Heavy Investment Requirements
Canals impractical in most upland areas, while even good roads required heavy investment in grading, bridges, etc.
London, in particular, imposed special requirements of urban transport (e.g., very heavy volume).
IV. ENGLISH TRANSPORT HISTORY BEFORE 1750
Transportation from 1750 1830 represented natural evolution from previous developments.
Roman roads, canals, horse breeds and harness, coaches, etc., were transport factors England shared with continental Europe.
B. Medieval Transportation in England
Land transportation primitive; water transportation limited to few navigable rivers. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales illustrates organized passenger transportation (inns, guides, travel parties).
C. Transportation from Tudor Era to 1750
Transportation improvements began to appear in the Tudor era, and showed accelerating development after 1700.
Canal development before 1750. Extension and technology.
Road development before 1750. Extension and technology.
Evolution of regular scheduled passenger transportation began in late Elizabethan times.
Technical evolution of the coach from the sixteenth century.
b. Scheduled Service
Development of scheduled coach service and related infrastructure (e.g., coach inns).
Several categories of transportation can be identified, each imposing different requirements.
Local transportation largely "informal" e.g. farmers use plow horse and farm wagon to carry produce to nearby market.
B. Long Distance Transportation
Most transportation developments centered on long distance transportation.
C. Communication as Transportation
Before development of the telegraph, most messages had to be physically carried (exceptions include signal fires, semaphore). Courier and post services were the first category of relatively high speed transportation.
VI. THE TECHNOL...