The Railway Age

This programme looks at the results that the introduction of the steam railway had on life in Britain. Like so many industrial changes, the origins of railways go back to the coal industry. For several hundred years coal had been carried by sea from the coal fields of North Eastern England to London. The problem the coal owners faced was how to get their coal from the pit heads to the ports. The answer was the railway, in which wagons could be pushed by men or pulled by horses. Then a new source of power came into its own - The steam locomotive.