The arrival of the railways heralded a radical transformation in the lives of millions of people, affecting where they lived, how they worked, and what they knew and thought about the world. Building and running the railways required huge numbers of people, who formed themselves into tight-knit communities, forging new identities that gave meaning not just to their own lives, but to those of their families as well. This topic examines the lives of the engineers who designed the railways, the navvies who built them, the men and women who worked on them, and the ‘railway towns’ they made.