Coloured View on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1831

The new rail technology transfixed the world: between 1825 and 1845, England experienced no fewer than three railway bubbles. The first followed on the heels of the Stockton and Darlington line, Stephenson’s early engines were to unreliable that during their first years of operation the line’s coal and passenger cars more often than not had to pulled by horse. As the engine improved, as many as fifty nine more rai lines were planned. ` Page 105

England, which had 2,000 miles of railroad in 1843, had more than 5,000 by the end of 1848; Hudson en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George controlled some 1,450 of those iron miles and held a virtual monopoly over the nation’s northeast. Far more trackage was planned: parliament approved 800 miles in 1844, 2,700 in 1845, and 4,500 in 1846 The modus operandi of Hudson, and of most of other promoters, involved selling shares for a small down payment and competing the full purchase much later. . . .Page 114