ABSTRACT
Railways were built to convey passengers between large centres of population and freight through the major corridors of traffic. Railways were built because they were needed. The sharp boom of 1824-5 and each succeeding cyclical expansion served to emphasise the limitations of the existing system of inland transport by road and navigation, and the need for additional, probably alternative, means of conveyance. Railways were built piecemeal. It took several years, to the mid-1840s, for the pieces to mesh together and form a reasonably articulated national network. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway Company was specifically charged by Parliament to convey all goods brought to its stations. The organisation and control of goods traffic was recognised as one of the most difficult aspects of railway management. The appropriate balance between the railways and the established canal carriers became a matter of public and at times heated debate. The one line on which Pickfords was absolutely dependent was the London & Birmingham railway.
