History
The first proper railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Like the trams that had preceded it over a hundred years, the L&M had gentle curves and gradients. Amongst other reasons for the gentle curves were the lack of strength of the track, which might have overturned if the curves were too sharp causing derailments. There was no signalling at this time, so drivers had to be able to see ahead to avoid collisions with previous trains. The gentler the curves, the longer the visibility.
Read more about this topic: Minimum Railway Curve Radius
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