By Rail

If Walter Scott were alive today, he would probably have invested in the internet.  During his lifetime, as will be shown below, he actively promoted the new technology of his time, including the poster child for the tech-driven economic bubble, the railroad.  

The first commercial steam railway was the Middleton Steam Railway, which began transporting freight in 1812.  Several lines began after this time, and in 1830, the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway finally reached from its start in Canterbury, all the way to Whitstable.  On May 3^rd of that year, this line began offering rail service for both freight and passengers.

In 1818, Walter Scott involved himself in a proposed line. From “The Railway Age”: ‘Sir Walter Scott and other lairds were busy promoting a line up the valley of the Gala Water, and down to Edinburgh.’