Victorian Technology

Page 3 of 5

• 1. A powerful trading nation
• 2. Great pioneers
• 3. Booming railways
• 4. Communication revolution
• 5. Find out more
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Booming railways

Equally important were the links established between shipping lines and ship yards. During the Victorian period British shipyards on the Clyde, the Tyne, the Mersey, the Thames, at Barrow and Belfast came to dominate the world, having pioneered the use of iron and steel in ship-building, and developed marine technology to a high level. In 1900, for example, 739,000 tons of shipping was built and registered in Britain. British yards built ships for owners all over the world and were still in a dominant position at the end of the century, despite increasing competition offered by ship builders in Germany. Cunard had close links with the Glasgow yard of Robert Napier, while the Belfast firm of Harland & Wolff backed a new Atlantic challenger, the White Star Line, launched in 1871 and went on to have interests in other shipping companies, including the Union Castle Line.

Like the steamship, the railway predates the Victorian era. The start of the modern railway age is usually marked by the opening in 1825 of the Stockton & Darlington line. Other, mostly local, lines followed, the most important of which was the Liverpool and Manchester of 1830, famous for Robert Stephenson's Rocket locomotive. With its multitube boiler, blast pipe exhaust, pistons connected directly to the driving wheels and its ability to haul its train at over 30 miles per hour, this machine set the standard for locomotive design. The first long distance lines were opened in the first years of Queen Victoria's reign, the London and Birmingham in 1838, part of Brunel's London to Bristol route the same year and the London and Southampton in 1840. A railway boom and mania followed during the 1840s, with promoters and speculators planning lines all over Britain.

'Like the steamship, the railway predates the Victorian era.'

By 1845 2441 miles of railway were open and 30 million passengers were being carried. The railways, offering as they did new opportunities for travel and commerce, and breaking down social barriers in the process, were immediately popular, a popularity encouraged by acts of parliament that ensured that trains conformed to standards of speed and comfort and offered rates that were affordable by all. The spread of the railways also brought about, through time-tabling, a regularisation of time throughout Britain. Excursions and day trips, particularly to the seaside, became a familiar part of British social life. In 1851 many of the six million visitors to the Great Exhibition travelled by train to London in organised excursions. Queen Victoria made her first train journey on 13 June 1842 and then became a regular user of the rail network, for speed and convenience and because it gave her ample opportunity to show herself and her family to her subjects.

Expansion of the rail network was rapid and continuous. Between 1861 and 1888 the mileage grew by 81 percent and the traffic carried by 180 percent. By 1900, 18,680 miles were in use and over 1100 million passengers were being carried, along with huge quantities of freight. From 1852 the carriage of freight provided the railway companies with the bulk of their income. Safety standards, at first almost non-existent, gradually improved with advances in signalling and vehicle technology. By the end of the century trains ran regularly, and with complete safety, at speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour. Comfort also improved. The first lavatories appeared in family saloons in the 1860s, the first proper sleeping cars were introduced in 1873 and dining cars came into use from 1879.

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Published: 2001-09-01