by Tony Vines

Perhaps the single event that changed the face of Britain most was the invention of the steam engine. Consider - steam engines drove the “dark satanic mills” of the industrial revolution that in turn gave Britain such a head start in the world of trade. We can see even today the impact of industrialisation on our towns and cities. The flight from the country to the city to find work in these smelly, noisy, dangerous and highly polluting workplaces led in part to the decline in the countryside that even today we see.

Those same steam engines were used to replace horses and men on the land thereby exacerbating the loss of jobs and leading to the Luddite protests. Steam engines were more reliable than wind or water which for centuries had powered much of our countryside machinery

Perhaps most iconic and most paradigm shifting however, was the use of steam engines on railways that were built to connect town to town and even village to town and city, making travel so much easier and the transport of goods to markets quicker and more reliable. The architecture of railways has given us great viaducts, long tunnels and steel barriers to cross and be careful of across the entire country. The demise of the railway under Dr. Beeching left green and steel scars across our landscape that can still be traced today as we use the modern tools supplied by Messrs Google to access pictures taken from our skies.

But the face of Britain that changes the most is the smile that lights it up on sipping the cup of tea brewed from water boiled in our electrically powered steam kettles. Ah! Steam me up Scottie!