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Railway and its Passengers, The A social history by David Norman Smith w DJ
The Railway and its Passengers A social history by David Norman Smith Dust Jacket 1988 192 Pages
From the earliest days of steam railways in Britain the relationship between the railway and its passengers raised several crucial questions. Was the market for railway travel simply the creation of the railway or the product of other, more complicated forces in the social and economic structure of Victorian Britain? Did the railway companies actively encourage some types of traffic whilst discouraging others? What sort of services were provided for different classes of passengers? How did the companies react to the growth of commuter traffic or demands for third-class travel and cheap excursion trains? What part did government play in the development of railway travel and how did the companies respond to state interference? How did the companies attempt to promote passenger traffic and sell their services to the public?
Answers to some of these questions may be found if the reader is prepared to consult a wide range of existing, often highly specialised, studies. The standard company histories provide some information on the development of passenger traffic on particular railways, while the more general social and economic histories of transport provide useful chapters on the impact of railways on passenger travel. The work of various social historians has shed light on the railway's role in the rise of the seaside holiday and of the resort towns themselves. Linked to this the railway as urban history and its contribution to the growth of the Victorian city and its suburbs has received detailed attention. Political historians have studied the role of government in railway development. Other aspects of railway passenger operations - notably the development of rolling stock and railway safety - have also been studied.
The aim of this book, therefore, is to bring together into a single volume the various themes in the manifold relationship between the railway and its passengers during the period between 1830 and the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1947. Little of the content claims to be original since it is essentially a survey and a synthesis of the existing and often very diverse literature in this field. The treatment of the subject, inevitably selective and by no means exhaustive, is thematic. The first chapter outlines the reasons for the rapid growth of railway passenger traffic, its dominant characteristics and the development of railway travel into a 'mass' activity. Chapter two examines the intervention of the state in the relationship between passenger and railway. Subsequent chapters explore the development of various categories of passenger train services - main line, rural, suburban, excursion, special - and the social impact of those services. The final chapter examines the attempts of the railway companies to promote and 'sell' their services to the public, especially in an age of growing competition from other forms of transport.
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