History of the Railways

On the 4th July 1837, the Grand Junction Railway linked Liverpool and Manchester with Birmingham. 
 
In this episode we:
• Take a look at some of the civil engineering works on the GJR
• Meet Thomas Brassey, who would command an international force of about 80,000 navvies
• See how the Grand Junction handled their opening.
 
The GJR has been underplayed in most railroad histories, so come and hear why I think it's important, and marks a turning point in the nature of railways and the character of the engineers who built them.
 
History of the Railways is a podcast for anyone interested in railroad history. 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
 
Chapter Notes:
00:00 Start
01:23 Last episode's trivia answer
02:00 What we can really know about history
05:36 The Wolverhampton and Preston Brook Tunnel and the coldest winter on the 19th century 
08:51 Dutton Viaduct 
11:35 Penkridge Viaduct
13:03 Joseph Locke's approach to contracts
16:55 Thomas Brassey
22:00 Birmingham Terminus at Vauxhall not Curzon Street 
22:53 James Watt Jr and the course of the line
25:19 Double-headed, parallel, fish-bellied, Vignoles, and Stevens rail
30:39 Opening Day
35:40 Conclusion

On the 4th July 1837, Britain's first trunk railway opened. 
The Grand Junction Railway linked Liverpool and Manchester with Birmingham, and paved the way for all 3 to be connected to the capital by rail when the London & Birmingham line was fully opened a year later.  
The Grand Junction also launched the national reputation of Joseph Locke, and led to yet another falling out with George Stephenson.
Oddly, the GJR doesn't get a lot of attention in history books, so today's episode dives into the story of the beginning of that railway, and the fight for control between two titans of early railway history, to see what we've been missing.
 
Chapter Notes:
00:00 Start
01:59 Last episode's trivia answer
02:45 Intro
04:20 Getting their Act together 
08:42 The new railway gets a name
10:02 The Warrington & Newton Railway
12:29 Joseph Locke and George Stephenson initial friction
18:02 Buying the Warrington & Newton Railway
21:45 Solving their Engineer problem
27:21 Locke appointed Chief Engineer
29:10 Trivia question
 
History of the Railways is a podcast for anyone interested in railroad history. 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

The opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway is rightly considered a milestone in world history, but in truth the opening day itself was a disaster. 
It started by shooting a man in the face with a cannon 
It was the scene of protests which led the Prime Minister to flee a city (no less a man than the "Iron" Duke of Wellington, at that!)
It killed one of its greatest supporters with a machine it was trying to convince the public was safe
 
The final episode in our mini-series on the L&MR explores the formal opening of the world's first modern railway on the 15th September 1830, and the first few locomotives to operate on the line.
 
Chapter notes:
00:00 Start
02:00 Last episode's trivia answer
02:42 A crowd gathers at Edge Hill
04:00 The locomotives: Arrow, Comet, Dart, Meteor, Northumbrian, North Star, Phoenix and Rocket  
05:15 The inaugural trains and the great and the good
06:25 The Duke of Wellington's coach
08:27 Northumbrian's tender
09:10 The first (official) railway journey
12:12 William Huskisson
13:52 Parkside Station
16:25 The Rocket locomotive hits Huskisson
18:00 Navvy killed on the L&MR a year earlier in the same way
18:55 Back on the line
21:47 Antagonistic crowd come to see Old Nosey (or, Michael gets distracted by a potted history of British revolutions that nearly happened)
23:50 Peterloo, Power-loom riots, Voting reform and Charles X
25:25 The Iron Duke leaves Manchester… then the railway… then office
27:50 Early locos
28:15 Braithwaite & Ericsson's William the Fourth and Queen Adelaide locomotives
29:58 Robert Stephensons' Rocket class locomotives
33:15 Introduction of the Planet locomotive class 
37:00 Conclusion
39:03 Trivia question

In part 3 of our mini-series on the L&MR, we're working our way along the line, exploring some of the magnificent works of civil engineering on the railroad.
We'll meet George Stephenson's resident engineers: Joseph Locke, William Allcard, and John Dixon who had responsibility for these amazing structures.
And I'll also try to give an idea of what building them might have involved, if you were one of the nameless hundreds of navvies on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, who did the actual physical work. 
 
History of the Railways is a podcast for anyone interested in railroad history. 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
 
Chapters
00:00 Start
01:51 Last episode's trivia answer
02:23 George Stephenson's men on the line - Joseph Locke, William Allcard, John Dixon
03:40 Edge Hill Tunnel
05:13 How the navvies on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway built the tunnel
07:49 First recorded death of a railway navvy
10:13 Olive Mount Cutting
11:42 Twin Sisters locomotive
13:40 Broadgreen or Roby Embankment
15:44 Sankey Viaduct
16:50 Sankey Viaduct's foundations
19:00 The Excavation at Kenyon
20:02 Chat Moss
22:50 John Dixon's account of sinking
23:33 Robert Stannard suggests a solution
26:00 The track
28:36 This episode's trivia question

In part 2 of our mini-series on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, we're going to hear how the L&MR clawed its way back from the rejection of their first bill and finally got approval.
Along the way I'll discuss the squabbles of engineers who should have known better: George Stephenson, Charles Blacker Vignoles, George Rennie and John Rennie. 
 
History of the Railways is a podcast for anyone interested in railroad history. 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
 
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:32 Last episode's trivia answer
2:08 Criticism of George Stephenson
5:07 The Rennies
6:55 Charles Blacker Vignoles 
10:05 Bridgewater Canal Party Opposition Removed
12:45 New Prospectus
14:23 Back at Parliament
15:50 But Who Will be the Engineer?
17:51 George Stephenson Returns
19:47 Vignoles in an Uncomfortable Position
21:57 Edge Hill Tunnel
25:12 Vignoles' Ability to Hold a Grudge
26:36 George's men on the line
27:54 This episode's trivia question