"Rail Mania" era in the UK preceded the bicycle development article. Before that, the canals and shipping networks were pretty elaborate. I think it likely th

"Rail Mania" era in the UK preceded the bicycle development article. Before that, the canals and shipping networks were pretty elaborate. I think it likely that the majority of 1870s factory made penny-farthing's were shipped worldwide to their customers via steam power. Admittedly the transcontinental railroad took until about 1870 in the USA, then again the entire bicycle article is eurocentric. Which is also interesting, how come only Europeans ever got involved in bicycle invention? The rest of the world at least occasionally had two wheeled chariots and carts so ... WRT the transcontinental railroad taking decades longer to cover the USA than it took to cover the UK, its worth considering that the state of Texas is about 4.5 "Irelands" wide, and we have 49 other states to cover, so covering the UK with nationwide rail service decades before the USA had transcontinental service is pretty easy. I'm told by a former native that no part of the UK is more than 75 miles from the sea.