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

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

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 Rocket 

But 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

 

 

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 Rocket 

 

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

 

 

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

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