It wasn't just canals that suffered from the impact of the railways - although a lot of railway lines are built on the paths of old canals - it was also the stagecoaches. The trains killed the stagecoach trade very dead very quickly. Despite their faults the railways were much faster at moving freight as well as passengers around the country. The London newspapers could be in Birmingham by the early afternoon of the same day they were printed. The stagecoaches just couldn't compete.
>From the death of the stagecoach in about the 1840s to the rise of the motor car after WW1 the roads were crumbling and left to the horses, walkers and cyclists to enjoy. It must have been a blissful time in many ways for many people. Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Bob Sullivan > Sent: 25 May 2009 14:12 > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: PESO - Baldwin Downunder > > Bob, > > That's an interesting thought on railroads - creating a tech bubble in > the 1800's?! And seeing some maps of England's canal boat system make > me wonder about rail. Perhaps the need was less than I imagined. > > One advantage of railroads is they are cheaper to build than digging > canals, and you could burn cheap fuel (wood or coal) and get great > mechanical advantage. Carrying the freight wasn't via horse power, it > was by steam power! > > The opening of the N.American prairies to farming led to an explosion > in railroads for the US. At one time not long ago, no point in the > state of Iowa (300 miles by 400 miles) was more than 1/2 mile from a > rail line. Rail was the only way to get the grain to market. (This > caused great havoc with the railroads later when they tried to abandon > lines and met with serious government opposition/NO's.) > > US transportation was different in the 1920's when Major Dwight D. > Eisenhower led a road trip across the country with the vehicles that > had helped win 'The Great War'. It took him a year to cross the > country and he lamented the conditions of the roads. Roads were paved > in the cities, but not so much between cities! > > Regards, Bob S. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
