The World The Railways Made

Across American praries, through Siberian tundra, over Argentinian pampas and deep into the heart of Africa, the modern world began with the arrival of the railway. The shock was sudden and universal: railways carried empire, capitalism and industrialization to every corner of the planet. For some, the 'Iron Road' symbolized the brute horrors of modernity; for others the way toward a brighter future. From 1825, when the first passenger service linked Stockton and Darlington to the outbreak of World War I, Nicholas Faith presents an engaging and entertaining journey through the first century of rail, introducing visionaries, engineers, surveyors, speculators, financiers and navvies – the heroes and the rogues of the mechanical revolution that turned the world upside down. The railway was the most important invention of the 19th Century, and THE WORLD THE RAILWAYS MADE argues that in the 21st Century, with high speed lines that can compete with air travel and over 190 metro systems in 54 countries underpinning the world's greatest cities, it remains just as relevant.

Between 1825 and 1914 railways redefined, transformed, and extended the limits of the civilized world. This book explores the way in which this offshoot of industrial technology was used across the globe and in what ways it altered the countries and the peoples to which it came.

A richly illustrated guide to railroad architecture, in all its surprising variety

Written by Christian Wolmar, author of the critically acclaimed The Great Railroad Revolution, The Iron Road is a richly illustrated account of the rise of the rails across the world. From the historic moment in September 1830 when the first train ran between Liverpool and Manchester, to the high speed trains bulleting across Asia and Europe, The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad looks at how railroads have changed the world. Photographs, maps, paintings, and illustrations bring events and locations to life, adding a unique visual quality to the stories of great invention, feats of mind-boggling engineering, groundbreaking changes in trade and commerce, and tales of adventurers, visionaries, and rogues. The Iron Road is the third title in DK's successful illustrated histories format, which combines text-rich narratives with beautiful visual design.

Covering the history and development of the world's rail transport, this text covers the early pioneers, locomotives, passenger trains, freight by rail, famous trains of the 20th century, rapid transit systems and the decline of steam, and high-speed trains.

The 19th-century steam railway epitomized modernity's relentlessly onrushing advance. Ian Carter delves into the cultural impact of the train. Why, for example, did Britain possess no great railway novel? He compares fiction and images by canonical British figures (Turner, Dickens, Arnold Bennett) with selected French and Russian competitors: Tolstoy, Zola, Monet, Manet. He argues that while high cultural work on the British steam railway is thin, British popular culture did not ignore it. Detailed discussions of comic fiction, crime fiction, and cartoons reveal a popular fascination with railways tumbling from vast (and hitherto unexplored) stores of critically overlooked genres.

Although the origins of the train concept are to be found in the Middle Ages, and the use of steam power for locomotives emerged in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, the train really came of age in the Victorian era of the 19th century. At this time there was an explosion of technical ideas, and this combined with greater national wealth and a rapidly changing social and economic climate to spur a railway boom. Railroad lines spread over every part of the world where there was a social and economic advantage to be gained, and there was an extraordinarily rapid development in the speed and capacity of trains operating on these lines.

The Age of Railways was an era of extraordinary change which utterly transformed every aspect of British life - from trade and transportation to health and recreation. Full Steam Ahead reveals how the world we live in today is entirely shaped by the rail network, charting the glorious evolution of rail transportation and how it left its mark on every aspect of life, landscape and culture. Peter Ginn and Ruth Goodman brilliantly bring this revolution to life in their trademark style which engages and captivates. They explore the everyday lives and the intangible ephemeral history that make up the stories of the people who built, worked and were affected by the railways. From the very first steam train to the infrastructure that is still used in part today, they look at the men, women and children who lived and sometimes died constructing Britain's railway heritage. As they trace the emergence of the Industrial Revolution across the country, the authors discover a hidden layer of social history, using rail transportation as a backdrop to reveal Britain's radical change in social attitudes and culture across the 19th and early 20th centuries, including the rise of the working class, women's rights, industrial growth, economic decline, warfare and the birth of the great British holiday. They tell the stories of the historic characters whose lives were changed by this radical mode of transport. Beautifully illustrated with photographs and artwork throughout, Full Steam Ahead is a passionate, charming and insightful look at Britain through the lens of one of its most momentous eras.