What day-to-day life was like for those who traveled and worked on the world’s first intercity railway in early nineteenth-century England.
Much has been written about the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, especially how it came into being and the Rainhill Trials, but very little has been said about what happened after the grand opening on 15 September 1830.
Drawing on years of research, and practical experience of working with the replica of Stephenson’s Planet at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry, this book shows how the Liverpool & Manchester Railway worked in its day-to-day operations, including passenger and goods working, timetabling, signaling, and when things went wrong.
Chapters describe what it was like to work and travel on the railway, and study the evolution of passenger accommodation and working and safety practices. Finally the book looks at how the Liverpool & Manchester fits into the wider picture, how its operational practices and rules and regulations became the basis of national practices in 1841.
Anthony Dawson is an archaeologist and historian who has made a special study of the history of the British army in the nineteenth century. He spent two years as a post-graduate research student at the University of Leeds where he gained an MRes. As well as writing articles on the subject in magazines and journals, he has published Napoleonic Artillery, French Infantry of the Crimean War and Letters from the Light Brigade: The British Cavalry in the Crimean War.