Editing Industrial Revolution (section)

====Railways====
{{Main|History of rail transport in Great Britain}}
[[File:Opening Liverpool and Manchester Railway.jpg|thumb|A portrait depicting the [[opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway]] in 1830, the first inter-city railway in the world and which spawned [[Railway Mania]] due to its success]]
Railways were made practical by the widespread introduction of inexpensive puddled iron after 1800, the rolling mill for making rails, and the development of the high-pressure steam engine. Reduced friction was a major reason for the success of railways compared to wagons. This was demonstrated on an iron plate-covered wooden tramway in 1805 at Croydon, England.
<blockquote>A good horse on an ordinary turnpike road can draw two thousand pounds, or one ton. A party of gentlemen were invited to witness the experiment, that the superiority of the new road might be established by ocular demonstration. Twelve wagons were loaded with stones, till each wagon weighed three tons, and the wagons were fastened together. A horse was then attached, which drew the wagons with ease, {{convert|6|mi|km|0|spell=in|disp=sqbr}} in two hours, having stopped four times, in order to show he had the power of starting, as well as drawing his great load.<ref>
{{cite book
|title=Railroads of the United States, Their History and Statistics
 |last=Fling
 |first= Harry M.
|year= 1868|publisher =John. E. Potter and Co.
|location= [[Philadelphia]]
|pages=12, 13
}}
</ref></blockquote>

Wagonways for moving coal in the mining areas had started in the 17th century and were often associated with canal or river systems for the further movement. These were horse-drawn or relied on gravity, with a stationary steam engine to haul the wagons back to the top of the incline. The first applications of steam locomotive were on wagon or plate ways. Horse-drawn public railways begin in the early 19th century when improvements to pig and wrought iron production lowered costs.

Steam locomotives began being built after the introduction of high-pressure steam engines, after the expiration of the Boulton and Watt patent in 1800. High-pressure engines exhausted used steam to the atmosphere, doing away with the condenser and cooling water. They were much lighter and smaller in size for a given horsepower than the stationary condensing engines. A few of these early locomotives were used in mines. Steam-hauled public railways began with the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]] in 1825.<ref>Jack Simmons, and Gordon Biddle, eds. ''The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s'' (2nd ed. 1999).</ref>
 
[[File:James Pollard - The Louth-London Royal Mail Travelling by Train from Peterborough East, Northamptonshire - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|The Louth-London [[Royal Mail]] travelling by train from [[Peterborough East railway station|Peterborough East]], 1845]]
The rapid introduction of railways followed the 1829 [[Rainhill trials]], which demonstrated [[Robert Stephenson]]'s successful locomotive design and the 1828 development of [[hot blast]], which dramatically reduced the fuel consumption of making iron and increased the capacity of the blast furnace. On 15 September 1830, the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]], the first inter-city railway in the world, was [[Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway|opened]].<ref>Herbert L. Sussman (2009). "Victorian Technology: Invention, Innovation, and the Rise of the Machine". p. 2. ABC-CLIO, 2009</ref> The railway was engineered by [[Joseph Locke]] and [[George Stephenson]], linked the rapidly expanding industrial town of Manchester with the port of Liverpool. The railway became highly successful, transporting passengers and freight.

The success of the inter-city railway, particularly in the transport of freight and commodities, led to [[Railway Mania]]. Construction of major railways connecting the larger cities and towns began in the 1830s, but only gained momentum at the very end of the first Industrial Revolution. After many of the workers had completed the railways, they did not return to the countryside but remained in the cities, providing additional workers for the factories.