During the middle of the 19th century, railways began to multiply across the whole country, an engineering boom the like of which the world had never seen before. This was the beginning of a truly national network, as railway lines spread like arteries across the country, the same lines that are still used to this day.
At the heart of this network was London, at the time, the biggest city on the planet. In just a few years, the railways tore their way into the centre of the capital, and building in such an overcrowded city created some big problems. Railways could be an incredibly destructive force. Just look at this huge canyon that's been carved through what used to be a heavily populated part of London. Whole streets ripped up to make way for the railways. Predominantly working-class tenants, thousands of them, were thrown out of here with no compensation, made homeless virtually overnight.
Everyone was affected by the arrival of the railways, and the novels of the day were full of descriptions of their awesome force. As Charles Dickens wrote in Dombey and Son, "The power that forced itself upon its iron way, defiant of all paths and roads, piercing through the heart of every obstacle and dragging living creatures of all classes, ages and degrees behind it." Charles Dickens was obviously not a huge fan as the railways came smashing their way into London in the late 1830s, but linking the capital to the industrial north with an umbilical cord was the greatest prize, and it would prove a turning point.
For the first time, cities the length and breadth of Britain were connected by rail. And this would give people opportunities that they had never had before. It's hard to imagine now, but so many things that we take for granted were first made possible by railways. Goods and people could move around the country with ease. Post could be delivered quickly. National newspapers could be read within hours of being printed, and people who had never left their own town could go on holiday for the first time.
Railways brought the country and the world closer together, creating a modern society, and giving us new ways to work, to spend our free time, even new ways to eat. What the railways did was create a national market for food. Suddenly salmon caught in Scotland or fish caught on the east coast could be eaten in London fresh on the day they were bought. And the same is true of fruit and veg. It was now coming into the city to the Covent Garden Market from as far away as Cheshire and the Channel Islands. Railways were creating a revolution in what people ate.
Our towns were being transformed, too. Before the railways, if people wanted milk, they had to keep a cow in their garden. But railways meant that fresh milk could be brought into the city quickly, before it had gone sour. Express dairies brought so much in from Berkshire and Wiltshire that these areas became known as the Milky Way. Cows disappeared from our towns. And the streets were no longer full of sheep being brought to market. Before the rail network, farmers had to walk the beasts to market.
Nearly 200,000 sheep made the trek every year from Lincolnshire to London, a distance of over 100 miles. Not only did the journey take nearly a week, but they lost so much weight during it, they were worth a lot less on the meat market. So it was happy days for the farmers when they could get their fattened beasts into the city on the trains in less than a day.
Shopping was getting better, too. Now you could easily get straw hats from Luton, cutlery from Sheffield, gloves from Worcester, chocolate from Bournville and beer from Burton. Clever entrepreneurs who have now become household names quickly spotted the new opportunities. A publisher named William Henry Smith realised that every long journey needed a good book, and quickly secured the right to have bookstalls at all of the stations. He named the shops after himself – WHSmith. They were incredibly successful. Within 15 years there were 500 shops, and Smith was a millionaire.
And WHSmith isn't the only famous high street name that grew alongside the railways. Thomas Cook himself was an early marketing genius who was instrumental in opening up real travel to the working classes. He popularised excursion trains, which would offer cheap and cheerful days out on the train for people, many of whom had never been away from home before. These excursions were like EasyJet for the Victorians. The trains would have been packed, they would have been rowdy, but they were cheap. They opened up the country to the poor. Places that would have seemed impossibly far away were now accessible in just a day trip.
Imagine people leaving the towns and cities of Britain and seeing the sea for the first time in their lives. Victorian journalists wrote that before the railways, the Brits were ignorant of their own country as they were of the moon. Not any more.
On one trip, 24,000 people went by rail between Glasgow and Paisley to see the horse races, and Manchester emptied out in August as 200,000 people left the industrial grime for their holiday week. Cheap excursions were being offered at a quarter of the price of ordinary fares, and they snapped up the tickets. Britain's expanding population was enjoying a new experience – leisure time.
Railways can even be credited with the popularisation of perhaps our biggest national obsession – football. As early as 1892, a newspaper article appeared which recalled the new football mania, describing this phenomenon of groups of youths and young men travelling to "fields of combat" 50, 100 miles away from their homes to watch football, and already, complaints about how rowdy and noisy trains and their stations were getting.
In no time, attendances at major football games rocketed. In 1872, the first FA Cup final was watched by just 2,000 spectators. Less than 20 years later, the 1901 final drew an estimated crowd of 114,000, the majority of whom arrived at Crystal Palace by train.
Football, food, books, holidays. Railways helped to transform our daily lives. But this was more than just changing our habits. They even changed the way we think.
Nowadays, we expect to travel wherever, whenever. And to go at speed. And all our modern inventions are designed to increase that speed. That all began with the steam locomotives and the metal tracks. Railways changed the way that we live but, more importantly, they created the modern state of mind.
In the middle of the 19th century, railways began to multiply across the whole country.
It started an engineering boom the likes of which the world had never seen before. For the first time, cities the length and breadth of Britain were connected; railways had brought the world closer together.
However, they could also be an incredible destructive force, driving people from their homes and ripping up land to make way for new lines.
This clip is from the series Locomotion: Dan Snow's History of Railways.
Teacher Notes
Students could try to think of facilities which are important to their life, for example roads, fresh water, or the internet.
See if you can agree a list of the ten most important. Do railways come on the list?
The class could then make similar lists for Britain in 1750, 1800, 1850, 1900. Where does the railway feature in these?
Curriculum Notes
This clip is suitable for teaching History at KS3 and GCSE/KS4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4 and in Scotland.
More from Locomotion: Dan Snow's History of Railways
How to build a railway. video
Dan Snow describes how building a railway network that still serves Britain today was an immense achievement.
Life before railways. video
Dan Snow explains the important role played by the railways in the Industrial Revolution in transporting supplies of cheap coal to homes and factories.
Liverpool to Manchester - the world’s first modern railway. video
Dan Snow explains the significance of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway; the world’s first inter-city railway.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway. video
Dan Snow explains why the Stockton and Darlington Railway was a landmark in British history. He explains how the line was efficient, profitable and exciting at the time.
