Richard Trevithick - Builder of steam locomotives. Includes brief biography, illustrations and selections from various writers. (1771-1833)
William Hedley - Produced steam locomotives, including Puffing Billy and Wylam Dilly. Includes brief biography and photo. (1779-1843)
William Jessop - Engineer involved in the Surrey Iron Railway project. Includes brief biography. (1745-1814)
Timothy Hackworth - Designer of steam locomotives. Includes brief biography and a drawing of his six-wheel engine, the Royal George. (1786-1850)
John Blenkinsop - Produced locomotives, including the Salamanca, which weighed five tons and was capable of hauling a load of ninety tons at four mph. Includes brief description.
George Stephenson - Early railroad pioneer who, with his son Robert, became the world's first locomotive builder. Engineered many railways and worked to improve the quality of steam engines. Includes biography and selections from letters and other writings. (1781-1848)
Robert Stephenson - Founder of the first company in the world that built locomotives. Includes brief biography, photo and selections from the works of various writers. (1803-1859)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Brief life history of the 19th century engineer who worked on the Thames Tunnel and the Great Western Railway. (1806-1859)
Joseph Locke - Joint chief engineer of the Grand Junction Railway. Became first railway engineer to realize locomotives would gradually be able to overcome steep gradients. (1805-1860)
George Bidder - First person to design and build a railway swing bridge. Also one of the founders of the first company formed to provide telegraphic communication. (1806-1878)
Daniel Gooch - Superintendent of the Great Western Railway and was responsible for the Severn Tunnel project. Includes brief biography. (1816-1889)
Edward Bury - Railway engineer whose design combined horizontal inside cylinders with a horizontal tubular boiler. Became general manager and engineer of the Great Northern Railway. He also advised on the building of three railway towns, Swindon, Wolverton and Doncaster. (1794-1858)
Matthew Murray - Designed steam locomotives. Includes brief details of his work and a diagram. (1765-1826)
Nicholas Wood - Short biography of an early pioneer in steam locomotives. Includes selected writings and correspondence. (1795-1865)
Charles Vignoles - Surveyor and engineer. Worked on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, St Helens and Runcorn Railway, Dublin and Kingstown, and the Midland Counties lines. Includes brief biography. (1793-1875)
John Rastrick - Engineer of the Stratford and Moreton Railway, the London and Brighton, the Bolton and Preston, Gravesend and Rochester, and the Nottingham and Grantham line. Includes brief biography. (1780-1856)
George Rennie - Engineer responsible for building Waterloo Bridge and Southwick Bridge in London. Established company that built sixteen locomotives. (1791-1866)
Edward Pease - Partner in company to manufacture locomotives. Includes brief biography. (1767-1858)
William James - Involved in building of railways and produced his Preliminary Report on the Survey of Investigation for a Line of Engine Railroad from Liverpool to Manchester. Includes brief biography. (1771-1837)
Joseph Sandars - Formed the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company. Includes brief biography.
William Hulton - Between 1824 and 1828 was involved in the planning and construction of the Bolton and Leigh Railway. In 1830 the line was linked to the Manchester and Liverpool Railway at Kenyon Junction. Includes brief biography. (1787-1864)
George Hudson - Builder of railways. He controlled 1,016 miles of railway track and obtained the title, the Railway King. Includes brief biography. (1800-1871)
Henry Booth - Early advocate of railways. Worked for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway until the company was merged with the Grand Junction Railway in 1845. (1788-1869)
George Bradshaw - Formed a company to publish railway timetables. The first issue of Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide appeared in 1838.(1801-1853)
Thomas Brassey - Builder of the Paris and Le Havre Railway in France, the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, the Caledonian Railway, the Great Northern Railway, Tilbury and Southend Railway, Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, and Grand Trunk Railway in Canada. (1805-1870)
Samuel Laing - Law clerk who helped draft the 1844 Railway Act. Chairman of the London and Brighton Railway in 1848. Includes brief biography. (1812-1897)
Edmund Denison - Appointed parliamentary counsel for the Great Northern Railway. Also involved in promoting the line that linked the Great Northern Railway with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1865, and the GNR's Derbyshire and Staffordshire Bill in 1872. (1816-1905)
William Arrol - Formed company that built a railway viaduct at Greenock and in 1878 secured the contract for the Caledonian Railway Bridge over the Clyde. Includes brief biography. (1839-1913)
Penydarren - Locomotive built in 1803 by Richard Trevithick. Includes brief details and illustration.
Puffing Billy - Steam locomotive in use at the Wylam Colliery in 1860. Includes description and photo.
Wylam Locomotive - Built by Richard Trevithick in 1804. Includes brief description and drawing.
The Blutcher - Steam locomotive, named for the general in the Prussian Army, who helped Britain to defeat Napoleon. Built by George Stephenson. Includes details and illustration.
Novelty - Steam locomotive built by John Ericsson and John Braithwaite. Includes brief description and illustration.
Locomotion - First railway locomotive built in September, 1825. Includes brief history and illustration.
Sans Pareil - Steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth. Includes description, history and a drawing.
The Rocket - Locomotive built by Robert Stephenson in 1829. Includes description, history and a drawing.
Northumbrian - Steam locomotive built in 1830. Includes brief description and illustration.
Lancashire Witch - Locomotive built by Robert Stephenson in 1828. Includes description and drawing.
Victoria - Locomotive designed by Edward Bury for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Includes brief description and photo.
Jenny Lind - Steam locomotive on the London and Brighton Railway. Includes brief description and illustration.
Iron Duke - Locomotive designed and built by Daniel Gooch in 1847. Includes description and drawing.
Great Western - Locomotive produced by Daniel Gooch in 1846. Includes brief details and illustration.
Swansea and Mumbles Railway - Opened for freight traffic in 1806 and transported passengers the following year. Became the first example of the regular conveyance of passengers by railway in the world. Includes brief history of the line.
Stockton and Darlington - Opened on September 27, 1825. Includes brief history, painting and selections from works of various writers.
Canterbury and Whitstable - Railway line opened in 1830. Includes brief history and illustration.
L & M Railway Company - Was 31 miles long and consisted of a double line of rails of the fish-bellied type and laid on stone or timber sleepers. Includes brief history and illustration.
London and Birmingham - Opened in stages and finally completed in 1838. Was 112 miles long and took 20,000 men nearly five years to build. Includes brief history and illustration.
Bolton and Leigh - Line built by George Stephenson and opened in 1828.
London and Greenwich - Opened in 1836. Includes brief history and illustration.
Grand Junction Railway - Established in 1833. Includes brief history and illustration.
Caledonian Railway - Established in 1845 and went to Glasgow via Edinburgh. Includes brief history and illustration.
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway - Formed when the Manchester and Leeds Railway acquired eight smaller companies. Includes brief history of the line.
Midland Railway - Formed by George Hudson with amalgamation of the York and North Midland, Midland Counties, North Midland Railway, and the Birmingham and Derby. Includes brief history and photo.
Taff Vale Railway - Completed in 1841, Transported goods from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff.
Great Western Railway - Linked London and Bristol and was completed in 1841. Includes brief history of the line and photo of the locomotive, The Great Western.
London and Brighton Railway - Completed in September, 1841 and used over 3,500 men and 570 horses in its construction. Includes brief history and selections from various writers.
Manchester and Leeds - Opened in 1839. Includes brief details of its construction.
York and North Midland Railway - Opened in 1839 and became part of the great trunk route from London to York via Rugby and Derby.
Midland Counties Railway - Line was opened in 1836 and ran from Derby, Leicester, Rugby and Nottingham. Includes brief history.
Leeds and Selby - Authorized by Parliament in 1830. Includes brief history of the line.
London and Croydon Railway - Opened in 1839. Merged later with the London and Brighton line. Includes brief history.
Bristol and Exeter - Completed in 1844. Includes brief history.
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway - Opened in 1842. Includes brief history.
Great Northern Railway - Provided service between London and York. Includes brief history.
North Eastern Railway - Formed in 1854 with merger of three companies, York and North Midland, Leeds Northern and the York, Newcastle and Berwick. Includes brief history of the line.
London and North Western Railway - Amalgamation of three companies, London and Birmingham, Grand Junction Railway, and Manchester and Birmingham in 1846. Includes brief history.
Rainhill Trials - Competition between stationary engines and locomotives held by the Liverpool and Manchester Company. Includes details of the event and a drawing.
Olive Mount - Location of rock cut project on the Liverpool and Manchester line. Includes brief details and painting by Thomas Bury.
Chat Moss - Peat bog which was part of the railway route between Liverpool and Manchester. Includes brief history of engineering project.
Gradient Profile - Includes sketch of Liverpool and Manchester Route.
Sankey Viaduct - Nine arch brick structure on the Liverpool and Manchester line. Includes building details and illustration.
Moorish Arch - Was an ornate feature on the Stockton and Darlington line. Removed in the 1860s. Includes lithograph.
First Class Travel - Early carriages were similar to traveling inside a stage coach but had provision for carrying luggage on the roofs. Includes brief details of design improvements made by Nathaniel Worsdell and a lithograph.
Second Class Travel - Offered benches and were open at the sides. Includes brief details and lithograph.
Third Class Travel - Train carriages open at the sides and did not provide passengers with any protection from the weather or the pollution created by the locomotive.
George Walker - Artist who did a series of paintings for the book Costume of Yorkshire. Included the first ever painting of a locomotive, the Salamanca at Middleton Colliery. Includes brief biography. (1781-1856)
James Wilson Carmichael - Artist who published a set of engravings entitled Views of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. Includes brief biography and illustration. (1800-1868)
John Leech - Illlustrator who produced a series of cartoons attacking railway mania and warning of the dangers of rail transport. (1817-1864)
John Cooke Bourne - Lithograph artist who produced the book, Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway. Includes illustration. (1814-1896)
Thomas Bury - Artist who produced a series of paintings of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Includes illustration of the Liverpool Crown Street Station. (1811-1877)
J. M. W. Turner - One of Britain's leading topographical watercolorists who painted Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway. Includes brief biography and illustration. (1775-1851)
William Powell Frith - Artist who painted The Railway Station in 1862. Includes brief biography and illustration. (1819-1909)
Wooden Wagonway - Horse-drawn railway used to transport coal. Includes brief history.
Steam Circus - Circular railway in London where people paid to ride in a carriage pulled by a locomotive. Includes brief details and illustration.
Rack Railways - Patented by John Blenkinsop in 1811 and involved the combination of a locomotive cogwheel and toothed rack rail. Includes brief description and illustration.
Passenger Carriages - Looked very much like a stage coach carriage and were drawn by horses. Includes details and a drawing.
Kilsby Tunnel - Part of the London and Birmingham line. Was 2,400 yards long and took 1,250 men nearly two years to build. Includes brief history of engineering problems.
Blisworth Cutting - Near Northampton. Engineering project involving excavation of rock and clay. Estimated over a million cubic yards of material was dug, quarried or blasted out.
Railway Gauges - Included broad and standard measurement. Gives brief history.
Box Tunnel - Located on the London to Bristol line. Includes details of construction and a lithograph.
Railway Post - First used by Grand Junction Railway in 1837. Includes details of a traveling post office carriage.
1844 Railway Act - Required each company to run one passenger train daily at the cheap rate of one penny a mile (1.6 km) and provide carriage seats that offered protection from bad weather. Includes details.
Thomas Creevey - In the House of Commons led the fight against railways. Includes brief biography. (1768-1838)
Liverpool Station - Served passengers as well as goods facilities and accommodation for coal merchants. Relegated to a goods and engineering maintenance depot in 1836. Includes painting by Thomas Bury.
Birmingham Station - Built in 1838 in the classical style with an Ionic portico. Departure point for north as well as the southbound trains. Includes illustration.
London Bridge Station - Designed by Thomas Turner and Henry Roberts and became the administrative headquarters of the London and Brighton Railway. Includes illustration.
Brighton Station - Part of the London and Brighton Railway. Building was finished in September, 1841. Includes photo.
Newcastle Station - Built in 1848 and was the junction point of four routes in Newcastle. Includes illustration.
St Pancras Station - Designed by Gilbert Scott and built in 1868. Includes brief details and illustration.
York Station - Built to accommodate trains on the York and Midland Railway, and the Great Northern Railway.
Euston Station - Built in 1838 for the London and Birmingham Railway. Includes brief details and illustration.
Aberdeen - Seaport on the northeast coast of Scotland. Site of the Aberdeen Railway which opened in April, 1850. Includes brief history and excerpt from a work by Daniel Defoe.
London - Settled by the Romans in the first century A.D. and known as Londinium. Includes brief history of its railway lines, a painting by Jan Griffier and selections from the writings of various authors.
Birmingham - Became one of the most important trade centers in Britain. One of the major cities of the London to Birmingham line completed in 1838.
Manchester - Situated on the east bank of the River Irwell and was noted for its cotton industry. Includes brief history of its railway lines and selections from the works of various writers.
Bradford - Center for woolen and textile trades. Site of Leeds and Bradford Railway, which opened in 1846.
Merthyr Tydfil - Noted for its ironworks and part of the Taff Vale Railway Company. Includes brief history and illustration.
Brighton - Popular seaside resort in Britain, served by the London to Brighton Railway. Includes brief history, painting and selections from the works of various writers.
Newcastle - Situated on the River Tyne. Was a commercial and industrial center and location of Newcastle and Darlington Railway, Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, and the York and Newcastle Railway.
Bristol - Was a major wool-exporting port. Station for several railway lines including the Great Western Railway, Bristol and Exeter Railway, and the Bristol and Gloucester Railway. Includes brief history.
Cardiff - Coastal town in Wales and a station on the Taff Vale Railway. Includes brief history.
Norwich - Situated on the River Wensum and established as a major center of the wool trade during the Middle Ages. Includes brief history of the town's railways.
Crewe - Originally, a small hamlet with only a wayside station beside a turnpike road. Became the junction of three lines. Includes brief summary of its railways.
Chichester - In 1844 the London and Brighton Railway Company built a line to Chichester. By 1847 Chichester was also linked by rail to Portsmouth and Southampton.
Oldham - Center of woolen trade and later a site of cotton mills, with over 213 by 1838. Railways also helped its growth. Was a branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Includes photo and brief history.
Derby - Located on the River Derwent. Became the headquarters of the Midland Railway in the 19th century. Includes brief details of industries and history.
Dundee - Seaport in Scotland on the Firth of Tay. Location of he Dundee and Newryle line, the Dundee and Arbroath, and a line to Aberdeen. Includes notes about major industries and population figures.
Edinburgh - Capital city of Scotland. Location of the Edinburgh and Leith, and the Edinburgh and Glasgow lines. Includes history and selections from the works of several writers.
Portsmouth - Was the main harbor used by the British Navy. Railway lines were built to Portsmouth from Chichester and Brighton. Includes short history.
Exeter - Situated on the River Exe. Part of the Bristol and Exeter line, completed in 1844. Includes brief history.
Preston - Port at the head of the estuary of the River Ribble. Noted for its wool weaving industry and cotton mill. In 1838 the National Union Railway linked Preston to London, Liverpool and Manchester. Includes brief history.
Glasgow - City in Scotland, known for its university and shipyards. Important lines included the Garnkirk and Glasgow, the Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the Caledonian Railway that linked the main industrial centers of England with Glasgow. Includes brief history and selections from works of several authors.
Southampton - Seaport standing on the peninsula between the mouths of the rivers Test and Itchen. Served by the London and Southampton Railway Company which began transporting people and goods between Southampton and London in 1837. Includes brief history.
Stoke - Became the center of the pottery industry. The North Staffordshire Railway opened its first line to Stoke in 1848. Includes brief history.
Liverpool - Port on the north bank of the estuary of the Mersey. The Liverpool and Manchester railway opened in 1830 and was a great success. Includes brief history, painting by Atkinson Grimshaw and selections from various authors.
Swansea - Situated on the south coast of Wales. Served by the Swansea and Mumbles horse-drawn line along Swansea Bay, that served local quarries and coal mines. Includes brief history.
Leeds - Wool center of England in the 16th century. Had the oldest horse-drawn railroad in the world, built in 1758. Was a station on the Manchester and Leeds Railway. Includes brief history and painting by Atkinson Grimshaw.
Swindon - Small town until the coming of railways, located eighty miles from London. Station on the London to Bristol line and site of a locomotive works.
Leicester - Capital of Coritani in Roman Britain and became an important center of hosiery manufacture during the 18th century. Includes brief history of its railway lines.
York - Became the most important junction on the east coast route to Scotland and eventually the main locomotive works for the North Eastern Railway.
Birmingham & Derby - Opened in 1839 but it was not a great financial success, Merged with other lines to form the Midland Railway.
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