Railways: Their Capital and Dividends, with Statistics of Their Working in Great Britain and Ireland offers a detailed, data-driven look at the mid-19th century railway boom.
It blends history with numbers to trace how railways grew, what they cost, and how profits stacked up against expectations.
This edition presents the author’s early effort to illuminate the economy of railway working, including discussion of capital, operating expenses, and the push for standardized accounts. It weaves together narrative context—like George Stephenson’s breakthroughs—and a wide range of statistical tables that reveal how lines were funded, operated, and compared across the kingdom.
- Learn how early railways raised capital, paid dividends, and managed costs.
- Explore statistics of working by line, including passenger and goods traffic and maintenance expenses.
- See the case for a uniform system of railway accounting to improve comparability and efficiency.
- Gain historical perspective on the challenges and opportunities faced by Britain’s railways during this era.
Ideal for readers of railway history and economic history, this edition sheds light on the foundations of how rail networks were built, run, and analyzed in the 1800s.