The Centenary of the Railway

Abstract

THE celebration of the centenary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway is an occasion of world-wide interest, for from that pioneer line has sprung the vast network of railways which stretches to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was the first of British public steam railways, and just as the Romans were the great builders of roads, so our race became the great builders of railways. Even as British ships navigate every sea, so railways designed by British engineers traverse every continent. The modern textile industry and the steel industry both had their birth in our isles, but it is probable our three greatest contributions to material progress were the steam engine, the steam-ship, and the locomotive. Watt and Stephenson, like Shakespeare, Newton, and Faraday, have been eulogised beyond measure, but we are perhaps even now too near the revolutions they set in motion to realise their full significance in the history of mankind.