How did railways change the world?

The railway historian presents an authoritative and fast-paced telling of how the railways changed the world.

The arrival of the railways in the first half of the century and their subsequent spread across the world triggered economic growth and social change on an extraordinary scale. The ‘iron road’ stimulated innovation in engineering and architecture, enabled people and goods to move around more quickly than ever before, and played a critical role in warfare.

From the emergence of modern railways in both Britain and the USA in the 1830s and the surge in railway investment in Britain in the early 1840s, to ‘railway mania’ and the unstoppable spread of the railways across Europe, America and Asia, Christian Wolmar assesses the global impact of a technology that, arguably, had the most transformative impact on human society of any before the coming of the Internet, and which continues to play a key role in human society in the 21st century.

In this talk, Christan Wolmar draws on research conducted for his new book, Railways.

Christian Wolmar is an award-winning journalist and the author of a series of books on transport history including Fire and Steam, Railways and the Raj and The Story of Crossrail. He writes regularly for various newspapers and magazines, and has a column in Rail magazine.

Details