Britain’s industry at one time was linked almost entirely by its system of canals, and it wasn’t until the early to mid 1800’s that the country started to properly link each region by steam railways when industrialists soon realised that railways could make a clear profit, and in 1835 – 37, and 1844 – 48 there was such a boom in the creation of railways that ‘railway mania’ was said to have swept the country. At the height of the railway boom, massive amounts of Britain’s industrial output were funnelled into the construction, boosting industry, and when the British boom subsided these materials were exported to build railways abroad. At a time when Britain was still heavily reliant on its own raw materials, collieries such as this one were able to transport and sell coal to all parts of the country, in turn feeding the ever-growing need for coal to fuel the steam railways.