George Stephenson is buried in Holy Trinity church. He was a pioneer who proved that steam hauled railways could be made to work. He did not invent the steam engine, but with his son Robert he made one good enough for general use. He set up a factory to make engines; he surveyed and built the first goods and passenger railway line in 1830.

doing this he had a big part in radically changing the world we live in. Within 25 years there were 6000 miles of railway line in Great Britain, in 50 years there were 9000 miles in India – all built by men with picks and shovels. Now there are a million kilometres globally.

The railways were crucial in the development of the modern way of life. Out of the railway companies grew company law and accounts, hotels and seaside holidays. The way people lived and did things had been changing slowly over the centuries in Europe, China and worldwide. Times when life slowly got better had been set back by times when famine, plague and rampaging armed men struck.

Then humanity turned a corner when George and many others discovered a new way of dealing with the world based on science, technology and commerce. Society developed at a much faster rate than ever before, leading to the transformed times that we are blessed to live in.

This breakthrough happened only once – roughly between 1750 and 1850. It happened only in northern Europe, and spread everywhere. At the time many people endured great hardship.

It happened in a society that followed Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, believing that we live in His worldwide kingdom.

They had turned away from superstition and trusting the ‘wisdom of the ancients’. Instead they had faith that people made in the image of God and inspired by the Holy Spirit could understand the world God made. Christians had by then struggled for 1700 years, not only against the adversaries of famine, plague and war, but also internally to find the way of truth that was their inheritance.

Instead they had faith that people made in the image of God and inspired by the Holy Spirit could understand the world God made. Christians had by then struggled for 1700 years, not only against the adversaries of famine, plague and war, but also internally to find the way of truth that was their inheritance.

https://www.stephensonloco.org.uk/index.htm – external link