Early Railways: The North - History, technology, architecture, landscapes

It’s arguable whether any previous event had a more transformatory impact on the lives of inhabitants of this island than the coming of the railways. But whatever else could be suggested – the Norman Conquest, the Henrician Reformation – would be of merely local significance: the British invention of railways went on to change the lives of much of the population of the world. This tour examines the beginnings of this extraordinary development, of which there are surprisingly many physical remains, many visually stunning, many still in use.

It is commonly but erroneously believed that railways were a Victorian phenomenon. The fact is that the first inter-city passenger service dates to the reign of William IV, the first public railway to use steam locomotives opened under George IV, the first viable steam engines were built while George III was still king, the first major railway bridge opened during the reign of George I, the earliest stationary steam engines started pumping while a Stuart, Queen Anne, was still on the throne and the earliest documented waggonways in England take railway history back to a Tudor, Elizabeth I. Victoria’s reign saw massive extension of the railways, but not its genesis.

The scale of pre-twentieth-century railway engineering is almost inconceivable, especially given the limited mechanical aids available. Digging, blasting, tunnelling, embanking, bridging; thousands of navvies and skilled artisans employed on each major project; carving up the countryside, thrusting cacophonously into towns and cities, absorbing great wealth, yielding even greater riches, creating a vast penumbra of supporting businesses. A couple of the railway companies were for a while the world’s biggest public companies (one of many world records which will pepper the lecturer’s commentary). Railways transformed the world, transformed the way we live and think and imagine. And it all began in the North of England.

Impelled by the need to transport coal and ore from mine to wharf, Tyneside and its vicinity became the crucible in which the assorted ingredients of the modern railway were finally fused together. Connecting inland Manchester with coastal Liverpool was an incentive on the other side of the country; London, soon to be the world’s biggest city, was irrelevant to the story in these pioneering years.

While plenty of twentieth-century developments are seen in passing, the focus is earlier. Engineering and technology are of course central to the tour, though much of the input from the lecturer is about social and political context, financial and economic factors and architectural and artistic matters. A number of attractive towns and cities are visited, and there are some splendidly scenic rail journeys.