Railway history

Railway history is a sub-field of history that researches the development and impacts of railways. While wagonways, tramways, and railways in some form date back to antiquity, railways started to have social and economic impacts in early 19th century in Britain. Railway history, like history itself, is compounded by sub-disciplines. Railway history is most often categorized (as per the Library of Congress subject headings) as a sub-field of economic history, but as many works focus on individual companies it is often considered a sub-field of business history as well. Historians of labor, culture, technology, and cities have also made significant contributions to the historical meanings and implications of railways.

History of Railways in Britain

History of Railways in the British Empire

History of railways in Canada

History of railways in Europe History of railways in Asia History of railways in Africa History of railways in South America History of railways in North America

U.S. Railroad History

U.S. labor

Licht (1983) shows that railways changed employment in many ways. Lines with hundreds or thousands of employees developed systematic rules and procedures, not only for running the equipment but in hiring, promoting, paying and supervising employees. The railway system was adopted by all major business. Railways offered a new type of work experience in enterprises vastly larger in size, complexity and management. At first workers were recruited from occupations where skills were roughly analogous and transferable, that is, workshop mechanics from the iron, machine and building trades; conductors from stagecoach drivers, steamship stewards and mail boat captains; station masters from commerce and commission agencies; and clerks from government offices.

Twentieth Century

See also Industrial Revolution

Labor issues

• Walter Licht, Working for the Railroad: The Organization of Work in the Nineteenth Century Princeton University Press, 1983
• Morgan, Stephen L. "Personnel Discipline and Industrial Relations on the Railways of Republican China." The Australian Journal of Politics and History. 47#1 (2001) pp 24+ online edition

Technology

• Alston, Liviu. Railways and Energy. Washington, DC: World Bank. 1984.
• Biddle, Gordon. Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: An Oxford Gazetteer of Structures and Sites. (2003). 759 pp.
• Drinkwater, Robert. "Code of the Rail" Beaver 2005 85(1): 41-43. ISSN: 0005-7517 Fulltext: in Ebsco
• Grant, H. Roger. The Railroad: The Life Story of a Technology. Greenwood, 2005. 182 pp.
• Marsden, Ben and Smith, Crosbie. Engineering Empires: A Cultural History of Technology in Nineteenth-Century Britain. 2005. 351 pp.
• McGowan, Christopher. Rail, Steam, And Speed: The "Rocket" and the Birth of Steam Locomotion. (2004). 400 pp.
• Riley, C. J. The Encyclopedia of Trains & Locomotives (2002).

Primary sources

• Foreign Railways of the World: Containing in One Volume, the Names of Officers, Length, Capital,... (1884)
• books on Canadian RR history

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External links

• Richard Jensen's WWW Guide to "Railroad History"
• Simone Sterne, "Railroads" from 1881 Encyclopedia
• primary sources on 19th century and early 20th century American railways