The early days of George Stephenson and the pioneering engineers are told with reference to museum and reproduction locomotives, whilst the developments of the successor railways to the Stockton and Darlington, the North Eastern Railway, the Great Northern, Great Eastern and Great Central are told through archive footage of their locomotives in the 1950s. Further footage from the 1950s and 1960s adds to this, whilst preserved locomotives such as the Flying Scotsman and Mallard take the story on to the present day, with Class 91s on the electrified East Coast Main Line. The archive footage includes film of locomotives such as Gresley's P1 2-8-2, North Eastern and Great Northern Atlantics and 4-4-0s and Great Eastern 'Hikers'.