来源：www.historyextra.com
刊登日期：2021年2月26日
Thundering along at previously unimaginable speeds, early steam locomotives were a frightening prospect for their Victorian passengers. Before the opening of the first major railway line, the Liverpool & Manchester in 1830, there were fears it would be impossible to breathe while travelling at such a velocity, or that the passengers’ eyes would be damaged by having to adjust to the motion.
对维多利亚时代的乘客来说，早期的蒸汽机车以超乎想象的速度轰鸣前行，是一种可怕的设想。在1830年第一条主干线——利物浦-曼彻斯特铁路开通之前，人们担心以这样的速度行驶时无法呼吸，或者乘客适应这种快速移动会损伤眼睛。
Little more than 20 years later, their fears diminished, people flocked to this exciting new form of transport, and by mid-century, millions were dashing across the country on tracks stretching thousands of miles. From professional football to seaside excursions, the railways changed the face of Victorian Britain.
仅仅20年后，人们恐惧感减轻了，蜂拥到这种令人兴奋的新型交通工具上，到了19世纪中叶，数百万人在绵延数千英里的轨道上飞奔全国。从职业足球到海滨远足，铁路改变了维多利亚时代英国的面貌。
The technology that made it possible – engines driven by steam – was already gathering momentum by the late 18th century, when James Watt produced the steam-powered loom. But it was Richard Trevithick who opened up the possibility of making a steam-engine propel itself. By 1804, one of Trevithick’s engines was rolling along crude early rails at an ironworks in Wales.
使之成为可能的技术——由蒸汽驱动的发动机——早在18世纪晚期，詹姆斯·瓦特生产出蒸汽动力的织布机时，就已经在积聚动力了。但，是理查德·特里维西克开创了蒸汽机自我驱动的可能性。到1804年，特里维西克的一台发动机已经在威尔士一家钢铁厂的早期粗糙铁轨上运行了。
It wasn’t until 1825, however, with the opening of the Stockton & Darlington line, that the world saw a proper steam locomotive haul wagons for the first time. That locomotive was George Stephenson’s Locomotion, which reached speeds of 15mph on the opening day. Unfortunately, Stephenson’s engines proved so unreliable that horses were the power for the first few years – and the railway age only really began with the completion of the Liverpool & Manchester line.
然而，直到1825年，随着斯托克顿-达林顿线的开通，世界才第一次看到了真正的蒸汽机车来牵引货车。那个火车头是乔治·斯蒂芬森的火车头，在开通的第一天就达到了每小时15英里的速度。不幸的是，史蒂芬森的引擎最后证明是不可靠的，在最初的几年里，马匹是动力来源——铁路时代直到利物浦-曼彻斯特线的建成才真正开始。
After a monumental effort from thousands of hard-working labours to construct the line, and a very public competition to decide on the best locomotive, the world’s first steam-hauled, twin-tracked railway opened on 15 September 1830, with Stephenson’s Rocket leading the way. Originally conceived as a freight railway to reduce the cost and time of transporting goods, the line proved equally popular among brave travellers.
经过数千名辛勤劳动的工人为修建这条铁路付出的巨大努力，以及一场决定最佳机车的公开角逐，1830年9月15日，世界上第一辆蒸汽牵引双轨铁路在史蒂芬森的火箭车的牵引下正式通车。这条铁路最初被设想为一条货运铁路，以减少运输货物的成本和时间，结果证明，这条铁路同样受到勇敢旅客的欢迎。
Encouraged by the success, entrepreneurs began submitting applications to parliament for all sorts of railways schemes. The mania is best demonstrated by the fact that 240 Acts were passed in 1845 (amounting to 2,820 miles of new track), compared to just 48 the year before. There was some opposition but over the next ten years, as railway companies became attractive investments, unprecedented levels of capital funded the construction of 4,600 miles of track.
受到利物浦-曼彻斯特线成功的鼓舞，企业家们开始向议会提交各种铁路计划的申请。最能证明这一热潮的事实是，1845年通过了240项法案(总计要建设2820英里的新铁路)，而之前一年只有48项立法。虽然有一些反对意见，但在接下来的十年里，随着铁路公司成为具有吸引力的投资项目，前所未有的资金水平资助了4600英里的铁路建设。
At first, train travel was too dear for the average working man but fares gradually came down thanks to competition and the 1844 Railway Act, which obliged every company to supply at least one train daily at the cost of no more than 1 penny a mile. Meanwhile, the growth of excursion trains and the Great Exhibition of 1851 stimulated vast numbers to use the railways for the first time.
起初，火车旅行对普通人来说过于昂贵，但由于竞争和1844年的《铁路法案》，票价逐渐下降，法案要求每家公司每天至少提供一趟火车，其价格不超过每英里1便士。与此同时，游览火车的发展和1851年的万国博览会刺激了大量的人第一次乘坐火车。
By the end of the 1850s, passenger numbers had risen beyond all expectations. In 1854 alone, 92 million journeys were made in England and Wales alone, on a network stretching 6,000 miles. The magic of train travel had caught the public imagination and the rapid expansion of the iron road left few aspects of life in Victorian Britain untouched.
到19世纪50年代末，乘客人数的增长超出了所有人的预期。1854年，仅在英格兰和威尔士，就有9200万人次的旅行，旅行网络绵延6000英里。火车旅行的魔力吸引了公众的想象力，而铁路的迅速扩张也让维多利亚时代的英国方方面面都受到铁路的影响。