Railway Towns- An Overview of Towns that Developed Through Railways

The railways had an enormous economic and social impact in Britain, not least with its demography. Before 1914 places on the railway system felt they were connected to the wider world. It was never actually as simple as that. Some places well served by railways prospered, other did not. Others became complex railway hubs, perhaps with railway-based engineering works, extensive shunting yards and warehouses and a large requirement for labour. Some companies built large numbers of dwellings for their workers and their families. Sometimes they even built churches and parks. Places of this character have often been described as 'railway towns' but what is actually meant by this term? In a pioneering attempt in book form to move towards an understanding of what constitutes a railway town, the author considers a wide range of cities, towns, villages and other settlements and asks to what extent they owed their 19th and early 20th century development to the railways.