Holi

By Mr Huggins www.SchoolHistory.co.uk

Impact of the Railways

The building of the railways had big impact or effect on Britain. It created jobs, made goods cheaper, helped to spread information faster and changed the countryside in a way that neither the canals nor the new roads had ever been able to do. Source A: Social and economic impact of the railways.
People were able to travelgreater distances for leisure and for work Turnpike Trusts, canals and stage-coach companies could not compete with the speed of the railways. Townspeople were able to receive fresh meat, fish, milk and vegetables brought in by the railway. Seaside resorts developed – the railways made cheap day trips possible Newspapers could be sent from London all over the country; the post was speeded up. Therailways provided work for the navvies. Once built, people had jobs running them (drivers, guards etc.) Railway engineering towns grew up e.g. Swindon and Crewe

Social and economic effects of the railways
Industry grew as the railways needed coal and iron. Railways, in turn, allowed factories to transport their goods to market more quickly.

The railways did not just create jobs in the railwayindustry, they also created jobs in the coal and iron industries. They also helped to reduce the cost of transporting or moving goods from one place to another. This in turn meant that the people who made these goods could sell them cheaper. Once these goods became cheaper more people could afford to buy them so the people who made them had to make more of them, which created even more jobs. This isshown in Sources B and C. Source B: How the railways created more jobs, 1997
Railways make the cost of moving goods cheaper

Goods can now be sold for less

More people with jobs means The businessmen who make these goods employ more people to make them More goods are sold and so more need to be produced

More people can now afford to buy these goods

Page 1

RJH 02

Impact of theRailways
Source C: Transport of goods by road and rail

The railways did just change the way goods were transported. They changed the way people travelled about the country. Instead of travelling on mail coaches people started to travel by train, which was not only cheaper but also faster. Source D: Journey times from London, 1997 Source E: Train Ticket

The new trains meant that for the firsttime, even poor people could travel long distances. The working class started to make day trips to Blackpool, Scarborough, Whitby, Skegness and Brighton. Some east coast villages grew into large seaside resorts because of the railway. Train travel encouraged people to read. The railways also meant that national newspapers and letters could be taken anywhere in Britain and even delivered the nextday. People began to read the latest news about Parliament and the social reforms taking place. This led
Page 2 RJH 02

Impact of the Railways
to more and more people becoming interested in politics and led to a growth of political parties. Source F: 1862

Railways also changed the time that people lived by! Before the railways each part of the country had its own time, which was set forwhen the sun reached midday in their area. When the railways were built this had to change as a number of train crashes were caused by trains running to different times. Station clocks like the one in Source H began using London GMT time . In 1880, Greenwich Mean Time became everyone’s time in Britain. Sources J & K show how the village of Itchen Abbas in Hampshire changed as a consequence (result)of the railways. Source H: Station Clock Source I: RJ Huggins, 1997. The speed at which trains could travel also changed the food that people could eat. Fresh eggs, milk and fish could be carried into the new industrial towns. Fish and chips began to replace pigs’ trotters as a cheap working class supper! Differences between different areas started to break down as people from different areas...