History of the Railways Michael Lancashire

When the railway age kicked off, it didn't come out of nowhere.
Railways need 4 things to work:
A track People to build it Rolling stock And some form of motive power In this episode we look at the development, and state of the art, of the first three down to 1825, setting the scene for our next episode on motive power.
Find show notes and more at https://historyoftherailways.com/
 
Come and join Michael Lancashire as he gets distracted, fascinated, and yes, even sidetracked, by stories from the railways (or railroads if you're American).
 

You waited patiently through episode 1 thinking, "When's he going to get to the engines?" Well, this is the one about the engines!
 
Contrary to popular opinion Rocket was not the first locomotive in Britain. In fact, it was about the seventieth.
 
This episode uses some of the important ones that came before to illustrate the state-of-the-art for motive power before the Rainhill Trials in 1829.
 
Come and join Michael Lancashire as he gets distracted, fascinated ... and yes, even sidetracked ... by stories from the railways (or railroads if you're American).
  Find show notes and more at https://historyoftherailways.com

In September 1825 a public railway opened with a passenger carriage being pulled by a steam locomotive: The Stockton & Darlington Railway.
 
Let's dig into what we know about what some authorities consider the first railway.
 
Come and join Michael Lancashire as he gets distracted, fascinated ... and yes, even sidetracked ... by stories from the railways (or railroads if you're American).
  Find show notes and more at https://historyoftherailways.com
Support the show at http://patreon.com/HistoryoftheRailways

The Rainhill Trials weren't what most people think ...
As far as the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway were concerned, the Rainhill Trials wasn’t a competition between locomotives … it was a test to prove that any locomotives were a viable option. 
In the first of a two-parter on Rainhill, I introduce the engines that competed, and the men behind those engines. 
Thomas Brandreth’s Cycloped Timothy Burstall’s Perseverance  Braithwaite and Ericsson’s Novelty Hackworth’s Sans Pareil And the Stephensons and Booth’s Rocket   
Come and join Michael Lancashire as he gets distracted, fascinated ... and yes, even sidetracked ... by stories from the railways (or railroads if you're American).
Find show notes and more at https://historyoftherailways.com
Support the show at http://patreon.com/HistoryoftheRailways
 
 

The Rainhill Trials weren't what most people think ...
As far as the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway were concerned, the Rainhill Trials wasn’t a competition between locomotives … it was a test to prove that any locomotives were a viable option. 
In the second of a two-parter on Rainhill, we look at the trials themselves - how each engine fared - and some of the controversies and accusations of conspiracy that followed. 
Going into the trial there were 5 entries:
Thomas Brandreth’s Cycloped Timothy Burstall’s Perseverance  John Braithwaite and John Ericsson’s Novelty Timothy Hackworth’s Sans Pareil George Stephenson, Robert Stephenson and Henry Booth’s Rocket  But what happened next?
Listen and find out...
 
Come and join Michael Lancashire as he gets distracted, fascinated ... and yes, even sidetracked ... by stories from the railways (or railroads if you're American).
 
Find show notes and more at https://historyoftherailways.com
Support the show at http://patreon.com/HistoryoftheRailways
 
 

The Liverpool & Manchester Railway is recognised as the first modern railway, but it almost never got off the ground. And the main reason might surprise you ...
George Stephenson's poor performance.
As engineer of the line, Stephenson had to brief parliament on it and he did so badly that... well, you'll just have to listen to find out...
In the first of a two-parter on the birth of the L&MR we’re going to look at the struggle to get the idea for the line accepted, and how it almost fell at the first hurdle.
Listen to the episode now and find out what happened next...
 
Come and join Michael Lancashire as he gets distracted, fascinated ... and yes, even sidetracked ... by stories from the railways (or railroads if you're American).
 
Find show notes and more at https://historyoftherailways.com
Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfTheRailways/
Support the show at http://patreon.com/HistoryoftheRailways