Page "Railway Mania" Paragraph 2

Britain's ( and the world's ) first recognisably modern inter-city railway, the Liverpool and Manchester, opened in 1830 and proved to be highly successful for transporting both passengers and freight.

However, the late 1830s and early 1840s saw the British economy slow down.

Interest rates rose, making it more attractive to invest money in government bonds – the main source of investment at the time, and political and social unrest deterred banks and businesses from investing the huge sums of money required to build railways ( the L & M cost £ 637, 000 (£ as of ),)