Global Conquest: How Railways Took Over The World

A celebration of the impact of this remarkable development

In 1830, the world's first railway opened between Liverpool and Manchester. By the end of the 19th century, there were 200,000 miles of track across the world and this continued unabated into the 20th century, with the longest, the Trans Siberian, completed in 1916.

By the time Harry Beck produced his influential London Underground map in 1933, cities and whole countries had been re-shaped by the possibilities of mass transit. Author, commentator and railway historian Christian Wolmar charts how the iron road spread so rapidly and extensively, and outlines the impact of this remarkable development.