Introduction
The first purpose-built freight and passenger railway line linking two cities was opened in 1830, joining the port of Liverpool with the mills around Manchester. The social and economic impact was instant, bringing more real and tangible benefit to Britain’s common man than he had ever known before.
ON May 24th, 1823, Liverpool corn merchant Henry Booth founded the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, to build nothing less than the world’s first intercity railway. The canals had created lucrative markets by linking the port at Liverpool to bustling manufacturing towns inland, but were overwhelmed by rising demand.
The Company really wanted George Stephenson and his son Robert to survey the line, but Robert, who did all George’s maths, was in South America. When John Rennie missed a historic opportunity by overcharging, George returned, bringing Joseph Locke, a colliery manager’s boy, as his assistant. Together, they addressed every problem with innovation and flair.
The Sankey Canal and the tall sails of the Mersey flats were spanned by a record-breaking nine-arched viaduct.* The line floated across boggy Chat Moss on nearly five miles of heather bundles topped with tar and rubble. After George’s preferred route was thwarted by landowners, he sliced a two-mile diversion through the sandstone of cliff-sided Olive Mount Cutting.*
Mersey flats were flat-bottomed canal boats powered by tall sails and capable of carrying up to 80 tons of goods. They plied the canals between Liverpool and Manchester prior to the advent of the railways, and lasted until as late the 1890s.
There is a striking picture at Olive Mount Cutting (Wikimedia Commons). The depth reaches 80ft.
Précis
As industry grew in Regency Britain, merchants in Liverpool sought to establish a pioneering rail link between the port at Liverpool and the mill towns around Manchester. After some false starts, they hired George Stephenson to survey the line, and Stephenson overcame some formidable engineering challenges, from bridges to cuttings and conquering marshland, with his customary bravura. (57 / 60 words)
As industry grew in Regency Britain, merchants in Liverpool sought to establish a pioneering rail link between the port at Liverpool and the mill towns around Manchester. After some false starts, they hired George Stephenson to survey the line, and Stephenson overcame some formidable engineering challenges, from bridges to cuttings and conquering marshland, with his customary bravura.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, besides, may, otherwise, ought, unless, until.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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