Railway interests and the ‘rope of air’, 1840–8

This paper examines the usefulness of the category ‘interest’ in the history of technology through a case study of the failed attempt to introduce atmospheric railway traction in Britain in the 1840s. It argues for a reflective deployment of the term in question, sensitive to contemporary usages. A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The British journal for the history of science 2004-09, Vol.37 (3), p.245-279
Main Author: ATMORE, HENRY
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Atmospherics
Business structures
Case studies
Civil engineering
Communications
transports
civil engineering
General history of technology
History
History of science
History of science and technology
History of technology
Locomotives
Passengers
Public interest
Rail lines
Railroad trains
Railroads
Railway systems
Railways
Science
Technological change
Technology
Telluric lines
Traction
Transports
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Summary:This paper examines the usefulness of the category ‘interest’ in the history of technology through a case study of the failed attempt to introduce atmospheric railway traction in Britain in the 1840s. It argues for a reflective deployment of the term in question, sensitive to contemporary usages. A schematic typology of railway ‘interests’ shows just how various these were. Financial interests, for example, were not the same as professional ones; or an investor might feel the pull of contrary interests, depending on whether she was checking her dividends or taking a train. The history of atmospheric traction demonstrates the interlocking of railway ‘interests’, and their utility in explaining the success or failure of railway technologies. As might be expected, determinism, whether technological or ‘social’, does not answer the case. ‘Interest’ relations are contingent, and so must be understood the failure of the atmospheric railway.
ISSN:0007-0874
1474-001X
DOI:10.1017/S0007087404005837