Railroad System

Railroad System

As industry expanded, so did the transportation network needed to move raw materials and finished products. Thousands of miles of canals and all-weather roads were built in the eighteenth century. The main innovation in transportation of the nineteenth century was the railroad. The railroads were driven by coal-burning, steam-power locomotives and provided quick, cheap transportation to places inaccessible by water. The construction of railroads created a demand for iron and for large numbers of workers and became a large industry in its own right. Unlike manufacturing, railroad networks usually involved a combination of private and public investment.

After 1830, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Germany began to imitate the English industrialization process by introducing machinery into the production process, concentrating workers in factories, and beginning to build their transportation network. However, the industrialization process in the European continent differed from the British in a number of ways. First, the governments played a greater role providing capital as active partners in industrialization process. Governments built railroad systems, which facilitated the beginnings of industrialization. Second, the banks were also major partners in financing industry. Third, the development of the railroad system helped begin industrialization. It helped stimulate other industries to meet its needs by the markets it created.

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