Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/16

 the community in its every detail, and has become so potent a factor in its every movement and operation, whether of business or of pleasure, that it must clearly be material for every individual to know something of the great agency which does so much for his happiness and welfare, and to realise clearly what are its obligations and liabilities towards himself, and what he has a right to expect from it. Such knowledge it is hoped this work may impart; but it has the further aim of constituting a practical guide or hand-book for those who, whether in this country or in our numerous colonies, may find it necessary, for whatever reasons, to acquire a knowledge of the principles upon which a great English railway is constructed and managed, and the methods and appliances by means of which its business is carried on.

It is not the intention of the present writer to enter into a detailed history of the conception and growth of the railway system from its earliest period to the present time. The story is one full of interest, and, having been recounted by many other and abler pens, may, in its main features, be said to be fairly well known. It may not, however, be out of place to allude, briefly,- to the state of things which prevailed before the genius of a great engineer and the courage and enterprise of a few Liverpool merchants inaugurated the enormous social revolution which has since displayed such extraordinary development, and has so greatly contributed to the happiness and prosperity of the human race.

If we go no further back than the commencement of the present century, only a few years before the first railway was projected, we find that, although the