Shropshire Routes to Roots

5. The age of steam

The trains arrive

In July 1837, a railway line from Liverpool and Manchester to Birmingham was opened. It passed close to Market Drayton, stopping at Whitmore Station. As more and more railways were built, people began to talk excitedly about a new 'age of steam'.

On the 7th July, 1837, the Shrewsbury Chronicle carried a story about the new line. It hailed the Grand Junction Railway as a "stupendous undertaking...this work is a great one in an engineering point of view." The railway company announced that there would be six trains a day calling at Whitmore Station.

The fares from Birmingham to Liverpool were £1 1s for First Class passengers, and £0 14s for Second Class passengers. Over time, cheaper fares were offered, although it was not until the 1844 Railway Act was passed that companies had to run one third class carriage a day, making cheap travel available to the masses.

The railway did not quite pass through Shropshire. Whitmore Station was in Staffordshire, about fifteen kilometres [nine miles] northeast of Market Drayton. People got there by taking a stagecoach from the town centre.

Soon after the railway was built, L. Taylor's stagecoach company announced that:

"the Company's coaches, the Royal Victoria and The railway, will in future leave the Lion Hotel [in Market Drayton] every morning at six o'clock, in time to proceed to...the whole of North Wales; and every afternoon at two o'clock...in time for the railway passengers to proceed by the railway carriages to Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester and all parts of the North"

[Shrewsbury Chronicle, July 1837]

Was this an early example of what is now known as 'integrated transport'?

At first, we could only go to Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester by train. But soon it was possible to travel to almost anywhere in the country. In 1863 Market Drayton got its own station.

The Liverpool and Birmingham railway connected with others, and the company joined forces with the Grand Junction Railway in 1846. Soon there was a network of lines covering Shropshire and England. Look at the map using the image on the right, and compare it to the map of Shropshire in 1804 and to the Greenwood's map of Shropshire, 1830 (Images open in a new window). How have roads, railways and canals developed over sixty years? Look at a modern map of Shropshire using Streetmap.co.uk (Opens in a new window). How has Shropshire changed since the 1860's?

Crutchley's Rail and Telegraph Map of Shropshire, 1860 Larger image, in a new window [86kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: C69]

Travelling on the railway

The railways were much faster than the canals. They carried goods and passengers to a reliable timetable. The canals were not designed to take passengers, but on trains people had much more luxury. Eventually, in the First Class carriages, rich people could sleep on beds or have hot tea served at their seats.

Railway timetable for the London and North Western Railway [Shropshire Archive reference: PL9/39/3/2]

The image on the right is of a railway timetable published by the London and North Western Railway in 1881. The London and North Western Railway was formed in 1846 by a merger of the Grand Junction Railway, which ran near Market Drayton, with the London and Birmingham. Open the larger image of the timetable: How many trains left Shrewsbury during the week? How many major towns and cities did the railway serve?

Section of the London and Northwestern Railway timetable, 1881 Larger image, in a new window [64kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: PL9/39/3/2]

When I was young, we never travelled far from Market Drayton. My mother used to look forward to going to town once a week on the cart.

But with the railways, people could afford to go much further from home, especially once third-class fares were introduced. In 1851, my son went all the way to London to see the Great Exhibition.

One man, Thomas Cook, had the idea of providing all-inclusive tickets which included travel and entrance to an event. The company he founded now sells holidays all over the world.

Continue

Return to top of page