ON SATURDAY, the 192nd anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway was commemorated with a Railway Market in Stockton High Street.

The 192nd anniversary may not be a landmark, but last year the Friends held a birthday party for the line in Shildon, and next year they hope that Darlington will host the event. It is all part of gearing up for what should be a global event celebrating the 200th anniversary in 2025.

To coincide with the anniversary, we've delved into the photographs in The Northern Echo's library showing the events of 1925 and 1975, which both featured cavalcades of engines from throughout the ages.

The 1925 celebration was attended by 250,000 people, including the Duke and Duchess of York. The duke later became King George VI and we best know the duchess, Elizabeth, as "the Queen Mother".

They took their places on a specially-built grandstand at Urlay Nook, just east of Goosepool and Middleton St George, to watch a parade of 53 locos go by from Stockton to Darlington, where most of them ended up in the Faverdale sheds as a static display.

The Northern Echo: ENGINES EVERYWHERE: This is probably the LNER A4 Class engine called Bittern which is dressed up to look like its more famous sister engine, Silver Link, which broke the speed record in 1935 when it did 112mph. Silver Link was scrapped in 1963, but as Bit

ENGINES EVERYWHERE: This is probably the LNER A4 Class engine called Bittern which is dressed up to look like its more famous sister engine, Silver Link, which broke the speed record in 1935 when it did 112mph. Silver Link was scrapped in 1963, but as Bittern survived it was repainted to represent Silver Link at the 1975 celebrations. Here it is outside the Darlington power station in Haughton Road - the three, tall, slender, landmark chimneys were demolished in 1978

The parade, which was held on July 2, 1925, finished with Locomotion No 1 pulling a replica train. Because it was 100 years old, the engine was driven by a petrol engine fitted inside its tender. An oily rag was jammed down its chimney and set alight, giving the illusion of smoke.

The parade started with the Hetton Locomotive, which is seen on today's front cover passing the Urlay Nook grandstand. The locomotive was built in 1822 by George Stephenson and Nicholas Wood to work on the County Durham colliery line, and processed at the stately speed of six miles-an-hour.

The Northern Echo: FLYING PIG: The only surviving example of an Ivatt Class 4 locomotive, built at North Road Works, Darlington, in 1951, being coaled in the Dunns' coalyard at Shildon ahead of the 1975 cavalcade. It was nicknamed "Doodlebug" or "Flying P

FLYING PIG: The only surviving example of an Ivatt Class 4 locomotive, built at North Road Works, Darlington, in 1951, being coaled in the Dunns' coalyard at Shildon ahead of the 1975 cavalcade. It was nicknamed "Doodlebug" or "Flying Pig". A note on the back of the picture says that Les Dunn and his brothers did all the coaling of locomotives in the calvacade for free

If you have anything to add to any of today's pictures, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk. For more on the Friends of the S&DR, go to sdr1825.co.uk