Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The life of George Stephenson and of his son Robert Stephenson: comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the railway locomotive

The life of George Stephenson and of his son Robert Stephenson: comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the railway locomotive

Smiles, Samuel

Paperback

Biographies GeneralFiction AnthologiesGeneral United States History

ISBN10: 9353707110
ISBN13: 9789353707118
Publisher: Alpha Edition
Published: Jun 1 2019
Pages: 510
Weight: 1.41
Height: 1.14 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Before the railway changed everything, it had to be built. Iron, steam, and human grit. Samuel Smiles tells the intertwined story of George Stephenson and his son Robert, tracing how practical imagination, hard-won skill, and stubborn resolve carried the steam engine from pithead experiments to the line that made modern travel thinkable. Father and son appear as working engineers, learning from setbacks, weighing risks, and persuading backers as designs hardened into dependable power. Smiles sets their lives against coal and trade, as rails stitched communities together and shrank distances across Britain. Part historical engineering biography and part classic railway history, this narrative follows the pressures of work, money, and public doubt that shaped steam locomotive development and turned bold ideas into reliable machines. Written in the high age of Victorian self-help yet grounded in early railway engineering, Smiles' account remains a cornerstone for anyone seeking the railway locomotive invention in its human context: workshops, surveys, trial runs, and the disciplined craft behind progress. Presented as a complete unabridged edition, it balances storytelling with detail, making it a strong railway reference book. It speaks to industrial history students, engineers, and general readers curious about 19th century Britain and Victorian England railways, and it stands as a trusted companion for collectors of industrial revolution biographies and a definitive George Stephenson biography. Out of print for decades and now republished at last by Alpha Editions. Restored for today's and future generations. More than a reprint -- a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

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