Readership and Railway Accidents: John Herapath’s Railway Magazine

Abstract

Abstract:This essay explores the presentation of railway accidents in John Herapath’s Railway Magazine. While other papers published sensationalised accident reports and anti-railway pieces that relied on a dangerous image of the railway, the Railway Magazine crafted a sensibility founded on scientific rationality. Herapath reprinted the sensational reports in order to question their validity, thereby endorsing his own authority on railway matters and encouraging a similar sense of superiority amongst his readers. Ultimately, the Railway Magazine sought to tame accident reports in order to build confidence in the new transportation and promote investment in railways throughout Britain.