The Last Journey of William Huskisson

Have you ever wondered why some railway's are called ` X and Y' e.g the Liverpool and Manchester Railway? Do you know the origin of the word `navvy'? The answers are in this book, a quirky gem. In the 1820's the canals and turnpike roads were the only method of taking raw materials and finished product between the growing industrial centre of Manchester and the great port of Liverpool. The backers of a proposed rail link between the two centres worked for over five years to get the financial, technical and logistical details right to build this railway, which is now no more than an afterthought in terms of British rail. On its opening in 1830 expectations were high of a new era in prosperity ushered in by the `new impulse' which the railways would bring. So much so that the Prime Minister of day - Lord Wellington, of Waterloo fame - attended. There are excellent descriptions of the awe with which the machine evoked in the various elements of the population. However, tragedy marred the opening day, when one train struck William Huskisson, a Tory MP for the area, and severed his leg, leading to an agonising death. Huskisskon, was an economic progressive, though cautious in terms of political reform. He fully backed the new railway, seeing it as a way to break the canal owners monopoly. It was hugely unfortunate that he was the first fatality on the new line. The book is obviously a `train-spotters' delight, however I would have appreciated more technical detail on the various innovations and improvements which were introduced in both engine and rail design though the early decades of the 1800's. There are quite excellent chapters on the financing of the project, and of the reactions of observers and participants to the `high speed' machines. And, in case, you are over anxious ... . If the railway was called `The Liverpool to Manchester", Manchester folk (potential investors) would feel their city was not treated with sufficient status, and vice-versa. So both termini need equal billing. The term `navvy' is a shortened form of `navigator', the people who laid the rails were navigating the countryside to find the most direct route to the destination.