The introduction of railways in the early nineteenth century transformed life by speeding up travel and telescoping distance from hitherto days to hours. Even Paris and Berlin could be reached from London within a day. It also transformed the landscape and and made a dramatic impact on town centres as houses gave way to railway tracks. New kinds of buildings were created to cater for the needs of the traveller as well as the locomotives; carriages and goods. New buildings and structures were designed included stations, both grand and modest, hotels, viaducts, bridges and tunnel portals, signal boxes, locomotive and good sheds. A new dimension was added in the twentieth century with the introduction of underground systems such as in London with exciting avant-garde stations. Railway companies adopted house-styles based on the classical or gothic, or even the local vernacular for specific regions of the country.
The course will explore the impact of railway architecture and structures through photographs, early engravings and paintings, even railway posters. We will explore great railway landmarks in Britain, the problems of maintenance and conservation, especially since the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. We will including the work of the heritage movement as seen on the Bluebell and Severn Valley railways. We will also look to Europe and beyond to bring in some masterpieces such as Antwerp Railway Station and the classical Roman grandeur of Washington DC.
Students will be directed to suitable web-sites, You-Tube films, and notable railway landmarks which may be visited. Relevant books and railway journals will be mentioned.