Episodes
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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
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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
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Missing episodes?
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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 safeThe 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
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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
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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
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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 RocketBut 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
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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 RocketCome 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
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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
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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
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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 powerIn 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).
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History of the Railways is one man's (probably hopeless) attempt to describe the history of the railways across the world using nothing more than a microphone, his wits, and a stack of dusty old books.
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).
