Question 2 from Cristina’s planning: (In bold what I, Josep, added)

2. (a) Why were railways important to the Industrial Revolution? [10]

OVERARCHING REASON: Railways created an effective line of transport between factories and

Markets. The first large scale railway was introduced in 1830 and it was the Liverpool-
Manchester distance. Two years later, by 1832, railway coverage in Britain was already
about 100 miles.

 This allowed the businesses to transport a larger amount of raw materials at a much lower

price, hence allowing them to mass produce. Before railways were introduced, some more
expensive goods could simply not be transported. Also, coal, the raw material needed in
industry to operate machinery (by heating up water and converting it to high energy steam),
saw a 50% decrease in price during the Industrial Revolution thanks to railways (as it was
transported more cheaply). Therefore production costs decreased and good could be sold at
a lower price.

 The fact that railways provided such a reliable form of transport meant pdasasroducers could
set

lower prices on their products as they did not have to make up for some of them breaking

on the way (allowed porcelain industry to grow). Before railways, the most likely form of
transport for the goods transported to railways would have been the old roads or the
improved turnpike roads. Even in the second case (with good roads) , these were much less
stable than travelling on railways, and therefore many fragile goods (such as porcelain) could
break leading to an increase in the price of the products which were sold. The development
of Watt’s steam engine in 1776 also contributed to the ‘reliability’ of railways as it was much
less likely to break down or malfunction than previous versions of it. The reduction in costs
for businesses due to problems with transport routes and with products breaking, therefore
helped reduce the final price of this goods and therefore resulted in more of these being
bought and sold, leading to industrial development.

 This effective line of transport was also very profitable. By 1840, railway lines were
operating at a profit and although this led to two major boom and bust periods in the stock
exchange (where investors could put money into the more than 200 railway companies) in
the 1860’s and 1840’s, overall railways yielded great profits for many (specially the early
investors), which were often reinvested into industry. This railway profits therefore helped
for further industrialisation and for further development of railways, in a virtuous cycle
leading to economic development and an evergrowing industrial development.

Question 4 from Gabriela

4.(b) ‘Without changes in transport there would have been no industrial revolution.’ How far
do

you agree? Refer to any two countries in your answer. [20]

No changes in transport= no IR as, they facilitated trade, which meant creation of wealth,
(people had enough $ to invest in creating businesses)… led to IR

. Several changes in transport took place: the creation of turnpike roads in the 18 th century
(there were 30000 turnpike roads in Britain by the 1770’s), the creation of new canals
specially in the first half of the 19th century and the development of railways specially in
Britain from 1830 onwards, helped to link trade centers to raw materials. This therefore
facilitated trade and led to the Industrial Revolution

No changes in transport= no IR as if there weren’t changes in transport there would be no

urbanisation, no transport of goods/ workers from factories to markets = no IR Changes in

transport such as the development of railways to transport cheaply workers were essential.
Thanks to this, the Railway Act in 1844 could be pioneer in Britain (similar acts were later
introduced elsewhere in Europe) in forcing each railway company to carry 3re class
passengers at one penny per mile at least once a day, allowing for the movement of
workforce. This workforce was necessary to produce goods in factories

However, influence of GVNT was more important. IN France, during until Napoleon came to
power any scientific advances were controlled by the Academie des Sciences and therefore
development was hindered. Meanwhile in Britain, the government encouraged innovation
and created a stable environment for business to flourish not getting involved in wars
(unlike France with its revolution and Napoleonic wars). Therefore, it was the government
intervention what really determined whether the most important factor which is the
innovation itself occurred. Changes in transport were important to help spread the
revolution and to help it grow at a faster rate but it was the government which really
determined the development of industry.