1st Edition

The Influence of Railways on Economic Change

By Richard Marks Copyright 2026
416 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

416 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book approaches the history of railway building and its impact on economic change in a new way. Using a more granular approach than has been used in the past, based on detailed case studies, this book aims to establish the effect of railway building on local economies and individual sectors within those micro-economies. From the resulting analysis, it has been possible to extrapolate the... Read more

1. Introduction  2. Perceptions of Railway Building in Historical Study  3. Revisiting Research Methods for Railway and Business Relationships  4. The British and Berkshire Economies before the Railways  5. Introduction to the Case Studies and the Prevailing Business Landscape in Britain in the Nineteenth Century  6. Reading Case Study  7. Maidenhead Case Study  8. Newbury Case Study  9. Wokingham Case Study  10. Windsor Case Study  11. Abingdon Case Study  12. Wallingford Case Study  13. Wantage Case Study  14. The Railway and Its Direct Impact upon Industry  15. Reflections on Railway, Industry and Commerce Relationships

Biography

Dr. Richard Marks is an experienced published historian and is a departmental tutor in Economic and Social History at the University of Oxford. His areas of research interest include Victorian Britain, railway and military history. Richard recently completed a new History of British Rail Engineering Limited (2024).