LONDON -- Thousands of people gathered over the weekend to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the historic British train journey that laid the foundations for much of the modern age. The bicentenary commemorations centered around George Stephenson's Locomotion No. 1, the first steam-powered railway engine to run on a public railway, which made its inaugural 26-mile journey on September 27, 1825, between Shildon and Stockton in northeast England.

The Stockton & Darlington Railway, while not the world's first railway, represented a pivotal technological breakthrough as the first to incorporate the standard-gauge, steam-hauled features that would become the foundation of railway systems worldwide. This small but significant milestone heralded rapid changes in how Britain, and subsequently the global community, conducted trade, traveled, and communicated across distances previously considered formidable.

Railway enthusiasts have marked this historic milestone through events across the United Kingdom throughout the year, with particular focus on this weekend's celebrations at the journey's origin point. A newly restored replica of Locomotion No. 1 recreated the original journey, departing from the Locomotion Museum in Shildon and traveling along sections of the original line to Stockton, complete with three coal wagons and a passenger carriage.

The commemorative events attracted participants from across the country, including Prince Edward, King Charles III's youngest brother, who rode in a carriage pulled by the replica engine. Doug Haynes, an 81-year-old retired aircraft engineer who traveled approximately 100 miles to witness the reenactment, described the experience as "tremendous" and well worth the journey. The celebrations echoed the joyous scenes from 200 years earlier, when people including newspaper reporters traveled from across the nation to line the tracks, with Darlington even declaring a local holiday for the original 1825 event.

In a poignant new BBC documentary filmed during the final three years of his life, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon are captured planning their return to England from their longtime home in Los Angeles. 'Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home,' set to air Thursday evening, follows the Black Sabbath legend as he prepares for what would become his final move. The documentary, originally conceived as a series called 'Home To Roost' in 2022, documents the couple's decision to relocate to the UK in 2025 after spending more than two decades in the United States.

The film reveals intimate moments between the couple at their Grade II listed Buckinghamshire property, Welders House, which Sharon describes as her 'little piece of heaven.' Ozzy, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, expresses both apprehension and anticipation about the move. In one revealing clip, he tells his daughter Kelly, 'I wouldn't say I'm excited. I'm kind of scared to back,' while acknowledging his wife's enthusiasm for their English home. 'I'm so used to being over here now but I've got to go back. I've got a house there and your mum said it's beautiful,' the rocker admits.

Tragically, Ozzy's homecoming plans were cut short when he died of heart failure on July 22, just two weeks after performing a farewell concert with his Black Sabbath bandmates at Birmingham's Villa Park. The 76-year-old rock legend was buried in the private grounds of Welders House, the very property featured in the documentary. Sharon, who had told filmmakers 'Home is where both of us are. As long as he is with me I am alright,' now finds herself living alone at the estate they had planned to share together.

The documentary captures bittersweet moments of the couple enjoying their Buckinghamshire property this summer, with Sharon expressing interest in adding more deer to the grounds while Ozzy makes plans to fish in the lake. These ordinary domestic scenes take on deeper significance in light of Ozzy's subsequent passing. The film serves as a final testament to the couple's enduring partnership and their shared vision for retirement in England, a vision that would remain unfulfilled despite their careful preparations and heartfelt declarations about their future together.