Chapman Frederick Marshall gibt in seinem Buch einen umfassenden Einblick über die Geschichte der Lokomotive bis in das frühe 19. Jahrhundert hinein. Sein Ziel war es, Lücken, die in der Darstellung dieses Gegenstandes bis dahin noch in der Literatur bestanden, zu schließen. Dabei geht er nicht nur auf die Idee des Dampfbetriebes ein, sondern nennt wichtige Persönlichkeiten, die die Entwicklung der Lokomotive beeinflusst und vorangetrieben haben. Es handelt sich hierbei um eine englischsprachige Ausgabe.

The story of one of the most iconic railway companies of the great age of steam.

To the early railway traveller, the prospect of travelling to places in hours rather than days hitherto was an inviting prospect, however a journey was not without its fears as well as excitement. To some, the prospect of travelling through a tunnel without carriage lighting, with smoke permeating the compartment and the confined noise was a horror of the new age. What might happen if we broke down or crashed into another train in the darkness? To others it was exciting, with the light from the footplate flickering against the tunnel walls or spotting the occasional glimpses of light from a ventilation shaft. To the directors of early railway companies, planning a route was governed by expense and the most direct way. Avoiding hills could add miles but tunnelling through them could involve vast expense as the Great Western Railway found at Box and the London and Birmingham at Kilsby. Creating a cutting as an alternative was also costly not only in labour and time, but also in compensation for landowners, who opposed railways on visual and social grounds having seen their land divided by canals. Construction involved millions of bricks or blocks of stone for sufficiently thick walls to withstand collapse. However, the entrance barely seen from the carriage window might be an impressive Italianate arch as at Primrose Hill, or a castellated portal worthy of the Middle Ages as at Bramhope. This book sets out to tell the story of tunnelling in Britain up to about 1870, when it was a question of burrowing through earth and rock with spade and explosive powder, with the constant danger of collapse or flooding leading to injury and death. It uses contemporary accounts, from the dangers of railway travel by Dickens to the excitement of being drawn through the Liverpool Wapping Tunnel by the young composer Mendelssoln. It includes descriptions from early railway company guide books, newspapers and diaries. It also includes numerous photographs and colored architectural elevations from railway archives.

The first global history of the epic early days of the iron railway Railways, in simple wooden or stone form, have existed since prehistory. But from the 1750s onward the introduction of iron rails led to a dramatic technological evolution—one that would truly change the world. In this rich new history, David Gwyn tells the neglected story of the early iron railway from a global perspective. Driven by a combination of ruthless enterprise, brilliant experimenters, and international cooperation, railway construction began to expand across the world with astonishing rapidity. From Britain to Australia, Russia to America, railways would bind together cities, nations, and entire continents. Rail was a tool of industry and empire as well as, eventually, passenger transport, and developments in technology occurred at breakneck speed—even if the first locomotive in America could muster only 6 mph. The Coming of the Railway explores these fascinating developments, documenting the early railway’s outsize social, political, and economic impact—carving out the shape of the global economy as we know it today.

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From June 2000, George and Robert Stephenson's world-famous Rocket will once again be on public display at the Science Museum. This book describes the research project undertaken in 1999 at the National Railway Museum to investigate the locomotive's engineering and history through both industrial archaeology and archival research. Comprehensively illustrated, this is a fascinating exploration of the development of one of the British Industrial Revolution's most important and enduring icons, which will be of lasting value to anyone with an interest in both railway history and industrial archaeology.