "George Stephenson" was conferred on the L.M.S. Class 5MT locomotive No. 4767.

In 1975, Shildon was one of the largest railway wagon works in Europe, a long way from that small beginning in 1825.

It was from here that the steam passenger locomotive was launched, surely one of the greatest events in the industrial revolution.

Although the industrial revolution started before the birth of the railways, it was the latter which changed England from a peasant economy to a world power inside a century.

As a result of easier and cheaper transport, traffic boomed, and over the first few years of the railways existence, one of the main problems was coping with the management of this new sort of enterprise.

The original "Locomotion", could not be made to work again without extensive rebuilding which would have destroyed its authenticity as an historical museum item.

A full size working replica was built under the auspices of "The Locomotion Trust" by a group of engineering training establishments. It was constructed as a memorial to the pioneers of the railway and as part of the training of future engineers.