British railway system

System of transport taking off in the 1830s.

Development in Britain

In 1804, Richard Trevithick developed a locomotive near the town of Merthyr Tydfil, a coal and iron district in South Wales. There, most of the rails were built between 1830 and 1850. In the beginning, the development was slow, but finally, the railway system became the ‘backbone of transport’ (Niedhart 27).

When in 1825, the first connection between Stockton and Darlington was opened with the ‘Locomation’ (Niedhart 28) engineered by George Stephenson, nobody could believe that a quarter of a century later, the country would be covered by 6,500 miles of tracks. The former miner and amateur engineer then turned to the Liverpool-Manchester-Railway Company, where he developed the ‘Rocket’ (Niedhart 28) in 1829.

In 1830, a railway was built that connected Manchester and Liverpool. This was a competitor for the existing transportation market that previously ran only on streets and channels. During the following decades, transportation in England became consequently cheaper and faster, which made it easier to supply the big cities with goods from afar.

During the next two decades, 5,000 miles of rails were laid. It took approximately three hours to travel from London to Bristol by train. In comparison: if you travelled by coach, it took you twenty hours to reach Bristol.

Railway Act

In the beginning, railway journeys took a lot of time, they were expensive and even dangerous. The Railway Act, introduced in 1844 by Sir Robert Peel, turned the railway into a means of mass transport, because this act did not only bring in the first security measures but also fixed the maximum price that had to be paid for a mile travelled. Additionally, it regulated the usage of the tracks and the stops at the stations.

Iron, coal and bricks

The building of the railway system caused a great demand for iron, coal and bricks that was unprecedented before. Especially the demand for iron caused the second phase of the (first) industrial revolution, when not cotton, but coal and iron dominated.

A further development was made by Henry Bessemer in 1856. He invented a method to convert iron ore into steal without heating it for a second time. This made the production of steal more budget-priced.

Expenses

During the 1830s, the railway construction cost 4 Million Pounds each year, during the 1840s the numbers increased to 15 Million Pounds. This brought up a new system of financing because mostly, the investors were not present at the construction sites. They were gathered by the banks from all over the country.

1836/1837 and 1847 were boom years. In 1847, 300,000 people were involved in the building and operation of the railway system.

Effects

The most noteworthy effect for the working class was that they now could travel to nearby coastal resorts and other recreation areas at the weekend; this lead to a flourishing of towns such as Blackpool. There, workers could afford something that was exclusive to the upper classes before. A service area developed that became an integral part of everyday culture: e.g. William H. Smith opened kiosks at the stations where he sold reading material – also called 'railway novels' (Gelfert 238) – that could be completed during one train journey.

The railway lead also to a mixing of the population, as on each journey people from various places met.

Britain as modern example

Even though there were drawbacks and redundancies, these could not hide the enormous impulses that the construction of the railway system sent out. London turned into the workshop of the world again. A good example of this is the Great Exhibition, with its Crystal Palace taking place in 1851.

So, the railway allowed Britain to enter modern industry as the main sector of its economy.

Sources

• Gelfert, Hans-Dieter: Kleine Kulturgeschichte Großbritanniens. München: C.H. Beck, 1999.
• Niedhart, Gottfried: Geschichte Englands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. München: C.H. Beck, 1987.