A Bibliography of the History of Inland Waterways, Railways and Road Transport in the British Isles, 2007 (original) (raw)
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Introduction: 150 Years of the London Underground
The London Journal, 2013
Anniversaries are difficult moments on which to hang academic scholarship. There is a tendency to celebrate rather than evaluate, a temptation to indulge in whiggish interpretations of progress from humble beginnings, and, in any project that takes years if not decades to reach fruition, a certain arbitrariness in deciding when the anniversary occurs. In the case of London's underground railway system, the focus of this special issue, several key dates vie for commemorative attention: 1890, the date of the first deep-level, wholly underground line, when new technologies-electric traction and deep-level tunnelling-were united; 1933, the key political-managerial date, when the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) took over control of almost the entire Underground network; even 1853, when the North Metropolitan Railway, which became the Metropolitan Railway, first received Parliamentary authorization, and the process of planning and building the Underground began in earnest. The last two dates have the satisfying arithmetic quality of being exactly 80 and 160 years ago, and the first was, in fact, celebrated (albeit modestly) as the 'Tube Centenary' in 1990. But 150 years is a more obvious anniversary, not least because it marks the longest period of operation of any underground railway, reminding us that the first section of the Metropolitan, the 'world's first underground railway', opened to the public in January 1863, employing tried and tested technologies but in a novel combination to solve a new problem: how to handle traffic in cities that could no longer be traversed comfortably on foot. Ideas about traffic and comfort have changed since then, and will continue to change in the future, making us mindful of both marked continuities and the contingency of change. Anniversaries can also be inward-looking, celebrating the uniqueness of the people, place or innovation being commemorated. So, in devoting an entire issue of the London Journal to the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, we wanted to look beyond London, to chart comparisons with and influences upon other cities, and to range beyond technological and social history into questions of memory,
British transport history: shifting perspectives and new agendas
in M. Oliver and J. Wilson (eds) Economic Success and Failure Through Time and Space: Essays in Honour of Derek H. Aldcroft, 2002, 1-29. Copyright 2002 Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot., 2002
This chapter is a contribution to the festschrift of Derek Aldcroft, formerly Professor of Economic History at Leicester and Manchester. It offers a retrospective on his contribution to transport history and suggests new research agendas for the subject.
The development of the railway network in Britain 1825-1911
2018
This chapter describes the development of the British railway network during the nineteenth century and indicates some of its effects. It is intended to be a general introduction to the subject and takes advantage of new GIS (Geographical Information System) maps to chart the development of the railway network over time much more accurately and completely than has hitherto been possible. The GIS dataset stems from collaboration by researchers at the University of Cambridge and a Spanish team, led by Professor Jordi Marti-Henneberg, at the University of Lleida. Our GIS dataset derives ultimately from the late Michael Cobb’s definitive work ‘The Railways of Great Britain. A Historical Atlas’. Our account of the development of the British railway system makes no pretence at originality, but the chapter does present some new findings on the economic impact of the railways that results from a project at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Professor Dan Bogart at the Univers...
2016
Investigating the impacts of Victorian railway development, issues with the historiography became increasingly noticeable that have a substantial effect on much literature in the field. This paper, based on the methodology and conclusions of the full thesis, presents a brief outline of new methods and models, plus future ideas, that build on the historiography and can assist with the development of the academic railway and local history fields. Along with a 'virtual lecture', this paper was produced as teaching material for the University of York's Postgraduate Diploma in Railway Studies: https://www.york.ac.uk/lifelonglearning/pg-dip-railways/
The journal of transport history, 2019
Reviewed by: Friedrich (Rudi) Newman , Independent Scholar, UK Railways have played a major role in global development, but from their earliest days, there have been those disquieted by their expansion. While now an accepted technology, criticisms and the eponymous "Nimby-ism" attitude continue with new proposals just as they have for centuries. This publication offers a new take on the subject of opposition to railways. References to opposition are common in many studies but near-invariably as only a small part of research concentrating elsewhere. Here it occupies the main focus, looking at its form across Britain over two centuries. The authors make no pretence of this being a comprehensive history, rather aiming to create a detailed introduction with the aim of encouraging further study. Subdivided into 14 chapters, it opens with overviews of British industrialisation, pre-railway transport and early rail network development before introducing the challenges of nineteenth century landowners and how early railway ventures were promoted. Aimed for a non-academic public audience, these chapters largely provide background for readers unfamiliar with Britain's railway development. It then commences with the reactions of landowners to the coming of the railways, followed by other types of landowner opposition. As with subsequent chapters, there is extensive use of examples and many close with an amusing, if atypical, example demonstrating the great variety of situations that occurred. Returning to Victorian rail development, it next turns to parliamentary regulation and the "Railway Interest" before considering other forms of opposition such as Sabbatarianism. With the network complete, the focus shifts to operation: varied sources of criticism (safety, stations and suchlike) and depictions in the Arts. To provide balance, examples were given of support for railways, before concluding with a substantial chapter detailing changes and issues from the 1920s onwards to the present.
Railways: Tracks, Trains, and Travellers
Springer eBooks, 2022
One afternoon in the early 1860s, a gentleman disembarking from an express train arriving in Southampton suddenly realized he would not make it to the public restroom in time. The moment his feet landed on the platform, his sphincter was taken by surprise, gave way, and then followed a deluge, with which he went to the water-closet, and there he left his drawers and stockings. 1 The gentleman's doctor, Mr Hilton, would later seek to recount his anonymous patient's embarrassing experience to as large an audience as possible, first in a lecture at the College of Surgeons and later in the pages of leading medical journal The Lancet. It was a matter of public interest; to the medical authorities the gentleman's predicament exemplified a certain kind of 'reflex paralysis of the lower extremities' seemingly suffered by many ordinary railway travellers. The Lancet had set down a commission to examine all evidence of railway travelling's effect on public health, and throughout the 1860s this topic filled its pages with similar examples, as well as theories, diagnoses,