Railways and the Victorian Imagination. - Review - book review

Contemporary Review, July, 2000

Railways and the Victorian Imagination. Michael Freeman. Yale University Press. [pound]25.00. 264 pages. ISBN 0-300-07970-2. The development of a national railway system in Britain transformed the countryside, brought some towns to life and left others in aspic, facilitated trade, made suburbs possible and even affected the nature of time by demanding a unitary time throughout the country.

The economic and social changes brought by the railways -- mainly in England -- have been the subject of many books. This author's interest is in the cultural impact of railways on the 'national consciousness'. He discusses the impact of railway building on Britain's class structure and on urbanisation, the men who designed and built the railways, the effect of railways on board games, puzzles, toys (still alive in our own day, vide Thomas the Tank Engine), on music and on art. With the engaging and numerous illustrations this is a fascinating book which draws on many sources. One criticism: more attention should have been given to the railways' effects on religion. Two references are wholly inadequate.