Through the mountains and across the metropolis: Rothschild & Railways
On 27 September 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railway first opened in the north east of England, connecting places, people, communities and ideas and ultimately transforming the world. Throughout 2025 and into 2026, celebrations are being held across the UK as part of ‘Railway 200’ to mark this momentous anniversary.
"The rail road travelling is so productive of good and general advantages to all classes of society to make us grateful for this scientific invention.” - Hannah Rothschild to her son Lionel, 18 January 1844.
Across the globe, the Rothschild banking houses helped lay the foundations of the modern railway network, through investment and by building and operating some of the first railways across France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Chemin de fer du Nord, France
After the success of the first French railway in 1837, Baron James de Rothschild's confidence in the future of railways grew. He commented, "the world can no longer live without the railways." In September 1845, the contract to construct and operate the Paris-Lille Valenciennes Line (with a spur from Lille to the coast at Dunkirk and Calais) was awarded to James's company, the Compagnie du Chemin de fer du Nord, with significant investment from N M Rothschild & Sons in London. The Chemin de fer du Nord opened in 1846, and developed into a very profitable railway.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, Canada and the USA
The London Rothschilds helped raise the finance to build the ambitious Grand Trunk Pacific Railway across Canada. The Railway operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. By 1867, it was the largest network in the world with more than 2,055 km (1,277 miles) of track.
In 1903, the company was persuaded by the Canadian government to build a line from the Atlantic to the Pacific. To meet the huge cost of construction, N M Rothschild & Sons issued £3m worth of bonds for the Railway Company in 1905, with a further bond issue in 1909 of £2m. Work began in 1905, and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway opened to traffic in 1914. The entire system was eventually nationalised, and in 1923 the government created Canadian National Railways.
Building London's Underground railways
Despite not being involved in the first major phase of the building of London's underground railways in the nineteenth century, the London firm was involved more energetically in the expansion of the network in the 1920s and 1930s. Between the wars, N M Rothschild & Sons joined with Barings and Schroders to form one of the most powerful issuing syndicates in the City, which was active in the re-financing of the Underground Electric Railways Co. of London Ltd in 1926 and 1930. Major work funded during this phase included the redevelopment of existing stations on the Piccadilly Line, and extension of the Line from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters in the north and from Hammersmith to Northfields in the west.
