Great Western Railway is begun

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Domains

Railways

Dates

Date of occurrence 1833

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

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The first locomotive-driven passenger railway, which opened in 1825, was the Stockton-Darlington railway. By 1833, railway lines had proliferated, and Liverpool was fast becoming the port of choice for trade, because it was being connected via railway line to the capital. Partly in order to protect and advance Bristol's status as a port, the Great Western Railway was established. This allowed passengers to travel between London and the south-west and west, including parts of Wales. It was granted the consent of Parliament in 1835, and its chief engineer appointed, the young Isombard Kingdom Brunel. His decisions about the specifics of the line - particularly his choice of route, north of the Marlborough Downs, and his choice to lay wide-gauge lines - decisively shaped the Great Western…

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124 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Great Western Railway is begun". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4720, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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