Compléter trains in EnglandVersion en ligne fill in par Елена Awramenko 1 station home bronze air attractions autumn 1778 volunteers world lived mountains If 60 visitors Britain Perhaps because it was the birthplace , can boast more railway per square mile than any other country . The figures are impressive : more than 100 heritage railways and steam museum centres are home to 700 operational engines , steamed - up by an army of 23 , 000 enthusiastic and offering everyone the chance to savour a bygone age by riding on a lovingly preserved train . Wales deserves a special mention for its Great Little Trains . Though small in stature , these narrow - gauge lines are real working railways , originally built to haul slate and other minerals out of the , but now a wonderful way for to admire the scenery , which is breathtaking . There are eight lines to choose from and one , the Ffestiniog Railway , is the oldest of its kind in the . Then there are the railway museums that are historic in their own right . Part of Manchester ? s Museum of Science and Industry is situated in the world ? s oldest passenger ; and the " Thinktank " museum in Birmingham contains the world ? s oldest active steam engine , designed by James Watt in . But it is North East England that is known as the birthplace of railways for here , around Newcastle , the world ? s first tramways were laid and , later , the world ? s first public railway between Stockton and Darlington steamed into life . At Shildon in County Durham , a £10 million permanent Railway Village is taking shape , to open in the , the first out - station of the National Railway Museum . Replica steam train of 1815 at Beamish Open - Air Museum of North At Beamish , the open - museum of North Country Life ? where the past is brougth magically to life ? there ? s an opportunity to see one of the earliest railways re - created . Feel the wind ? and steam ? in your hair as you travel in open carriages behind a working replica of a pioneering engine such as Stephenson ? s Locomotion No . 1 , built in 1825 . you can , go south - westwards to Cornwall where the story of the great engineer Trevithick began . In his town of Camborne is a statue of him holding a model of one of his engines . Not far away the little thatched cottage where he is open to the public . It is hard to imagine that scribblings in this humble home were to lead to the " high - pressure steam engine " and the world would never be quite the same again .