George and Robert Stephenson: the railway revolution

The railways were the most revolutionary innovation of Victorian times. They carried Britain into the modern age with dramatic speed, transforming the pace and style of everyday life. We owe them to two men who, father and son, can lay claim to be the most important engineers of their time, George and Robert Stephenson. In this excellent biography L.T.C. Rolt author of Victorian Engineering and Thomas Telford, assesses their lives and their work.