Final answer:
The expansion of railways during the Industrial Revolution allowed working-class people to travel beyond their local areas for work and leisure, leading to the growth of suburbs and altering living conditions and dietary patterns.
Step-by-step explanation:
Impact of Railways on Working Class Travel
The advent of the railway system during the Industrial Revolution brought about substantial transformations in travel for the working class. With the expansion of railways, ordinary working-class people began to experience a change in their travel patterns. Before the railways, these individuals were largely confined to their local areas due to the limitations of travel at the time. Trains made it affordable and feasible for working-class families to travel farther from their hometowns for leisure and work.
As the railways fostered urban expansion, many working-class people found themselves moving to the periphery of growing cities, seeking better living conditions beyond the crowded and polluted city centers. The creation of suburbs and the shifting landscape of urban environments also changed where and how the working class lived and traveled. Furthermore, the railways played a crucial role in the development of a national identity, as they made travel to capital cities and other distant regions more accessible, diluting intense localisms of the past.
In essence, the railways democratized travel, allowing ordinary working-class individuals to venture to destinations that were previously out of reach, supporting the notion of a newfound social mobility and national cohesion. Moreover, the establishment of mass transport also altered diets and consumption patterns, with railways enabling the transport of a variety of foods from distant places, offering a more varied diet to the working class.