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.

Engineer George Stephenson pressed ahead with using steam locomotives for the new railway, after the Rainhill Trials in 1829 justified his confidence. Opening Day on September 15th, 1830 was overshadowed by the accidental death of William Huskisson, a prominent MP, but the line went on to make a handsome profit in its first year as the world’s first intercity railway.

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