The first of two volumes, "Wildfire through Staffordshire" presents
the very best from Osborne, Wild and Roscoe, who each published
their own early "Railway Traveller's Guides" shortly after the
opening of the country's first ground-breaking trunk line, the
Grand Junction railway, on the 4th of July 1837. This publication
is lavishly and uniquely supplemented with commissioned poems by
Ian Henery as well as many antique views, vistas and rare maps from
the period, and covers the first half of the journey from
Birmingham to Liverpool or Manchester. The second volume continues
as the Wildfire crosses the border of Staffordshire into Cheshire.
The guides, published back in 1838, became must-haves for those who
could take advantage of the ability to travel by rail over long
distances. When the Grand Junction line opened, with the Wildfire
engine making the inaugural run, the distance between Birmingham,
Manchester and Liverpool could be covered in a matter of hours
rather than days, as before it opened when long distance travel was
only then available to the privileged few. Railway travellers were
keen to find out more about the land, the people and places that
they could gaze out at from the safety of their railway carriage,
and as some took advantage of the opportunity to explore
recommended destinations along the route, the age of tourism
arrived. Readers boarding the Wildfire at Curzon Street on the
edges of the booming manufacturing town of Birmingham in 1838, the
year of Queen Victoria's coronation, and join our contemporary
commentators on a thought-provoking journey. Travelling out of
Warwickshire along the tranquil, picturesque Tame valley, the route
crosses the border into Staffordshire, and continues through the
scarred and barren wastelands of the mining and manufacturing
districts. Yet the journey also discovers many splendid gentlemen's
seats of residence and stately houses along the way, allowing us to
marvel at the ever-changing scenery as our journey unfolds across
windswept Cannock Chase, up into northern Staffordshire and its
districts famed for pottery. Along the way our commentators delve
into the lives of the people who dwell in the many manufacturing
and agricultural towns along the route, their lives changed forever
by the rolling tide of industrialization rapidly sweeping the land.
This is truly a living, spoken local history at the dawn of the
Victorian age. The lines that made up the Grand Junction Railway
now form the backbone of the West Coast Main Line. The first from
the Railway Time Traveller's Guide series, this book provides the
reader with an opportunity to retrace the journey made in 1838,
sadly though not by steam. Wildfire through Staffordshire is not
only a must-have for railway enthusiasts and local historians, but
appeals to anybody interested in Britain's history and heritage.
After completing the journey through Staffordshire aboard the
Wildfire back in 1838, readers can re-visit the many places
described in that early journey, as some now make up the famous
modern day visitor attractions in Staffordshire. These are listed
with visitor information in the last section although, sadly, many
have disappeared in the mists of time.
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