Study theme: The impact of the railways on British economic life, 1825-80

George Wood, A-Level student (A Level, grade A)

The main part of my A Level syllabus was Early Modern History so I thought it would be stimulating to focus on another period. I had enjoyed studying British Social and Economic history for GCSE and I decided on this period for my Individual Study. In addition I was finding my A Level Economics course increasingly interesting and I decided to concentrate on Economic History but I recognised that Economic and Social History together would be too big a topic to study. As a child the railways had fascinated me, and I knew that they played an important part in the Industrial Revolution, so I decided to investigate their impact on the economy of Britain.

My choice of topic was therefore one about which I felt enthusiastic and I knew this would make the study less of a chore. The subject was complex enough to provide scope to gain the top grade, which I achieved.

Information on the economic effects of the railways at the level required for the Individual Study was riot particularly abundant ill the local libraries so I turned to books on the Economic History of England rather than those specifically about railways. There was a good selection of relevant books in the school library. I was helped, also, because one of the RE teachers at school, an economic historian, had several books that included chapters oil transport, which he lent to me.

The lack of specialist books on the topic turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I was able to develop my own arguments and conclusions using information found in the general books rather than simply repeating arguments in sources and specialised books.

As part of my Study I decided to include a short local study of Wolverton, a town near my home, which had developed around the railways. In Wolverton I was able to buy books on the town's history (as you can in most towns). These two books enhanced my feel for the topic and I thought that evidence of ‘fieldwork’ would show the examiner that I had undertaken some detailed research and would convey my interest in the topic.

I found several books particularly useful in the course of preparing lily study. The First Industrial Nation by Peter Mathias included many tables of figures that I used to back tip lily arguments. It also contained several interesting ideas and gave an excellent account of the general change ill the economy during the Industrial Revolution. An article by G.R. Hawke on the study of counterfactuals and the social savings made by the railways really stretched my understanding of the topic and gave me the inspiration to attempt to put an actual monetary figure on the value of the railways over and above previous forms of transport. The article by Hawke was in the book British Economic History since 1700. It included excellent essays on several aspects of economic history.

A book titled One Hundred Years of Economic Development provided some interesting facts and source material and a good basis from which to develop my argument. As I had studied this period for GCSE I had a textbook called British Economic and Social History 1700-1850 that proved useful. At first I ignored it thinking that it would be too simple, but after reading it I realised that it was a very useful source of ideas and information for the early stages the study.

I found that during the study it was easiest to phase work by setting myself a task: for example, to study the effect of the railways on the coal industry, and to work to a word target on that, and any, particular topic. This division into sections made it easier for me to concentrate on each part. It also meant that when it came to putting the project together I had several chapters that simply needed slotting together in the correct order and then completed with an introduction and a conclusion that I wrote after the main body of the essay was completed. This method made editing far easier. It also broke the study down into manageable chunks and made it easier to ‘get into’, and I think it made the finished study better because each section had a point and focus.

During the study the focus of my work changed from simply looking at what trains had created in terms of peripheral industries to a wider recognition of their impact on the economic development of the country and, also, their effect on other forms of transport.