The Orderliness Hypothesis

Abstract

This extension of the railway system by means of feeder lines means that in many ways the early development of the system can be viewed, not in terms of booms and slumps, but in rational steps. By the end of 1833, three of the five English provincial towns with a population of more than 100,000 had railway links with London under construction; by the end of 1836 only Portsmouth remained among English towns of over 50,000 population without a line authorized; and by the end of 1837 most towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants were on or close to the route of an authorized railway.1