For the Stockton & Darlington Railway to be a success, there needed to be a better way of transferring coal across the hills between Witton Park and Shildon.

Locomotives at the time weren't powerful enough to be able to climb significant inclines and could only operate on level or very gentle inclines.

To avoid a long, winding route and to minimise the steepness of the line, George Stephenson designed two pairs of steep inclines hauled by stationary steam engines placed in engine houses at the two summits.

The Etherley engine house hauled coal waggons from Phoenix Row and lowered them down to West Auckland.

Horses were then used to take the waggons along the level over the Gaunless Valley to be hauled by a second engine over the Brusselton inclines to reach Shildon where steam locomotives took over.

At the summit of Brussleton, alongside the incline and engine house, the S&DR built a street of houses for the line's workers on Brusselton Lane – all of these houses were marked with a plaque so they could be identified as S&DR houses.

You can still see many of the plaques today.

The inclines worked by waggons being hooked onto a rope wound around a large winding drum set above the line at the summit.

This drum was powered by a stationary steam engine which was originally designed as a marine engine for a paddle steamer.

In 1831, S&DR dignitaries, Timothy Hackworth, William Kitching, and Joseph Pease and his brother, Henry Pease, were being lowered down the incline in a waggon, when the rope suddenly snapped.

Detached from the rope controlling its descent, the waggons began to pick up speed and hurtle down the incline.

Everyone on board was able to jump out in time, except William Kitching.

He was unable to make the jump off the waggon, trapping him as he sped down the hill at ever increasing speed.

Thankfully, the incline had several young lads employed to chase any runaway waggons. One of these lads managed to leap aboard the waggon and pull the stop break, bringing the waggon to a screeching halt.

William Kitching could have been in grave danger if it hadn't been for the actions of the boys.

Brusselton Incline had lots of accidents in the early days.

Timothy Hackworth, the S&DR's Resident Engineer developed several improvements for both safety and reliability.

An example of this was an invention called a 'cow'– a wooden beam attached to the downhill end of every set of waggons which would fall onto the line if the winding rope broke – the beam was designed to derail the waggons before they ran away.

Another improvement Hackworth made was the inclusion of points at the base of the incline which would prevent waggons coming down the incline from colliding with those waiting at the bottom. These points helped prevent accidents as well as make the inclines more efficient.

Another invention known as the 'dog' was also introduced to improve the inclines' efficiency. The dog was a hook that allowed the carts to be coupled and uncoupled from the incline safely, while they were still moving.

Today, the legacy of the Brusselton Incline isn't just in its innovations but in the stories of the people who helped shape it.