Editing 1840s (section)

==== Rail ====
[[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]]
Widespread interest to invest in rail technology led to a [[Stock market bubble|speculative frenzy]] in [[United Kingdom|Britain]], known there as [[Railway Mania]]. It reached its zenith in 1846, when no fewer than 272 [[Acts of Parliament]] were passed, setting up new railway companies, and the proposed routes totalled {{convert|9500|mi|km}} of new railway. Around a third of the railways authorised were never built – the company either collapsed due to poor financial planning, was bought out by a larger competitor before it could build its line, or turned out to be a fraudulent enterprise to channel investors' money into another business.