In the days of the sail there were severe limitations to the use of coastal shipping, because beneficial results could only be achieved if the winds and tides combined made it possible. Therefore, the arrival of the steamship was a welcome attribution to coastal shipping. Some of these ships were exclusively meant for the carriage of goods, but the majority of them carried passengers. In the early 1840s British coastal passenger steamships achieved their greatest extent and importance: there were over 1400 route-miles of regular crossings linking ninety ports and harbours. Because travel by steamboat was so much cheaper than travel by coach, which had been the main means of transport before the emergence of the steamship, and more reliable than the sailing ship, the passenger steamship services were very popular in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
In the coastwise trades steam power was adopted more slowly for goods than for passenger traffic. The sense of urgency in the delivery of goods was not the same as there was to complete a passenger sea journey, and the initial cost of building and equipping a steamship was greater than that for a sailing vessel of the same size. Only when railway companies started to emerge and competition between them established new standards for speedy delivery, steam power took over from sailing ships for the transport of goods.
Canals
Coastal shipping was not the only means of water transport during the industrial revolution. The British canal system also played an important role in the course of this period.
The modern canal system was mainly a product of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. It came into being because the rapidly increasing volume of inter-regional exchange demanded an economic and reliable way to transport goods and commodities in large quantities. By the early eighteenth century, river navigations were becoming quite advanced, with pound locks and cuts to avoid difficult stretches of river. Eventually this led to the idea of building a canal, a waterway designed for the purpose of delivery of goods. This way, transport was no longer dependant on the existence of rivers, because canals could be built wherever needed. The new canals turned out to be very successful. The boats on the canals were horse-drawn with a towpath alongside the canal, and could carry 30 tons at a time with one horse pulling. This was more than ten times the amount of cargo per horse that was possible with a cart, and therefore highly economical. This horse-drawn system became standardised across the British canal network.
During the period between the 1770s and the 1830s, the ‘Canal Age’, vast amounts of money were invested in canal building, and the canal system rapidly increased to nearly 3000 miles in length. However, from the 1830s, railways began to form a threat to canals, as they could not only carry more, but could also transport people and goods far more quickly. Most of the investors that previously funded canal building now put their money in railway building. By 1850, when the railway system had become well established, the amount of cargo carried on canals had fallen by nearly two-thirds. Only larger canal companies managed to survive independently, most of the smaller ones were bought out by railway companies. The canals survived through the nineteenth century by supplying local markets or residing in places the railways had missed.
Road transport
Throughout the period of the industrial revolution roads remained the most important means of communication. However, up until the seventeenth century the maintenance of the roads that had been built by the Romans was the responsibility of individual parishes. This system resulted in neglect, by the beginning of the 18th century British roads largely consisted of dirt tracks. The state of the roads was a continuing national problem made worse by the use of heavy carts and carriages as trade increased.
Turnpike roads
As the need for better roads increased the concept of toll roads, or turnpikes, was introduced. Thousands of trusts and companies with rights to collect tolls in return for providing and maintaining roads were established by Acts of Parliament.
The first of these turnpike roads was the improvement of the Great North Road, now the A1, connecting London and York. It was upgraded as a result of a 1663 Act of Parliament. Little more was done until 1706, when "Turnpike Trusts" were introduced, effectively placing road development on a commercial basis. The most potentially profitable roads became Trusts, which at its peak never accounted for more than 20% of Britain's road network. Turnpike Trusts were a success and improved land circulation substantially. This began an era of major road improvement and road building, which was to last until the first part of the 19th century.
By 1770, there were 25,000 km of turnpike roads in England and most of the country was within 12.5 miles of one. The turnpike system reached a peak of 32,500 km by 1836, but by then rail transportation started to emerge, which marked the downfall of turnpikes.
Because the roads improved, more heavily-loaded wagons were able to pass along, and less horses were needed for them. Road transport became more efficient, and according to Chartres service quotient ‘the number of goods vehicles from London nearly doubled in the half century between 1715 and 1765.’ But the expansion of goods carriage on the roads was not as spectacular as the growth in passenger traffic. The most noticeable effect of the turnpike system was the general saving in travel times. This was due to a variety of factors, such as innovations in coach design and reorganization of travel schedules, but most importantly the improved roads.
According to Flinn, ‘the role of turnpike roads in economic development is often underestimated.’ The road transport system of the eighteenth century, and the information services it supported, were of essential value for the large-scale industries. Because postal and carrier services speeded up, these firms were able to function more efficiently and became better integrated. Also, significant time-savings communications between customer and manufacturer allowed a more rapid response to market demand. Most importantly, as the problem of distance was overcome, manufacturers were able to reach a widespread market.
Railways
The British railway system emerged through the efforts of the first generation of engineers to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding mining and textile industries. The earliest railways were wagonways linking coal mines to nearby navigable rivers. These had wooden rails on which flanged wheels ran. The railways were all horse-drawn, though in many cases their slope meant that the horse was not required to draw the wagon downhill; instead it was necessary to apply a break to slow the descent. The wagon was emptied into a river , and the horse drew the empty wagon back to the coal pit. Steam engine haulage was tried by on the from to in , but proved unsatisfactory, partly because the engine was too heavy for the rails. It was only after the development of stronger rails made of rolled in the that steam engine hauled long-distance railways became feasible. Like the early wagonways, these were edge railways, where the wheels of the engine and wagons are flanged. The Railway followed, then the and many more.
The impressive growth of passenger travel caused by railways made a significant contribution to the wealth of the nation. The failure of rail goods traffic to develop as rapidly as passenger travel was partly due to the transport facilities provided by canal companies. This was partly because canal companies had lowered their prices, and partly because railway companies of the 1830s were small concerns, which operated a system for the carriage of goods which led to disputes and delays. After some improvements in organisation in the 1840s the volume of goods carried by railways managed to exceed the volume of goods carried by canals for the first time in the 1850s. After 1850 the movement of coal became the most important industry for the railways, and remained so for more than a hundred years. The tonnage of coal carried was always over half the total volume of freight traffic. Although this might seem a very positive outcome, the movement of such vast quantities of coal by rail also had its downsides. The fuel made available at less cost was vital for the basic industries, but the 1400000 waggons, most of which were needed for the transport of coal, slowed the pace, cluttered up the tracks and increades the cost of transport of more profitable goods.
Railways also had a direct influence on the iron and steel industry during the industrial revolution. The iron needed for signalling equipment, rolling stock, locomotives and most importantly new rails, caused the railways to have a great effect on the iron and steel industry.
Another industry that benefited from the railways was the brickmaking industry. In the early years when railway building was still in progress, the numerous stations, bridges, aqueducts and embankments required a vast amount of bricks. Although demand was not sustained at this level, oppurtunities for new employment opened up in widely spread parts of the country.
Historians have attempted to measure the overall effect of railways on the economic progress. They compared the costs of transport of passengers and freight by railway with the costs which would have been sustained if the older methods such as water and road transport had not been replaced. One of these historians concluded that ‘railways could not have been sacrificed in 1865 without the need to compensate for a loss of the order of ten per cent of the national income.’
Conclusion
To many people transport in the industrial revolution was dominated by the railway. Yet the importance of the combination of water and road transport should not be disregarded. In the pre-railway area an extensive and reliable system which could move bulk goods at low cost or high-value goods at high speed came into existence. This could be accomplished only with a combination of land and water transport. On land, it required roads which could support wheeled traffic year-round such that a regular professional carrying system could develop. On water, it required an extensive network of canals, navigable rivers, and coastal shipping which could move bulky goods throughout a particular region. The combination of an extensive network of waterways and of suitable roads was vital for the English industrial revolution.
The economic significance of railways lay in their ability to handle both major categories of traffic, which no other mode of transport had previously been able to do. They offered both lower cost and greater speed, the latter turning out to be more important than the cost reductions on coal etc. Railways encouraged economic growth in England in several ways. They lowered internal transport and helped to widen the market, and more importantly, they attributed greatly to the development of coal, iron and engineering industries. They did not always lead, but did encourage economic growth, and also responded to it.
However, the success of the railway did not mean the end for other types of transportation. Waterways cut their rates and improved their services, and continued to win traffic for some years. By encouraging economic growth, and because the railway system did not reach the whole country, railways generated shortdistance horse-drawn transport to and from stations, and also encouraged local traffic within rural areas.
To conclude, althought water and road transport played major roles in the period of the industrial revolution, the emergence and development of railways dominated the transport section during this period. Therefore it is safe to say that the improvement of railway transport had the most effect on the economy between 1750-1914.
Bibliography
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Bagwell, Philip S., The Transport Revolution, London, New York: Routledge (1988).
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Davis, John A. and Peter Mathias, The First Industrial Revolutions, Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd (1989).
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Hadfield, Charles, The Canal Age, Newton Abbot: David & Charles (1968).
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Hawke, G.R., Railways and Economic Growth in England and Wales, 1840-1870, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1970).
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Pawson, Eric, Transport and economy : the turnpike roads of eighteenth century Britain, London: Academic Press (1977).
Peter Mathias and John A. Davis, ‘The First Industrial Revolutions’, p. 87.
Philip S. Bagwell, ‘The Transport Revolution’, p. 1.
Philip S. Bagwell, ‘The Transport Revolution’, pp. 50-55.
Peter Mathias and John A. Davis, ‘The First Industrial Revolutions’, pp. 88-89.
Philip S. Bagwell, ‘The Transport Revolution’, p. 13.
Charles Hadfield, ‘The Canal Age’, pp. 69-104.
Peter Mathias and John A. Davis, ‘The First Industrial Revolutions’, p. 92.
Philip S. Bagwell, ‘The Transport Revolution’, p. 43.
Eric Pawson, Transport and economy : the turnpike roads of eighteenth century Britain, pp. 281-287.
Philip S. Bagwell, ‘The Transport Revolution’, pp. 95-103.
G.R. Hawke, ‘Railways and Economic Growth in England and Wales, 1840-1870’, pp. 213-245.
Philip S. Bagwell, ‘The Transport Revolution’, p. 111.
Peter Mathias and John A. Davis, ‘The First Industrial Revolutions’, pp. 99-100.