The most important factor in the speed of travel from one city to another, in this period just before the expansion of the railways, was the state of the roads. In 1753, when stagecoaches were first introduced between London and Edinburgh, the journey took two weeks. However, the innovative road-building technologies of John Macadam were able to cut this dramatically. He used the weight of the traffic itself to press stones and chips into a solid surface underneath, in a method similar to that used today. In 1832, the journey by stagecoach from London to Edinburgh had been cut to only two days.
101 words
Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "London to Edinburgh in 2 days by coach". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=673, accessed 23 November 2024.]
