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by Ray Shill (Author)
Britain's early railways emerged from high-risk financing and limited technology, reshaping transport through parliament-driven innovation.
The creation of the public railway network in Britain, which began in 1825, came about due to a desire for better transport links and to improve on the existing systems of canals and roads. Naturally for a new transport scheme, financing was crucial and came with a high degree of risk. Another challenge was to be found in the limited technology available at the time. Existing railways were used principally for freight, with traction provided by horses or stationary engines. Locomotive power was still at the experimental stage. What emerged from these circumstances were independently financed schemes based on innovative engineering.
The British parliament was at the heart of the process. It sanctioned each railway and was instrumental in imposing regulations and setting new standards for operation. With the success of early schemes came a greater incentive to invest in new proposals, and such was the clamour for new railways that parliament had to select the most promising concepts, thereby laying the foundations for the railway network.
This first volume of The Great Railway Speculations concentrates on the early years of the creation of the Midland Railway Network, between 1825 and 1847, when the risks were high and returns higher, and the government, realising the momentous changes that were afoot, tried to keep pace.
