Diverging Tracks : American Versus English Rail Travel in the 19th Century

306 Pages·2018·3.252 MB·English

by  Trevor K. Snowdon

Diverging Tracks
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Diverging Tracks
American Versus English
Rail Travel in the
19th Century
Trevor K. Snowdon
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
LibraryofCongreSSCaTaLoguing-in-PubLiCaTionDaTa
names: Snowdon, Trevor K. 1955– author.
Title: Diverging tracks : american versus english rail travel
in the 19th century / Trevor K. Snowdon.
Description: Jefferson, north Carolina : Mcfarland & Company, inc.,
Publishers, 2019 | includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: LCCn 2018052627 | iSbn 9781476671543
(softcover : acid free paper)
♾
Subjects: LCSH: railroad travel—united States—History—19th century. |
railroad travel—england—History—19th century. | railroads—
Social aspects—History—19th century.
Classification: LCC He2751 .S56 2019 | DDC 388/.22094109034—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052627
briTiSHLibraryCaTaLoguingDaTaareavaiLabLe
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-7154-3
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3245-2
© 2019 Trevor K. Snowdon. all rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
front cover image © 2019 givaga/iStock
Printed in the united States of america
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To ian Carter, former chair of Sociology and
professor emeritus, university of auckland, new Zealand—
a man with a razor- sharp mind, whose teaching was
both profoundly illuminating and truly inspirational.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Introduction 5
One. nineteenth Century england: a very Strange railroad
System in a very Strange Society? 11
Two. The Carceral experiences of the 19th Century
english railroad Passenger 51
Three. nineteenth Century america: a no Less Strange
railroad System in a no Less Strange Society? 93
Four. Traveling with the Passenger on the 19th Century
“Classless” american railroad 144
Five. The Safety of railroad Travel in 19th Century
england and america 195
Six. The “railroading” of Consciousness in the 19th Century 236
Conclusion 269
Chapter Notes 273
Selected Bibliography 293
Index 295
vii
ittakesanendlessamountofhistorytomakeevenalittletradition.
—Henry James, The American Scene
it requires years of research for a moment of synthesis.
—fustel de Coulanges
Preface
During the last 150 years transportation historians have not been sparing where
superlatives describing the historical significance of the advent of railroads are con-
cerned. but like the historians who came after them, many who actually witnessed the
advent of railroads viewed it as a monumentally significant development and one likely
to completely transform the fabric of Western civilization in the foreseeable future.
and it did.
in this book, it is my intention to focus comparativelyupon the advent of railroads
in britain (principally england) and america in the 19th century. in certain important
respects, the advent of railroads in these two national contexts did not take a remarkably
different course, whereas in other respects it did; to the extent that, ultimately, two
entirely different national styles of railroading—railroad construction, railroad tech-
nology (locomotives and carriages, for instance), the commodified forms of railroad
passenger traveling experience, railroad administration, and railroad operations—
emerged. and, if nothing else, this study ought to make it apparent that although we
can speak meaningfully of the advent of railroads in a generic sense; yet, in every
national context, i would argue, the newly emergent railroad system inevitably acquired,
and acquired multifariously, a national style.
This national style of railroad development and of railroad systems will, to a con-
siderable extent, reflect key aspects of culture or of the dominant culture. but it will
also reflect—often to some considerable extent, as we shall see in the comparative exam-
ples of england and america—key elements of social structure, and especially the form
of social stratification in society at large. furthermore, this national style of railroading
may reflect not only key values and significant aspects of social structure; it may also
encapsulate and exemplify some of the predominant ideologies of the age (some key
values emblematic of national ideology, if you like)—even if myth underpins them—
which the societies in question identify with. Moreover, the national style of railroading
that emerges may not only have an ideological underpinning reflecting a nation’s self-
image; it may represent a conspicuous, even a pre- eminent (microcosmic) exemplifi-
cation of that national self- imagery, as we shall see in due course. However, i think
some comments on the railroad literary tradition are in order before i “get up steam.”
Historically, the advent of railroads and their development has fascinated and
sometimes bemused veritable legions of (mostly male) researchers and authors. Con-
sequently, there exists today a mammoth literature addressing the multidimensional
historical trajectories of this technological juggernaut through time and space, society
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