Get on the Reading Train!

In honor of the historical milestone on 27 September, this week’s Ink & Time Curation celebrates the 200th year anniversary of the humble Train.

First a bit of history:

The revolution began on September 27, 1825, when the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in northeast England, the world's first steam locomotives for freight transport. "Locomotion No. 1" carried 450 passengers at a modest speed of 15 mph. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830, as the world's first intercity railway relying on steam locomotives for both freight and passengers. This 35-mile line established the template for modern railways with its double-track system, scheduled services, and signaling, which would define rail transport for generations.

Railway development accelerated rapidly through the 1800s. Following the early success of British lines, the United States experienced explosive growth, with railroad construction increasing from 45,000 miles of track by 1871 to over 170,000 additional miles by 1900. The completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 transformed American commerce and westward expansion.

Steam technology advanced significantly during this period. The famous "Rocket," designed by Robert Stephenson achieved 30 mph and established the basic locomotive design with its front chimney, tubular boiler, and rear firebox configuration. These innovations enabled railways to carry heavier loads over longer distances.

The modern high-speed rail era began in Japan in 1964 with the opening of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, connecting Tokyo and Osaka at speeds up to 210 km/h (130 mph). This "bullet train" demonstrated the feasibility of high-speed passenger rail.Europe followed with France's TGV, which began commercial service between Paris and Lyon on September 27, 1981, operating at 260 km/h (160 mph). The TGV network has since expanded to over 2,800 km, carrying 122 million passengers annually and achieving a world record speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) in 2007.

China emerged as the high-speed leader after launching in 2008, rapidly building over 20,000 km of lines with more than 1,200 trainsets. Modern high-speed trains routinely operate at 320 km/h (200 mph) in commercial service, representing a remarkable evolution over two centuries.

The railway's transformation from coal-hauling steam engines to electric bullet trains demonstrates one of history's most significant transportation revolutions, fundamentally reshaping global mobility, commerce, and urban development.

Now, all aboard! Get reading…

Dickens's railway novel captures the ambivalent Victorian response to the transformative power of trains. Set against the construction of the London & Birmingham Railway, the novel depicts both the destructive and beneficial effects of railway development on London's topography and society. The railway serves as a symbol of progress and a "monster" that kills people, reflecting the era's complex relationship with technology.

Read: Project Gutenberg

Recognized as potentially the first British detective novel, this sensation incorporates railways into its complex murder mystery. The plot begins when Richard Marwood is arrested on a train journey after being falsely accused of murdering his uncle. Braddon uses the railway carriage as a confined space that intensifies drama: a document that could prove innocence is accidentally burned in a railway compartment with no side corridor, leaving passengers with no means of escape. Established many conventions of railway crime fiction that would influence the genre for decades.

Read: Project Gutenberg

Set on the fictional "Grand National Trunk Railway," the novel includes detailed technical information about railway operations while telling interconnected stories of passengers, workers, and criminals. Ballantyne's "frame tale" structure weaves together accounts of lost luggage, mistaken identities, train robberies, and a catastrophic railway accident. The novel concludes with a serious collision between a derailed mineral train and an excursion train, emphasizing both the excitement and dangers of railway travel.

Read: Project Gutenberg

While primarily a political novel, Trollope's masterpiece contains some of the most vivid railway descriptions in Victorian literature. His famous passage describing Tenway Junction captures the energy and complexity of Victorian railway operations with "Dickensian energy and style". Trollope uses railways to reflect social change and class mobility, serving as a metaphor for the rapid transformations in British society. The novel includes the memorable figure of the "railway pundit," the experienced station official who could instantly assess any passenger's purpose and needs.

Read: Internet Archive

This masterpiece of railway literature follows railway workers on the Paris-Le Havre line in the 1860s. Zola's lurid psychological thriller explores the close relationship between driver, stoker, and locomotive while depicting the darker aspects of railway life. The novel powerfully evokes life at the end of France's Second Empire, where society seemed to be "hurtling into the future like the new locomotives and railways it was building".

Read: Internet Archive

This semi-autobiographical travel memoir chronicles Stevenson's 1879 journey across America by immigrant train. While technically non-fiction, Stevenson's literary artistry transforms the work into a novelistic exploration of American railway travel. He vividly describes the segregated train cars (one for women and children, one for men, one for Chinese passengers) and notes the superior cleanliness of the Chinese carriages despite European prejudices. The work captures the epic scale of transcontinental railway travel and its role in American expansion.

Read: Internet Archive

Though not featuring Sherlock Holmes directly, this railway mystery showcases Doyle's mastery of the railway crime genre. The story concerns the baffling disappearance of a privately hired train from the London and North Western Railway Company between Kenyon Junction and Barton Moss. The only clues are the dead body of the driver found along the line and a mysterious letter from America claiming to be from the train guard. A character possibly meant to be Holmes provides analysis, stating the elementary principle that "when the impossible has been eliminated the residuum, however improbable, must contain the truth".

Read: Project Gutenberg

Greene's early "entertainment" follows passengers on the Orient Express from Ostend to Istanbul. Set in the politically turbulent 1930s, the novel uses the train journey as a microcosm of European society on the brink of war. The work captures the golden age of luxury railway travel while exploring themes of political exile, anti-Semitism, and failed dreams.

Read: Internet Archive

The acclaimed author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee examines the construction of America's transcontinental railroads. Brown balances celebration of the engineering achievement with unflinching analysis of the environmental destruction and exploitation of workers, particularly Chinese laborers and Native Americans. This work provides crucial perspective on both the triumphs and tragedies of railway expansion.

Shop: AbeBooks

This ambitious work provides a year-by-year chronicle of British railway development from the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway to the present day. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of railway history, from technical innovations to cultural impact. Lavishly illustrated and written by the co-editor of the Pevsner architectural guides, this book represents the most comprehensive recent treatment of British railway history.

Shop: AbeBooks

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