Description:Following the successful locomotive trials at Rainhill in October 1829, there was much activity in the development of railways and locomotive engines. In the letter featured above James Loch writes to John Moss, a director of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company remarking on ‘the revolution that is likely to take place in the mode & rate of conveyance’ following the rise of the railways.
However, Loch also expresses caution in his letter, adding ‘I should admit that the success of the experiments have rather led us a little beyond what we are yet entitled to calculate on’. Whilst new developments in the engineering of railways and locomotives continued to be made, Loch’s letter expresses a concern about the long-term implications of the railways, particularly the ‘tear & wear both to Machines & rails’ which he suggests ‘must be much more than has been taken into account’.
For in-depth contextual analysis of correspondence relating to the development of inland transport during this period, see Professor Eric Richards The Leviathan of Wealth: The Sutherland Fortune in the Industrial Revolution (Routledge, 1973) which has formed the basis for interpretation of the letters featured here.