History
September 20, 2011

The excerpt, The Glory of the Rails, is about the development of rail road’s and how they modernized the world industrially. It talks about how trains had to run on tracks so opposite from roads and canals, these tracks had to be constructed from man, not from natural occurrences like rivers or paths. Due to this, railways not only transformed transportation, but they transformed landscapes. This allowed people to be able to see more of the land that surrounds them, because before trains traveling was very difficult and not many people did it. Because many more people were able to travel they had to come up with ways to divide things by prices because there were so many diverse people taking upon traveling. From this the idea of classes was born and traveling became more leisurely and enjoyable, especially to those of the higher class. Train stations were starting to be seen in big cities and from there things like resorts began to be built around these areas so people had places to visit. This article was written to inform readers about how railways changed life and how it lead to many other accomplishments, for example how the timetables lead to creation of internationally agreed time leading to clocks. Before trains there were limitations on living because they people could not get certain goods. After the train, people were able to receive goods because now there was actual successful transportation. Not only did it change life in the sense of creating new inventions, but it also provided many jobs for people from either working the train, or working like Cook as a tour organizer. Also this reading provides knowledge of what life was like traveling, for example how the stations were designed after cathedrals, making them pleasurable to be in. This Industrial Revolution relates in many ways