The International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic, and Mobility: Third Annual Conference, York, England, 6-9 October 2005

The third annual conference of the International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic, and Mobility (T²M) was held in the city of York, England, from the sixth through the ninth of October, 2005. The conference was organized by the Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History—a joint initiative of the University of York and the National Railway Museum. Colin Divall and Martyn Halman supervised the local arrangements in conjunction with the organization's secretary, Dick van den Brink, from his office in the Netherlands. The medieval city of York, with its narrow streets, nineteenth-century railroad station, and frequent high-speed trains provided an ideal setting in which to experience the intersection of history, technology, and culture and to contemplate their place in human development. Holding the conference at the National Railway Museum immersed the conference in the study of transport history, with participants moving around and through its exhibits between sessions.

Since its establishment at the first conference in Eindhoven in 2003, T²M has worked to create a community focused on furthering the understanding of the historical relationship among transport, traffic, and the mobility of people, material objects, and ideas. The theme of this year's conference, "Tourism and the History of Transport, Traffic, and Mobility," was selected with the goal of broadening interest in the field. Reflecting the success of this effort, participants from more than twenty countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America attended and presented papers at York. While many of the seventy papers adhered to the official theme, the program also included a wide variety of presentations addressing the social, cultural, economic, technological, ecological, and political aspects of the history of transportation and traffic.

The conference opened on the evening of 6 October with a reception in the museum's main hall, at the foot of the entry gates from Euston Station, London's first railway depot. Following the reception, David Nye delivered an opening address, "Annihilating Surprise: Transportation, Images, and Tourism," in which he explored the changing social construction of the significance of Arizona's Grand Canyon. Probing the linkages between personal interpretation and transportation technology, Nye's address set the tone for much of the discussion that ensued over the subsequent days.

The paper-presentation sessions commenced the next morning, following John Walton's keynote address, "Travelers, Tourists, and Trippers: Transport Innovation and the Tourist Industry from the Eighteenth Century to the 1970s." Due to the number of participants, the conference was organized into a series of parallel sessions, with papers grouped by theme. However, a compact disc containing abstracts, curricula vitae, and the papers themselves was distributed to the delegates well in advance, which helped offset the disadvantages of the parallel-session format. Each session also included a generous amount of time for discussion, facilitating the exchange of ideas and maintaining the conference schedule.

Because it was held at the National Railway Museum, railways quickly emerged as an unofficial secondary theme of the conference. A wide variety of papers utilizing a diverse array of analytical techniques provided fresh insights into it. Jörg Schimmelpfennig reexamined the benefits of regional railway monopolies that emerge through consolidation by investigating the economic impact of a particular railway merger that took place in late-nineteenth-century England. Michael Esbester analyzed the significance of tourist guidebooks in constructing the meaning of railway travel, focusing on the ways in which these books equated the technology of the railways with modernity. Michael Sibul discussed the political, economic, and social impact of Korea's Kangozen Electric Railway, from its construction under Japanese rule through its closure after the Korean War cease-fire. Margaret Ritchie explored the significance of railways for Scottish women working in the herring industry during the first half of the twentieth century: these highly skilled seasonal workers relied on railways to communicate with their families, and through their industrial organizations, they therefore advocated for the continual improvement of the railway system. Susan Major's paper demonstrated the potential of geographic information systems...