Formally opened on 15 September 1830, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway was the world’s first inter-city passenger railway, and the first operated from the outset by locomotives. Dogged by controversy during its construction, and on the opening day itself when an MP was run-down by a train, the Liverpool & Manchester turned tragedy into triumph, opening the age of rail travel.

Drawing from first-hand accounts of the railway, this book hopes to shed some light on what it was like to travel on the Liverpool & Manchester in 1830, from booking tickets to riding in a carriage, providing a mile-by-mile guide to the line and what is left of George Stephenson’s masterpiece after 185 years of railway development.