The Great Western before the Great Western - 1826

I was recently contacted by someone asking if I could help them find anything about the London and Bristol Rail Road. This wasn't an early form of the Great Western Railway that came to be promoted in the early 1830s, but another project that planned in 1826 that never came to fruition. Indeed, searching through the on-line nineteenth century newspapers only turned up one article as follows from the Bristol Mercury of Monday June 5 of that year:

If you have any more information on this project, please let me know!

The First use of the Word 'Railway'? - 1776

While it is easy to see the railway age in Britain as beginning with the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, or even the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway five years before, it should not be forgotten that prior to this there were a great many track ways established for industrial or mining purposes. These lines were usually hauled by horses, used wooden tracks, and connected with other pieces of transport infrastructure, such as canals and ports. Therefore, given these lines existed, I thought I would search for the earliest use of the word 'railway' in the 17th and 18th online newspaper collections. The first I found was from the London Gazette of May 11 1776, which reported....
  

Images of the London and Greenwhich Railway in 1836

I've been doing a piece on the London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR) for the Londoner's Diary site, which is exploring the diaries of Anthony Evans from the 1830s. I'd really recommend the site as it is a truly fascinating look back in time. In the course of my work I have come across two images of the L&GR that were recorded in the press at the time (both are clickable). The L&GR, which ran between London Bridge and London Street in Greenwich, was the first railway to have a terminus in London and be completely elevated. It opened to Deptford on 14 December 1836, with much ceremony, and the entire route was opened on 24 December 1838. Thus, because the railway was unique at the time it garnered a lot of media attention.

My more detailed article on the Londoner's Diary site will be coming very soon.