Bigger and better

Following the building mania of the 1840s and the establishment of early networks, the next stage in railway development was the amalgamation of smaller lines into larger conglomerates, as Dr Joseph Brennan describes.

“WHERE combination is possible, competition is impossible,” Robert Stephenson is believed to have said. It is a dictum that strikes at the heart of how epoch-making railways like the Stockton & Darlington (S&DR) and London & Manchester (L&MR), through combination, transformed mere tramroads into modern railways as we would recognise them today – and an ethos that underscores why amalgamation was embraced by railways as a necessary path to maturity, even in the early years. Initially, there was a perception – following an example set by the canals – that any carrier would be free to work vehicles over a railroad. Yet after the S&DR, the Rainhill Trials and the L&MR had proved the railway concept and ignited a new age, considerations of safety and the needs of operation made…

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The Railway (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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