Victorian Railways (Vol. 10)

Studies in Architecture and Design

Edited by Simon Bradley and Steven Brindle

Authors include: Colin Divall, Benedict O’Looney, Susan Major, John Minnis, Richard Pollard, Simon Bradley, Robert Thorne, Steven Brindle

Pre-order for delivery after 3rd November 2026

Britain invented modern railways, and exported them to the rest of the world. The railways established themselves as one of Victorian Britain’s defining institutions, affecting almost every aspect of British life. Railway history has developed as a distinctive genre. However, the historians involved have tended to concentrate on the companies, the lines they built, their services and their rolling stock.

This journal breaks new ground, drawing on recent research on various aspects of railway history. Several articles look at some of the extraordinary works of architecture and engineering which were created by this new transport system. Others explore themes in the social and political history of railways.

The volume sheds light on how the railways created their own culture, developing new building types and new approaches to design and aesthetics. Railways remain part of the infrastructure of contemporary life, but they are also a historical phenomenon, intensely and characteristically Victorian.

The cover of the Journal shows Bullbridge Aqueduct from a lithograph by Samuel Russell.