Russell, Colin Archibald (Author)
Hudson, John Adrian (Author)
RSC Pub.
Physical Details: xiii + 193 pp.; ill.; bibl.; index
Language: English
One of the most important parts of British heavy industry today is our railway system. Its constant appearances in news bulletins, its enormous appeal to fans or "enthusiasts", its permanent role in the lives of most of us, and its economic significance today, all underline its importance. Railway historians and enthusiasts will be surprised to learn that chemists played an important part in the development of the railway industry in Britain. Chemists themselves are well aware of the many and wide-ranging applications of their discipline, but the fact that their predecessors were involved in the technological development of railways will come as a surprise to many. This book is the first detailed study of this important interaction and covers the crucial role that chemistry played in the development of the British railway industry from its beginnings in the early 19th century up to the grouping of the railways of 1923 into GWR, SR, LNER, and LMSR. The book describes the vital relationship between chemistry and the railway industry, all very recently discovered. It shows that the railway system would simply have not been possible without chemical inputs, chiefly but by no means entirely analytical. This discovery about a huge revenue-earning industry in Britain came from rare documents recently unearthed and other archival material and the book contains many rare illustrations and vast amounts of previously unpublished material. For the historian, it is a classic case of where history of science and history of technology converge. A great many engineers contributed to the enormous technological development which occurred in the railway industry between 1830 and 1923, but working alongside the engineers were the chemists, and in certain critical areas their contribution to this development was vital. It is a contribution which up until now has not been adequately recognised, and this book puts the record straight. The book has an unusually wide appeal, being of interest to practising chemists, those interested in the history of chemistry and its role in society, historians of science and technology, mechanical engineers, and not least railway enthusiasts and railway historians. The chemist will be justly proud of the extreme importance of the subject for industry and the railway enthusiast will gain a wholly new picture of the development of the industry in Britain.
...MoreReview Anderson, Robert G. W. (2012) Review of "Early Railway Chemistry and Its Legacy". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 688-690).
Review Knight, David (2013) Review of "Early Railway Chemistry and Its Legacy". Technology and Culture (pp. 978-980).
Similar Citations
Article
Kent, David;
(2013)
Containing Disorder in the “Age of Equipoise”: Troops, Trains and the Telegraph
Book
Ian Derbyshire;
(2022)
Railways' Economic Impact on Uttar Pradesh and Colonial North India (1860-1914): The Iron Raj
Article
Robert M. Schwartz;
(2018)
The Transport Revolution on Land and Sea: Farming, Fishing, and Railways in Great Britain, 1840-1914
Article
Heywood, Anthony;
(2013)
Spark of Revolution? Railway Disorganisation, Freight Traffic and Tsarist Russia's War Effort, July 1914--March 1917
Article
Cupper, Dan;
(Fall-Winter 2007)
American Locomotive Builders
Article
John H., Jr. White;
(Fall-Winter 2007)
A Short History of American Locomotive Builders in the Steam Era: Introduction
Article
John H., Jr. White;
(Fall-Winter 2007)
Men Behind the Machines
Book
Roger C. Hinman;
(2011)
Merchants despatch: Its history and equipment
Book
Steinbrenner, Richard T.;
Battle, Bill J.;
Johnson, Ernest E.;
Steinbrenner, Theodore F.;
(2007)
The American Locomotive Company: A Centennial Remembrance
Article
John H., Jr. White;
(Fall-Winter 2007)
A History of the Individual Firms
Article
John H., Jr. White;
(Fall-Winter 2007)
The American Locomotive Industry
Article
(Fall-Winter 2007)
Daily News: When locomotives and their builders held the American public's attention
Article
Gregory, Ian N.;
Henneberg, Jordi Martí;
(2010)
The Railways, Urbanization, and Local Demography in England and Wales, 1825--1911
Article
Hugo Silveira Pereira;
(2018)
Colonial Railways and Conflict Resolution Between Portugal and the United Kingdom in Africa (c. 1880–early 1900s)
Book
Robert A. Schalla;
(2024)
Black Diamonds from the Treasure State: The Incredible Saga of the Montana, Wyoming & Southern, and Yellowstone Park Railroads
Book
Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes;
(2023)
Electric Indiana: The Rise and Fall of the World's Greatest Interurban Railway Center, 1893–1941
Book
Thick, Malcolm;
(2010)
Sir Hugh Plat: The Search for Useful Knowledge in Early Modern London
Thesis
Hudson, John Adrian;
(2005)
Chemistry and the British Railway Industry, 1830--1923
Article
Sorochinska, Elena;
(2013)
Contribution of O. S. Rayevskiy, Design Engineer, in Upgrading of Locomotive Types Used on the Territory of Ukraine
Article
Nina Kleinöder;
(2020)
A «Place in the Sun»?: German Rails and Sleepers in Colonial Railway Building in Africa, 1905 to 1914
Be the first to comment!