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Because many wealthy investors thought it had huge economic potential as a means of speeding up transit of goods & people between manufacturing centres, markets, & ports. Early C19th England/ Britain was full of wealthy entrepreneurs (many of whom had made huge profits from the "Triangular Trade" - ie Slave Trade & associated manufacturing & export/ import trades) who were constantly looking for new investment opportunities. Canals & roads had already done much to facilitate business/ trade; railways looked like the "next big thing" where transport/ communications were concerned. They were not wrong!

The first public line was the Stockton - Darlington railway, opened in 1825: engineered by George Stephenson to demonstrate the viability/ utility of the emerging technologies of steam rotary motion (developed by James Watt, 1781) & iron tracks. It provided a great investment opportunity for venture capitalists, plus a huge stimulus to coal, iron, & engineering industries.

In 1826, George & Robert Stephenson undertook design & construction of the Liverpool - Manchester line (completed 1830), a phenomenal engineering feat that included the Olive Mount Cutting, Sankey Viaduct, & the crossing of the Chat Moss bog. This linked the port of Liverpool (cotton, tobacco, sugar etc from the Americas) to Manchester, centre of the cotton manufacturing industry.

The long-term economic impact of the railways on Britain is contested: canals continued to handle most internal bulk good carriage, but there's little doubt that the massive railway construction of the 1830s onwards was a great economic stimulus, arguably saving British venture capitalism from crisis in the mid C19th. Without doubt, railways "shrank the world", & greatly enhanced movements of people around Britain. The coming of the railways led to standardised time throughout the UK, and also made daily newspapers & a national football league viable. Ultimately, they also made suburbanisation & commuting to work increasingly attractive & feasible.

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