Event Details

To mark the bicentenary of the birth of the railway (1825), and the 150th anniversary of the Midland Railway's new main line from London to Scotland via the Settle and Carlisle, the Regional Heritage Centre and the Midland Railway Society are co-hosting a study day on Saturday 21 November 2026.

Bringing together leading historians, literary scholars and digital humanities researchers, this public conference explores the transformative impact of the railway on 19th- and early 20th-century Britain. Moving beyond engineering and transport history, the programme examines how the railway reshaped population, society, culture, law and everyday experience. In addition to four key speakers, the conference will showcase innovative new research by Lancaster postgraduates in a poster session.

9.00 -9.45 Assemble Management School Lecture Theatre 1 (tea/coffee is served at beginning of the day during registration)

9.45 – 10.00 Welcome remarks – Dr Sophie Ambler

10.00 – 11.00 Railways and Population Change in England & Wales, 1851-1911: A Digital Analysis

– Professor Ian Gregory, School of Global Affairs, Lancaster University

11.00 – 11.45 Coffee/tea & biscuits, PG poster session

11.45 – 12.45 ‘Nobody’s Fault’: Railway Accidents in Victorian Fiction – Professor Michael Greaney (School of Arts, Lancaster University)

12.45 – 14.00 Lunch*

14.00 – 15.00 The Railway King on Trial: George Hudson and the Limits of Criminal Law in Victorian Britain

– Dr James Taylor, School of Global Affairs, Lancaster University

15.00 – 15.45 Tea/coffee & biscuits, PG poster session

15.45 – 16.45 Railway hands: moving through modernity in Britain 1850-1960 – Dr Michael Brown (School of Global Affairs, Lancaster University) and Joanne Begiato