Introduction and an invention that changed the world
The Rainhill Trials are acknowledged as the most remarkable event of the Industrial Age, and the impact of the Trials was felt across the world. From what was then a small hamlet nine miles from Liverpool. The Trials decided how railways would develop globally for the next 190 years and the resulting growth of railway travel enabled Britain to become the workshop of the world, leading the way in manufacturing and industrialisation.
The steam locomotive has been described as man’s noblest invention, and the development that had the greatest civilising influence – continents opened up and the industrial revolution gained impetus with speed. Before the advent of rail travel in Britain the average inhabitant was born lived and died within a radius of 15 miles. Within 20 years of the Rainhill Trials a considerable network of railways was in hand and it was possible for a working man to afford to travel from the north to London, making the success of the Great Exhibition in 1851 possible. The ultimate replacement of the steam locomotive, of which it is estimated that some one million were built, was brought about by a combination of factors including difficulties in obtaining suitable fuel at an economic price, and the problems and retaining labour for firing and maintaining engines. In eight momentous days at Rainhill started the progress of railways and steam locomotives making Britain a supplier to the world and establishing the nation in the field of engineering. Rainhill will now forever be known as the birthplace of the age of speed.
Growth in Rail Travel
The economic impact of the growth of rail travel was momentous. It allowed new industries to develop and existing ones to expand and consolidated Liverpool’s position as the gateway to the Americas.
Its impact on society as a whole was of a magnitude that is difficult to comprehend today. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway substantially unaltered, survives into the 21st century as an important part of the UK rail network. Its success was due to the vision and determination of a group of men and women who possessed supreme confidence in the technology of their age. Their legacy is available for everyone to travel on and to enjoy. It led to the establishment of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) so that timetables could be drawn up accurately, rather than using regional (local) times.
It allowed the population of the urban areas to ‘spread out’. Suburbs were built, enabling some families the chance to move out of the town and city centres and to travel in to work each day by train. The more prosperous the family, the more popular was moving out of the unhealthy urban areas into the fresher air of the countryside. Day excursions and seaside holidays by train became popular, especially amongst the industrial workers – one of the first rail excursions was to a public hanging! The development of northern resorts such as Southport and Blackpool was made possible by rail travel. The development of a national postal service became possible. It led to the introduction of cheap paperback books that could be easily read during a train journey.
The Development of Trains
The success of the Trials soon had far more than a local impact. By successfully applying steam and iron rails to locomotion, a new form of transport had been created. Not only were railways built throughout Britain, but rails, locomotives and railway equipment were exported throughout the world.
As Manchester had grown around the Lancashire cotton industry, so Leeds was a commercial centre for the woollen industry. The Pennines restricted canal development, so the railway provided a realistic alternative, especially with the growth in the extraction of coal from the mines in the North East and Yorkshire. A number of lines were approved in the area, such as the Leeds and Selby Railway, in 1830, which would link the former to the port of Hull, via the River Ouse.
While the L&MR had not totally ousted the Lancashire canal system from the transport of goods, even though rail transport was far quicker, there was an unexpected enthusiasm for passenger travel. This resulted from the desire of the middle class businessmen to live outside the town and city centres and so led to the growth of suburban lines and the desire for day trips.
The financial success of the Liverpool & Manchester was beyond all expectations and interests in London and Birmingham soon planned to build lines linking these cities together. The two lines were the London and Birmingham (L&BR), designed by Robert Stephenson, which ran from Euston Square, London, to Curzon Street, Birmingham, and the Grand Junction, engineered by Joseph Locke, which ran from Curzon Street to an end-on junction with the Warrington and Newton Line, a branch of the L&MR, at Dallam, near Warrington in Cheshire. The Grand Junction was designed to link the existing L&MR and the new L&BR. It opened on 4 July 1837, with the L&BR following a few months later. Although an Act of Parliament allowed railway companies compulsory purchase of way leaves, some powerful landowners objected to railways being built across their land and raised objections in Parliament to prevent the bill from being passed. Some landowners charged excessive amounts, so these early lines did not always follow the optimal route. In addition it was felt that steep gradients were to be avoided and, while speeds were expected to be less than about 30mph, curves were considered less of a problem. It was the curves on these early lines that, a century later, would lead to British Railways’ experimentation with, and later introduction of tilting trains.
Railway Mania
Although the Government was in favour of the development of trunk railways to stimulate economic recovery and to allow the movement of troops in times of potential civil unrest, it was legally necessary that each line be authorised by a separate Act of Parliament.
While there were entrepreneurs with the vision of an intercity network of lines, such as those through the East Midlands, it was much easier to find investors to back shorter stretches that were clearly defined in purpose and where rapid returns on investment could be predicted.
All the railways were promoted by commercial interests. As those opened by the year 1836 were paying good dividends it prompted financiers to invest money in them and by 1845 over 1000 projected schemes had been put forward. This led to a speculative frenzy, following a common pattern – as the price of railway shares increased, more and more money was poured in by speculators, until the inevitable collapse in price. This became known as ‘Railway Mania’. It reached its peak in 1846, when no fewer than 272 Acts of Parliament setting up new railway companies were passed. Unlike most stock market bubbles, there was a tangible result from all the investment in the form of a vast expansion of the British railway system, though perhaps at an inflated cost. When the government stepped in and announced closure for depositing schemes, the period of Railway Mania was brought to an end.
The Railway Companies
The commercial interests involved in the railways were often of a local nature and there was never a nationwide plan to develop a logical network of railways. Some railways, however, began to grow faster than others, often taking over smaller lines to expand their own. The L&MR success led to the idea of linking Liverpool to London, and from that the seeds of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) – an amalgamation of four separate enterprises, including the L&MR – were sown. Within 50 years the L&NWR was to become “the biggest joint stock company in the world”.
The financial success of the early railways was phenomenal, as they had no real competition. The roads were still very slow and in poor condition. Prices of fuel and food fell in cities connected to railways owing to the fall in the cost of transport. The layout of lines with gentle gradients and curves, originating from the need to help the relatively weak engines and brakes, was a challenge when speeds increased, avoiding for the most part the need to re-survey the course of a line. Less than 20 years after the Liverpool line opened, it was possible to travel from London to Scotland by train, in a small fraction of the former time by road.
By 1923 there were nine major railways operating in England and five in Scotland. In addition there were smaller companies, such as the Cambrian Railways and the many South Wales lines; the Furness and Hull and Barnsley Railways in England and many much smaller lines.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation changes had a profound effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world and the onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society – almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.
The Rainhill Trials played an integral part in this development through the creation of the first Inter-city railway. The result was the speeding up of the transportation of raw materials for industry and manufactured goods for both home and overseas markets. Passenger transport between the two industrial powerhouses of Liverpool and Manchester became possible, hence the rise of the commuter. Once the line had been completed many workers did not return to their rural lifestyles but instead remained in the cities, providing additional employees for the factories.
Railways helped Britain’s trade enormously, providing a quick and easy way of transport to markets within Britain and also to docks for export overseas. Much of Britain’s prosperity was built on the exports of manufactures, especially cotton goods. Industrialisation led to the creation of the factory. The factory system was largely responsible for the rise of the modern city, as large numbers of workers migrated into the cities in search of employment in the factories. Nowhere was this better illustrated than the mills and associated industries of Manchester, nicknamed “Cottonopolis” and arguably the world’s first industrial city.
For much of the 19th century, production was done in small mills, which were typically water-powered and built to serve local needs. Larger mills with steam powered machinery became popular from the mid 19th century. The factory system was largely responsible for the rise of the modern city, as large numbers of workers migrated into the cities in search of employment in the factories. Liverpool played its role as a major port – large volumes of raw materials passed through the docks on the way to Manchester and Lancashire, transported along the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.