Mid-Victorian Railways

Next week, as I mentioned in class, I want to talk about the representation of the railways in Dombey and Son. There's a wealth of material, most of it historical (or economic history) about the mid-century Railway boom -- the 'Railway Mania' that's the immediate background to Dickens's novel. Half an hour in the library will turn up all sorts of things; half an hour trawling google will turn up even more. But here are a couple of specific links:

Check out Ian Carter's Railways and culture in Britain: the epitome of modernity (Studies in popular culture: Manchester University Press, 2001), especially the chapter on Dombey and Son (p.71f.)

Also worth looking at is Michael J. Freeman, Derek H. Aldcroft (eds), Transport in Victorian Britain (Manchester University Press ND, 1991).

Incidentally, the rather splendid image at the head of this post is sourced from the Museum of London website. This is what they say about it:

George Cruikshank, 'The Railway Dragon' [Etching] A steam engine belching steam and smoke has invaded a dining room where a family had gathered to eat a Christmas meal. Its human arms hold forks with which to seize a roast of beef and a plum pudding. Chairs are overturned by fleeing terrified children, a baby lies in an upset highchair and his mother screams 'Oh! the Monster!'. The father clutches his forehead crying 'Oh! my beef! and oh! my babbies!!!' The engine intones 'I come to dine, I come to sup/I come, I come..to eat you up. From 'The Table Book', a part work by G. Cruikshank. This etching alludes to the crash in value of railway stock in 1845/6.

Isn't it lovely?

There's also this famous image: