Steam Power in Transportation: Railways

Steam power revolutionized production across key industrial sectors during the Industrial Revolution but it also played a critical role in radically altering the way British passengers and merchandise moved across space. The inauguration of the much-celebrated Manchester-Liverpool line was the outcome of a technological trajectory whose origins date back to c. 1600 with the emergence of the concept of using rails and horse power to move minerals. Two and half centuries later railways reduced drastically the cost of transportation and challenged the alternative offered by canals with the new mode being much less affected by adverse weather conditions while also offering the advantage of greater speed. This chapter will trace the technological developments initiated by the early railways culminating in the use of high-pressure steam in locomotives and their impact on the economics of transporting commodities. The analysis will quantify the reduction in the annual operating cost of the new mode placing it in a comparative context with alternative means of moving goods by using roads and canals. Steam power revolutionized production across key industrial sectors during the Industrial Revolution, but it also played a critical role in radically altering the way British passengers and merchandise moved across space. The inauguration of the much-celebrated Manchester-Liverpool line was the outcome of a technological trajectory whose origins date back to c. 1600 with the emergence of the concept of using rails and horse power to move minerals. Two and half centuries later, railways reduced drastically the cost of transportation and challenged the alternative offered by canals with the new mode being much less affected by adverse weather conditions while also offering the advantage of greater speed. This chapter will trace the technological developments initiated by the early railways culminating in the use of high-pressure steam in locomotives and their impact on the economics of transporting commodities. The analysis will quantify the reduction in the annual operating cost of the new mode placing it in a comparative context with alternative means of moving goods by using roads and canals.