Engraved map. Cheffins's Map of the English & Scotch Railways by C. F. Cheffins, 1845. 4th ed. Scale 1" : c.13 1/2m. Part of the John Phillimore Collection: cat. 1, 1845, page 6. Originally folded and bound within boards (18.5 x 12.5cm.) Cover title is 'Cheffins's Map of the Railways in England & Scotland, Accurately Delineating all the lines at present opened. Also .... the Main Roads throughout the Kingdom with the distances between the Towns ...'.

After the opening in 1830 of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway - the first inter-city line in the world - Britain's railway system exploded into life as engineers, funded by eager investors, wove a system of iron tracks across the land. The excitement and trauma of this new age was everywhere. In 1843 alone more than 200 railway bills passed through parliament. Cheffin's map shows a nation in flux, illustrating both completed and proposed routes.