1/6 Railways have been described as the defining moment of the 19th cent, they changed life drastically. While they may have aided the secularisation of Britain & prompted antagonism from the church in their infancy some used the technology as a religious symbol #VPFAreligion

2/6 C Kingsley (1848) CofE priest, wondered whether in the future "men will fall down and worship steam-engines". Their influence over everyday life was recognised to be so great that there was potential for the railway to be mythologised and a religion forming around it.

3/6 New railway towns sometimes had no church built and were given railway buildings to worship in. Initially in Crewe, residents had to worship in the roundhouse. This space of rail technology was felt to be an appropriate substitute for the house of God.

4/6 Railways even featured in hymns. Walter White's 'A Month in Yorkshire' (1858) prints a religious ballad titled 'The Railway to Heaven' that likens the journey of life to a railway, featuring people from all walks of life in the carriage "There's room for all the world inside"

5/6 The construction of the railway in this hymn is "Firm as the throne of God above" & none other than "Jesus is the first engineer" The hymn covers contemporary notions about the civilising and moralising effect of the railway but with a stark warning about missing the train!

6/6 Even though travelling on Sundays was at first scheduled to avoid disrupting services, the network was soon used by religious organisations for missionary work throughout the UK. The railway entered religious spaces & forced them to adapt to its new technological existence