When wolfgang schivelbusch set out on The Railway Journey , a 1978 monograph analyzing “trains and travel in the 19th century,” his destination was a causal relationship in which early rail transportation was depicted as profoundly reshaping sociocultural experience. Rail travel, according to Schivelbusch, alienated travelers from time, space, one another, and their own sense of security. Moreover, the intrusion of railroad rights-of-way and stations reorganized and diversified urban space. While in fairness it must be noted that the book contains one provocative section portraying the impact of pre-rail cultural and traveling conditions, labor and land costs, and degrees of industrialization on early rail coach design and right-of-way construction in Europe and the United States, The Railway Journey's overriding message is that a technological innovation-the application of steam to land travel — sent far-reaching and enduring shock waves through sociocultural experience.
Richard A. Schwarzlose (Wed,) studied this question.