“Railway 200 at Aston University” is an exciting series of events over the year, celebrating the railways’ past present and future. Run by the university’s history, literature and transport teams, this series of stimulating and varied talks will explore aspects of railway history, highlight the role Aston has played and continues to play in training future railways professionals, will showcase some of our exciting research on railways, and will demonstrate how Aston University is an exciting place to study history and transport. At our launch event, we will have three speakers exploring different dimensions of railway history:
Dr David Turner (Aston University): funding and directing Birmingham’s early nineteenth century main line railways.
David will Introduce the series of events, and then discuss some of the people that made Birmingham’s nineteenth century railways a reality. Focusing on the early main lines, particularly the Grand Junction Railway, he explores how a varied array of people flocked to invest these new enterprises; from the wealthy merchants that had made their money in international trade, through to the surgeon and hotel keeper.
Prof Felix Schmid (Professor emeritus of Railway Systems Engineering at the University of Birmingham): Building the first London to Birmingham Railway.
Felix will talk about the construction and early years of the London and Birmingham Railway. He will trace the history of this huge undertaking through the eyes of John Cooke Bourne, using illustrations with his watercolours and lithographs. Cooke Bourne lived from 1 September 1814 to February 1896. Cooke Bourne’s pictures document the huge scale of this enterprise. He also recorded Brunel’s construction of the Great Western Railway
Jenny Vince (Independent Scholar): Hidden Histories; Painful Truths – Celebrating Women of the Railway
Abstract TBC