England’s railroad boom occurred during the years 1844 to 1847,  culminating in the banking panic of 1847.  Although the first railway line was laid from Stockton to Darlington in 1825, and Queen Victoria was the first royal to take a train ride in 1842, from 1844 railroad promoters were laying track the full length and breadth of Britain and over 30 million people were traveling by rail a year by 1845.

In 1830 Stephenson’s Rocket was carrying passengers from Liverpool to Manchester at 14 miles per hour and by 1850 trains were traveling at 50 mph. In spite of the railway builders having to compete against financial vested interests such as canal shareholders and turnpike operators, the availability of cheap iron and improvements in tooling allowed trains and railways to become the transport system, not only of the future, but of the ‘now’.  In fact the government had to intervene to regulate what had become a virtual  monopoly of British transport.

The success of this period in English railroad history prompted most European countries to build their own railways, and Britain profited immensely from the export of track, locomotives and switching gear.  In the USA and Russia they were used connect large tracts of empty land, and in India they enabled vast distances to be covered in a fraction of the normal time. The boom in England was partially due to legislation that required all trains to provide comfort to passengers, and compelled the railway companies to allow telegraph lines to be constructed alongside the tracks.  Trains were used for a variety of transport purposes,  even carrying passengers to public executions!

Due to the amount of money being used in railway and rolling stock construction, and also heavy investment in railway shares, money was tight in 1947, and the bubble suddenly burst.   Between August and October of that year many London firms went bust and practically every railway speculator went bankrupt.  The textile mills of the North were also hard hit, with less than 50% operating full time. 

The fall of that year saw a banking crisis alleviated only by the Bank of England being allowed to issue money without the backing of the Gold Standard. It was not only heavy investment in railroads that sparked this off,  and much of it was connected with the repeal of the Corn Laws that had been preventing cheap imports of corn coming into Britain.  The repeal harmed the wealthy English farming community whose prices had been protected.

However, this did not stop railroad investment, and although the boom was on a decline, the railways still flourished and the track mileage increased by over 40% from 1852 to 1861. Public enthusiasm was given a massive boost by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 that set specific dates for Bank Holidays.  It became the practice to travel to the seaside by train for the day. Partially as a result of this,  passenger numbers grew by about 190% between 1861 and 1890 and ten years later over a billion passengers were being carried annually. Mileage had exceeded 18,500 miles in a country the same size as Texas.  There were few towns and villages not served by a railroad.

During England’s railroad boom some of Britain’s most inspiring technological achievements were made, apart from the design and construction of the locomotives.  Stephenson, Brunel and many others constructed lines across rivers and gorges, and through mountains. No obstacle was too great for them, and their designs were to be the basis of many similar constructions throughout the world.

The Severn River Tunnel, Stephenson’s Britannia Bridge crossing the Menai Straits from mainland Wales to Anglesey, the 1.5 mile Forth Rail Bridge, one of the world’s major feats of engineering and the first major iron bridge in the world, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge were all built to satisfy the railroad mania.

The transformation of the English countryside caused by the rise of the railroads was considerable, and it is debatable if it was all for the good. However, it happened and brought employment and prosperity to a country that was hard pressed financially due to its Empire building throughout the Victorian era.  Although the railroads grew phenomenally from 1861 to the end of the century, England’s railroad boom occurred during the three short years between 1844 and 1847.

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