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The Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution

Moving on

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Today we are looking at Today we are looking at transporttransport

Roads Canals an aside into the steam engine Railways

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Why was road transport so poor Why was road transport so poor in the 18th century?in the 18th century?

The most realistic way for a person to travel on land in the 18th century was by slow and usually unreliable stagecoaches or carts that travelled at one and a half miles per hour.

The best method of transport for a person travelling alone was on horseback.

Heavy industrial items and raw materials were usually transported by packhorses, coastal shipping or along navigable rivers. This was a transport system that needed to be improved.  

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Problems with road transport Problems with road transport     It was difficult to travel along roads in bad

weather. They were often muddy during the winter and dusty during the summer.

Little effort to keep the roads in good condition and roads were often full of potholes and very muddy.

Travelling could be dangerous and passengers travelling on the outside of coaches risked serious injury or death if they were thrown from the carriage.

There were long delays on the roads because of their poor condition

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The need for transport The need for transport improvements improvements It was necessary to improve British

transport from the mid-18th century because:

Britain's population almost doubled from 6.5 million to 12 million and this meant that people needed to move around the country.

The Industrial Revolution created new factories in new towns and cities that needed a better communication and transport network so workers could travel to work, raw materials could be delivered to the factory and finished products could be exported.

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Improving Improving the roadsthe roads

Turnpike Trust was set up in 1663.

The trusts had one simple aim: to charge people to use newly improved roads and then the money raised from the tolls was used to pay for the upkeep of the roads.

The trusts were set up by small groups of businessmen

They had to get an Act of Parliament passed to build their turnpike and had to employ professional road surveyors, treasurers and reputable road engineers.

A carriage passes through the toll gate while engineers survey the road

The road engineers built gates across the entrance of the roads and then toll keepers collected tolls from people using the roads.

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Some trusts did maintain their roads and employed professional road engineers (such as Thomas Telford) to build straighter and better roads.

However, people who had always used local roads did not like suddenly having to now pay for the same route.

For example, during the Rebecca Riots in Wales (1842-44) rioters dressed as women burned down toll keepers' cottages and tollgates in protest at road tolls.  

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What the turnpikes achievedWhat the turnpikes achieved By 1830, there were approximately 110

Turnpike Trusts in Britain. Only 20,000 miles of road out of a possible

120,000 miles were improved by Turnpikes. Turnpike Trusts only improved Britain's major

roads and many minor roads were still in a bad condition.

Trusts started to build more tollgates along routes to make extra money and this began to slow down people's journeys.

It was not surprising that canals were about to take over from roads as Britain's quickest and cheapest form of transport.

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The Road BuildersThe Road Builders Without the road builders the turnpikes would not

have worked The four main men who pioneered British road

building were: General George Wade - the first road engineer to

build more than 250 miles of roads in Scotland. John (Blind Jack) Metcalfe - a blind Yorkshireman

who built more than 180 miles of Pennine roads. John Loudon Macadam - a Scottish road builder

who chose to build cheaper and more affordable roads, which made him the most influential road builder of his time.

Thomas Telford - he built more than a thousand miles of roads in Shropshire and Scotland. His biggest achievement was the London to Holyhead Road and the Menai Straits Bridge.

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How better Roads helpedHow better Roads helped Road engineers had a significant impact on

the British transport and communication system:

They made it cheaper and faster to transport raw materials to factories.

New towns were able to develop because people could migrate around Britain.

They built roads that are still in use today - eg the Menai Straits Bridge.

MPs were able to travel to Parliament faster by using the London to Holyhead Road.

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The effects of improved roadsThe effects of improved roads The combined work of Turnpike Trusts

and road engineers changed the British transport system and as a result changed Britain's social, economic and political system. The main effects of improved roads were:

Postal service - new roads and improved coaches meant a more efficient Royal Mail postal service (running from Bristol and Bath to London) was set up in 1784 by John Palmer.

Improved coach services - new roads meant newer coaches were developed and between 1790 and 1830 the Golden Age of Coaching took place. Almost 500 coaches left London everyday to provide services between major towns and cities and journey times were greatly reduced.

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The effects of improved roadsThe effects of improved roads News travels - newspapers had really

only been available in London, but new roads meant national newspapers could now be delivered around the country.

Agriculture - new and improved roads meant farmers and dairy workers could now transport fresh food and dairy produce around the country faster and more efficiently.

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Negative effectsNegative effects Roads did have a significant impact on

Britain. However, the roads did not meet the demands of everybody in Britain and there were some negative effects of the new roads:

Only major roads in Britain were improved. Too many Turnpikes were built and

businessmen started to make less money. New roads were good for travel, but freight

traffic did not develop because it was too costly to move bulky goods.

Turnpike Trusts meant industrialists were at a disadvantage because people were forced to pay whatever price the toll was to use the roads and the trusts kept raising prices.

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Water transportWater transportProblems with early water transportProblems with early water transport

Coastal shipping offered a more stable route, but ships could be affected by tides, winds and pirates.

Most British ports had road access to industrial towns and cities.

Heavy goods such as coal and iron could only be transported by coastal shipping and not by roads.

Navigable rivers: Rivers that were large enough and deep enough to link towns and cities in Britain were called navigable rivers.

The main navigable rivers in Britain were the Thames, Severn, Humber, Trent and Mersey. Many navigable rivers were widened and deepened by local communities to make them more useable.

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While coastal shipping and navigable rivers were useful, there needed to be a more effective form of transport than roads and the existing water transport. The main reasons for change were:

Rivers could flood during winter and dry up during summer months.

Navigable rivers did not always link the major towns and cities.

Both factories and farmers needed more efficient methods of transporting goods than roads were providing.

A rapidly growing population also needed a more efficient method of transport because road travel was becoming expensive.

People knew they could improve existing rivers and link important ones with canals.

It became obvious that canals would be the next step forward in the transport revolution

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Francis Egerton, the Duke of Bridgewater, was one of the pioneers of water transport. He used the water he pumped out of his coal mine to fill a canal he built between his mine and Mancgester, where he sold most of his coal.

Having got an Act of Parlaiment to allow him to build it, he employed James Brindley to carry out the work and he proved to be a very able engineer.

Brindley built a pioneering canal, which included an aqueduct, locks to allow the canal to go over hills and he used clay puddling to prevent leaks.

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The success of the canalThe success of the canal

The price of coal halved from 60p a ton to 30p once it started to arrive in Manchester using the new form of transport.

Bridgewater proved to businessmen that building canals could speed up deliveries, halve the cost of transport and make huge profits.

The Bridgewater Canal also demonstrated James Brindley's talent.

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James Brindley is known as the most important canal engineer of the 18th century.

After the Bridgewater canal, Brindley went on to link the Bridgewater Canal with a canal he built for Josiah Wedgwood and then linked the Mersey, Humber and Trent.

Then in 1790, he went on to link the four major navigable rivers - Thames, Trent, Severn and Mersey.

The centre of this Grand Cross was Birmingham, which became an industrial centre because of the canal revolution.

Many new businesses started up because the area had easy access to a good transport and communication system.

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Canal developmentCanal developmentSo how did canals develop during the So how did canals develop during the

18th century?  18th century?   Specialised canal builders called navigators or navvies

travelled around the country building specific canals. New techniques for building a ladder system of locks to

transport canal boats over hills were developed. If a system of ladder locks could not be built then

"contouring" was used to take a canal around a hill. Canal owners also had to build reservoirs alongside

canals because canals kept losing water during hot weather.

Canal owners also had to buy the land alongside their canals because farmers were annoyed about the canals going through their land.

Between 1871 and 1875, dozens of canals were built in Britain and some people believed canal mania had taken hold.

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The canal revolutionThe canal revolution Canals provided factory owners with a new way to

transport raw materials and deliver finished products for export. The canals were also beneficial to agriculturalists because they allowed fresh produce to be transported around the country. The new canal system had a number of very positive effects on Britain. – Canal companies became major employers in Britain. They

provided jobs for manual workers, dockers, loaders, ship builders and navigators.

– Canal towns such as Birmingham, Runcorn and Stourport developed. These towns became very important in the communication and transport network around the country.

– Canals took over from roads and began to provide a much cheaper way to transport heavy, bulky raw materials such as coal, iron and steel around the country.

– Not only did canals provide a cheaper form of transport, they also provided a faster communication system for documents and news

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The decline of canalsThe decline of canalsThe arrival of railwaysThe arrival of railways

By the 1830s, railways had started to develop and they rapidly became seen as the most important form of transport. This meant that the canal network started to decline because the canals could not compete with the new, faster and cheaper steam trains that could efficiently carry raw materials, finished products and most importantly people.

New railway engineers were able to build straighter and more direct routes for their transport network. They did not have to rely on tide direction, good weather, drought-free seasons or linking navigable rivers.

Railway companies were also more aggressive in trying to attract business and canal owners had become too complacent. They had continued to charge high prices and failed to create an efficient national network.

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Early Railways – the mining Early Railways – the mining connectionconnection The earliest railways to exist in Britain were operated in mining

towns where wagons would run along a simple track and a rigged up pulley system would be used to pull heavy raw materials such as coal and iron out of the mines. It is estimated that by the early 18th century, there were almost 300 wooden tracks in Tyne alone along which wagons were pulled.

The earliest forms of railways were: In 1758, the first Act of Parliament to pass the rights for a

colliery wagonway at a mine in Leeds was passed. In 1767, a mine in Coalbrookdale used iron tracks for its

wagonway for the very first time in Britain. James Watt invented a stationary system called the Sun and

Gear system in 1781, which could haul wagons along a track more efficiently.

1803 saw the opening of the Surrey Iron Railway that linked Croydon and Wandsworth. It was the first line to be used to carry passengers as well as heavy goods.

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The ObjectionsThe Objections The main reasons people objected to the construction of

railways were:   Parliament did not like passing Acts of Parliament for

railways because they were worried that the new fast speeds of trains would cause health problems for passengers.

Farmers and landowners did not like the idea of new railway tracks passing through their farm land because they believed that the smoke would destroy crops and scare their animals into giving birth prematurely or dying.

Members of the aristocracy were annoyed at the idea of new railway tracks because they believed that it would hinder fox-hunting.

Some people did not like the idea of men and women travelling in the same train carriage.

Canal companies obviously felt threatened by railway companies, but failed to do everything they could to try to prevent them from stealing their businesses.

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The Engineers - The Engineers - Richard Richard TrevithickTrevithick The first railway engineer who is often

described as the "Father of the Locomotive". First locomotive line was at the Pennydaren

Ironworks in Wales in 1804 and it ran at 10½ miles an hour.

In 1808, Trevithick proved that railways could successfully carry passengers when he exhibited a train called the "Catch Me Who Can" in Euston. He charged 5p a ride and proved how successful steam engines could be.

He never managed to build a successful and profitable railway in Britain, but other people improved on his early work

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The Engineers - The Engineers - George George StephensonStephenson Realised how successful steam engines could

be to railway development. Built his first train, the "Blucher", at

Killingworth Colliery and demonstrated that a train could run along an iron track at 6 miles an hour without a stationary engine.

Stephenson was asked to design the Stockton to Darlington Railway and by using a steam engine and a fixed gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches he created a great success.

The Stockton to Darlington Railway (1825) was a great commercial success and Stephenson became very famous. He was asked to design the Liverpool to Manchester Railway line.

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Government helpGovernment help The railway network in Britain could not have

developed without the help of the British government.  

An Act of Parliament was needed to build a railway line, but the government made no attempt to limit the number of lines built or to specify whether the lines should even link up.

Once railways became a success, Parliament introduced the 1844 Railway Act, which required railway companies to sell cheap tickets. This allowed the working class to travel by train - the so-called "Parliamentary train".

In 1846, the government also passed the Gauge Act, which forced railway lines to be built at a uniform width of 4 feet, 8.5 inches across the country.

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Liverpool to Manchester RailwayLiverpool to Manchester RailwayConstructing the lineConstructing the line

The Liverpool to Manchester Railway completed in 1830 was the first successful railway line to open in Britain.

Factories in Manchester and Lancashire were upset at the high costs that it took to transport raw materials from the Port of Liverpool to Manchester using the Bridgewater Canal.

They wanted a cheaper method of transport, so applied for an Act of Parliament to build a railway track between the two major north-west cities.

George Stephenson was commissioned to design and build the planned railway line, but he was faced with a few problems.

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Liverpool to Manchester RailwayLiverpool to Manchester RailwayConstructing the lineConstructing the line

The building of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway line was started in 1824.

The route George Stephenson planned had four major obstacles that he had to overcome:

Stephenson's planned route cut directly through a housing estate in Edgehill and he was told he could not demolish the houses. Instead, he had to dig a 2,200-yard tunnel under the housing estate for the start of his route.

Just outside Liverpool, Stephenson encountered the large rock called Olive Mount. Stephenson did not want to go around it, so he ordered his navvies to complete a two-mile cutting through the solid rock.

The next stage of the route meant taking the railway track over the River Sankey. This meant a stone viaduct had to be built over the rivers.

The last major problem Stephenson had to overcome was a 12-mile marsh just outside Manchester called Chat Moss. Stephenson had to lay a foundation of heather and brushwood to build the track on.

It took six years for George Stephenson to complete his railway track, which then became the most direct route between Liverpool and Manchester.

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The Age of Railways The Age of Railways Considering it took six years to build and cost the businessmen

funding it a lot of money, it was successful. George Stephenson's Liverpool to Manchester train, The

Rocket, demonstrated that trains could now travel faster (at 29 miles per hour) over long distances.

The Liverpool to Manchester Railway lines proved that a cheaper and more efficient alternative to canals was now available.

It was the first commercial railway line designed to carry paying passengers as well as cargo.

It made the trade and transportation of raw, heavy and bulky materials between Liverpool and Manchester easier.

It allowed fresh dairy and agriculture produce from Lancashire to be delivered to local towns and cities.

It was a financial success and people suddenly realised that railways could provide huge profits.

Most importantly, the completion and success of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway sparked off the Age of Railways in Britain.

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Cargo and passengersCargo and passengers