A GRISLY BRITISH RAILWAY HISTORY.
Some readers may recall that back in January I reviewed a book on British Railway Tunnel disasters. I mentioned that I had found another book by the same author and had bought it from Amazon. This is the review of that book.
The book is divided into three elements based on the title. "Death" includes details of the first death on British railways being that of Huskisson during the launch of the first railway ever between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830. Also covered is the accident that occurred at Sonning in 1841 being the first fatal accident on the GWR and, at the time, the biggest loss of life in a railway accident. Also discussed in this chapter is the impact of railway construction in the larger cities especially London and the impact this had on old grave sites and the work needed to remove thousands of bodies.
The second section of the book covers "Dynamite" and includes not only details of the use of dynamite in railway construction and the inevitable accidents but also the perhaps not so well known terrorist campaigns in the 1880's and 1890's by Anarchists and Fenians against the railways.
Finally the last section on "Disaster" covers the Tay Bridge Collapse of 1879 which was caused by the failure to use the most up to date engineering standards of the time and the Hexthorpe accident in 1887 which was caused largely by the railway company's failure to utalise the most modern braking systems then available.
Every incident account is based on contemporary newspaper report supplemented by the official accident reports therefore the language used is of the time being sensational and colourful. The level of detail is extraordinary. Often full details of the dead are included even the amounts of compensation paid to relatives is revealed.
Overall a fascinating book and highly recommended especially to those interested in early British railway history however even casual readers will find this book a great read.
Sounds like an entertaining read, Tony! Well, really, it probably says something about the hazards encountered in early infrastructural development. In an Economic History course I once wrote an essay about railroad development in England and Europe, and their economic and demographic impacts. One of the effects of railroads in Eastern Europe was that it made getting out of the place easy - and the United States (mainly) were the 'beneficiaries' of the resulting large scale exodus.
ReplyDeleteThe thing could also lead to price wars. Two rival companies set up a rail service between London and Dover. There was quite a demand for such a service, but though plenty greatly to profit one company, there wasn't quite enough to profit two. So the competition between the two became a matter of survival. The savage price war that ensued meant a race to the bottom. That one company eventually survived was due entirely to the failure of the other - and even then it was a near run thing. Sometimes 'the market' will support only a monopoly...
Cheers,
Ion
Hi Ion....Yes for sure a very entertaining book even if you don't have any interest in railways. The effect of railways was indeed different according to local circumstances and sometimes had quite unexpected results as you mention. I live in the area usually called the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. ( Now one of the least populated and "green" places in the UK !!!). As such we had a huge network of railways, all long gone now although leaving behind a lot of nice walking paths. However my point is that all the local railways were shared between two companies and management changed hands on a regular basis over the years. Quite why railway companies would have competing almost parallel lines in a mystery to me but as you say, it happened a lot.....Regards.
DeleteSounds like plenty of interesting stuff in there Tony. The Anarchist and Fenian raids would provide plenty of inspiration for wargames scenarios I'm sure. We live on the edge of Bristol and in the local woods there are plenty of remains of small dry stone wall storage sites for gun powder or dynamite when they were creating the railway through part of the river Avon valley as well as quarrying at the same time.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve.... The material about the Anarchists and Fenians was all new to me, I had no idea that sustained terrorism started so long ago. I expect there are similar railway remains round here but I have no idea of where they might be, perhaps I should do some research, just for fun....Regards
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