Introduction

In 1830, the actress Fanny Kemble recorded her feelings after enjoying a preview ride on the newly-opened Manchester and Liverpool Railway:

We were introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the rails.  She consisted of a boiler, a stove, a small platform, a bench, and behind the bench a barrel containing enough water to prevent her being thirsty for fifteen miles – the whole machine not bigger than a common fire-engine.

She goes upon two wheels, which are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs called pistons; these are propelled by steam, and in proportion as more steam is applied to these pistons, the faster they move the wheels.

You can’t imagine how strange it seemed to be journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress other than the magical machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying pace 

The carriage … was set off at its utmost speed, thirty-five miles an hour, swifter than a bird flies. You cannot conceive what that sensation of cutting the air was; the motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either have read or written; and as it was, I stood up, and with my bonnet off “drank the air before me.” The wind, which was strong, or perhaps the force of our own thrusting against it, absolutely weighed my eyelids down.

When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond description; yet, strange as it was, I had a perfect sense of security, and not the slightest fear. 

The railways in 1830 were as exciting and as rare as space travel is to us today; going on a steam train was a huge adventure.

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1   A Railway Journey

These images are all from the 19th century.