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OUR  RAILWAYS 


THEIR  ORIGIN,    DEVELOPMENT,  INCIDENT 

AND    ROMANCE 


BY 

JOHN     PENDLETON 

Author   of  "A  History  of  Derbyshire^**    ^^  Nnvs paper  Reporting  in  Olden    Tiru 

auti  To-day,"  &*e. 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES 

Volume   II. 


CASSELL    AND     COMPANY,     Limited 

LONDON,    PARIS  &*   MELBOURNE 

1896 

ALL  MIGHTS  XBSBRVBD 


> 


PAOK 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

BAILWAY  BOMANCE,  HUMOUR,  AND  TBAQEDT. 

The  Romance  and  Incident  of  Travel — ^Perils  to  Children — The  Head- 
strong Passenger*B  Struggle  —  Pleasant  Companions  —  Dangerous 
Sport :  Throwing  Stones  at  Railway  Carriages — Flinging  Bottles 
on  the  Track — A  Miner's  Solicitude  about  his  Complexion — An 
Emphatic  Invitation — Life  in  a  Compartment — Mothers  and  their 
Ways— The  Bachelor's  Threat— Train  Robbers— Station  Thieves— 
The  Countess's  Jewellery — Dramatic  Episodes  on  the  Line — ^Two 
Noted  Railway  Tragedies — An  Officer's  Downfall — A  Rascal  in 
Preacher's  Guise  —  The  Agitation  against  Outrages  —  A  Question 
in  Parliament — "Not  Safe  for  a  Lady  to  Travel  Alone" — The 
Railway  to  be  Managed  by  Women         .....        1 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

MOBB    INCIDENTS    OF    THE    LINE. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  Speeches  on  Tour  —  Political  Scenes  a,t  Railway 
Stations  —  Mr.  Balfour's  Dislike  to  Carriage- Window  Oratory  — 
Sir  William  Haroourt's  Novel  Experience  —  The  Interminable 
Scotchman  at  Lockerbie  —  Stopping  the  Express — The  Vanished 
Passenger — "Where's  Tour  Ticket?" — The  Light  Luggage  Rack — 
The  Crushed  Hat — Peculiar  Effect  of  Train  Jolting — Bewildered 
at  Trent — Juvenile  Travellers  and  their  Comments — An  Awkward 
Fix — A  Whimsical  Search — The  Terrible  Highlander-7-Travelling 
Adventures  —  The  Girl  Passenger  in  Male  Attire  —  An  Exciting 
Exit — How  the  Old  Lady  (Jot  Out  —  Escaping  from  a  Maniac— 
Queer  Visitors  to  Signalmen — Mad  Engine-Drivers        ...      29 

CHAPTER   XXVIL 

80MS  RAILWAY  8UBFBISES— SMOKINa  IN  TRAINS— SUKDAT  TBAVBLLINO. 

Railway  Surprises — A  Special  Train  and  the  Wreck  of  the  (?<>#<- 
jMi^rurifc— Kidnapping  a  Grand  Duke  —  An  Expensive  Journey — 


▼I  OUR   RAILWAYS. 


PAQB 


Smoking  in  Railway  Carriages— Implacable  Enemies— Punishing: 
a  Foreigner— The  Eton  Boys  and  the  Strong  Pipe— A  Very  Rude 
Smoker— Passengers'  Hatred  of  Tobacco—"  No  Smoking  Allowed  " 
—"Smoking"  Labels  in  Tall  Hats— Sunday  Travelling— " The 
Agitator's  Manual"— Longing  for  a  Change— Wordsworth's  Pro- 
test—Prejudice against  Sunday  Trains— A  Sunday  at  Llandudno 
— ^A  Sunday  Afternoon  Train  from  Nottingham  to  Bakewell— 
Breaking  Heads  and  the  Sabbath  at  Strome  Ferry— Remission  of 
the  Sentence 5] 

CHAPTER    XXVIIL 

EXCURSIONS. 

A  Vehicle  of  Erratic  Ways — Two  Remarkable  Excursions — Trips  in 
Cattle  Trucks  in  France — Esoursions  In  and  Out  of  London  — 
Crowding  to  Epping  Forest  —  Bank  Holiday  —  The  Lancashire 
Excursionists'  Paradise — Blackpool  in  "  the  Season  " — Warehouse 
Manchester  and  its  Annual  Holiday— How  Cotton  Operatives 
Enjoy  Themselves—"  Going- A  way  "  Clubs— Enormous  Sums  Spent 
in  Recreation — The  Tourist  Invasion  of  the  Isle  of  Man — What 
it  has  Done  for  Douglas  —  The  Holiday  Disaster  at  Hampstead 
— Delayed  Excursionists  and  their  Pastimes 75 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

STRANGE  TRACKS— RAILWAY  STATION  THRONG  AND  QUIET. 

Railways  in  Remote  Lands  —  Opening  a  Station  at  Jerusalem  —  A 
Railway  in  an  Arsenal — ^The  Line  up  Vesuvius — Running  Down 
the  Liokey — Whimsical  and  Miniature  Railways— Life's  Movement 
at  the  Railway  Station — Notable  Passengers — Railways  and  the 
Drama— What  Men  do  for  Sport  and  Pastime — Animals,  Wild 
and  Tame,  on  the  Line — Two  Famous  Railway  Dogs — A  County 
Court  in  a  Train — Some  Lost  Luggage — Mrs.  Gamp  at  the  Book- 
ing Office— Lifting  a  Railway  Station — "The  Stationmaster  of 
Lone  Prairie" — ^A  Mystifying  Notice  to  Passengers       ,        .        ,      99 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

HUNGRY  AND  THIRSTY  TRAVELLERS— THE  RBFRBSHMENT-ROOM. 

The   Refreshment-Room — ^An  Early  Visit — Buffets  at  Big  Stations — 
The  Hungry  Man  at   Mugby — ^Manners  at  the  Post   Office — The 
Platform  Boy  —  Passengers  and  their  Appetites  —  Ten   Minutes 
Stop  at  Swindon — ^The  Humour  of  It— A  Singular  Aotion-at-law 


GOyTESTS.  vii 

PAOK 

—  Charsring  for  a  Special  Train  — A  Splendid  Dijrestion— The 
Surjjeon  and  the  Sausage- Rolls — An  Enticing  Refreshment- Room 

—  The  Navvy  at  the  "First-Class"  Bar^— "The  Young  Ladies" 
Behind  the  Counter  —  Their  Duties,  Hardships,  and  Prospects  — 
The  Railway  Companies  as  Caterers — ^A  Bishop's  Church  on  WhiMls 
—The  Travelling  Hotel KO 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

QUAINT    AND    MODERN    TIME-TABLES. 

A  Faded  Time-Table— The  Train  Service  Half-a-Century  Ago— Con- 
ditions of  Travel — Good  Advice— Smoking  Forbiddei^^No  Tips 
for  the  Porter  —  Riding  Outside  the  Carriage  —  Passengers  Con- 
veyed in  Rotation — Line-Making  Curiosities — Glowing  Description 
of  Railway  Works —  "  Bradshaw  "  — The  Official  Tirae-Tablos  — 
How  they  are  Produced  —  An  Old  Time-Table  from  Stockton 
aad  Darlington — Old  Railway  Stations 141 

CHAPTER    XXXIL 

THE  REVOLUTION   IN   RAILWAY   FARES. 

Free  Travel — The  Old  Parliamentary  Train— A  Lesson  in  Patience — 
An  Enterprising  North-Westem  Train — The  Midland  Faro  Policy 
— Sir  James  Allport  on  Journeying — An  Old  Train  Speed — Tri- 
bute to  a  Useful  Life— The  New  Manager  of  the  Midland — The 
Third-Class  (Jold  Mine  —  Remarkable  Expansion  of  Traffic  — 
Threatened  Extinction  of  First-Class — Clinging  to  the  Second- 
Class  Fare — What  Railway  Men  Think  and  What  the  Railway 
Companies  are  Doing — The  Sort  of  "  Goods  "  to  Carry  .        .        •    102 

CHAPTER    XXXin. 

RAILWAY    CARRIA0E8 — HOW    THEY    ARE    APPOINTED    AND    LIGHTED. 

Primitive  Railway  Carriages  —  A  Mayor's  Dodge — How  Trains  are 
Made  up  Now  —  Danger  from  an  Improvement  —  The  Pullman 
Car's  First  Run  on  an  English  Line — Carriages  of  Home  Make 
— Modem  Improvements  in  Railway  Coaches — The  Seclusion  of 
the  Compartment — Communication  with  the  Driver — Telegraphing 
from  a  Speeding  Train — Door  Banging — The  Old  Lady  and  the 
Foot- Warmer  —  New  Method  of  Heating  Carriages  —  American 
Cars  on  the  South-Eastem  —  A  Princely  Railway  Carriage  —  The 
Gjieat- Western    Corridor   Train  —  Luxurious   Travelling  —  Novel 


viii  OUR   BAILWAT,"^. 


PAQK 


Mode  of  Train  Liphting  — The   "Candle  Club"  —  Darkness  and 
Murder— The  Oil  Lamp— Gas  and  the  Electric  Lijjht  .        .        .180 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

RAILWAY  SPEED. 

"Flying  Coaches  "^Locomotives  Old  and  New  —  Leisurely  Trains — 
Railway  Speed — What  the  Passenger  Thinks — The  Real  Pace  and 
its  Limit — The  Railway  Race  to  the  North — Sir  Edward  Watkin 
in  the  Eight  Hours  Express— Fast  Travelling  in  a  Steady  Train 
—The  Old  Fij^'ht  for  the  Scotch  Traffic— The  Renewed  Strugjrle 
—  The  First  Month's  Running  —  Great  Northern  Time  —  Quick 
Runs  on  other  Lines  —  The  Coming  Railway :  An  Ingenious 
Project — American  Railway  Hurry — Ten  Miles  in  Six  Minutt>s — 
Charles  Dickens  as  a  Railway  Traveller — The  '*  Greater  Britain  " 
— Fast  Trains  from  Town — Railway  Punctuality    ....    222 

CHAPTER   XXXV. 

THE  DEMAND  FOR  SHORTER  HOURS  FOR  RAILWAY  MEN. 

"The  Man  in  Charge  of  the  Clattering  Train "— Unrest  Among 
Workers— The  Strike  Fever— How  the  School  Boys  "Came  Out" 
—Strikes  of  Railway  Men— The  Stubborn  Fight  on  the  Scotch 
Lines  —  Folly  and  Riot  —  The  Coal  Struggle  in  England  :  Its 
Effect  on  Railways  and  Trade  in  General  —  Overwork  on  Rail- 
ways— Dismissing  a  Stationmaster,  and  What  Came  of  It — The 
Terrors  of  a  Breach  of  Privilege — An  Interesting  Night  in  the 
House  —  Directors  at  the  Bar  —  The  Speaker's  Admonition  —  Re- 
commendations on  Railway  Work — The  New  Act — Robberies  on 
the  Line — Ned. Farmer,  Detective  and  Poet 2ri9 

CHAPTER   XXXVL 

ENGINE-DRIVERS  AND  SIGNALMEN. 

Aristocratic  Engine-Drivers  —  Absence  of  Mind  on  the  Footplate  — 
Perils  and  Escapes — An  Express  in  Collision  —  How  an  Engine- 
Driver  is  Trained  —  Curious  Rides  on  Railways — Going  Over  a 
New  Line  —  In  Search  of  Facts  at  Railway  Accidents  —  The 
Drivers'  Strike  on  the  Midland — An  Exciting  Night  —  Erratic 
Driving  —  A  Driver^s  Desperate  Deed  —  The  Signalman  and  His 
Work — Some  Dramatic  Incidents — Old  Fashioned  Signals — Modern 
Modes  of  Signalling — How  to  See  Round  a  Comer        .        .        .201 


N 


CONTENTS.  IX 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

SOME   NOTED  TUNNELS,  AND  HOW  THEY  WERE  MADE. 

Mining  Years  Ago — Harrowing  Beneath  a  Snow-clad  Mountain — The 


PAOC 


French  and  the  Railway  Under  the  Sea — The  Lengths  of  Eng- 
lish Tunnels — The  Toil  and  Danger  of  Making  them — Under  the 
Severn — Sir  Daniel  Gooch — On  the  Look-out  for  a  Late  Train — 
Creeping  into  the  Tunnel — Tough  Work  in  the  Peak — Making 
the  Totley  Tunnel — Exploring  the  Underground  Way — Trudging 
Beneath  the  Moorland — A  Stormy  November  Day — A  Jubilant 
Journey  Through  Woodhead  Tunnel — The  Box,  Shugborough,  and 
other  Tunnela—The  Thames  Tunnel 314 

CHAPTER    XXXVIIL 

VIADUCTS    AND     BRIDGES. 

Some  Noted  Bridges — A  Rough  Day  on  the  Conway — The  Drowning 
of  the  Irish  Mail — The  Square  Box  Bridge — In  Monai  Straits — 
"The  Building  of  the  Bridge  "—The  Chain  Bridge  and  the  Fool- 
hardy Cobbler — Brunei's  Famous  Cornish  Bridge — A  Wild  Night 
on  the  Tay — The  Tom  Bridge  and  the  Train's  Doom— The  New 
Road  Across  the  River — The  Great  Forth  Bridge — Its  Shape  and 
Strength — The  Opening  Ceremony — Crossing  in  a  Storm — A  Costly 
Undertaking  and  its  Trade  Value  —London  and  Other  Bridges— 
Happy-go-Lucky  Bridge  Builders 341 

CHAPTER    XXXIX 

BNOW,  FLOOD,  FOO,  AND  FIRE. 

Snow — A  Costly  Foe — Lines  Blocked  with  Drifts — Snowed-up  in  the 
West  Country  —  Strange  Adventures  —  Loss  Through  Storms  — 
Floods  in  the  Midlands  and  the  North — Broken  Viaducts— The 
Stationmastdr's  Refuge — Fog — Accident  and  Incident  —  Fires  at 
Wolverton,  Leeds,  and  Salford 377 

CHAPTER   XL. 

RAILWAY   DISASTERS,   1840-1870. 

The  Breakdown  Train  —  Humorous  Events  —  A  Novel  Cure  —  The 
'* Coo's"  Revenge  —  How  Railway  Accidents  are  Caused  —  Malice 
and  Mischief  —  Jumping  Waggons  —  The  Whims  of  the  Light 
Engine — The  Phantom  Han(l  on  the  Guard's  Break  —  Railway 
Accidents,  1840-1870 898 


xii  OUR    RAILWAYS. 

PAOK 

Peterborough  Station  in  1845 loS 

George  Bradshaw .. .        ,.,        ...         ...        ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  lo') 

Norwich  Station  in  1845...        ...        ...         ...        ...         ...         ...         ...  lo6 

Northampton  Station  in  1845 157 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Advertiaement  of  Stockton  and  Darlington  Trains  in 

XOtJw          ■••                  •••                  •••                  •••                  •••                  •••                  ■••                  •••                  ■•«                   •••  AW 

First,  Second,  and  Third  Glass  to  the  Derby  in  1845            165 

Derby  Day  in  1845          169 

Bit  of  the  Cork,  Blackrock,  and  Passage  Railway  in  1850  :  Dundanion     ...  177 

Lord  Stalbridg^    ...        ...         ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...  180 

Mr.  F.  Saunders   ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...         ...        ..•  182 

Mr.  Jonas  Levy    ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  184 

Mr.  George  Armytage 185 

A  First-class  Carriage  (Eastern  Counties  Railway)  in  1847 189 

Interior  of  a  Second-class  Carriage  (Eastern  Counties  Railway)  in  1847  ...  192 

1.  South-Eastem  Pullman  Train.   2.  Latest  Type  of  SouthEastem  Engine  193 

Third-class  Passengers  in  1844 194 

A  Bogie  Carriage  (London  and  North- Western)        195 

Bedford  Station    ...        ...        ...        ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  197 

London  and  South -Western  Pullman  Vestibule  Parlour  Car  199 

Sections  of  Carriage  showing  Electric  Communication         201 

Interior  of  a  London  and  South -Western  Pullman  Car       207 

Hastings  and  the  Station  in  1852         209 

Etchingham  Station  (Hastings  Line)  in  1852 210 

Wadhurst  Tunnel  (Hastings  Lino)  in  1852     211 

A  Third-clasB  Corridor  Dining  Carriage  (London  and  North  -Western)     ...  213 

A  Gas  Lamp  of  1845  (Interior) 216 

A  Gas  Lamp  of  1845  (Exterior)            217 

Lighter  of  Gas  Lamp  of  1845 218 

Great  Northern  Engine  (8  ft.  driving  wheel  and  outside  cylinder) 222 

The  "North  Star"  (Groat Western) 223 

Midland  Engine,  No.  1853         224 

The  Machine  Shop,  Locomotive  Dejmrtmcnt,  at  Diiby        225 

An  Old  Bristol  and  Exeter  Double-bogie  Tank  Engine        226 

A  Great  Western  Broad-Gauge  Express  Engine  (8  ft.  driving  wheel)          ...  229 

One  of  the  Latest  Types  of  Gt  West.  Express  Engine  (8  ft  driving  wlior ')  231 

The  Erecting  Shop  at  Crewe  in  1849 ...  233 

Crewe  Station  tf»/tVd  in  1843 234 

Preston  Station 235 

Mr.  F.  W^.  W^ebb ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...  237 

Mr.  Patrick  Stirling;  Mr.  Wilson  Worsdcll 238 

Mr.  S.  W.  Johnson         241 

Latest  Type  of  Great  Northern  Express  Engine  (7  ft  6.  in.  driving  wheel)  243 
Latest  Type  of  London  and  South -Western  Express  Engine  (7  ft.  1  in. 

driving  wheels)         247 

Railway  Fftte  at  Crewe  in  1843 249 

The  Encting  Shop  at  Crewe     ... 251 

The  Boiler  Shop  at  Crewe         ... 263 


I 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAnv 

Mr.  J.  H.  Nettloship        ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  6 

Sir  Francis  Head  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  12 

Balcombo  Tunnel  and  Spot  where  Mr.  Qold's  Body  was  Found     17 

Mr.  Gladstone  Addressing  a  Crowd  at  West  Calder  Station  in  1879          ...  33 

A  Country  Signalman     46 

A  Smoking  Carriage  on  the  Eastern  Counties  Line  in  1846            58 

Exterior  of  an  Eastern  Counties  Smoking  Carriage  of  1846            59 

Llandudno  Station            65 

Mr.  G.  H.  Turner            ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  73 

Benediction  of  the  Havre  and  Rouen  Railway  in  1847          79 

Liverpool  Street  Station 81 

Blackpool   ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  84 

Marine  Park,  Southport 85 

The  Quay  at  Douglas      89 

Mr.  William  Ezton         93 

Hampstead  Heath  Station :  the  Staircase  where  the  Crush  Occurred        ...  96 

The  Station  at  JaCfa        100 

The  Railway  up  Pilatus ...  103 

A  Station  (Tan-y-hwlch)  on  the  Festiniog  Riiil  way 104 

A  Luggage  Scramble      109 

"  Help,"  the  Railway  Dog          114 

Mr.  John  Climpson          ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  115 

Frodsham  Station  in  Course  of  Removal         117 

Double  Engine  used  on  the  Festiniog  Railway          119 

Refreshment-Room  at  Exchange  Station,  Manchester  (Tjondon  and  North- 

w  esiern  I       •••         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  1a1 

Swindon  Station  in  1845           124 

The  Present  Swindon  Station 125 

The  Dining-Room  of  Bradford  Station  (Midland)      129 

Leicester  Station  ...         ...        ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...        ...  131 

Chester  Station  in  1848 133 

A  Railway  Refreshment  Buffet  of  1852           139 

A  Page  (reduced)  from  Bradshaw's  *  *  Railway  Companion,"  1839 141 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Title-page  of  the  First  *<  Continental ''  Bradshaw,  1 84  7  142 

Mapof  the  Railways  of  Gr9at  Britain  in  1841            145 

Facsimile  (reduced)    of    Page  from    Bradshaw's   <* Railway  Guide"   of 

January,  1842,  showing  List  of  the  Principal  Railways  then  Completed  148 

Thompson's  Railway  Table        149 

The  Works  at  Wolverton— the  "  Body  Shop  "          150 

A  Liverpool  Station  (Tithebam  Street)  in  1850         151 


xiv  OUB    RAILWAYS, 

PAOI 

SDowstorm  on  the  Highland  Bail  way  in  1881 :  Finding  one  of  the  Buried 

^  1  cUxlo                        •••                 •••                 •••                 •••                 •••                  «•«                  ,,,                  ,,«                  ,,,  Ofw 

Snowstorm  on  tho  Highland  Railway  in  1881  :  Searching  for  the  Lost 

■iveJiei  Xxain  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ,,.         ,..         ,.,  o7U 

The  Great  Western  Express  Snowed- up  in  1891        381 

Damage  toTelegraph  Wires  in  Snowstorm  of  1892 383 

The  Victoria  between  Dover  and  Calais  in  the  Snowstorm  of  1891 385 

Floodat  Crow  Mills  Viaduct  in  1852 388 

Flood  between  Darlington  and  Ferry  Hill  Stations  in  1852            389 

A  Fog- Signalman...         ...        ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  393 

Scene  of  tho  Fire  at  Kentish  Town  Station  in  1872 394 

Train  on  Fire  at  Clapham  Junction      395 

Accident  to  the  Czar*s  Train  on  the  Azov  Railway 401 

Accident  on  a  South-Eastem  Bridge  in  1846 406 

Collapse  of  the  Dee  Bridge,  Chester 407 

The  Accident  at  Granton           412 

The  Accident  at  Kentish  Town 413 

The  Accident  at  Staplehurst      416 

The  Accident  at  Swansea           417 

Train  on  Fire  at  Abingdon,  on  the  Caledonian          419 

Tho  Abergele  Disaster 421 

The  Accident  at  Newark            426 

The  Accident  at  Wigan 433 

The  Accident  at  Wennington 439 

After  the  Collisions  at  Oanonbury                   441 

The  Accident  near  Pemstone  in  1 884 445 

Mr.  F.  Penny       ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  448 

The  Hexthorpe  Accident 449 

The  Collision  near  Taunton       453 

The  Accident  at  Norwood          457 

Mr.  S.  Xifting        •••        ...        ••■         •••         •«-         •••         •••         •••         •«•  474 

Robert  Stephenson          ...        ...        •..        •••        •..        •••        ...         ..,  478 

The  Long  Office  at  the  Railway  Clearing  House       481 

Mr.  Henry  Oliver            ...         ...        ...         ...         ...        •••         ...         ...  484 

Sir  Courtenay  Boyle        ...         ...         .••         ...        •••        •••         .-.         ...  487 

Lord  ^^h&mcliffe . . •         •••         >••         ...         «••         •••         •••         ■••         •••  492 

The  Right  Hon.  A.  J.  Mundella,  M.P 495 

Mr.  J.  P.  Bickersteth ;  Mr.  G.  E.  Paget        497 

Orphanage  of  the  Railway  Benevolent  Lwtitntion  at  Derby           507 

Statue  of  Joseph  Pease   ...        ...        ...        ...        ...        ...          .*        ...  512 

Procession  of  Engines  past  George  Stephenson's  House  at  Wyliim            ...  513 

The  House  where  George  Stephenson  was  bom         516 

The  Room  in  which  George  Stephenson  was  bom 517 


LIST    OF    PLATES. 


TO  FACB  PAQB 

Opening  op  the  Forth  Bbidoe  by  thb  Pbikoe  op  Wales 

FrontUpiece 

The  Incline  Railway  from  Lynton  to  Lynmouth  106 

Lime  Street  Station,  Liverpool 158 

Sectional  Elevation  op  the  "Queen  Empress"  Expbess  Pas- 
senger Engine 252 

The  "  Queen  Empress  " :  Outside  View  op  Trailing  End,  and 

End  View  op  Fire-box,  etc 296 

Landslip  between  Doveb  and  Folkestone  in  1877  430 

The  Collision  at  Thirsk 462 

The  Accident  at  Chblford         468 

The  Prince  op  Wales's  Saloon  on  the  Great  Northern  Bail- 

v*J^Z   ••«     •••     •••     •■•     •••     ■••     •••     ••«     •••     •••   0>^9 


4 


OUE    EAILWAYS. 


■«0«- 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

RAILWAY    ROMANCE,    HUMOUR,    AND    TRAC.KDY. 

The  Romance  and  Incident  of  Travel — Perils  to  Children — The  Headstrong 

Passenger's     Struggle  —  Pleasant    Companions  —  Dangerous    Sport : 

Throwing  Stones  at  Railway  Carriages — Flinging  Bottles  on  tlie  Track 

— A  Miner's  Solicitude  about  his  Complexion— An  Emphatic  Invita- 

^^  tion — Life  in  a  Compartment — Mothers  and  their  Ways— The  Iiaehelor*8 

Threat— Train  Robbers — Station  Thieves — The  Countess's  Jewellery — 
Dramatic  Episoiles  on  the  Line — Two  Noted  Railway  Tr.igeilies — An 
Officer's  Downfall — A  Itascal  in  Preacher's  Guise— The  Agitation 
Against  Outrages — A  Question  in  Parliament — "Not  Safe  for  a  Lady 
to  Travel  Alone*' — The  Railway  to  be  Maniiged  by  Women. 

The  English  railway  system  has  grown  so  enormously 
that  the  passengers  it  carries  are  counted  by  hundreds 
of  millions.  The  conveyance  of  so  many  human 
beings  is  only  possible  by  constant  thought  and  un- 
remitting work  by  day  and  night,  and  the  transit  is 
accompanied,  though  we  arc  supposed  to  live  in  a 
prosaic  age,  with  much  startling  incident  and  romance. 
The  railway,  with  its  deep  cutting  and  gruesome 
tunnel  and  crowded  station,  has  provided  the  novelist 
with  many  a  thrilling  story  ;  indeed,  the  most  dramatic 
fiction  is  only  feeble  in  comparison  with  the  dramatic 
fact  and  incident  of  the  line.  Man  and  woman,  weary 
of  struggling  with  poverty,  or  demented  with  grief, 
or  seeking  desperate  escape  from  the  law,  find  swift 
death  in  front  of  the  express.  A  boy^  sheltering 
b 


2  OUR   JRATLWAYS,  ichap.xxv. 

beneath  a  truck  from  the  rain,  discovers  to  his  dismay 
that  the  train  has  begun  to  move,  and  in  a  moment 
he  is  maimed  for  life. 

"  Helen's  Babies  *'  are  not  the  only  restless,  frolic- 
some little  ones  in  the  world.  Most  of  us  are  blessed 
with  children.  We  caress  them,  punish  them,  sacrifice 
ourselves  for  them,  and  succeed  fairly  well  in  managing 
them  at  home ;  but  on  a  long  railway  journey  they 
get  entirely  beyond  control.  They  become  hot,  dust}'-, 
thirsty,  weary  ;  yet  they  find  it  impossible  to  sit  still — 
fidget  hither  and  thither,  crawl  about  the  seats,  try  to 
climb  on  to  the  hat  rail,  toy  with  the  carriage  handle, 
yearn  to  get  out  and  walk,  chew  the  leather  straps, 
flatten  their  noses  against  the  panes,  lean  against  the 
doorway,  let  down  the  window,  and  threaten  to  fall  or 
jump  out.  It  is  then  that  parents  endure  torment. 
The  English  mother,  ever  a  prey  to  the  keenest 
maternal  anxiety,  becomes  heart-sick  and  wan,  pain- 
fully alert  with  nervous  dread  at  the  possible  fate 
of  her  darlings.  The  father,  hesitating  to  apply  the 
Bishop  of  Chester's  remedy  in  public,  resolves  to  use 
the  rod  later  on,  and  sits  sternly  passive,  conscious, 
however,  that  the  ordeal  is  making  him  haggard  and 
grey.  A  load  is  taken  off  his  mind  if  nothing  happens 
on  the  journey.  Now  and  then  something  does  happen. 
There  is  a  startled  cry,  a  mother's  hands  and  quivering 
lips  at  the  window,  and  on  the  line  a  child's  bruised 
or  lifeless  form. 

In  the  report  presented  to  the  Board  of  Trade  with 
regard  to  the  accidents  that  occurred  on  borne  railways 


Chapxxv.i  ACCIDENTS    TO   CHILDREN.  3 

during  1891,  it  is  stated  that  "  several  cases  were  brought 
under  the  notice  of  the  Department  in  which  children  fell 
out  of  trains  in  motion.  Correspondence  has  taken  place 
with  the  railway  companies  upon  the  subject.  The  use 
of  inside  handles,  especially  those  downward  pressure  on 
which  opens  the  doors  of  the  compartment,  has  been 
proved  to  be  a  source  of  danger  to  children,  and  the 
employment  in  excursion  trains  of  carriages  with  such 
handles  has  on  some  of  the  principal  railways  been 
discontinued.  At  the  same  time  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  responsibility  for  such  accidents 
often  rests  largely  with  the  persons  in  charge  of  the 
children,  and  that  no  amount  of  precautions  taken  by 
the  railway  companies  can  wholly  remove  the  risk 
of  accidents  if  children  are  not  kept  under  proper 
supervision  in  the  compartment  in  which  they  may 
be  travelling." 

A  girl,  crossing  the  line,  catches  her  foot  in  the 
rails,  is  held  a  prisoner,  and  is  only  saved  from  a  fear- 
ful death  by  the  promptitude  of  the  signalman,  who  cuts 
her  boot  away  and  frees  her  from  frenzied  captivity 
just  as  the  express  dashes  up.  A  child  thoughtlessly 
frolics  on  the  line  as  a  fast  train  approaches.  The 
mother  struggles  in  the  stationmaster's  grasp,  shrieks, 
and  swoons.  The  train  rushes  by;  and  the  child, 
raising  its  head  above  the  metals,  rubs  its  eyes  and 
shouts,  "  It*s  gone,  mother !  "  half  turning  to  watch 
the  receding  train.  The  little  one  has  stumbled  into 
a  cavity  in  the  ballast  between  the  sleepers,  and 
escaped  without  a  bruise. 
62 


4  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.xxv. 

A  group  of  school  children,  playing  near  a  level 
crossing,  dare  each  other  to  go  the  nearest  to  a  passing 
train,  and  one  of  the  girls  gives  a  piteous  shriek  as 
she  is  drawn  under  the  wheels.  An  old  woman, 
who  has  come  down  by  the  market-train  and  made 
her  purchases,  and  is  returning  home  with  her  big 
basket  filled  with  wares,  does  not  hear  the  porter's 
warning  at  the  busy  station  as  she  crosses  the  wooden 
way  from  platform  to  platform,  and  is  cut  to  pieces 
by  the  express.  A  man,  in  earnest  argument  with 
his  friend,  moves  too  near  the  edge  of  the  platform, 
and  falls  backward  upon  the  line  just  as  a  train  is 
running  into  the  station  ;  but  he  is  not  killed  :  his 
presence  of  mind  saves  him,  for  he  lies  motionless 
between  the  rails,  and  the  train,  in  passing  over  him, 
only  grazes  one  of  his  ribs.  A  lad  lingers  too  long 
on  the  carriage  step  as  he  bids  adieu  to  his  school- 
mate, and  in  jumping  off  is  whirled  between  the 
platform  rim  and  the  train,  and  taken  to  the  hospital 
a  grievous  wreck. 

The  loud  angry  shout,  "  Stand  back ! "  has  no  sig- 
nificance to  another  person,  who,  even  as  the  train  is 
moving,  persists  in  a  final  handshake  with  his  friend, 
and,  when  he  is  obliged  to  relinquish  his  grip,  is 
twisted  round  and  falls  in  front  of  the  guard's  brake 
van,  which  passes  over  him.  The  passenger  who  goes 
through  life  too  late  rushes  into  the  station  just  as  the 
guard  has  blown  his  whistle  and  waved  his  green  flag. 
Every  carriage  door  is  shut — the  train  is  on  the  move ; 
but  the  passenger  heeds  not:    shouts  and  cries  are  in 


aiiap.xxv.)  A   SCUFFLE.  5 

vain.  He  springs  on  the  footboard  and  grips  the 
carriage-handle  simultaneously.  Then  there  is  a  rush 
of  porters.  They  seize  him  by  the  collar,  the  arms,  the 
legs;  they  give  a  strong  pull  together;  but  the  pas- 
senger, wild  with  rage  or  with  fear,  clings  desperately 
to  the  carriage-handle.  The  speed  of  the  train  in- 
creases; the  porters  run  alongside  still  retaining  their 
hold  ;  they  approach  the  end  of  the  platform  ;  there 
is  no  further  time  for  expostulation  :  the  man  must 
be  dragged  off  the  footboard ;  and,  with  a  deter- 
mined tug,  they  wrench  him  away,  reel  in  a  confused 
mass  over  a  lamp-waggon,  and  fall  a  tumbled  heap  on 
the  platform. 

Nothing,  perhaps,  in  our  modern  life  is  so  full  of 
incident  as  railway  travel.  One  day  some  foolish  fellow, 
overstocked  with  pugnacity,  will  strip  himself  to  the 
waist  and  offer  to  fight  any  passenger  in  the  com- 
partment with  one  hand,  pleading  with  you  to  tie  the 
other  behind  his  back.  Another  day  a  devoted  student 
of  natural  history  will  enter  a  carriage  with  a  bull-dog 
as  his  pet,  gravely  place  the  animal  on  the  seat  by  his 
side,  with  the  remark  that  his  canine  friend  is  pure 
bred,  and  quite  capable  of  instantly  settling  the  half- 
dozen  passengers  who  huddle  away  in  affright  from  the 
ferocious  beast.  Now  you  are  amused  or  fleeced  by  the 
acute,  eager,  ever- journeying  swindlers  who,  with  per- 
suasive voice  and  marvellous  finger  dexterity,  live  upon 
the  three-card  trick  or  other  thieving  game.  Then  there 
may  be  a  crash  of  glass,  and  some  passenger's  head  is 
cut  by  a  stone  thrown  in  pure  mischief,  especially  if  he 


J  jfJBL.         recently,  the  damage  in  most 
•  '^"S:       (jf   (jiig    cases    being  due    to 


6  OUB    KAILWAYS.  [Ctop.XXT. 

is    travelling  by  West    Bromwich,  where    the   youths 

seem  to  have  developed  stoue-throwing  at  trains  into 

an  almost  daily  physical  exercise.    Mr.  J.  H.  Nettleship, 

superintendent  of  the  Great  Eastern    Railway,  states 

that  on  this  company's  line 

alone  one  hundred  and  ninety- 

^^  nine  carriage  windows  were 

%'  """'""* 

^^iOt'  W^^~      stones  thrown  at  the  trains 

■"  '*'  '^^'^       in  London  and  the  suburbs. 

It    is,    he    says,    a    common 

practice   for   gangs    of  boys 

und  youths  to  station  tbem- 

MB.  J.  H.  KETTLESHip.  selves  at  a  level  crossing  or 

CO..  c*«j-i<fc,  B.c.i  on  an  over-Ime  bridge,  or  in 

the  vacant  land  near  the  line 

in  Bethnal  Green  and  Stepney,  and,  when  a  favourite 

opportunity  occurs,  to  stone  a  passing  train,  particularly 

if  it  is  a  passenger  train. 

There  are  many  ways  of  committing  suicide,  and  the 
railway  has  not  lessened  the  number.  But  perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  suicide  ever  committed  on  the 
steel  track  was  that  of  Giuseppe  Dellvido,  an  Italian 
organ-grinder,  who  climbed  the  parapet  of  the  District 
Railway  bridge  at  Ealing,  and  sprang  upon  a  passing 
train,  alighting  with  his  head  on  the  roof  of  a  second- 
class  carriage,  and  rolling,  after  he  had  been  carried  two 
hundred  yards  by  the  train,  upon  the  line.     In  Ireland 


Chap.  XXV.]         FLINGING   BOTTLES   FROM   TRAINS.  7 

many  strange  manners  and  customs  still  linger.  In 
some  of  the  remote  villages  the  men  hug  and  kiss 
each  other  as  a  prelude  to  fight ;  but  a  more  erratic 
pastime  even  than  that  has  lately  aroused  comment  in 
Monaghan.  While  a  special  train  was  conveying 
excursionists  to  the  opening  of  the  new  cathedral  there 
some  youths,  with  a  more  peculiar  sense  of  frolic  than 
that  possessed  by  any  of  Charles  Lever's  characters, 
dropped  stones  from  a  bridge  upon  the  moving  car- 
riages, and  one  boulder  smashed  the  roof  of  a  first-class 
compartment,  causing  great  alarm  among  the  female 
passengers. 

The  folly  of  throwing  stones  into  trains  is  only 
equalled  by  the  criminal  thoughtlessness  of  passengers 
who  fling  bottles  out  of  the  carriages,  and  send  them 
whisking  gaily  down  the  line,  utterly  regardless  of  their 
billet.  Many  a  driver  has  been  seriously  injured  by  this 
pernicious  practice,  and  it  is  also  the  terror  of  the 
signalman  whose  box  happens  to  be  within  fire.  Not 
long  ago  a  passenger  journeying  by  the  morning  ex- 
press from  Liverpool  to  London  threw  a  bottle  out  of 
the  window  just  as  the  Euston  express  was  passing 
Berkhampstead.  The  bottle  struck  the  fireman  of  the 
Euston  train,  and  nearly  cut  one  of  his  eyes  out. 

So  many  cases  of  injury  have  occurred  through  this 
thoughtless  practice  of  pitching  bottles  out  of  railway 
carriage  windows  that  the  London  and  North -Western 
Company  at  the  commencement  of  the  tourist  season 
now  issue  a  notice,  drawing  attention  to  the  evil 
and  dangerous  habit,  making  an  earnest  request  that 


8  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Cbap.  xxv. 

passengers  will  absttain  from  the  practice,  and  stating 
that  empty  bottles  may  be  left  in  the  carriages. 

In  an  industrial  locality,  where  the  miners  smoke 
thick  twist  tobacco  as  they  travel,  you  may  run  the  risk 
of  suffocation,  for  these  men  dislike  a  breezy  carriage. 
Nay,  one  of  them  once  emphatically  upbraided  a 
fashionable  but  third-class  passenger  for  keeping  the 
window  down,  saying  as  he  Hung  it  up  again  with  a 
gri'at  bang,  and  a  face  as  black  and  fierce  as  that  of  a 
captured  Zulu  at  Ulundi,  *'  If  thah  wants  to  tak  a  chill, 
thaird  l)etter  tak  it  i'  another  carriage.  Docs  thah 
want  to  spoil  us  complexshuns  ?  "  If  you  are  travelling 
through  Lancashire  the  carriage  door  may  be  flung 
open  at  some  station,  and  a  big  box,  an  operative's 
wife,  two  children,  and  a  baby,  invade  the  already 
crowded  compartment ;  while  the  husband,  standing  in 
hesitancy  on  the  platform,  is  encouraged  to  crush  into 
the  carriage  by  his  wife's  dulcet  invitation  :  '*  Nah 
then  ;  ger  in,  tha  silly  !  ' 

No  phase  of  life  or  of  death  in  a  railway  carriage 
surprises  one.  The  thirsty  passenger  may  produce  her 
travelling  tea-basket,  fix  it  to  the  carriage  window 
frame,  and  brew  a  cup  of  tea  by  the  perilous  aid  of 
a  spirit  lamp.  The  smoker  may  thoughtlessly  drop  a 
lighted  match  into  the  window  slot  of  the  old-fashioned 
compartment  and  set  the  carriage  on  fire.  Mother  and 
nurse  may  enter  a  compartment,  dive  into  the  domestic 
hand-bag,  bring  out  sponge,  soap,  puff-box,  towel,  safety 
pins,  pretty  ribbon,  and  dainty  apparel ;  then  strip  the 
bab^',  wash  it,  dry  it,  puff  it,  kiss  away  its  tears,  fondle 


Chap.  XX V.J  THE   IRASCIBLE    BACHELOR.  9 

it,  and  threaten  to  eat  it,  remarking  meanwhile  :  *'  Did 
'era,  then  ?  They  shan't  grieve  it.  Oh,  my  precious ! 
It's  a  lovey-dovey-darling — bless  it !  "  Or  the  precise, 
grim  old  bachelor  may  find  to  his  annoyance  that 
he  has  entered  a  compartment  containing  a  mother  of 
another  sort — a  woman  wlio  allows  her  child  to  cry 
and  whine  as  it  creeps  about  the  carriage  Hoor  while  she 
is  immersed  in  cheap  fiction.  Perhaps  the  youngster  is 
thrown  by  the  train's  lurch  against  the  woodwork,  and 
cries  the  louder ;  but  its  mother  is  so  absorbed  in  the 
story — in  the  love-making  of  the  tall,  handsome  noble- 
man with  the  flashing  eyes,  and  the  lithe,  fair  girl  with 
beauteous  face,  who  clings  to  him  as  the  shadows  of 
the  night  fall  on  the  moss-grown  ivy-clad  terrace — that 
she  gives  only  scant  and  impatient  notice  to  her  own 
offspring,  keeping  the  child  away  from  her  knees  with 
her  left  foot,  and  saying  :  *'  Shut  up,  yer  young 
nuisance."  But  somehow  the  little  one  cannot  **  shut 
up."  It  is  hungry,  weary,  in  pain  ;  or  its  little  heart  is 
well-nigh  broken  by  its  mother's  neglect,  and  it  sobs 
and  cries  the  louder.  The  old  bachelor  surges  with  rage, 
and  bending  towards  the  woman  with  his  body  quiver- 
ing, and  his  face  purple,  says :  "  You'll  pardon  me, 
madam  ;  but  if  you  don't  stop  this  yelling,  I  shall  be 
obliged  to  drop  the  child  out  of  the  carriage  window  !  " 
The  cashier  may  place  his  thick  leather  bag,  heavy 
with  the  week's  wages  of  the  men  at  the  works  yonder, 
on  the  carriage  seat  at  the  station  for  a  moment  while 
he  gossips  with  the  bank  clerk  on  the  platform,  and 
suddenly  discover   that   the   bag   has   gone,  has   been 


10  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.xxv. 

stolen  by  some  agile  railway  thief,  who  has  climbed 
through  the  opposite  window,  grasped  the  bag,  and 
escaped  on  the  off  side  of  the  carriage.  The  dishonest 
side  of  railway  travelling  is  not  so  romantic *in  England 
as  it  is  abroad.  Masked  robbers  do  not  board  the 
cars  as  in  America;  nor  are  railway  passengers,  on 
their  way  from  London  to  Edinburgh,  brought  up 
at  Shap  by  brigands  in  gay  attire,  carried  off  to  wild 
moorland  glen  and  held  in  close  captivity  till  ran- 
somed. Still  there  have  been  some  daring  robberies 
from  English  trains.  More  than  one  mail-bag,  rich 
with  spoil,  has  been  carried  off;  and  in  1891,  on 
the  Wycombe  branch  of  the  Great  Western,  a  man 
entered  a  van  at  midnight,  released  the  brake,  and 
sent  the  train  down  an  incline  in  the  hope  that  it 
would  run  into  collision  with  an  engine  that  was 
clearing  the  siding,  so  that  he  could,  in  the  confusion, 
steal  the  mails. 

The  luggage  thief,  though  he  or  she  occasionally 
gets  five  years'  penal  servitude,  still  turns  up  amid  the 
bustle  of  the  arriving  train  and  steals  your  box.  At 
Paddington  terminus  there  was  a  good  deal  of  half- 
suppressed  excitement  on  the  12th  December,  1874,  not 
owing  to  railway  disaster,  but  because  the  Countess  of 
Dudley  had  been  robbed  of  jewellery  at  first  valued  at 
£50,000.  One  of  her  ladyship's  servants  placed  the  jewel 
case  on  the  platform  for  a  moment  to  assist  a  fellow- 
servant  from  the  cab.  When  she  had  done  this  kindly 
but  thoughtless  act,  she  found  to  her  astonishment  that 
the  case  had  dij-appeared.      One  thousand  pounds  was 


\ 


Cii*p.xxv.i  OEIME    ON   THE   RAILWAY.  11 

offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  thief;  but  the  jewels  are 
still  missing.  Even  the  railway  guard,  invariably  polite 
and  attentive,  and  honest  and  honourable  withal,  does 
now  and  then  lapse,  one  of  the  most  notorious  in- 
stances being  that  of  one  who,  working  a  train  from 
Birmingham  to  Rugby  on  the  London  and  North- 
Western  Railway,  opened  the  boxes  and  trunks  placed 
in  his  care  by  means  of  false  keys,  and  stole  necklaces, 
bracelets,  and  trinkets  of  all  kinds,  some  of  which, 
when  detection  seemed  imminent,  he  hid  in  fields. 

Death,  peaceful  or  tragical,  sometimes  enters  the 
railway  carriage.  The  business  man  steps  eagerly  into 
the  express  on  his  way  to  fulfil  some  important  en- 
gagement, and  makes  no  reply  to  the  ticket  collector 
at  the  next  stopping-place.  His  restless  activity,  his 
hopes  and  fears,  his  business  schemes  and  ambitions, 
have  been  checked  by  death.  A  jealous  lover  chats 
with  apparent  light-heartedness  until  the  tunnel  is 
reached,  then  whips  out  a  bull-dog  revolver  and  shoots 
his  sweetheart  and  himself.  The  Slough  signal  box, 
on  the  Great  Western  Railway,  has  had  a  romance 
of  its  own.  The  cabin  was  erected  in  1844,  and  one 
of  the  earliest  messages  the  signalman  wired  to 
London  was  intelligence  of  the  birth  of  the  Duke  of 
Edinburgh.  The  following  year  a  man  named  Tawell 
committed  a  murder  at  Salthill,  and  escaped  by  the 
next  train  to  London ;  but  information  was  telegraphed 
to  Paddington,  and  he  was  arrested,  tried,  and  hanged. 
Sir  Francis  Head  has  recorded  how  he  was  travelling 
along  the   line   months   after,  in  a  crowded   carriage. 


OUll    RAILWAYS. 


"  Not  a  word  liad  been  spoken  since  the  train  left 
London,  but  as  we  nearcd  Slough  Station,  a  short- 
bodied,  short-ncckcd,  short-nosed,  exceedingly  re- 
spectable looking  man  in  the  corner,  fixing  his  eyes 
on  the  apparently  fleeting 
wires,  nodded  to  us  a-s  he 
muttered  aloud,  '  Tliem's  the 
cords  that  hung  John 
Tawoll ! ' " 

Roderick  Maclean  fired 
at  the  Queen  in  March, 
1882,  as  slie  entered  her 
carriage  at  Windsor  railway 
station ;  and  a  disappointed 
suitor  shot  at,  and  severely 
injured,  his  honour  Judge 
Bristowe  as  the  latter  was 
getting  into  the  Derby 
train  at  Nottingham  railway  station  in  November, 
1S89;  but  on  English  railways  the  crime  oE  murder 
has  been  rare.  You  hear  the  reader  say,  "The  papers 
are  full  of  tragedies ; "  but  they  are  tragedies  chiefly 
committed  in  crowded  city  or  countryside,  crimes  that 
are  the  outcome  of  jealousy,  drink,  or  passion,  or  of 
legislative  disregard  of  the  dangers  that'  arise  from 
permitting  the  revolver  to  become  a  plaything  among 
frolicsome  boys,  disappointed  lovers,  and  political 
madmen.* 


*  On  Aijril  26,   1803,  n  gunmnkur's  assistant  vaa  arrcsteil  in  London  for 
ttutiiitciiing  to  ihoot  Mr.  (iludstono,  aud  For  rerolvet-Gring  in  Uoivning  Slroet. 


Chap.  XX v.]         MURDERS   ON   FRENCH    RAILWAYS.  13 

"  Railway  travelling,  especially  by  night,  is,"  says 
one  writer,  "  a  risky  business  in  France.  In  the 
course  of  the  last  thirty  years  there  have  been  eight- 
and-twenty  murders  or  attempted  murdere  on  French 
railway  lines.  Most  of  these  have  been  in  express 
trains  and  during  night  journeys,  and  in  almost  every 
case  the  assault  has  been  in  a  first-class  carriaofe. 
Of  the  eight-and-twenty  attempts  there  were  con- 
victions only  in  thirteen  cases.  More  than  half  the 
culprits  escaped.  One  assassin,  having  secured  his 
booty,  had  the  courage  to  pull  the  cord,  and  in  the 
confusion  of  the  stopping  train,  escaped  into  the 
darkness  on  the  off-side  of  the  carriage.  France  takes 
the  lead  in  this  kind  of  crime.  Her  t\vent3'-eight 
cases  are  not  approached  by  any  other  European 
country.  Austria  has  had  one,  Spain  two,  England 
four,  Italy  five,  Russia  and  Turkey  each  seven  ;  while 
in  Germany,  Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Belgium  there 
have  been  no  instances  of  murder." 

One  of  the  most  thrilling  crimes  that  have  occurred 
on  an  English  railway  was  the  murder  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Briggs  on  July  9,  18G4.  On  the  arrival  of  the  night 
train  at  Hackney  from  Fenchurch  Street,  on  the 
North  London  Railway,  a  passenger  entered  a  first- 
class  compartment  in  No.  09  carriage,  and  was  startled 
to  find  one  of  the  cushions  saturated  with  blood. 
The  guard  was  told,  and  he  noticed  evidences  of  a 
fierce  struggle.  The  floor  and  even  the  windows 
were  flecked  with  blood,  and  the  carriage  seats  were 
mauled.      A   hat,  a   walking-stick,   and   a   small   bag 


14  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [ChAp.  xxv. 

were  found  in  the  compartment ;  but  no  occupant, 
except  tlie. passenger  who  had  called  attention  to  the 
condition  of  the  seating.  The  mystery  was  soon 
solved.  The  driver  of  an  engine  running  by  the 
Milford  Arms  tavern  discerned  a  figure  upon  the 
line,  the  form  of  a  man,  splashed  with  blood,  chiefly 
from  fearful  wounds  in  the  head.  The  man  was 
alive,  but  speechless,  and  he  died  in  a  few  minutes 
without  giving  a  clue  to  his  murderer. 

Circumstantial  evidence,  which  has  led  more  than 
one  detective  astray,  proved  in  this  case  a  trustworthy 
guide.  The  victim  of  the  crime,  it  was  ascertained 
from  letters  in  his  pocket-book,  was  Mr.  Thomas 
Briggs,  chief  clerk  in  the  Lombard  Street  banking- 
house  of  Messrs.  Robai-ts  and  Co.  He  went  from 
Peckham  to  Fenchurcb  Street  in  an  omnibus,  and 
at  the  latter  place  entered  the  train  for  Hackney, 
his  home.  His  money,  nearly  £5  in  gold  and  silver, 
was  untouched.  A  silver  snuff-box  was  also  found 
in  one  of  his  pockets.  But  his  gold  watch  had  been 
stolen,  his  albert  guard  ripped  out  of  vest  button- 
hole and  broken ;  and  his  gold  eye-glass,  which  he 
usually  wore  with  a  hair  guard,  had  gone.  The 
stick  and  bag  found  in  the  railway  carriage  were  the 
property  of  Mr.  Briggs ;  but  the  hat  belonged  to 
somebody  else. 

The  murder  caused  a  great  sensation.  The  railway 
had  become  an  indispensable  agent  in  national  life ; 
everybody  used  it.  But  this  crime  gave  travellers  a 
fearful  shock.     They  wanted  to  journey  in  groups  for 


Ch*p.xxv.j  ON   THE   MUBBERER'S    TRACK.  15 

mutual  safety.  If  a  man  entered  a  compartment  alone, 
however  inoffensive,  God-fearing,  and  man-frightened 
he  might  be,  he  was  immediately  suspected  of  being  a 
murderer,  especially  if  he  had  a  foreign  look.  For  some 
days  the  police  were  at  their  wits'  end,  and  not  alto- 
gether unhampered  by  the  fierce  outcry  for  the  criminal. 
The  Government  did  a  sensible  thinof.  Thev  offered 
£100  for  his  arrest ;  and  the  bank  volunteered  a 
similar  sum.  Mr.  Briggs's  watch-chain  was  first 
traced.  It  had  been  exchanged  for  another  by  a 
foreigner  at  the  shop  of  Mr.  Death  in  Cheapside. 
The  hat  found  in  the  carriage  was  identified  by  a 
cabman  as  one  he  had  bought  for  Franz  Miiller, 
who  had  come  from  Cologne  to  seek  his  fortune 
in  London,  and  had  lodged  at  his  house.  Miiller, 
moreover,  had  given  his  children  a  little  cardboard 
box  bearing  Mr.  Death's  name  ;  and  at  the  time  was 
wearing  a  gold  chain  and  a  ring.  Putting  this  and 
that  together,  the  police  were  confident  that  they  were 
on  the  murderer's  track,  and  their  faith  proved  sound. 
MiUler,  who  was  making  love  to  the  cabman's  sister, 
gave  the  young  woman  his  photograph.  Mr.  Death 
recognised  it  as  that  of  the  man  with  whom  he  had 
exchanged  the  watch-chain.  Miiller  had  a  sprained 
ankle,  caused,  it  was  believed,  by  the  struggle  in  or 
fall  from  the  train.  He  could  not  satisfactorily 
account  for  his  possession  of  Mr.  Briggs's  hat,  which 
he  had  ingeniously  reduced  in  size  ;  or  for  his  where- 
abouts on  the  night  of  the  tragedy,  so  he  quitted 
London  in  a  hurry  for  Liverpool,  and  sailed  for  New 


16  OUR    RAILWAYS.  lCtap.xr». 

Tork  in  the  ship  Victoria.  The  detectives,  discover- 
ing by  raeans  of  a  letter  posted  at  Worthing  that 
he  was  crossing  the  Atlantic,  followed  him  in  a 
faster  boat,  overhauled  the  Victoria,  and  apprehended 
Miiller  at  New  York  before  be  left  the  ship.  He 
was  brought  back  to  England,  tried  on  September 
17th  at  the  Central  Criminal  Court,  and  sentenced 
to  death  b^'  Mr.  Baron  Martin.  Both  on  board  ship 
and  in  court  he  protested  that  he  was  innocent.  He 
told  the  judge  that  he  was  satisfied  with  the  sentence 
because  he  knew  it  was  the  one  the  law  of  the 
country  prescribed,  but  he  asserted  tliat  be  had  been 
convicted  on  a  false  statement ;  and  he  was  so  over- 
come, evidently  by  a  sense  oE  injustice,  that  he  wept 
bitterly. 

On  November  14th  he  was  pinioned  and  led  to 
the  scaffold.  Singularly  taciturn  during  the  time  he 
piissed  in  tlie  condemned  cell,  he  made  no  mention 
of  the  crime.  Reported  confessions  found  credence 
outside  the  prison,  but  Miiller  kept  his  own  counsel 
till  he  bad  mounted  the  scaffold,  when  he  at  last 
confessed. 

"Miiller,"    said    Dr.   Cappel,    his  cluvphiin,  as  the 
hangman  was  about  to    begin    bis   woik,    "  in    a   few 
moments  you  will  stand  before  God.     I  a.sk  you  again, 
and  for  the  last  time,  are  you  guilty  or  not  guilty?  " 
Midler  :  "  Not  guilty." 
Dr.  Cappel :  "  You  are  not  guilty  ?  " 
Miiller:  "God  knows  what  I  have  done." 
Dr.  Cappel  :    "  God   knows  what   you    have  done. 


A    TARDY    CONFESSION. 


Does  He  also   koow  that  you   have   committed  this 
crime  ?  " 

Muller    (who    had    been    placed    upon    the  drop) 


muttered  in  German : 
"  Jii ;  Ich  babe  es  ge- 
tlian  "  ("  Yes  ;  I  did 
it  ")  ;  and  the  words 
had  scarcely  left  bis 
lips  when  tlie  bang- 
man  drew  the  bolt, 
__  and  the  murderer  was 

lifeless. 
A  greater  sensation  still  was  caused  by  the  murder, 
on  June  27,  1881,  of  Mr.  Gold,  a  merchant,  while 
travelling  in  an  express  train  from  London  to  Brighton. 
The  crime  was  committed  in  somewhat  similar  circum- 
stances.    Thomas    Mapleton    Lefroy,   who,  after   the 


18  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch«i..  xxv. 

fashion  of  many  men  in  scrapes,  glibly  described 
himself  as  a  journalist,  savagely  attacked  his  fellow- 
passenger  with  revolver  and  knife,  with  the  object  of 
robbery,  and  inflicted  many  dreadful  wounds  upon  him. 
Nevertheless  Mr.  Gold  struggled  desperately  with  his 
assailant,  but  was  ultimately  flung  from  the  carriage, 
and  found  dead  upon  the  line.  Lefroy,  after  telling  a 
specious  story  to  account  for  his  own  injuries,  escaped. 
The  Government  and  the  London  and  Brighton  Railway 
Company  offered  rewards  of  £100  each  for  the  man's 
arrest.  He  was  reported  to  be  in  four  places  at  once, 
and  for  a  time  securely  hid  himself  in  the  labyrinths 
of  London. 

At  the  inquest  it  was  stated  that  when  the  body 
of  Mr.  Gold  was  found  in  Balcombe  Tunnel  the  face 
was  mutilated,  and  there  was  a  gunshot  wound  in  the 
throat.  The  tragedy  was  described  by  the  coroner — how 
the  guard,  Watson,  saw  Mr.  Gold  apparently  asleep  in 
the  carriage  at  Croydon ;  how  Lefroy,  the  only  occupant 
of  the  compartment  when  the  train  reached  Preston 
Park,  was  smeared  with  blood,  and  had  had  his  collar 
torn  away ;  how  a  bullet  was  found  embedded  in 
the  panel-work  close  to  the  electric  communicator,  and 
another  in  one  of  the  cushions.  Lefroy's  statement 
that  the  crime  had  been  committed  by  another  pas- 
senger who  had  escaped  was  ridiculed,  because  Mr. 
Gold's  watch,  with  a  small  piece  of  the  chain,  was  seen 
in  his  (Lefroy 's)  shoe  as  he  stood  on  the  platform  at 
Preston  Park.  It  was  undoubtedly,  in  the  coroner's 
opinion,  the  hand  of  Lefroy  "  that  committed  the  foul 


CT.«p.xxv.)  LEFROY  ARRESTED.  19 

deed,"  and  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder 
against  him.  Placards  offering  the  reward  for  his  arrest 
were  then  issued  by  the  police  ;  and  the  literature  from 
Scotland  Yard  included  a  portrait  of  Arthur  Lefroy, 
a/ias  Lefroy  Mapleton,  otherwise  Percy  Lefroy  Maple- 
ton,  and  contained  a  specimen  of  his  handwriting. 

Two  days  afterwards  Lefroy  was  arrested.  In  the 
name  of  Park  he  had  taken  lodgings  in  Smith  Stroot, 
Stepney,  and,  describing  himself  as  an  engraver  who 
required  the  utmost  quietude,  had  kept  the  window- 
blind  down.  The  announcement  that  "  the  coroner's 
verdict  attaches  a  serious  responsibility  to  anybody  who 
conceals  the  accused,"  or  the  tempting  reward,  induced 
some  person  to  indicate  his  hiding-place.  The  detectives 
found  him  in  the  shadowed  room.  He  had  not  thriven 
on  murder  and  the  withholding  of  himself  from  the 
sight  of  men.  He  was  haggard,  miserable,  starving; 
for,  after  admitting  that  he  was  the  man  they  sought, 
he  said,  "  I  am  very  hungry.  I  have  not  had  anything 
to  eat  all  day."  On  July  10  Lefroy  was  taken  to 
Lewes  Gaol.  Travelling  by  train,  he  chatted  non- 
chalantly with  the  inspectors,  and  smoked  cigarettes 
till  he  got  to  Balcombe  Tunnel ;  and  then,  like  Mathias 
in  "  The  Bells,"  he  was  demoralised  by  the  recollection 
of  his  crime,  and  became  too  excited  to  smoke  or  speak. 
At  Hayward's  Heath,  where  he  had  to  change  trains, 
he  received  the  sturdy  execrations  of  the  crowd,  was 
bundled  into  a  first-class  compartment,  and  hidden  by 
a  drawn  blind.  Inspector  Jarvis,  giving  evidence  at 
the  Lewes  inquiry,  said  he  found  in  the  prisoner's 
c2 


20  OUR  RAILWAYS.  CCU|..  xxv. 

room  a  false  moustache  and  whiskers,  and  some  blood- 
stained garments.  Lefroy  voluntarily  said  to  him,  "  I 
am  glad  you  found  me.  I  am  sick  of  it.  I  should  have 
given  myself  up  in  a  day  or  two.  I  have  regretted  it 
ever  since  that  I  ran  away." 

At  Cuckfield  Police  Court  on  July  15  Lefroy  was 
charged  with  the  murder.  The  evidence  showed  that 
he  took  a  revolver  out  of  pledge  on  the  day  the  ti-agedy 
occurred,  that  he  got  a  first-class  ticket  at  London 
Bridge  Station  for  the  two  o'clock  express  for  Brighton, 
and  that  he  told  a  railway  clerk  at  the  end  of  his 
journey  the  following  yarn  : — *'  When  I  got  in  at 
London  Bridge  there  was  an  old  man  and  a  young  man 
in  the  carriage.  When  I  was  going  into  a  tunnel  I  saw  a 
flash,  and  remembered  no  more  till  I  got  to  the  station." 
The  question  naturally  arose,  How  did  the  old  man  and 
the  young  man  manage  to  alight  from  the  train  ?  And 
it  was  admitted  that  it  was  quite  possible  for  a  person 
to  get  out  of  a  train  running  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles 
an  hour,  but  that  he  would  hardly  be  able  after  such  a 
dramatic  exit  to  run  away  and  hide  himself.  The  assize 
trial  lasted  three  days  in  the  crowded  court  at  Maid- 
stone, the  Attorney-General  (Sir  Henry  James)  prose- 
cuting, the  late  Mr.  Montagu  Williams  defending,  and 
Lord  Coleridge,  the  judge,  acting  upon  the  legal 
maxim,  **  Keep  your  mind  quiet."  But  he  summed 
up  dead  against  the  prisoner,  saying  that  a  mass 
of  practical  impossibilities  must  be  believed  before 
they  coidd  adopt  Lefroy's  story  that  the  murder  was 
committed  by  a  third  person. 


ciimp.  xxv.i  THB  SUMMINO    UP.  21 

What,  he  asked,  are  the  proved  facts?  The  prisoner  aud  Mr. 
Gold  were  in  the  carriage.  At  Merstham  four  shots  were  heard. 
Four  bullets  have  been  found,  or  the  marks  of  them.  That  was 
seventeen  miles  from  London  ;  and  at  twenty-five  miles,  at  Horley,  a 
struggle  was  seen  going  on  in  the  carriage.  The  struggle  would  take 
some  time.  Mr.  Gold  was  a  powerful  man  ;  but  there  was  a  knife  as 
well  as  a  revolver,  and  he  hatl  fourteen  wounds  with  a  knife.  The 
body  was  thrown  out,  probably  with  life  still  in  it,  at  the  entrance 
to  Balcombe  Tunnel,  thirty-one  miles  from  London,  so  that  the 
struggle  lasted  for  eight  miles.  That  is  an  awful  thing  to  con- 
template, and  what  terrible  incidents  it  must  have  given  rise  to ! 
It  reminds  one  of  the  "  Haunted  House  "  by  Hood,  the  story  of  a 
victim  at  once  caged  and  hunted.  The  struggle  must  have  been  long 
and  protracted.  It  began  with  the  firing  of  a  revolver,  with  the 
wounding  of  Mr.  Gold,  and  his  assailant  went  on  till  he  had 
succeeded  in  casting  his  victim  out,  still  alive,  still  struggling, 
as  was  shown  by  the  dreadful  piece  of  evidence,  the  marks  of  blood- 
stained fingers  on  the  footboard.  Mr.  Gold  was  wounded  unto 
death  and  thrown  out,  and  the  train  stopped  at  Preston  Park  with 
the  prisoner  alone  in  the  carriage. 

Ten  minutes  sufficed  the  jury  to  find  the  prisoner 
guilty,  and  with  a  deadly  pallor  on  his  face,  and  a  strange 
muttering,  he  stood  against  the  dock  rail  to  receive 
sentence.  Lord  Coleridge,  putting  on  the  black  cap, 
told  him  he  had  been  found  guilty  on  the  clearest 
evidence  of  a  ferocious  murder,  and  then  pronounced 
sentence.  The  convict,  while  the  judge  was  speaking, 
regained  confidence,  was  apparently  unmoved  at  the 
mention  of  his  doom,  and  said  in  a  melodmmatic  tone, 
"  The  day  will  come  when  you  will  know  that  you  have 
murdered  me ! "  Robert  Fisk,  a  hare-brained  fellow, 
came  forward  to  say  that  he  was  the  murderer  of  Mr. 
Gold.  Sympathisers  with  Lefroy — and  it  is  amazing 
how    easily    sympathy    is     aroused    for    a    murderer 


22  OUR   RAILWAYS.  ichar-xxv. 

nowadays  —  petitioned  the  Home  Secretary  for  his 
respite  ;  but  the  "  unscrupulous  schemer  "  who,  in  the 
hope  of  prolonging  his  life  for  a  few  days,  confessed 
to  a  series  of  crimes,  was  hanged  in  Lewes  Prison  on 
November  29,  and  the  revolver  with  which  he  had 
committed  the  murder,  found  among  the  grass  on  the 
line-side  near  Earlswood,  was  added  to  the  Scotland 
Yard  collection  of  the  instruments  used  in  the  perpe- 
tration of  crime. 

The  country,  on  June  18,  1875,  rang  indignantly 
with  the  name  of  Colonel  Valentine  Baker.  On  the 
previous  day  this  gallant  soldier,  who  was  an  officer 
in  the  10th  Hussars,  and  on  the  staff  at  Aldershot, 
a  dean  sabreur  and  the  friend  of  those  in  high 
places,  committed  a  gross  outrage.  He  entered  a 
first-class  carriage  at  Liphook,  on  the  London  and 
South-Western  Railway,  and  tried  to  make  himself 
agreeable  to  a  young  lady,  the  only  other  occupant 
of  the  compartment.  But  not  content  with  vivacious 
conversation,  he  asked  her  name  and  also  for  permission 
to  write  to  her.  She  declined  to  give  her  name,  and 
rejected  his  suggestion  that  she  should  receive  his 
letters.  Bat  this  military  Don  Juan  was  not  abashed, 
and  at  last  the  young  lady,  half-mad  with  fear, 
found  it  necessary  to  endeavour  to  attract  the  guard's 
attention,  but  in  vain.  Then  she  uttered  piercing 
shrieks,  flung  open  the  carriage  door,  sprang  upon 
the  footboard,  and  grasping  the  carriage  handles,  and 
with  only  slender  and  perilous  foothold,  travelled  for 
five  miles  in    imminent   danger    of    death,   and    with 


Chap.  XXV.]  OOLONEL    VALENTINE   BAKER,  23 

her  brain  in  a  wild  tumult,  striving  to  make  the 
passengers  hear  her  cries.  At  last  she  was  rescued. 
There  was  no  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  her  story. 
Colonel  Valentine  Baker  was  arrested,  committed  for 
trial  by  the  Guildford  magistrates,  convicted  at  Croydon 
assizes,  and  sentenced  by  Mr.  Justice  Brett  to  a  fine 
of  £500  and  twelve  months'  imprisonment.  Colonel 
Baker  was  one  of  the  smartest  cavalry  officers  of  his 
time,  and  a  man  who  might  have  attained  to  much 
loftier  command  in  our  forces ;  but  he  wrecked  a 
career  full  of  promise  by  a  moment's  passion ;  and 
he  had  to  quit  the  army,  **  Her  Majesty  having  no 
further  occasion  for  his  services."  A  social  outcast, 
he  left  England.  Determined  to  regain  his  good 
name,  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
and  greatly  distinguished  himself,  particularly  after 
the  fall  of  Plevna.  In  Egypt,  too,  he  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  showing  how  brave  he  could  be  in  the  field. 
But  he  revealed  the  noblest  courage  in  his  daily 
purpose  and  duty.  His  private  life  was,  henceforth, 
beyond  reproach,  and  he  did  much  towards  the  efl'ace- 
ment  of  his  dishonour. 

At  Tamworth  Station,  on  the  Midland  llailway, 
in  January,  1892,  a  worthless  fellow  enters  a  carriage 
in  the  guise  of  a  local  preacher,  proceeds  to  cant 
about  religion,  and  endeavours  to  tempt  a  woman 
to  wrong.  She  struggles  out  of  his  grasp  escapes 
from  the  compartment,  and  raps  with  her  um- 
brella at  the  next  window  for  help,  but  slips  off 
the   footboard,  is   found  unconscious  on  the  line,  and 


24  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch«p  xxv. 

for  weeks  remains  demented  from  the  shock.  But 
her  reason  returns.  Her  assailant  is  tried  at  the 
Staffordshire  assizes.  There  is  no  doubt  about  his 
mock  piety,  his  impurity,  his  guilt  ;  and  Mr.  Justice 
Hawkins  rigorously  sees  that  justice  is  done,  sentencing 
the  man,  whom  he  appropriately  describes  as  "  a  sanc- 
timonious hypocrite,*'  to  two  years'  imprisonment  with 
hard  labour,  saying  that  it  is  most  necessary  that 
everyone  who  enters  a  railway  carriage  should  be  free 
from  annoyance,  and  that  women  especially  should 
be  protected. 

The  assailant  may,  as  we  have  already  seen,  be 
an  aristocrat,  like  the  man  whose  prosecution  for 
assault  caused  some  sensation  in  1892.  On  the  night 
of  Easter  Monday,  while  travelling  on  the  London 
and  Brighton  Railway,  he  quitted  a  smoking  com- 
partment at  Hay  ward's  Heath,  sauntered  past  the 
carriage  in  which  a  young  lady  was  seated,  and,  just 
as  the  train  was  moving,  entered  the  compartment  of 
which  she  had  been  the  only  occupant.  When  the 
train  was  in  motion  he  tried  to  engage  her  in  con- 
versation, and  at  last  lost  all  self-control.  The  lady 
screamed,  struggled,  and  finally  reached  the  communi- 
cation cord.  The  train  pulled  up  at  East  Croydon, 
she  complained  to  the  guard,  and  continued  her  journey 
in  another  carriage  to  Victoria  Station,  where,  after 
some  maidenly  hesitation,  she  decided  to  charge  him. 
The  defendant  said,  "Oh,  this  is  a  plant.  It  looks 
like  a  second  Colonel  Baker's  case ; "  but  as  the 
case  developed  it   was  proved  that  the  lady  had  no 


Chap,  xxv.i  RAILWAY   OUTRAGES.  25 

thought  of  blackmail,  and  that  the  defendant  had 
undoubtedly  assaulted  her.  At  the  London  County 
Sessions  he  pleaded  guilty  to  a  common  assault,  his 
excuse  being  that  he  was  under  the  influence  of  drink 
when  he  misconducted  himself.  It  is  often  said  that 
in  England  there  is  one  law  for  the  rich  and  another 
for  the  poor  ;  but  at  all  events  in  this  case  justice 
was  strictly  impartial,  for  Sir  P.  Edlin,  ignoring  the 
prisoner's  aristocratic  lineage  and  the  literaiy  tradition 
of  his  race,  sent  him  to  gaol  for  six  months  with 
hard  labour,  and  ordered  him  to  pay  the  costs  of  the 
prosecution. 

At  this  time  the  air  was  filled  with  stories  of 
railway  outrages.  A  dressmaker  swore  she  had  been 
thrown  out  of  a  train  by  a  tall,  dark  man  near 
Armley  Station.  Another  woman  complained  that 
while  travelhng  between  Sheffield  and  Retford  a  man 
endeavoured  to  outrage  her ;  but,  alarmed  at  her 
struggles  to  reach  the  communication  cord,  scrambled 
upon  the  footboard  and  disappeared.  The  story  from 
Leeds  proved  to  be  the  outcome  of  hysteria  or  a 
vivid  imagination.  But  the  case  on  the  Brighton 
line  raised  a  loud  outcry.  Under  pressure  of  it 
the  directors  reserved  compartments  on  every  train 
'*  for  ladies  only."  Mr.  Ernest  Spencer,  rising  in 
his  place  in  Parliament,  asked  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  whether  he  would  take  steps  to 
provide  all  classes  of  trains  with  compartments  for 
the  exclusive  use  of  women,  and  also  with  means 
of  communication  with  the  guard.    Sir  Michael  Hicks- 


26  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [a.ap.  xxv. 

Beach  replied  to  his  question  with  a  polite  snuh, 
saying  he  was  not  aware  of  general  necessity  existing 
for  such  legislation ;  in  fact,  accommodation  of  the 
kind  desired  was  provided  by  nearly  every  railway 
company,  but  seldom  used. 

Nevertheless,  on  every  side  there  was  mdignant 
demand  for  separate  compartments — separate  compart- 
ments for  ladies,  for  babies,  and  even  for  dogs.  Men, 
as  well  as  women,  had  their  champions ;  and  one  ex- 
perienced traveller,  declaring  that  a  man  rarely  offended 
against  modesty  unless  encouraged  to  do  so,  gave  this 
sensible  advice  to  gentlemen  travelling  alone :  "  Select 
an  apartment  already  occupied  by  at  least  two  or  three 
passengers,  and  do  not  search  the  whole  length  of  a 
train  for  an  empty  carriage,  as  I  so  frequently  see 
gentlemen  doing,  in  the  mistaken  idea  of  safety.  A 
particular  sort  of  women  invariably  select  either  a 
smoking  compartment,  or  a  compartment  where  an 
unprotected  man  may  be  alone ;  and  the  male  traveller 
must  remember  that  no  twelve  men,  honest  and  true, 
will  believe  the  word  of  a  man  against  the  word  of  a 
fairly  good-looking  woman." 

"  It's  really  not  safe  for  any  lady  to  travel  alone," 
said  a  female  passenger  in  the  writer's  hearing  at  King's 
Cross,  as  she  struggled  with  a  copy  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
pamphlet  on  Women's  Suffrage,  a  tangled  woollen 
wrap,  a  long  twine-knotted  bag,  and  a  lap-dog.  "  You 
must  lock  me  up,  porter,"  she  said  to  the  railway 
servant,  as  she  stalked  into  the  compartment,  and 
turned   her  angular  form   and    somewhat   soured  face 


Chap.  XXV.)  man-haters.  27 

towards  him.  He  locked  her  up  obediently;  but 
there  was  a  smile  on  his  rugged  features  as  he 
sauntered  along  the  platform.  "The  old  lady,"  he 
told  the  lampman,  with  a  grin,  "was  frightened  of 
being  assaulted.  She  said  she  hated  the  sight  of  a 
man ;  and  wouldn't  let  me  go  in  the  compartment 
to  fix  her  bundles.  I  expect  she'll  be  stopping  the 
train  to  get  a  separate  compartment  for  the  lap 
dog." 

The  fear  and  abhorrence  of  men  expressed  by  timid 
and  strong-minded  women  on  railway  platforms  are 
mere  gentle  protests  compared  with  the  remarkable 
outbursts  of  indignation  in  print.  Women  drive  tram- 
cars  and  locomotives  in  America.  It  was  suggested 
that  in  this  country  they  should  "  man  '*  the  entire 
railway  system.  One  female  thought  that  "when 
the  equal  citizenship  of  women  was  recognised  by  the 
possession  of  the  parliamentary  vote,  they  would  be 
able  to  bring  railway  manners  and  customs  up  to 
date,"  and  contended  that  tlierc  ought  to  Ije  women 
officials  on  all  our  lines.  Her  estimate  of  man  was 
absolutely  withering.  While  travelling  between  Al- 
trincham  and  Manchester  one  of  these  creatures  dared 
to  enter  the  ladies'  compartment ;  but  she  "  got  him 
hauled  out  bodily  with  ignominy." 

There  is  no  crime  more  heinous  than  the  railway 
outrage ;  and  the  debased  wretch  who  attempts  to 
assatdt  a  defenceless  girl  should  be  flogged  as  well  as 
imprisoned.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  only  fair  to 
remember   in  the   midst  of   the  feminine  scream  that 


28  OUR  RAILWAYS,  cohap.xxv. 

there  are  still  some  gentlemen  left  in  England, 
true  gentlemen  though  they  may  be  in  fustian  and 
broadcloth,  whose  demeanour  to  women  in  trains  is 
courteous,  considerate,  and  even  chivalrous. 


i 


29 


CHAPTER  XXVr 

MORE    INCIDENTS    OF    THE    LINE. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  Speeches  on  Tour — Political  Scenes  at  Railway  Stations— Mr. 
Balfour's  Dislike  to  Carriage- Window  Oratory — Sir  William  Hai-oourtV 
Novel  Experience — The  Interminable  Scotchman  at  Lockerbie — A  Crowd 
and  a  Return  Fare — Stopping  the  Express — The  Vanished  PaMengcr— 
Where's  your  Ticket?— The  Lijrht  Luggage-Rack —The  CrusluKl  Hat- 
Peculiar  Effect  of  Train  Jolting— Bewildered  at  Trent— Juvenile  Travel- 
lers and  their  Comments — An  Awkward  Fix — A  Whimsical  Search — The 
Terrible  Highlander — Travelling  Adventures — The  Girl  Passenger  in 
Male  Attire— Alighting  from  Trains— An  Exciting  Exit — How  the  Ohl 
Lady  Got  Out — Escaping  from  a  Maniac — Queer  Visitors  to  Signalmen — 
Mad  Engine-Drivers. 

Mr.  Gladstone  set  the  fashion  of  making  speeches 
out  of  railway-carriage  windows  to  enthusiastic  poli- 
tical supporters  crowding  the  stations  on  his  tour.  In 
the  South,  East,  and  West  of  England  he  has  made 
rhetorical  progress  of  this  kind,  but  he  has  been  chiefly 
distinguished  for  these  travelling  utterances  on  his  way 
to  Midlothian.  There  have  been  some  strange  scenes  at 
the  various  stopping-places  on  the  West  Coast  route 
during  Mr.  Gladstone's  journeys ;  and  railway  officials 
have  not  been  without  anxiety  lest  some  politician  or 
pressman,  indiscreet  with  zeal,  should  be  ground  under 
the  carriage  wheels.  The  eager  crowds,  catching  sight 
of  the  venerable  statesman's  face,  deeply  furrowed  with 
thought  and  age,  never  seemed  to  think  of  the  peril  of 
the  platform  edge.  Everybody  desired  to  gaze  upon 
him,  to  shake  hands  with  him,  to  thrust  flowers  and 


30  OUn    RAILWAYS.  ichap.  xxvi. 

fruit  upon  him,  and  to  offer  him  cigars,  though  he  does 
not  smoke,  even  while  he  was  speaking  to  the  local 
deputation  in  reply  to  their  ardent  address ;  and  re- 
porters were  clinging  to  the  carriage  handles,  trj-ing 
desperately  to  take  notes  meanwhile. 

Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  who  succeeded  the  late  Mr. 
W.  H.  Smith  as  Leader  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  Lord  Salisbury's  second  administration,  did  not  in 
the  campaign  of  July,  1S92,  put  much  faith  in  tlio 
efficacy  of  pouring  political  principles,  in  hurried  words, 
out  of  railway  carriage- windows,  remarking  at  Iludders- 
field  Station,  in  response  to  cries  for  a  speech,  "  In  other 
circumstances  I  should  be  very  pleased  indeed  to  address 
you,  but  neither  in  this  nor  in  any  other  particular  am  I 
anxious  to  imitate  the  methods  of  a  very  distinguished 
statesman  whose  habitual  methods  of  electioneering 
consist  of  inconveniencing  the  officials  of  the  various 
railways  over  which  he  travels,  and  the  public  who 
desire  to  travel  in  the  same  train  with  him." 

Sir  William  Harcourt,  during  the  same  campaign, 
was  reminded  of  the  imperative  charaeter  of  railway 
travelling.  Journeying  to  Manchester  to  address  a 
political  meeting,  he  was  presented  at  Stockport  Station 
with  an  address,  wishing  him  *'  God  speed  !  on  the  eve 
of  the  greatest  political  struggle  of  our  generation.** 
But  the  engine-driver's  working  time-table  allows  no 
margin  for  political  struggles,  however  vital  to  the 
nation;  and  Sir  William  Harcourt's  speech  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  elbows  and  shoulders  of  the  ticket- 
collectors,  and  before   he   could  resume  it,  the  guard 


Cb*p.xxvi.i  A    SCEKE   AT  LOCKEnPTR.  31 

waved  his  flag,  and  the  express  Avent  on  its  way, 
"  Historicus  *'  — or,  as  Lord  Beaconsfield  styled  him  in 
his  novel  "Endymion/*  "Hortensius** — smiling  at 
the  annihilation  of  his  own  oratory,  and  howing  in 
acknowledgment  of  the  cheers  of  the  people. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  on  one  of  his  journeys  north,  had 
a  similar  experience  at  Carlisle  ;  but  no  incident  in  his 
long  experience  of  railway  adventure  outstrips  in  humour 
the  whimsical  scene  that  was  witnessed  at  Lcx^ktTbio 
Junction  on  his  journey  to  Midlothian  in  1892. 
All  along  the  line  from  Crewe  he  had  been  greeted  with 
enthusiasm,  and  made  many  speeches.  But  at  Lockerbie 
his  eloquence  was  grotesquely  frustrated.  William  Black, 
in  one  of  his  novels,  gives  an  amusing  description  of  the 
dismay  of  a  grouse-shooting  party  dela3^ed  in  a  country 
house  on  the  morning  of  *'  The  Twelfth  "  by  the  inordi- 
nately long  prayer  of  the  Scotch  pastor,  and  the  quiet 
remark  at  the  end  of  it,  "We  will  now  sing  the  119th 
Psalm."  The  same  type  of  man  walked  slowly  upon  the 
platform  at  Lockerbie,  and  when  Mr.  Gladstone  arrived, 
gravely  proceeded  to  read  a  long  address  of  welcome.  It 
was  a  thoughtful,  sincere,  appreciative  address ;  but  it 
completely  swallowed  the  few  precious  moments  of  the 
train's  stoppage.  On  the  faces  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  sup- 
porters there  were  looks  of  annoyance  and  despair. 
The  Liberal  Chief,  with  the  reporters  grouped  about 
him,  stood  at  the  window  of  the  saloon  carriage  eager  to 
reply.  But  they  do  things  methodically  at  Lockerbie. 
"  The  reader  of  the  address  insisted  on  reciting  its  glow- 
ing and  prolix  periods ;  "  and  he  had  not  got  through  it 


52  OUR    liATLWAYSI,  iCTnp.xxvi. 

when  the  guard  blew  his  whistle,  and  Mr.  Gladstone, 
with  a  bow  and  a  smile,  and  "a  twinkle  in  his  eye,"  was 
borne  away  by  the  express  without  the  opportunity  of 
saying  a  single  word. 

Mrs.  Gladstone,  in  May  of  the  same  year,  was 
more  fortunate  than  most  people  who,  in  their  hurry, 
leave  articles  in  railway  carriages.  Journeying  to 
Hatchlands,  she  placed  a  pair  of  diamond  earrings  on 
the  carriage  seat.  She  quitted  the  train,  and  did  not 
miss  the  trinkets  till  some  hours  afterwards.  In  the 
meantime  the  carriage  had  been  swept.  Search  was 
made  among  the  litter  on  the  line,  and  the  earrings 
were  found.  Mrs.  Gladstone  was  so  delighted  that  she 
gave  a  substantial  subscription  to  the  Railway  Orphan- 
age and  a  sovereign  to  the  finder  of  the  jewellery. 

On  some  railways  a  good  deal  of  latitude  is 
allowed  to  the  passenger.  In  the  crush  of  getting 
back  from  the  St.  Leger,  when  the  platform  at  Don- 
caster  was  jammed  with  a  great  crowd,  with  struggling 
forms  and  faces  pers])iriug  or  pale  with  effort,  I  once 
scrambled  into  a  Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincoln- 
shire train  with  a  Midland  return  ticket.  When  I 
reached  Sheffield  the  ticket-collector  was  very  angry; 
and  though  I  politely  protested  and  talked  wisely  about 
the  importance  of  an  interchange  of  tickets  between  the 
two  companies  at  such  a  busy  time,  I  was  obliged  to 
pay  the  fare  back.  On  writing  to  the  Midland  Company 
and  pointing  out  how,  through  mishap,  I  did  not  use 
their  train  on  the  return  journey,  they  sent  me  the 
return  fare  with  a  courteous  note. 


84  OUR   RAILWAYS.  ich«p.xxvi. 

The  liberty  I  took  was  not  so  great  as  that  in- 
dulged in  by  the  passenger  who  got  a  ticket  at 
York  for  Thirsk,  and  finding  there  was  not  a  train 
immediately,  travelled  to  Harrogate,  and  ultimately 
arrived  at  Thirsk  by  a  roundabout  way,  nearly 
double  the  distance.  The  time-table,  he  argued  with 
considerable  ingenuity,  showed  a  through  train  from 
York  to  Thirsk  via  Harrogate,  and  he  had  a  right 
to  go  that  way  if  he  liked ;  but  the  North-Eastern 
Railway  Company  held  that  it  was  unjust  that  he 
should  be  wandering  over  their  system  at  the  price 
of  the  direct  fare  between  the  two  places,  and  the 
judge,  arriving  at  the  same  conclusion  as  the  company, 
ordered  the  passenger  to  pay  the  excess  fare  with  costs. 

In  another  work — "  Newspaper  Reporting  in  Olden 
Time  and  To- Day  " — I  have  given  some  idea  of  the 
journalist's  zeal  to  get  information  on  the  railway.  "  He 
has  been  known  to  ride  to  the  scene  of  the  accident 
dressed  like  one  of  the  breakdown  gang;  he  has  been 
seen  at  night  to  slide  down  a  cutting-side  at  the  im- 
minent risk  of  breaking  his  neck,  and  alight  almost  on 
the  funnel  of  the  overturned  engine ;  he  has  had  the 
audacity  to  pull  the  communication-cord  of  the  express 
at  a  wayside  station,  get  out  of  the  window  on  the  off 
side  of  the  slowing  train,  and  while  the  engine-driver 
and  guard  have  wondered  what  was  amiss,  started  on 
his  way  up  'the  six-foot'  to  the  wrecked  train."  Since 
then  the  ordinary  passenger  has  apparently  developed  a 
good  deal  of  assurance.  On  August  20,  1892,  "soon 
after  the   Margate   down  express,  which  left  Charing 


Chap.xxvi.i  A   SUDDEN  DISAPPEARANCE.  35 

Cross  at  noon,  had  passed  Ashford,  where  it  does  not 
stop,  a  gentleman  in  a  first-class  carriage  pulled  the 
communicator,  and  thus  brought  the  train,  which  was 
going  at  express  speed,  to  an  abrupt  stand.  On  the 
guard  proceeding  to  the  compartment  the  gentleman 
who  had  with  him  a  little  boy,  coolly  explained 
that  he  wished  to  alight  at  Ashford.  Upon  his  giving 
his  name  and  address  he  was  suffered  to  depart.  As 
he  passed  along  nearly  the  entire  length  of  the  train 
leading  the  little  boy  by  the  hand,  this  cool  person  was 
greeted  with  a  chorus  of  remonstrances  from  his  indig- 
nant fellow-passengers,  some  of  whom  ironically  desired 
to  know  whether  they  *  should  wait  till  he  returned.'  " 

A  friend  of  mine,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  travel 
from  Manchester  to  Euston  by  a  parliamentary  train  in 
the  days  when  the  journey  took  over  nine  instead  of 
four  and  a-quarter  hours,  was  the  astonished  witness 
of  a  most  extraordinai-y  case  of  evading  payment  of 
fare.  A  woman,  with  a  baby,  and  a  youth  got  into  the 
compartment  at  Crewe.  The  lad  chatted  to  his  mother 
about  all  sorts  of  topics  to  while  away  the  time,  and  now 
knelt  at  one  window  and  then  another,  pressing  his  nose 
against  the  glass,  admiring  the  scenery,  commenting 
on  the  live  stock  in  the  pastures,  or  breathing  against 
the  panes  until  the  whole  landscape  was  obliterated. 
The  boy,  his  feet,  and  his  voice  were  omnipresent  in 
the  compartment  until  the  ticket-collector  had  his  hand 
upon  the  door-handle — then  he  vanished.  My  friend 
was  amazed.  He  looked  round,  rubbed  his  eyes  ;  looked 
again.  There  was  no  boy  to  be  seen.  The  woman's 
d2 


36  OUR   RAILWAYS.  iai»p.xxvL 

face  was  innocent,  impassive.  She  calmly  gave  up  her 
ticket,  and  as  the  door  banged  to,  whispered,  "  Johnny, 
come  out !  "  The  lad  had  hidden  beneath  his  mother's 
petticoat ! 

Amid  the  rush  of  feet  and  the  banging  of  doors 
there  is  the  ring  of  the  clipper  and  the  collector's 
shout,  **  All  tickets  ready  !  "  then,  as  he  puts  his  head 
aud  shoulders  into  the  compartment,  the  sharp  query, 
"  Tickets  ?  "  or  the  polite  request,  "  Tickets,  please  !  " 
The  young  lady  opposite  becomes  almost  sublime  in  her 
bewilderment.  She  searches  the  inside  of  her  glove, 
her  pocket,  and  her  satchel.  '*  Come,  be  quick  ;  your 
ticket !  ''  says  the  collector,  losing  patience.  '*  I  can't 
find  it,"  she  says  hopelessly.  **  Where  did  you  put  it?  '* 
asks  the  collector  in  a  rage.  "  In  my  purse,"  she  says 
in  despair.  **  Where's  your  j)urse?"  he  asks  shortly. 
She  searches  for  it  with  nervous  despair ;  then  suddenly 
recollecting,  says,  with  a  gasp,  **  It's  in  my  box." 
"Where's  your  box?  "  he  demands.  **  It's  in  the  guard's 
van,"  she  says  desperately,  flushing  and  perspiring  pite- 
ously;  and  he  steps  backward  on  the  platform  scowling, 
and  bangs  the  door,  and  goes  away  muttering. 

It  is  disquieting  if  you  are  on  your  way  to  make  an 
offer  of  marriage  in  a  new  suit  and  a  silk  hat  of  the 
latest  fashion,  to  find  as  you  take  your  seat  in  the 
crowded  compartment  that  a  rough,  uncouth  passenger, 
whose  aggressive  elbows  and  big  hands  and  firmly- 
compressed  lips  indicate  that  he  never  submits  to  ex- 
postulation, has  placed  a  tin  trunk  on  the  light  luggage 
rack  just  above  your  head.     While  jou  are  screwing  up 


Ghap  XXVI.1  ^'WHAT  A  SIGHT  THAU  LOOKS l*"  37 

your  courage  to  request  as  a  special  favour  that  he  will 
put  the  lemon-drop  tin — a  hideous  substitute  for  the 
now  almost  obsolete  but  capacious  and  accommodating 
carpet  bag — beneath  the  seat,  the  hard  sharp-edged 
thing  is  overbalanced,  and  tumbles  with  a  thud  on  your 
new  hat,  crushing  much  of  the  gloss  and  all  the  shape 
out  of  it,  and  forcing  it  so  tightly  on  your  head  that 
the  passengers,  at  first  inclined  towards  sympathy,  grin 
again  as  the  owner  of  the  tin  box  tries  to  drag  the 
ruined  hat  off  your  bruised  head,  innocently  remarking, 
"  Ay,  mester,  it*s  made  a  nice  mess  on  it.  What  a 
sight  thah  looks  !  " 

The  light  rack  has  given  accommodation  to  many 
a  curious  assortment  of  luggage  since  it  was  introduced 
into  the  railway  carriage — hats,  caps,  bonnets,  feeding- 
bottles,  walking  sticks,  umbrellas,  wraps,  rugs,  bird- 
cages, bayonets,  rifles,  fishing-rods,  bait  cans,  cats, 
dogs,  and,  it  is  avowed,  more  than  one  sleeping 
infant  placed  there  in  bravado  by  a  half -tipsy  mother 
after  an  evening  at  the  music-hall ;  but  the  thing 
on  the  light  rack  that  requires  the  most  zealous 
watchfulness  is  the  heavy  portmanteau.  It  belongs, 
as  a  rule,  to  a  nervous  passenger,  who  is  always  in 
fear  of  robbery,  and  would  not  dream  of  putting  his 
property  in  the  guard's  van.  It  is  nearly  alwa3"s 
double  the  width  of  the  rack ;  and,  after  a  clumsy 
wobble  or  lurch  on  the  outer  mil,  generally  crashes 
down  on  the  passenger's  head  just  as  the  train  is 
making  its  first  spurt  out  of  the  station.  At  Gala- 
shiels   railway    station    not   long    ago   a  portmanteau, 


38  OUR  RAILWAYS.  icup.xxvi. 

thoughtlessly  placed  upon  the  rack  in  a  compartment, 
fell  upon  the  head  of  Mrs.  Dun,  an  unlucky  passenger 
who  was  sitting  just  heneath  it,  and  she  was  so 
seriously  hurt  that  she  could  appreciate  the  railway 
company's  warning  that  "  the  use  of  this  rack  for 
heavy  and  bulky  luggage  involves  risk  of  injury  to 
passengers." 

The  pjissenger  who  considered  a  railway  collision 
the  best  cure  for  rheumatism  had  more  faith  in 
the  efficacy  of  railway  travelling  than  the  hop- 
picker  who  appeared  at  the  Thames  police  court 
a  short  time  back,  and,  to  the  amazement  of  the 
magistrate,  solemnly  remarked  that  "  the  jolting  of 
the  train  had  made  her  drunk,"  greatly  to  her 
surprise.  The  woman  would  have  had  more  genuine 
cause  for  astonishment  if  she  had  travelled  down  to 
Trent.  Sir  Edmund  Beckett,  now  Lord  Grimthorpe, 
the  great  authority  on  clocks,  historic  and  modem, 
has  given  an  amusing  description  of  the  traveller's 
bewilderment  there.  "  You  arrive,"  he  writes,  "  at 
Trent.  Where  that  is  I  cannot  tell.  I  suppose  it  is 
somewhere  near  the  river  Trent ;  but  then  the  Trent 
is  a  very  long  river.  You  get  out  of  your  train  to 
obtain  refreshment,  and  having  taken  it,  you  en- 
deavour to  find  your  train  and  your  carriage.  But 
whether  it  is  on  this  side  or  that,  or  whether  it 
is  going  north  or  south,  this  way  or  that  way,  you 
cannot  tell.  Bewildered,  you  frantically  rush  to  your 
carriage;  the  train  moves  off  round  a  curve,  and 
then  3'ou  are  horrified  to  see  some  red  lights  glaring 


ciup.xxvi.i  AN  AWKWARD   FIX.  39 

in  front  of  you,  and  you  are  in  immediate  ex- 
pectation of  a  collision,  when  your  fellow-passenger 
calms  your  fear  by  telling  you  that  they  are  only 
the  tail  lamps  of  your  own  train ! " 

A  fond  mamma,  travelling  with  her  three-year- 
old  boy,  may  be  astounded  and  gratified  by  his 
descriptive  power  and  vivid  imagination  as  on  the 
train  entering  a  tunnel,  he  exclaims,  "  Oh,  ma !  The 
train  has  shut  its  peepies ;  "  .or  he  may  embarrass  her 
as  he  alights  at  some  foul-smelling  station  on  the 
Metropolitan — having  been  taught  that  Hades  is 
underground  —  by  asking,  "  Mother,  is  this  Hell 
Station  ?  " 

The  hero  of  the  following  anecdote  is  not  the 
only  boy  who  has  got  into  a  fix  on  the  railway :  "  A 
numl^er  of  lads  residing  at  Bedworth  are  in  the 
habit  of  attending  school  at  Coventry,  and  alight  at 
Goundou  Koad  Station.  Not  long  ago  they  hit  upon 
a  novel  plan  of  amusement.  One  of  them  mounted 
on  the  shoulders  of  two  comrades,  and  got  his  head 
through  the  empty  aperture  for  the  lamp  in  the 
roof  of  the  carriage.  He  surve3"ed  the  scenery  with 
great  inward  satisfaction,  but  at  Goundou  Road  he 
discovered — like  many  far  wiser  than  he — that  it  is 
easier  to  get  into  a  tight  place  than  to  get  out  of 
it.  He  was  unable  to  withdraw  his  head,  and  when 
a  porter  entered  the  compartment  and  endeavoured 
to  assist  him  by  tugging  at  his  legs  he  complained 
with  no  small  alarm  that  he  was  in  danger  of 
strangulation.     There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  send 


40  OUR   RAILWAYS.  {Ctm,p.  xxYh 

on  the  young  gentleman,  with  his  right-  and  left- 
hand  supporters,  to  the  next  station.  Here  the 
astonished  officials  uncoupled  the  carriage  and  ran  it 
into  a  siding.  A  file  and  saw  were  secured,  and 
after  considerable  trouble    the   lad  was  released." 

Another  remarkable  story  is  told  by  a  passenger 
who  escaped  uninjured  from  a  serious  railway  smash  in 
Suffolk.  Seeing  a  fellow-traveller  searching  anxiously 
among  the  wreckage  with  a  lantern  he  offered  to 
assist  in  the  search,  and  thinking  the  old  man  had 
lost  his  wife,  asked  in  sympathetic  tones,  '*  What 
part  of  the  train  was  she  in  ?  "  Raising  his  lantern, 
and  glaring  at  the  kindly-disposed  passenger,  the  old 
man  shouted  with  indignant  distinctness  that  tri- 
umphed over  physical  infirmity,  "She,  sir!  She!  I 
am  looking  for  my  teeth  I " 

It  was  some  3^ears  ago  my  good  fortune  to 
attend  the  Scottish  Athletic  Sports  in  a  Yorkshire 
town,  and  to  see  a  giant  from  over  the  border  wrestle 
with  the  strength  of  Cacus.  But  the  most  startling 
picture  at  the  festival  was  the  figure  of  a  respectable 
local  artist,  who,  in  honour  of  his  Scotch  ancestry, 
had  donned  the  Highland  costume,  and  absolutely 
staggered  his  best  friends  with  his  wild  appearance, 
with  his  flying  tartan,  and  kilt,  and  bare  legs.  "Is 
he  tame  ? ''  asked  one  of  his  friends  in  an  audible 
whisper  ;  and  the  Highland  chieftain  strode  away 
scowling,  no  doubt  with  thought  of  dirk  and  blood- 
shed. But  this  story  is  mild  enough  compared  with 
the  dramatic  incident  at  Perrache  railway  station,  near 


I 


»f|i.xxvi.i    A  HIGHLANDER  ON  A  FRENCH  RAILWAY,      41 

Lyons.  "A  person  arrayed  in  full  Highland  costume 
suddenly  entered  a  railway  carriage  and  caused  a 
terrible  commotion.  Two  ladies  who  were  in  the  com- 
pai-tment  shrieked  as  they  saw  the  awful  spectacle  pre- 
sented by  the  entry  into  their  compartment  of  a  man 
without  pantaloons.  The  Highlander,  who  was  on  his 
way  to  Nice,  nevertheless  took  his  seat  with  Caledonian 
coolness,  whereupon  the  ladies  screamed  the  louder. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  apparition  in  the  garb  of 
old  Gaul  apologised  and  explained  the  situation  in 
bad  French,  and  equall}'^  futile  were  the  efforts  of 
the  station  master,  who  assured  the  ladies  that  the 
gentleman  with  the  dirk,  the  sporran,  and  the  tartan 
accessories     or     properties     was    perfectly     harmless. 

*  You   don't   run   the   shadow   of  a    risk,    mesdames, 
insisted    the     stationmaster    in    his    blandest    tones. 

*  The  gentleman  comes  from  a  country  where  the  men 
wear  petticoats  and  do  not  wear  trousers.'  Despite 
everything,  however,  which  was  said  in  order  to 
calm  their  apprehensions,  the  over-timid  lady  travellers 
had  to  be  placed  in  a  carriage  at  a  safe  distance 
from  that  in  which  the  Caledonian  had  taken  up 
his  position." 

It  is  awkward  if  one  is  unused  to  the  coy 
and  arbitrary  ways  of  infants  to  find  that  the 
plea.sant-faced  young  woman  who  has  just  got  out 
at  the  busy  station  and  disappeared  in  the  crowd 
has  left  her  baby  in  the  compartment.  Travelling 
by  the  night  mail  from  Dublin  to  Cork,  and 
thinking     perhaps     that     at     last     the     Irish      are 


42  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ch■^xxYL 

within  measurable  distance  of  Home  Bule,  it  is 
disquieting  to  discover  that  the  big  parcel  on  the 
o])posite  seat  is  dynamite.  It  is  otherwise  than  en- 
joyable to  journey  with  a  passenger  like  Arthur 
Mayo,  of  Armley,  who,  riding  through  Cudworth, 
was  confulent  that  "three  devils  and  Charles  Peace 
were  after  him,'*  and  sprang  out  of  the  carriage 
window,  only  escaping  death  through  the  prompt 
action  of  his  fellow-passengers,  who  seized  him  by 
the  lejfs  as  he  was  leaping  to  the  line,  and  held 
him,  dangling  head  downwards,  till  the  porters  came. 
Nor  is  it  soothing  to  one's  nerves  to  travel  on  the 
railway  with  a  powerful  lunatic,  who  insists,  draw- 
ing an  "  ugly  clasp  knife "  meanwhile,  that  you 
should  tell  him  the  names  of  all  the  stations  the 
train  is  passing,  and  so  terrifies  you  that  you  escape 
from  the  compartment,  creep  along  the  footboard, 
and  seek  refuge  in  the  guard's  van.  Not  less  terri- 
fying to  nervous  travellers  must  have  been  the 
piissenger  who,  on  the  15th  September,  1880,  was 
sentenced  to  be  flogged,  and  to  twenty  years'  penal 
servitude,  for  a  ferocious  attack  upon  a  fellow-traveller, 
whom  he  robbed,  and  tried  to  fling  out  of  a  railway 
carriage  at  Kensington. 

These  startling  incidents  of  travel  are  hardly 
more  dramatic  than  the  experience  of  the  commercial 
traveller  journeying  between  Paris  and  Havre  who 
was  disturbed  in  his  slumber  by  the  pressure  of  a 
hand  on  his  mouth,  awoke  startled  to  find  that  a  man 
armed    with    a   revolver   was  holding   a  handkerchief, 


Cli»p.xxvi.i  A    0IBU8   FREAK.  43 

laden  with  chloroform,  against  his  face,  struggled 
to  the  alarm  bell,  and  succeeded  in  getting  the  train 
stopped  and  the  prisoner  arrested.  Nor  can  they  com- 
pare in  romance  with  Kate  Evanson's  freak  on  the 
Great  Western  Eailway.  Tired  of  her  quiet  home  life 
at  Beading,  and  with  her  mind  filled  with  stories  of 
travel,  adventure,  and  exploit  on  land  and  sea,  she 
determined  to  become  a  sailor,  and  had  also  a  yearning 
to  be  wrecked,  to  be  cast  by  some  storm-tossed  wave  on 
an  uninhabited  island,  to  live  a  free  roving  life  like 
Eobinson  Crusoe,  far  away  from  the  torture  of  hairpins 
and  the  burden  of  school  books.  She  left  Eeading  osten- 
sibly to  return  to  school  at  Bristol,  but  when  the  train 
reached  the  latter  place  the  young  lady  was  missing. 
A  bundle  of  girl's  clothing  was  found  in  the  compart- 
ment. The  young  lady  had  broken  her  journey  at 
Gloucester,  bought  a  ready-made  suit  of  boy's  clothes, 
and  had  her  hair  cut  short.  Then  she  took  the  train 
to  Hereford,  and  while  travelling  alone  in  a  compart- 
ment, changed  her  attire  completely — transforming  her- 
self, so  far  as  apparel  went,  from  a  girl  to  a  boy.  If  let 
alone  she  might  have  become  the  most  intrepid  female 
explorer  of  the  century  ;  but  she  was  traced  to  Shrews- 
bury by  a  common-sense  brother,  who  considered  it 
undesirable  that  she  should  masquerade  either  as 
errand  lad  or  sailor,  induced  her  to  doff  boy's  attire 
and  put  on  garments  more  suitable  to  her  sex,  and 
took  her  home  again. 

There  are  many  modes  of  alighting  from  a  train. 
The  most  sensible  mode  is  to  heed  the  warning,  "  Wait 


44  OUn   RAILWAYS.  [Cii«i».  XZTL 

till  the  train  stops/'  and  then  step  carefiillj  upon  the 
platform.  But  some  passengers  spring  out  of  the 
carriage  while  the  engine  is  slowing,  and  roll  head 
over  heels  towards  the  booking-office  or  on  the  line; 
and  I  have  seen  a  football  team  leap  from  a  train  and 
charge  across  the  platform  as  if  they  were  storming  the 
Itedan.  One  of  the  funniest  exits  in  railway  travel 
was  made  from  an  American  sleeping  car.  A  passenger 
told  the  train-boy,  a  negro,  to  call  him  at  six  in  the 
morning,  gave  him  a  dollar  to  keep  his  memory  awake, 
and  said,  **  Never  mind  if  I'm  a  bit  drowsy;  put  me  off 
the  car."  **  Yes,  boss,"  replied  the  negro,  grinning ;  and 
the  traveller  went  for  a  snug  night  in  his  berth.  But 
the  next  morning  he  jumped  out  in  a  rage.  The  train- 
boy  had  forgotten  to  call  him.  He  made  his  way  to  the 
negro  fuming,  and  angrily  asked,  "Why  the  deuce  didn't 
you  put  me  off  ?  "  "I  di "  jerked  out  the  train- 
boy,  and  then  abruptly  checked  his  utterance.  *'  Look 
yer  here,  boss,"  he  said,  utterly  confounded,  and  staring 
out  of  "  two  lovely  black  eyes,"  blacker  than  Nature 
had  given  him,  "  who  was  it  I  did  shove  off  ?  "  He  had 
mistaken  the  identity  of  the  traveller  who  had  tipped 
him,  aroused  the  wrong  man,  and,  after  a  fierce  fight, 
flung  him  off  the  train ! 

Humour  of  a  quieter  sort  is  affonled  by  a  story  in 
La?id  and  Wafers  according  to  which  an  old  lady  travel- 
ling on  the  Underground,  and  finding  that  the  train 
was  approaching  a  station,  addressed  herself  to  a  man 
in  the  farther  corner  of  the  compartment,  her  only 
fellow-passenger,   and  said,  **  Would  you  tell  me,  sir. 


Ch«p.xxvi.i  ATTACKED    BY   A   MANIAC.  45 


what  is  the  next  station  ? "  **  Bayswater,  madam," 
was  the  courteous  reply.  **  Then  would  you  mind,  sir, 
when  we  arrive,  opening  the  door  and  helping  me  to 
get  out?"  "With  pleasure,"  was  the  cordial  assent. 
**  You  see,"  the  old  lady  went  on  to  explain,  **  I  am 
well  on  in  years  and  afflicted,  and  1  have  to  get  out 
slowly,  and  backwards ;  and  when  the  porter  sees  me 
getting  out  he  shouts,  *  Look  alive,  ma'am,'  and  gives 
me  a  push  from  behind  —  and  I've  been  round  the 
circle  twice  already." 

Comparatively  few  incidents  in  fiction  can  equal  tlie 
reality  of  a  young  lady's  experience  on  the  London  and 
North -Western  llailway  on  August  27,  1887.  Tra- 
velling between  Wellington  and  Shrewsbury  she  was 
assaulted  by  a  madman.  In  order  to  escape  his  fury 
she  sprang  from  the  compartment  to  the  carriage  foot- 
board, and  stood  there  in  peril,  the  train  running  at  the 
speed  of  thirty  miles  an  hour.  Her  cries  attracted  the 
notice  of  a  gentleman  in  the  next  carriage,  and  he 
succeeded  in  rescuing  her,  keeping  her  foe  at  bay  mean- 
while with  a  sword-stick,  until  the  maniac  fell  upon 
the  line,  where  he  was  afterwards  found  unconscious. 

The  country  signalman  in  his  box,  bristhng  with 
gleaming  levers,  finds  life  rather  monotonous,  though 
he  has  to  be  careful  with  his  bell  signals  and  dials ; 
but  occasionally  he  has  his  blood  quickened  by  adven- 
ture, and  his  usually  steady  pulse  beats  as  quickly 
as  the  signal  needles.  His  excitement  may  arise,  too, 
from  a  cause  entirely  different  from  a  railway  smash. 
He  may  just   have  signalled,  with    two   beats  of  the 


46  OVR   UAlLWAYd.  ca-c-JXTi. 

nuedle  to  the  right,  "  Liqc  clear  of  train  or  engine," 
aud  be  looking  out  mechanically  into  the  darkness, 
when  the  door  is  tliruiit  open,  and  a  niadman  springs 


in.  A  signalman  at  Kii'kham,  on  the  Preston  and 
"Wyrc  llailway,  was  lately  startled  after  this  fashion.  A 
wild-looking  man  ran  up  the  steps,  pmuced  into  the 
cabin,  and  strove  witli  subtlety  and  cunning  to  stay  all 
night.     But  the  lever-puUcr  was  a  practical  man.     He 


Chap.  XXVI.       A   MAD    WOMAN   IN  A   SIGNAL   BOX.  47 

did  not  listen  very  long  to  the  maniac's  arguments ;  he 
grappled  with  him  and  flung  him  out  of  the  box. 

A  signalman  in  the  Humberston  junction  box  had 
a  curious  experience  one  afternoon  in  1891.  While 
busy  with  a  message  he  was  interrupted  by  a  mad 
woman.  She  sprang  into  the  box,  and  began  tearing 
the  plants  with  which  his  glass-house  was  brightened. 
He  tried  to  fling  her  out  ;  but  she  was  an  Amazon, 
and  nearly  overpowered  him.  His  cries  brought  several 
railway  servants  to  his  assistance,  and  the  woman  was 
removed,  wildly  threatening  to  cut  the  signalman's 
throat. 

In  the  summer  of  the  same  year  a  curious  scene  was 
witnessed  at  Heywood  railway  station.  A  self-styled 
poet,  indulging  in  strange  gesticulations,  leapt  off  the 
platform,  and  threw  himself  across  the  railway.  He 
was  dragged  out  of  his  perilous  position  by  a  rail- 
way porter,  to  whom  he  confided  the  information 
that  he  was  "The  Monarch  of  Europe,"  "The  Suc- 
cessor of  Oliver  Cromwell,"  and  "The  Friend  of 
George  Washington." 

A  madman  on  a  locomotive,  with  his  hand  on 
the  regulator,  is  an  even  more  dangerous  person  than 
a  maniac  in  a  signal  cabin.  Nearly  seven  years  ago 
the  present  writer,  in  a  story  entitled  "  A  Night  of 
Peril,"  described  how  a  passenger  in  the  north 
express,  alarmed  at  the  fearful  speed  of  the  train, 
crept  along  the  footboard,  climbed  the  tiny  iron 
steps  at  the  end  of  the  van  nearest  the  tender, 
crawled  over  the  coal  heap,    and    managed    to    rea^^h 


4S  OUR    UATLWAYS.  icbap.  xxn. 

the    foot])lato   of    the  enijine.       He     found    the    fire- 
man   had  been   strangled   by   the   engine-driver,    who 
liad    gone     mad.      The    story     sounded     improbable 
enough ;  for  an   engine-driver,    well-fed,  and  generally 
stout,  good-tempered,    and   contented,    seems    an    un- 
likely person  to  lose  his  reason — though  he  has  been 
known   during   the  severe    winters   of    the    past    few 
years   to   lose  his   temper,  driving   the   mail    through 
the    bitter    night,    with    his    feet    and    body    almost 
seorched    by   the  engine  fire,  and    his    face    and   ears 
frost-bitten  and  his  l^eard  and  moustache  snow- flecked 
and   icy.      As    a  rule,    observant   and   practical,   with 
mind  concentrated  on  duty,  the  engine-driver,  never- 
theless,   docs   occasionally  go    mad.     Four  years  ago, 
a    driver   in    the   service    of   the   London    and    North- 
Western    Railway  Company,  wiis   brought  before   the 
Salford   magistrates    under   detention  as   a   wandering 
lunatic.     While   driving   an  express   from   Chester   to 
Manchester  he  showed  symptoms  of  insanity,  and  the 
medical  man  who  examined  him  said  he  would  soon 
develop  into  a  violent  maniac. 

The  driver  of  a  train  on  the  Oregon  Short 
Railway  went  raving  mad  on  the  Ist  February,  1892, 
and  gave  the  passengers,  one  hundred  in  number, 
one  of  the  most  dramatic  journeys  in  railway  history, 
lie  seized  the  fireman,  and  after  a  fierce  struggle 
flung  him  off  the  engine.  Then  he  fired  up,  took 
off  the  brake,  and  put  on  steam.  The  engine 
throbbed  and  swayed  as  it  plunged  wildly  onward, 
and    the    terrified   passengers    were    pitched    off    their 


XXTL1  A   MAD   ESGIXE-DMirER.  m 

seats  as  the  cars,  larching  from  side  to  side, 
threatened  to  leap  off  the  track.  It  is  said  that  for 
a  distance  of  forty-five  miles  the  locomotive,  almost 
red-hot,  ran  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  miles  an 
hour;  and  Mr.  Julius  Smith,  of  Kansas  City,  one 
of  the  passengers,  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the 
flying  train  under  the  madman's  erratic  control. 
"After  the  train  left  Tacoma  nothing  unusual 
occurred,"  he  says,  "until  that  part  of  the  line 
which  leads  along  the  base  of  the  mountain  w;is 
reached,  when  suddenly  it  was  noticed  that  the 
train  was  increasing  in  speed  imtil  it  fairly  flew 
along  the  rails.  Faster  and  faster  went  the  train 
until  it  bounded  from  side  to  side  at  a  fearful  rate, 
and  the  frightened  passengers  were  thrown  about  the 
cars.  Several  stations  at  which  the  train  should  have 
stopped  were  passed  at  lightning  speed,  and  it  seemed 
a  miracle  what  kept  it  on  the  line.  The  passengei*s 
had  now  become  panic-stricken,  and  women  and 
children  were  screaming.  The  conductor  and  brake- 
man  had  been  appealed  to,  and  they  said  that  either 
the  engine-driver  had  gone  miid  or  had  lost  control 
of  the  engine.  They  crawled  carefully  along  the 
tender  and  saw  that  the  fireman  had  disappeared, 
and  from  the  stmnge  appearance  of  the  engin(H»r, 
who  was  bare-headed  and  gesticulating,  decided  that 
he  had  become  insane.  They  stealthily  got  behind 
him  and  struck  him  a  heavy  blow  on  the  head, 
which  felled  him  to  the  footplate.  The  conductor  shut 
off  the  steam,  and  gradually  brought  the  train  to  a 
e 


bO  OUR  RAILWAYS.  tciutp.xxvi. 

stuDdstill.  The  driver  was  secured,  and  a  despatch 
was  sent  over  the  road  asking  for  information  re- 
garding the  missing  fireman,  who  was  subsequently 
discovered,  seriously  injured,  by  the  side  of  the  rails." 
In  Spain  life  is  not  so  rapid.  The  train  does 
not  start  ''till  the  stationniaster  has  done  his  coffee, 
the  driver  his  ilirting,  and  the  guard  has  buckled 
on  his  swonl  ;  "  and  the  driver  has  been  known  to 
j)ull  up  miles  away  from  any  station,  "out  of  sheer 
curiosity." 


51 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

SOME   RAILWAY    SURPRISES — SMOKING    IN    TRAINS — SUNDAY 

TRAVELLING. 

Railway  Surprises— A  Special  Train,  and  the  Wreck  of  the  Cospatrick— 
Kidnapping  a  Grand  Duke — An  Expensive  Journey — Smoking  in  Rail- 
way Carriages — Implacable  Enemies — Punishing  a  Foreigner — The 
Eton  Boys  and  the  Strong  Pipe — A  Very  Rude  Smoker — Passengers' 
Hatred  of  Tobacco — "No  Smoking  Allowed" — "Smoking"  Labels  in 
Tall  Hats— Sunday  Travelling—"  The  Agitator's  Manual*' — Longing 
for  a  Change— Wordsworth's  Protest — Prejudice  against  Sunday  Trains 
— A  Sunday  at  Llandudno — A  Sunday  Afternoon  Train  from  Notting- 
ham to  Bakewell— Breaking  Heads  and  the  Sabbath  at  Strome  Ferry 
— Remission  of  the  Sentence. 

Railway  travelling  and  railway  work  are  inseparable 
from  surprises.  The  crank-axle  of  the  **  Jubilee"  ex- 
press engine  breaks  as  the  train  leaves  Higlibridge, 
and  the  express  is  three  hours  late  at  Bristol.  A  pas- 
senger in  the  West  Coast  night  mail,  finding  the  train 
powerfully  slowed  at  Penrith  Junction,  peers  out  of  the 
window  with  concern,  and  later  learns  that  four  waggons 
block  the  up-line,  and  that  the  signalman  has  saved  the 
mail  from  disaster  by  sending  a  man  along  the  track 
waving  a  danger-signal.  At  St.  Helens  smoke  is  noticed 
beneath  three  carriages  of  the  Wigan  train,  and  it  is 
found  that  the  wooden  brakes  are  on  fire.  There  is 
consternation  in  the  third-class  carriage  of  an  express 
travelling  between  Sheffield  and  Leeds,  caused  by  an 
ominous  bumping  and  a  violent  rocking.  The  carriage 
e2 


58  OUB   RAILWAYS.  tChftp-xxYU. 

floor  is  suddenly  smashed  to  fragments,  the  frightened 
passengers  jump  on  the  seats,  the  communication  cord  is 
tugged  and  the  train  pulled  up,  when  it  is  discovered 
that  one  of  the  steel  tyres  has  become  dislodged, 
has  worked  to  the  middle  of  the  axle,  and  at  each 
revolution  was  banging  through  the  floor  of  the 
carnage. 

A  train  from  Leicester  runs  into  Nuneaton  Station 
on  the  North -Western;  the  brake  does  not  act,  or  the 
rails  are  greiisy,  and  the  engine  dashes  into  a  carriage 
at  the  end  of  the  platform,  tumbling  the  passengers 
about  in  dismay.  An  excursion  train  is  leaving 
Old  Hill  when  the  coupling  links  between  two  of  the 
carriages  sna]),  and  ])art  of  the  train  starts  down  the 
incline  towards  Cradley  Station.  The  brake  has  not 
strength  enough  to  check  its  progress ;  but,  fortunately, 
the  guard  is  a  man  of  resource.  He  leaps  from  his 
van,  pushes  baulks  of  timber  between  the  wheels,  and 
averts  a  serious  accident.  On  the  Cornish  branch  of 
the  Great  Western  a  heavy  up-train  gets  out  of 
control  wliile  descending  the  incline  west  of  St.  Ger- 
mans Station.  It  rushes  through  the  station  and  on 
to  Nottar  Viaduct,  along  which  a  down  train  is  ex- 
pected. The  driver  and  the  stoker  of  the  runaway 
train,  now  under  control  again,  open  the  brake- whistle, 
leap  from  the  engine,  and  run  up  the  line  showing 
danger-signals ;  and  though  it  is  impossible  to  avoid 
a  collision,  there  is  comparatively  little  damage  done. 
The  Midland  newspaper  train  from  St.  Fancras  comes 
into   collision   with    some    overhead    obstruction   near 


Chap  xxmi  A  SOBTINO  TEN-DEB  ON  FIRE.  53 

Strines,  and  when  the  express  engine  reaches  Marple 
its  funnel  is  missing.  No  passenger  is  hurt,  but  the 
funnel-less  engine  is  an  object  of  considerable  curiosity 
as  it  runs  into  the  Manchester  Central  Station.  A 
fiendish  attempt  is  made  to  wreck  the  London  and 
North -Western  express,  like  that  near  Wolverhampton 
in  1881.  Some  miscreant  fastens  a  sleeper  on  the 
track  by  means  of  two  chains.  The  train  cuts  the 
sleeper  in  two,  and  quivers  from  end  to  end  on 
striking  the  obstruction,  but  fortunately  keeps  the  rails. 

The  English  mail,  just  starting  from  the  Central 
Station,  Glasgow,  for  London,  has  a  narrow  escape 
from  destruction  by  fire.  The  signal  *'  Right  away !  " 
has  been  given,  when  it  is  discovered  that  the  gas- 
pipe  in  the  sorting  tender  leaks,  and  the  escaping 
gas,  running  to  flame,  sets  the  vehicle  on  fire.  The 
mail  bags  are  tumbled,  amid  much  excitement,  on  to 
the  platform,  and  the  tender  is  shunted  to  the  water- 
trough.  The  fire  is  soon  put  out,  but  the  sorting 
tender  is  useless  for  the  night;  and  the  mails  are 
flung  into  the  guard's  van,  the  train  getting  away 
twenty-five  minutes  late  owing  to  this  peculiar  mishap, 
the  first  of  its  kind  since  the  adoption  of  gas  for 
train-lighting. 

The  incidents  to  the  traveller  and  the  mishaps  to, 
and  narrow  escapes  of,  the  rolling  stock  are  infinite; 
but  one  of  the  most  remarkable  surprises  on  any 
railway  occurred  in  1886.  The  Irish  Parliamentary 
party,  before  the  memorable  difference  in  their  ranks, 
met  in  Dublin   for   important   business.     Mr.  Farnell 


51  OUR  RAILWAYS.  iciuip.xxvn. 

did  not  attend;  but  it  was  explained  that  the  then 
great  but  taciturn  and  mysterious  leader  "  had  been 
accidentaUy  left  by  the  train  at  Crewe ! " 

The  railway,  at  first  sight,  seems  to  have  little 
connection  with  the  thrilling  and  pathetic  incident 
on  board  the  emigrant  ship  the  Cospafrici,  which 
was  burned  at  sea,  four  hundred  miles  off  the  Cape, 
on  the  19tli  November,  1874.  No  story  of  peril  has 
ever  equalled  the  grim  fact  of  that  wreck — more 
than  four  hundred  passengers  crowding  the  burning 
ship,  the  fire  raging  for  two  days,  the  fall  of  the 
mainmast  dealing  merciful  death  to  many,  the  blow- 
ing up  of  the  vessel's  stern,  the  captain's  leap  into 
the  sea  hoping  to  save  his  wife's  life,  the  two  boats 
getting  clear  away,  one  only  to  founder,  and  the 
other  to  drift  till  some  of  its  gaunt  occupants  died 
of  hunger,  or  went  mad  with  it,  and  sucked  the 
blood  of  their  comrades.  Out  of  thirty  persons  in 
this  starboard  boat  only  five  were  alive  on  the  17th 
November,  when  the  British  Sceptre,  homeward  bound 
from  Calcutta,  fell  in  with  the  piteous  crew  and 
rescued  them.  Two  of  these  five  died  on  board  the 
ship ;  and  the  other  three,  including  the  second  mate 
Macdonald,  were  put  ashore  at  St.  Helena.  The 
news  of  the  wreck  soon  reached  England,  and 
thrilled  the  people;  perhaps  the  more  because  it  ar- 
rived on  Christmas  Day,  when  everybody  that  could 
was  making  merry.  In  the  newspaper  offices  there 
was  much  shrewd  thought  and  calculation  with  the 
object    of     getting    the    earliest    intelligence  ;     and 


aim.xxTii.)      EiPSJLFrrxG  A  KrssTAX  rsjyrR  3;.% 

Archibald  Forbes,  the  noted  special  corw^^ndent 
in  the  Franco-Crerman  war  and  in  the  Kuii^so-Turkish 
campaign  for  the  Dai/j^  3>ir*,  showed  considerable 
dash  and  enterprise  on  behalf  of  the  newspaper,  goin^ 
down  the  Channel  in  a  special  boat,  boarding  the 
steamer  Xyaxra,  that  was  bringing  the  survivors  of 
the  wreck  from  St.  Helena,  obtaining  from  MacdouiUd 
a  graphic  acconnt  of  the  disaster,  and  taking  K^th 
the  narrator  and  the  narrative  up  to  town  friMu 
Plymouth  by  special  train,  to  the  chagrin  and  dis- 
appointment of  a  number  of  rival  pressmen  who 
had  been  anxiously  awaiting  the  vessel's  arrival  in  [K)rt. 
The  Boulogne  correspondent  of  the  ly^es  has  told 
an  amusing  story  of  the  capture  of  a  Uussian  prince 
by  an  English  railway  company,  so  great  \v:vs  their 
eagerness  to   secure  him  as  a  passenger: 

"An  improm]Aii  comedy  took  place  in  NovemWr,  1892,  at 
Boulogne  Harbour,  where  representatives  of  the  London,  Chatham 
and  Dover  and  South-Eastem  Companies  sought  to  o\itwit  each 
otlier  in  order  to  gain  possession  of  the  Grand  Duke  Sorgius  of 
Russia,  who  was  awaited  at  Boulogne  by  rival  steamers,  to  tnko 
him  to  England.  The  Grand  Duke  Sergius  loft  Paris  by  the 
Folkestone  express,  to  embark  at  Boulogne  for  Dover.  Owing  to 
some  inconsistent  order  issued  at  headquarters  a  steamer  of  the 
Calais-Dover  line  was  dii*ected  to  proceed  to  Boulogne,  and,  instead 
of  despatching  a  large  steamer  to  meet  the  Queen's  guest,  the 
company's  superintendent  at  Dover  sent  the  Maid  of  Kfiut^  their 
oldest  vessel,  which  was  launched  in  1861.  The  South-Kastern 
Company,  determined  not  to  accept  this  affront,  had,  ineanwhih^ 
provided  a  special  steamer  of  their  own.  On  tho  arrival  of  tlu» 
train,  the  company  by  a  clever  ruse  succeeded  in  kidnapping  th«» 
Prince,  not  even  so  exalted  a  traveller  as  a  Russian  Grand  Duk(» 
being    sacred    on    French    soil    from   the    enterpiising    ofUcials   of 


56  OUR   RAILWAYS.  (chap,  xxvit 

competing  English  railways.  Mr.  H.  Farmer  and  his  son,  the 
South-Eastern  representatives,  effected  the  capture  of  the  Grand 
Duke,  and  he  and  his  suite  embarked  on  the  Albert  Victor  amid 
some  excitement.  The  English  and  Russian  Yice-Consuls  were 
present.  Confusion  followed  when  Captain  Blomiield,  the  Chatham 
Company's  agent,  went  aboard  to  persuade  the  Grand  Duke  that 
the  other  boat  had  been  sent  expressly  by  her  Majesty.  His 
Imperial  Highness  disembarked,  and  appeared  somewhat  puzzled 
by  these  manoeuvres.  Being  informed  that  the  Boulogne  and 
Folkestone  was  the  shorter  and  quicker  route,  and  that  the  Queen's 
equerry  with  a  special  train  was  awaiting  him  at  Folkestone,  the 
Grand  Duke  decided  to  travel  by  the  Albert  Victor ^  which  left 
immediately  for  that  port." 

It  is  said  that  "  a  live  collier  is  better  than  a 
dead  cardinal ; "  but,  judging  from  a  curious  incident 
that  occurred  at  Leamington  Station  in  January,  1892, 
a  lifeless  person  is  more  profitable  on  the  railway 
than  one  able  to  get  his  own  ticket.  A  bath-chair- 
man's widow,  ignorant  of  railway  rates  and  the  cost 
of  transit,  gave  instructions  for  the  removal  of  her 
husband's  corpse  from  Dover  to  Leamington.  You 
can,  as  a  rule,  travel,  if  you  are  alive,  for  one  penny 
per  mile.  On  the  Lough  Swilly  Eailway,  in  Ireland, 
they  are  glad  to  take  you  for  three  farthings  a  milci 
candidly  admitting  that  if  they  raised  the  fares,  the 
passengers,  who  find  the  days  long,  would  prefer  to 
walk.  But  if  you  are  dead  it  is  quite  another 
thing — ^you  cannot  travel  for  less  than  one  shilling 
per  mile.  The  bath-chairman's  widow  discovered  to 
her  dismay  that  she  was  indebted  to  the  railway 
company  to  the  amount  of  £8  for  the  conveyance 
of    her    husband's    mortal    remains    from    Dover    to 


\ 


amp  zzYiLi  8M0KIKG   CARRIAGES.  87 

Leamington.  It  was  impossible  for  the  poor  woman 
to  find  the  money ;  so  the  corpse  was  detained  for 
two  days  in  the  luggage  department,  but  finally 
delivered  by  the  company,  on  the  widow's  earnest 
promise   to  pay  the  carriage. 

Smoking  in  railway  carriages  has  been  productive 
of  annoyance,  diversion,  and  some  hard  knocks.  The 
subject  is  always  with  us,  and  is  never  discussed 
calmly.  There  are  few  people  so  contented  and  philo- 
sophical as  the  man  in  the  smoke-filled  compartment, 
who  coughed  out  the  words,  "  I  never  smoke  now ; 
but  next  to  smoking  I  like  the  smell  of  it"  Good 
manners  often  forsake  smoker  and  non-smoker  when 
cigar  or  pipe  is  produced  in  a  railway  carriage.  The 
passenger  longing  for  a  whiff  is  in  a  condition  of 
armed  neutrality,  or  stoically  stubborn,  or  violently 
aggressive.  The  hater  of  smoking  makes  no  truce 
with  his  foe.  He  nails  his  colours  to  the  mast  of 
his  own  principle,  and  fights  to  his  journey's  end, 
and  sometimes  into  the  police  court  beyond,  against 
the  vile  polluter  of  the  atmosphere. 

Legislation  is  powerless  to  stop  the  strife.  As 
far  back  as  1868  a  clause,  to  pacify  smokers,  was 
introduced  into  the  Eailway  Eegulation  Bill,  making 
it  imperative  on  the  part  of  the  various  companies 
to  put  a  smoking  carriage  on  every  train  "  consist- 
ing of  more  than  one  carriage  of  each  class ; "  and 
to  appease  the  non-smokers  every  railway  company, 
with  watchful  eyes  for  traffic,  has  adopted  the  by-law 
setting  forth    that  any  person   smoking    in   shed   or 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


covered  platform  of  a  station,  or  in  anj  carriage  or 
compartment  not  specially  provided  for  that  purpose, 
is  liable  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  forty   shillings. 


A  MIOICINR  CAIiniAOE  OH  THE  EASTERN  OOCJJTIEa  LrtE  IN  UK. 

But  the  struggle  still  goes  on.  Like  ii  Corsican  feud, 
it  is  lianded  do\\'n  from  generation  to  generation,  and 
it  will  continue,  no  doubt,  till  the  crack  of  doom — 
till  the  earth  is  crashed  up  by  a  comet,  or  destroyed 
by  fire  and  ends  in  smoke ! 

The  stories  and  incidents  that  have  sprung  out 
of  this  fierce  fight  whicli  defies  all  arbitration  are 
legion.  In  the  opinion  of  one  of  our  bishops  "  the 
most  self-satisfied  Briton  must  own  that  we  are  in 
many  details  of  railway  travel  far  behind  Germany." 
No  doubt  the  foreign   passenger  who  indulged   in  a 


Ci«p.xxvii.i      TEACBING  TBS  FOREIGNER  A  LESSON.       SB 

cigar  while  travelling  between  Brighton  and  London 
in  September,  1842,  held  a  similar  view,  and  perhaps 
expressed  it  more  emphatically.  The  guard,  according 
to  the  Mechanics'  Magazine,  warned  him  that  the 
practice  of  smoking  was  not  allowed.  Nevertheless, 
the   gentleman  continued  to  smoke,  and   finished  his 


cigar.  At  the  next  station  he  was  met  by  a  demand 
for  his  ticket,  ordered  out  of  the  coupe,  and  the  guard, 
addressing  one  of  the  officers  on  the  platform,  warned 
him  that  "  that  person  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed to  London  by  any  train  that  night,"  and  there 
the  gentleman  was  left.  This  was  sufiiciently  severe 
treatment ;  but  even  in  those  early  days  the  companies 
were  not  without  some  sense  of  the  desirability  of  making 
the  travelling  emoker  comfortable,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  the  illnstrations  on  this  and  the  preceding  page. 
One  of  the  best  stories  is  that  about  the  Eton 
-  boys  crowding  into  a  compartment  and  smoking 
cigarettes  and  all  kinds  of  fancy  tobaccos  in  supreme 
disdain  of  a  quiet  old  man  in  the  corner  of  the  car- 
ri^e,  who  asked  them  in  vain  to  desist  from  smoking, 


60  Orn  RAILWAYS.  [QULP.TT7TL 

and  then  furtively  brought  a  short  black  pipe  out 
of  his  showman's  vest  pocket,  and  with  his  eyes  filled 
with  twinkles  and  his  pipe  well  loaded  with  thick 
twist,  insisted  on  the  windows  being  put  up,  and  blew 
such  a  potent,  insidious  cloud  that  the  lads  became 
strangely  silent.  He  made  them  all  ill  with  the  strong 
fumes  of  the  tobacco  that  seems  to  be  the  breath  of 
life  to  the  ironworker,  the  miner,  and  the  navvy. 

The  prim  old  lady,  sitting  stiffly  in  the  railway 
carriage,  with  mittens  and  reticule  on  knee  and 
thick-rimmed  spectacles — a  relic  of  the  optician's  art 
of  1828 — on  her  nose,  must  have  been  surprised  when 
the  rough-looking,  but  apparently  courteous,  man 
blundered  into  the  compartment  and  said,  "Marm, 
do  you  object  to  smoking  ? "  and  on  the  shrill 
reply,  "  Yes,  indeed  I  do  !  "  escaping  from  her  lips, 
brusquely  retorted,  "  Then  shift !  " 

"  A  spinster "  had  a  curious  experience  on  the 
Macclesfield  line  some  time  ago.  The  train,  a  very 
long  one,  steamed  into  Longsight  Station.  "  After 
running  from  one  end  to  the  other,"  she  writes,  "  I 
found  there  was  only  one  second-class  compartment 
that  was  not  labelled  '  Smoking,'  and  that  one  was 
quite  full.  I  was  compelled  to  '  invade '  a  smoking 
compartment  or  stay  behind.  There  were  three 
gentlemen  in  the  carriage ;  one  was  smoking.  On 
entering  the  carriage  I  said,  *  Gentlemen,  I  do  not 
willingly  intrude.  I  never  before  saw  such  a  long 
train  with  so  many  smoking  compartments  (second- 
class),  and   only    one   second-class   non-smoking   com- 


Ch.p.xxvii.1  *" SMOKING''   LABELS.  61 

partment/     A  quiet  smile  passed  round  the  carriage, 
which   at  the   moment   I   could   not   understand.      I 
soon,  however,  had  the   riddle  read.     A   few  stations 
past     Stockport     the    gentleman    who    was    smoking 
folded   up   his   rug  and  newspaper,  and,  amongst  his 
other  preparations  for  leaving  the  train,  removed  the 
red  *  Smoking '  label  from  the  window,  folded  it  care- 
fully, and  placed  it  inside   the   leather   lining  of   his 
hat — for   future   use,    I   presume.     I   was   anxious   to 
know   if   this   was  a  common    occurrence,  so  when    I 
reached  home  I  examined  mv  brother's  business  hat, 
and  there,  sure  enough,  I  found  two  *  Smoking '  labels. 
I  asked   him   how  he   came   to   possess    these    official 
labels,  and  was  answered  by  a  sly  wink,  and  *  Friends 
at  court,  my  dear.'     I  said  I  thought  it  unfair,  and 
gave  as  evidence  of  the  unfairness  my  trouble  at  Long- 
sight  that  evening,  and  received  for  answer,  '  Oh,  all 
our  fellows  have  them,  and  find  them  very  handy.' " 
The   opposition   to   railway   travelling   on   Sunday 
still   lives.     It   has  displayed   intermittent  vigour   for 
half  a   century;    and   some   bitter   things    have   been 
said  about  the  here  and  hereafter  of  those  who  dare 
to  go  from  home,  except  to  worship,  on  the  Sabbath. 
The   London  and   South -Western  Railway,  as  already 
hinted  at,  were  early   confronted   with   the   difficulty. 
In    1839   the    directors  received   a  memorial  from  the 
Winchester    clergy,    complaining    of    the    systematic 
desecration  of  the  Lord's  Day  by  Sunday  travelling, 
which  "  tended  to  corrupt  morals."     The  chairman  of 
the    company,    however,    seems   to   have   silenced    the 


62  .   OUR   RAILWAYS.  (GtaAp.xxvn. 

protests  of  the  clergy  by  the  incontrovertible  character 
of  his  reply.  Kailway  companies,  he  said,  were  com- 
pelled by  Parliament  to  run  trains  on  Sunday  for 
the  convenience  of  the  post-office;  and  he  pointed 
out,  moreover,  that  inasmuch  as  travelling  by  rail- 
road liad  greatly  reduced  the  amount  of  animal 
labour  employed  on  highways,  they  were  rather 
Sabbath  upholders  than  Sabbath  breakers,  for  it  was 
an  undoubted  fact  that  train-running  on  Sunday  had 
done  away  with  much  manual  labour — that  it  had 
"  reduced  the  quantity  of  human  labour  required  for 
conducting  the  emj^loyment  of  horses  " — not  to  speak 
of  the  horses  themselves. 

If  the  advice  given  in  1842  in  "The  Eailway 
Sabbath  Agitator's  Manual "  had  been  taken;  the 
country  would  perhaps  have  been  saved  a  good  deal 
of  controversy.  This  treatise  on  the  suppression  of 
Sunday  travelling  tersely  remarked: 

"It  is  much  easier  than  may  at  first  appear  to  establish  an 
efficient  agitation  in  any  railway  company.  Let  two  gentlemen  of 
principle  and  determination  take  at  least  as  much  stock  as  will 
afford  to  each  of  them  a  vote ;  let  one  of  them  give  notice  at  the 
6r8t  meeting  that  takes  place  aft^r  his  purchase  that,  at  the  next 
meeting,  he  will  move,  *  That  no  Sabbath  traffic  do  take  place  on 
the  railway.'  Let  him  and  his  second  be  at  their  post  on  that 
occasion,  and  make  their  speeches — no  matter  how  long  or  how 
short — calmly,  resolutely,  and  with  imperturbable  good  tem^ier. 
The  thing  is  done." 

It  is  rather  singular  that  in  an  age  conspicuous 
for  attempts  to  make  Sunday  more  attractive  by 
the   opening   of   free   libraries   and   museums,   by  the 


Cbap.xxvii.1  SUNDAY  AT   MANCHESTER.  63 

provision  of  music  in  parks,  and  the  birth  of  what  is 
called  the  "  Pleasant  Sunday  Afternoon "  movement, 
there  still  survives  a  ver}'  strong  feeling  against 
Sunday  travelling.  London,  unless  you  are  in  the 
religious,  social,  political,  artistic,  or  dramatic  swim, 
is  a  disheartening  desert  on  the  Sabbath.  So  is  every 
large  city  in  the  north.  Manchester  has  ventured 
to  give  a  little  variety  to  the  day  of  public  worship, 
formerly  entirely  devoted  to  psalm-chanting  in  cathe- 
dral and  church,  or  to  the  dissenting  ministers 
eloquence  and  the  performances  of  the  double-bass 
and  the  fiddle  in  chapel.  The  Reference  Libraiy, 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  kingdom,  is  now  open  to 
the  student.  The  Art  Gallery  is  free  to  the  public. 
The  toiler,  if  he  wishes  to  worship  God  in  the 
open  air,  can  stroll  in  the  parks,  and  in  '*  The 
Whitworth ''  hear  excellent  music,  too.  But  there 
are  some  people  so  constituted  that  they  must  go 
further  away  for  change  and  happiness.  They  weary 
of  bricks  and  mortar,  of  the  hard  pavement  and  the 
gleam  of  the  tram-line.  The  place  in  which  they 
have  worked  hard  through  the  week  grows  repugnant. 
They  yearn  for  a  **  Sunday  at  the  seaside,''  or  by  river 
or  lake,  and  get  away  to  Cleethorpes,  Blackpool, 
Southport,  to  the  broad  waters  of  the  Mersey  or  the 
Dee,  or  to  the  Upper  Ribble,  where  the  stream  murmurs 
among  the  moss-grown  stones  at  Horton,  or  further 
away  along  the  iron  track  to  Windermere. 

Our  ideas  about  railways,  and  also  about  keeping 
the    Sabbath,    have   altered   somewhat   since   the   day 


64  OUB  RAILWAYS.  tCh*p.xxviL 

William  Wordsworth  wrote  his  sonnet  on  the  pro- 
jected Kendal  and  Windermere  Bailway,  asking — 

*'  Is  there  no  nook  of  English  ground  seoore 
From  rash  assault  7    Schemes  of  retirement  sown 
In  youth,  and  'mid  the  busy  world  kept  pure, 
As  when  their  earliest  flowers  of  hope  were  blown, 
Must  perish—how  can  they  this  blight  endure  7  ** 

and  sent  to  the  Morning  Post  his  indignant  letter  o£ 
protest  against  the  construction  of  the  new  line,  in 
which  he  said: 

**The  directors  of  railway  companies  are  always  ready  to  deviit 
or  encourage  entci*tainments  for  tempting  the  humbler  rrlannni  to 
leave  their  homes.  Accordingly,  for  the  profit  of  the  sharehddfln 
and  of  the  lower  class  of  innkeepers,  we  should  have  wresHing- 
matches,  horse-  and  boat-races  without  number,  and  pothooMl 
and  beershops  would  keep  pace  with  these  excitements  and  recw^* 
tionSy  most  of  which  might  too  easily  be  had  elsewhere.  The  ii^iniy 
which  would  thus  be  dono  to  morals,  both  among  this  influx  of 
strangers  and  tlie  lower  class  of  inhabitants,  is  obvious ;  and,  sap- 
posing  such  extraordinary  temptations  not  to  be  held  out,  theio 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  Sabbath  day  in  the  towns  of  Bowness 
and  Ambleside,  and  other  parts  of  the  district,  would  be  sabjeot 
to  much  additional  desecration." 

Some  worthy  persons  have  been  known  to  overwork 
their  domestic  servants,  to  sit  down  to  a  hot  dinner, 
and  to  drive  to  church  or  chapel  in  brougham,  cab,  or 
hansom  on  the  Sabbath ;  but  they  draw  the  line  at 
tlie  railway,  and,  with  regard  to  the  Sunday  train, 
rigidly  observe  the  commandment. 

The  Scotch  people,  in  Scotland,  appear  to  believe 
yet  in  the  grave,  dreary  Sunday,  with  its  monotony 
of  long  sermons  and  long  faces,  though  they  do 
not  mortify  themselves  quite  as  much  as  their  habit 


Oar.  XXVI1.J  SUNDAY  TRAINS.  ii5 

was  in  tlie  late  Professor  Blackie's  youth.  Frolic  and 
whisky  are  not  altogether  unknown  in  tlie  great  cities 
on    the    Sahbath.      Yet    the    people    look    askance    at 


Siioday  trains ;  and  in  some  breasts  lingers  the  old 
feeling  expressed  years  ago  at  the  Kirk  Session  in 
Edinburgh,  when  it  was  resolved  not  to  accept  any 
remuaeratioD,  however  large,  for  the  passing  of  the 
Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  line  through  the  church- 
ywd,  unless  absolute  security  could  be  given  that 
there  would  be  no  railway  travelling  on  the  Lord's 
day. 

The  London    and    North -Western    Railway    Com- 
pany have  rebuilt  the  station    at    Llandudno,  and  it 

/ 


66  QUE  RAILWAYS.  (Oiuip.xxyn. 

is  now  a  bright-looking,  spacious  terminus,  with  four 
long  platforms,  two  reserved  for  ordinary  and  two 
for  excursion  traffic,  and  capable  of  dealing  with  an 
enormous  number  of  passengers,  especially  as  beyond 
the  station  two  miles  of  sidings  have  been  put  down. 
But  on  a  Sunday  the  station  is  closed.  The  gates 
are  locked.  The  place  is  deserted.  In  the  town  three 
or  four  thousand  visitors,  desiring  a  change  from 
church-going,  or  from  climbing  the  Great  Orme,  or 
from  parading  on  the  asphalt  walk  in  front  of  the 
sea,  are  longing  to  get  away  by  rail ;  but  there  is 
no  train  unless  you  walk  to  the  junction  three  miles 
away.  Trains  may  come  up  to  the  junction ;  but 
the  line  by  Deganwy  into  Llandudno  on  a  Sunday 
is  sacred  ground,  and  no  train  is  allowed  upon  it,, 
although  occasionally  some  locomotive,  wearied  of 
standing  still  and  doing  nothing  in  the  engine  shed, 
breaks  away  from  the  junction,  and  comes  down  with 
a  scream  till  it  reaches  the  signal  cabin;  when  it  is 
suddenly  struck  with  the  consciousness  that  it  is 
doing  wrong,  and  runs  back  puffing  and  sighing 
with  repentance. 

In  the  summer  of  1892  the  writer  was  in  Llandudno 
on  a  Sunday,  but  it  was  imperative  that  he  should  get 
away  early  on  Monday.  The  friends  with  whom  he  was 
staying  seldom  travel,  and  had  not  realised  the  import- 
ance of  the  time-table.  They  thought  he  might  get 
one  at  the  chief  hotel ;  but  he  could  not,  without  an 
uncomfortable  conscience,  break  the  law  by  entering  a 
Welsh  hotel  on  a  Sunday.      He  went  to  the  station 


ch«p.xxvii.i  AT  LLANDUDNO  ON  A  SUNDAY,  67 

instead.  It  was  shut  up,  and  the  facade  of  the 
building  was  entirely  devoid  of  railway  literature — 
there  was  not  a  solitary  placard  showing  the  train- 
time.  Three  men  stood  near  the  gates,  with  their 
hands  deep  down  in  their  pockets  and  their  minds 
deeply  buried  in  reflection.  He  asked  one  of  the  men, 
who  had  a  railway- employee  look  about  him,  if  he 
happened  to  know  what  time  the  first  train  went 
out  for  Manchester  in  the  morning.  The  man  started, 
stuttered,  and  said  something  vehemently  in  Welsh. 
Perhaps  he  was  in  a  rage.  Anyhow,  he  jerked  out 
volleys  of  strange  words  that  sounded  like  curses ;  and 
his  interrogator  thanked  him  and  wandered,  crestfallen 
and  perplexed,  to  the  parade.  There  fortune  favoured 
him — he  obtained  the  information  he  required  without 
a  breach  of  the  law.  On  one  of  the  grass-plots  that 
skirt  the  promenade  roadway  he  found  a  blackboard 
bearing  a  sheet  time-table,  and  stepping  over  the  rails, 
studied  it  to  his  heart's  content,  ascertained  the  time 
of  the  train's  departure  in  English,  and  was  happy ; 
still,  it  seemed  odd  that  the  railway  company  had  not 
had  the  forethought  to  fix  a  few  of  these  sheets  on 
the  outer  walls  of  the  station. 

Bail  way  companies  have  really  no  particular 
scruples  about  running  Sunday  trains.  All  the  great 
English  companies  have  for  j^ears  past  sent  two  or 
three  trains  crawling  over  the  country  on  the  Sabbath 
— ^trains  that  stopped  at  eveiy  station,  and  jogged 
along,  as  it  seemed,  haphazard,  the  drivers  appar- 
ently  indifferent   as    to   whether    they   reached    their 

/2 


^ 


68  OUB   RAILWAYS.  ichap.xxvn. 

destination  that  day  or  the  next.  Recently,  with 
the  steady  demand  for  travelling  facilities  on  Sunday, 
fast  trains  have  been  put  on  here  and  there  for 
ordinary  traffic,  and  trains  more  or  less  fast  for  ex- 
cursionists. But  these  innovations  have  to  be  made 
cautiously.  The  week-end  ticket  has  become  an  insti- 
tution. You  can  go  almost  anywhere  with  it  cheaply, 
and  indulge  in  as  much  enjoyment  as  possible  from 
Saturday  to  Monday.  But  many  people  look  glum 
if  you  talk  about  takiug  a  railway  journey  on  Sunday. 
They  view  such  a  journey  as  a  desecration,  and  are 
certain  that  evil  will  come  of  it — that  *'  there's  sure 
to  be  an  accident ;  '*  and  if  one  does  happen,  that 
*  it's  a  judgment."  Railway  managers  are  between 
two  stools.  They  do  not  like  to  refuse  traffic  on 
Sunday ;  and  they  are  anxious  not  to  offend  the 
good  people  who,  whatever  their  objection  to 
Sunday  travel,  make  frequent  use  of  the  railways 
during  the  remainder  of  the  week. 

It  has  been  said  that  railway  managers  firmly 
believe  '*  that  Providence,  though  disapproving  of 
railway  services  on  the  Sabbath,  may  yet  be  molli- 
fied if  those  trains  are  worked  so  as  to  be  of  as  little 
use  to  the  passengers  as  possible."  Probably  this 
conviction  prompts  them  to  run  Sunday  trains  early 
in  the  morning,  when  most  people  are  in  bed,  or 
late  in  the  afternoon,  when  everybody  is  at  dinner  or 
indulging  in  his  after-dinner  nap.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  ultimately  a  thoroughly  good  service  of 
Sunday  trains  will  be  instituted  on  all  the  important 


i 


Chap.  XXVII.1      A  BISHOP  AS  A  SUNDAY  PASSENQEB.        69 

lines.  The  convenience  to  the  public  would  be  great. 
The  increased  revenue  to  the  companies  would  be 
enormous.  The  railway  servants  would  suffer  no  hard- 
ship, for  the  men  on  Sunday  duty  might  be  easily 
relieved  on  Monday  or  some  other  week-day.  The 
London  and  North -Western,  the  Great  Western,  and 
several  other  companies,  have  already  recognised  the 
principle  that  a  working  week  consists  of  six  days, 
and  pay  extra  for  Sunday  work.  With  their  rolling 
stock  no  longer  idle  on  Sunday,  and  the  help  of  a 
relief  staff',  they  could  give  the  men  one  clear  day's 
holiday  in  the  week  instead. 

It  does  not  follow  that  because  a  man  travels  on 
Sunday  he  flings  away  his  chances  of  salvation ; 
nay,  the  author  is  told  that  an  English  bishop  has 
been  seen  in  a  train  on  Sunday,  and  that  his  lordship 
appeared  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  he  was  com- 
mitting a  grievous  sin.  The  outcry  about  Sunday 
travelling  is  a  little  inconsistent.  The  people  most 
strongly  opposed  to  it  do  not  seem  to  think  Sunday 
labour  in  another  direction  reprehensible  and  wicked. 
It  is  the  boast  of  one  of  our  judges  that  he  never 
reads  the  newspapers ;  but  prelate,  clergyman.  Non- 
conformist minister,  and  church  member  open  the 
daily  paper  on  Monday  morning  with  interest.  They 
do  not  avoid  it  with  loathing.  Yet  is  it  the  pro- 
duct of  Sunday  thought  and  of  hard,  unremitting 
work.  The  reporter  has  to  be  busy  taking  down 
sermons,  or  speeches  at  labour,  socialistic,  or  other 
meetings.     The  sub-editor  finds   "  Sunday  duty  ^'   the 


70  OUB   RAILWAYS.  ichap.  xxvii. 

severest  duty  of  all  the  week,  for  he  has  to  deal 
with  two  days'  news  instead  of  one,  and  the  mass 
of  intelligence  he  has  to  glance  through  and  prepare 
for  the  printers,  or  reject,  would  dishearten  a  Prime 
Minister,  though  his  despatch-bag  is  sometimes  very 
heavy.  The  editorial  staflF  must  be  at  the  office, 
either  choosing  subjects,  or  reading  up,  or  writing 
leaders.  The  composing-room  is  crowded  with  com- 
positors; and  for  hours  there  is  the  noise  of  engine 
and  type-setting  machine. 

A  daily  newspaper  office  on  a  Sunday  night,  with 
its  rush  of  work,  is  a  very  diflFerent  place  from  a 
cathedral,  with  its  lioiy  calm  and  sweet  music.  There 
is  apparently  a  very  wide  gulf  between  them ;  yet  it 
is  possible  that  the  bishop,  in  his  lawn  sleeves,  holding 
forth  in  the  pulpit  yonder  on  the  duty  of  the  people 
to  observe  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  worship  and  rest, 
is  really  making  Sunday  work  for  the  newspapers. 
What  he  says — particularly  if  he  is  a  popular  bishop, 
like  the  late  Bishop  Fraser — is  being  reported,  and 
will  be  set  up  in  type  that  night — Sunday  night.  The 
newspaper  is  not  rattled  oflE  the  machines  perhaps  till 
after  midnight ;  but  every  reader  of  it,  amid  the 
mingled  aroma  of  printers'  ink  and  buttered  toast  at 
breakfast,  has,  however  devout,  insisted  on  Sunday 
work,  and  Sunday  work  on  the  railway,  too ;  for  a 
good  deal  of  the  news  the  paper  contains  has  been 
sent  by  train  in  news-parcel  on  Sunday,  and  before 
midnight  the  fireman  has  to  be  on  duty  at  the  shed 
to  charge  and  light  the  engine  fire,  to  get  up  steam. 


Ch»p.xxvii.i     A  PETITION  AGAINST  SUNDAY  TRAINS.       71 

80  that  the  locomotive— of  which  he  affectionately 
speaks  as  "she" — may  be  ready  to  dash  along  the 
line  north,  south,  east,  or  west  with  the  newspaper 
train. 

Tiiough  the  tendency  of  the  age  may  be  to  make 
Sunday  a  day  of  enjoyment  as  well  as  a  day  of  rest, 
quite  a  modern  effort  has  been  made  to  keep  the 
day  rigidly  holy  in  Derbyshire,  magistrates,  clergy, 
and  ministers  conspiring  to  prevent  town  workers 
from  getting  a  glimpse  of  the  picturesque  country  on 
that  day.  The  Midland  Railway  Company  announced 
in  the  spring  of  1892  that  they  intended  to  run  a  train 
every  Sunday  afternoon  during  May  from  Notting- 
ham to  Bakewell,  calling  at  all  the  intermediate 
stations.  There  were  protests  alike  from  the  bench 
and  the  pulpit,  from  residents  and  visitors,  especially 
in  the  Matlock  locality;  and  these  protests  were 
embodied  in  a  petition,  which,  to  say  the  least,  was 
somewliat  uncharitable  in  its  tone : 

"  We  respectfully  beg  to  point  out  that  this  is  a  new,  and  in 
our  opinion  very  undesirable,  development  in  the  railway  service, 
and  we  beg  to  protest  earnestly  against  it  as  being  certain  to 
become  a  source  of  great  discomfort  and  disorder  in  the  place, 
and  to  lead  to  great  irregularities  and  desecration  of  the  Sabbath, 
on  the  ground  that  it  is  extremely  probable  that  the  excui-sionists 
will  (in  the  main)  be  drawn  from  the  lower  classes  in  the  towns, 
and  the  only  places  open  to  them  when  here  will  be  the  public- 
houses,  and  that  during  the  hours  when  such  houses  are  usually 
closed  We  therefore  respectfully  urge  upon  you  to  reconsider 
the  proposed  step,  and  not  to  disturb  the  quietude  of  our  neigh- 
bourhood by  affording  facilities  for  its  inundation  by  excursionists 
on  Sunday  a.' 


^ 


72  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxvii. 

The  train  was  run,  notwithstandiDg  this  exten- 
sively and  influentially- signed  petition;  and  Mr.  G.  H. 
Turner,  the  general  manager,  politely,  but  firmly, 
replied  to  the  memorialists  as  follows: 

"The  company  do  not  see  their  way  to  withdraw  the  Sunday 
afternoon  train  from  Nottingham  and  Derby  to  Matlock.  There 
has  been  a  general  desii'e  on  the  part  of  those  employed  in  the 
towns  named,  who  are  precluded  by  the  nature  of  their  employ- 
ment from  visiting  the  Matlock  district  on  week-days,  to  do  so 
on  Sundays.  The  train,  however,  is  not  in  any  sense  an  excui-sion 
train,  as  the  ordinary  fares  are  charged.  It  is  evident,  therefore, 
that  there  is  a  complete  misapprehension  on  this  point  on  the  part 
of  the  memorialists,  and  that,  judging  from  the  experience  of  the 
mnning  of  the  train  on  Sunday  last,  they  are  unnecessarily  alarmed 
as  to  the  results  which  are  likely  to  follow." 

A  remarkable  scene  was  witnessed  at  Strome 
Ferry,  the  western  terminus  of  the  Highland  Rail- 
way, on  June  3,  1883.  The  people  were  determined 
at  all  hazards  that  others  besides  themselves  should 
keep  the  Sabbath  day  holy.  The  railway  company 
proposed  to  send  a  load  of  fish  by  special  train,  so 
that  the  provender  might  reach  Inverness  to  be  taken 
on  by  the  limited  mail  to  town.  But  the  Strome 
Ferry  men  had  been  brought  up  with  a  rigid  Ikith 
in  the  Commandments.  When  the  fishing-boats,  with 
their  "harvest  of  the  sea,"  came  inshore  to  unload, 
the  villagers  mustered,  armed  with  clubs  and  sticks, 
and  evidently  meant  business.  They  menaced  the  crews, 
and  prevented  the  landing  of  the  fish.  Not  only  the 
police  but  the  railway  officials  interfered ;  but  the 
combined   forces  were   overpowered  by  the   indignant 


cb.p.  XIV1I.I  PEYSIOAL-FOBOE    SABBATARIANS.  73 

coast-dwellers,  who  smote  the  Sabbath-breakers  "  hip 
and  thigh,"  and  took  possession  of  the  pier  and 
the  station. 

The  chronicler  of  the  time  does  not  say  whether 
the  crowd  celebrated  their 
victory  by  sounding  the 
timbrel  and  by  the  play- 
ing of  trumpets  and 
shawms;  but  they  prayed 
and  Bang  in  the  railway 
station,  and,  to  their  credit, 
actually  remembered  the 
directors  in  their  supplica- 
tions. The  fervent  crowd 
"held  the  fort"  till  mid- 
night, when  traffic  was 
resumed.    Ten  of  the  men, 

found  guilty  of  mobbing  and  rioting,  were  sent  to 
prison  for  four  months  each,  and  the  period  would  no 
doubt  have  been  longer,  but  that  the  judge  gave  due 
weight  to  the  jury's  recommendation  that  they  should 
be  dealt  with  mercifully  "  on  account  of  their  ignorance 
of  the  law,  and  the  strong  religious  convictions  they 
held  against  Sabbath  desecration."  The  riot  was  the 
subject  of  questions  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
Sir  William  Harcourt,  then  Home  Secretary,  replied 
that  if  the  men  had  really  expressed  their  sincere 
regret  for  the  offence  into  which  they  had  been 
betrayed  he  would  consult  with  the  judge  with 
a  view  to  a   remission    of    the    sentence.      He    did 


^ 


74  OUB  RAILWAYS.  ioiiap.xxvn. 

consult  with  his  lordship  ;  and  on  September  23rd, 
after  undergoing  fifty-six  days^  imprisonment  each, 
the  men  were  liberated  from  Calton  Gaol,  Edin- 
burgh, and  seven  of  them  complied  with  the  Home 
Secretary's  condition  that  they  should  quit  the  city 
immediately  they  were  released.* 

*  At  the  Midland  Railway  meeting  in  the  autumn  of  1894  Mr.  Richard 
Homeck,  a  shareholder,  vigorously  protested  against  Sunday  work.  He  re- 
gretted that  there  was  a  tendency  to  increase  the  coal  and  mineral  traffic  on 
that  day.  It  was,  he  said,  a  violation  of  Qod's  commandments,  and  an  injustice 
to  the  railway  servants.  He  urged  the  company  to  do  the  week*8  work  in  six 
days  instead  of  seven,  and  said  if  the  Midland  set  the  example  their  rivals 
would  soon  follow  it. 


75 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

EXCURSIONS. 

A  Yehiole  of  Erratic  Ways — Two  Remarkable  Excarsions — Trips  in 
Cattle«Tracks  in  France — Excursions  in  and  out  of  London — 
Crowding  to  Epping  Forest — Bank  Holiday — The  Lancashire  Ex- 
cursionists' Paradise — Blackpool  in  *'  the  Season  " — Warehouse 
Manchester  and  its  Annual  Holiday— How  Cotton  Operatiyes 
Enjoy  Themselves— "Groing-A way"  Clubs — Enormous  Sums  spent 
in  Recreation — The  Tourist  Invasion  of  the  Isle  of  Man — ^What  it 
has  done  for  Douglas — The  Holiday  Disaster  at  Hampstead — 
Delayed  Excursionists  and  their  Pastimes. 

The  excursion  train  practically  got  a  recognised  place 
on  the  line  in  1851,  the  year  in  which  the  country 
was  freed  from  the  "barbarous  tax  on  light  and 
air/*  and  in  which,  in  the  Great  Exhibition,  "  all  the 
nations  of  the  civilised  world  were  represented  in 
one  fair  temple  of  industry  and  peace."  The  ex- 
cursion train  has  become  the  people's  coach,  friend, 
and  servant.  Its  ways  sometimes  are  erratic;  but  it 
endeavours  to  oblige  everybody.  It  is  out  all  day 
and  up  all  night.  Like  the  press,  "  it  never  sleeps," 
though  it  gets  very  drowsy  with  long  travelling, 
and  now  and  then  shows  a  tendency  to  indulge  in 
unaccountable  rests.  It  starts  at  midnight — even  on 
such  a  midnight  as  that  of  Easter  Sunday,  1892, 
when  snow  fell,  and  the  east  wind  cut  like  a  knife 
— on  a  hoUday  jaunt  to  Weymouth,  or  to  town,  or 
to  Edinburgh.     It   has,  like   the   rakes  of  Congreve's 


^ 


76  OUR  RAILWAYS.  ich»p.xxvia 

time,  a  weakness  for  the  small  hours,  and  often  sees 
the  sun  rise. 

It  starts  at  dawn  from  factory  town  or  big  city, 
and  leisurely  puffs  its  way  to  the  seaside,  conveying  a 
crowd  of  passengers,  who  are  fortified  with  prodigious 
supplies  of  food  and  drink  in  baskets  and  bottles — 
people  with  bulging  pockets  and  aggressive  voices. 
It  takes  the  eager  traveller  everywhere — to  boatrace, 
horserace,  coursing  meeting;  to  cricket-match  and 
football-match ;  to  volunteer  review  and  to  the  nearest 
port  for  naval  manoeuvre ;  to  concert,  opera,  and  panto- 
mime; to  the  Lord  Mayor's  Show,  and  to  Smithfield 
Cattle  Show,  and  to  exhibitions  of  all  kinds. 

The  Cunurd  Company  gained  the  distinction 
of  owning,  in  the  magnificent  Campania,  the 
largest  ship  in  the  world ;  Messrs.  Bass,  Eatcliffe, 
and  Gretton,  brewers,  of  Burton-on-Trent,  have  the 
distinction  of  sending  out  the  largest  excursion  in 
the  world.  In  1892  the  firm  took  their  workpeople 
to  Blackpool,  for  the  annual  trip,  in  fourteen  trains. 
The  entertainments  and  piers  were  free  to  the  excur- 
sionists, and  for  those  who  cared  to  venture  upon  tlie 
water  two  steamers  were  provided.  But  a  more  re- 
markable excursion  still,  having  its  origin  in  America, 
was  made  in  Europe  in  the  same  year.  "A  train, 
unique  of  its  kind,  started  from  Havre  for  a  tour 
of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  days  through  Europe, 
conveying  about  fifty  Americans,  who,  on  landing  at 
Havre  from  New  York,  commenced  their  railway 
journey    to   Marseilles,   the    Biviera,    Eome,    Naples, 


auip.xxviii.i  A   BEMAEKABLE   EXCURSION.  77 

Trieste,  Pesth,  Belgrade,  Constantinople,  Vienna, 
Munich,  Berlin,  Frankfort,  Cologne,  Amsterdam,  The 
Hague,  Rotterdam,  Antwerp,  Brussels,  London, 
Windsor,  and  Paris.  The  train  de  luxe  in  which 
they  started  was  inin  hy  the  International  Sleeping 
Car  Company,  which  undertook  to  convey  the  ex- 
cursionists from  place  to  place,  the  travellers  heing 
relieved  of  all  trouble  with  regard  to  tickets  and 
hotel  accommodation." 

The  locomotive  is  iiot  always  appreciated  as  it 
should  be,  and  seldom  gets  a  blessing ;  but  at  the 
opening  of  the  Rouen  and  Havre  Railway  on  March 
20,  1847,  it  obtained  this  rare  consideration.  The 
first  train  which  ran  to  Havre  aroused  remarkable 
interest.  It  conveyed  one  hundred  privileged  passen- 
gers, including  some  of  the  most  noted  engineers  and 
railway  men  of  the  day.  At  Havre  it  was  eagerly 
awaited  by  "  the  rank,  fashion,  and  beauty "  of  the 
place,  and  welcomed  with  cheering  and  the  music  of 
drums  and  trumpets.  Then,  puffing  possibly  with  em- 
barrassment, the  engine  was  surrounded  by  a  striking 
group  of  clergy.  State  officials,  national  guardsmen,  and 
spectators,  and  received  the  benediction  from  a  high 
ecclesiastic. 

Humour  and  fun  are  not,  fortunately,  inseparable 
from  luxury;  and  the  Railway  News  has  been  enabled 
to  give  the  following  story  relating  to  another  variety 
of  excursion  train,  the  antithesis  of  the  train  de  luxe: 

"  During  some  cheap  trips  on  the  Paris-Havre  Railway,  many 
of  the  pleasure-seekers  were  put  into  a  number  of  cattle  cars,  which 


78  OUB  RAILWAYS,  [Chap,  xxviii. 

were  quickly  provided  with  seats  made  of  boards  set  upon  blocks 
of  wood.  No  sooner  did  the  ticket-taker  enter  to  demand  the 
passengers'  tickets  than  he  was  greeted  with  a  chorus  of  well- 
imitated  '  moos ! '  and  the  joke  extending  itself  to  all  the  other 
cattle  cars,  he  at  last  desisted  from  his  attempt.  At  the  next 
halting-station,  the  stationmaster  began  a  remonstrance,  but  *  moo  ! 
moo  !  moo  ! '  sounded  so  overpoweringly  that  he  retired.  At  the 
terminus  of  Montvillier,  the  passengers,  imitating  the  awkward 
leaps  of  cattle,  sprang  through  the  gate  by  which  ti'avelling  beasts 
usually  leave  the  station.  The  stationmaster  caught  one  of  them 
by  the  collar.  This  was  the  signal  for  the  whole  crowd  to  lower 
their  heads  and  butt  at  him  vigorously  with  terrible  lowing,  so  that 
he  was  quickly  obliged  to  ti\ke  to  his  heels,  followed  by  a  final 
triumphant  *  moo ! '  The  whole  company,  who  had  joined  without 
premeditation  in  the  joke,  then  broke  out  into  a  peal  of  laughter, 
and  giving  their  tickets  to  a  smiling  official  standing  by,  peacefully 
left." 

Excursion  announcements  are  not  always  amusing, 
though  the  Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire 
Company  once  issued  placards  giving  particulars  of  a 
trip  from  the  Midlands  to  the  Isle  of  Man,  in  which 
it  was  intimated  that  passengers  would  be  conveyed 
to  their  destination  without  change  of  carriage  !  But 
they  indicate  something  beyond  the  mere  times  of 
starting  and  return — they  give  information  also  as  to 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  population,  the  mode  of 
travel,  the  recreations  of  the  people,  and  do  their 
part,  though  it  may  be  a  humble  one,  in  recording 
the  history  of  the  time.  One  learned  from  the  notices 
during  the  Easter  holidays  of  1892,  for  instance,  that 
the  railway  companies,  though  observing  Good  Friday 
as  a  Sunday  with  regard  to  ordinary  trains,  did  not 
abandon  the   newspaper    trains — the    Great    Western 


\ 


tniMI 

H; 

TtMbm 

'H^Hilikl 

■A 

^^i;~mBi^^mm 

\\  fiW/^^^M 

OP'^ 

(.  .j/yf   B^^M^^gj^^^^ 

1 

j^HH 

^^^H 

mF  .i        __  .'^vlU^^My^^^^l 

1 

"^^^E 

p" 

80  OUR   RAILWAYS,  [Chap.  xxviii. 

sending  out  their  newspaper  train  at  5.30  a.m.  for 
Oxford,  Exeter,  and  Swansea;  and  the  Midland  at 
5.15  a.m.  for  Leicester,  Nottingham,  Derby,  Sheffield, 
Leeds,  Manchester,  and  Liverpool,  in  strict  fulfihnent 
of  their  contract ;  and  wondered,  perhaps,  whether  the 
daily  newspaper  proprietors  of  London  really  thought 
it  worth  while  to  send  out  the  newspapers  at  all  on 
Good  Friday,  when  nearly  every  fireside  and  every 
business-place  was  deserted,  and  the  paper-buying 
multitude  were  on  their  way  at  dawn  to  hill,  wood- 
land, and  seashore. 

One  noticed  also  that  the  Great  Western,  tem- 
porarily forgetting  their  troubles  with  the  broad  gauge, 
ran  cheap  trains  to  the  riverside  stations,  and  right 
away  to  Penzance,  duplicating  their  long-distance 
trains;  that  the  London  and  North -Western  Railway 
Company  despatched  special  expresses  and  extended 
their  trains,  and  by  permission  of  the  Postmaster- 
General  attached  a  carriage  to  the  postal  express 
from  Euston  on  Good  Friday  night  for  passengers 
from  London  to  Dumfries  ;  that  on  the  North 
London  trains  ran  every  few  minutes  to  and 
from  Shoreditch  for  the  Standard  and  Britannia 
theatres,  which  had  day  performances  on  Easter 
Monday,  and  every  half-hour  to  Kew  Bridge  for 
Kew  Gardens,  and  to  Addison  Road  for  "Venice 
in  London"  at  Olympia,  and  from  a  dozen  other 
stations  to  f^tes,  galas,  athletic  sports,  as  well  as  to 
Highgate  for  Highgate  Woods,  and  to  Chingford 
for    Epping    Forest ;    that    the   Great   Northern   ran 


^ 


Atf  KASTEH    HOLIDAY. 


trains  to  the  Eeaside  ami  to  the  cities  of  the  north ; 
that  the  Midland  did  likewise,  hat  aent  many  more 
trains  from  the  north  to  town  ;  that  the  London 
and    South-Weatem  took    passengers    to-    a   score    of 


LIVT^HPOOL  STREET  STATinS. 


pleasant  haunts  Devon  way  and  also  to  the  Isle 
of  Wight;  that  the  District  Railway  made  up  a 
Bpecially  early  train  which  left  Hammersmith  for 
Victoria,  Charing  Cross,  Blackfriars,  and  the  Monu- 
ment, for  the  convenience  of  passengers  desiring  to 
join  the  early  excursion  trains  to  the  country ;  that 
the  Great  Eastern  put  people  in  touch  with  the 
Norfolk  Broads,  and  the  quaint  Belgian  cities  across 
the  water  from  Harwich ;  that  the  London,  Cliathara 
and  Dover  trains  took  them  to  the  fair  Kentisli  coast, 


8a  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  xxvin. 

and  started  them  on  the  road,  at  greatly  reduced  fares, 
for  Brussels,  with  its  sprightliness ;  for  Paris,  with  its 
gaiety ;  for  Rotterdam,  with  its  spotlessly  clean  people 
and  youthful  smokers ;  and  for  Amsterdam,  reflective 
and  slow-moving. 

Bank  Holiday,  Sir  John  Lubbock's  gift  to  the 
nation,  kept  for  the  first  time  on  Whit  Monday,  1871, 
has  in  little  more  than  twenty  years  greatly  fostered 
travel  and  little  outings  to  the  country-side.  The 
TimeSy  commenting  on  the  London  holiday  traffic  on 
Whit  Monday,  1892,  showed  that  the  excursion  tide 
was  still  increasing  in  volume : 

'*  The  scenery  of  our  downs  and  woodlands  is  in  its  most 
attractive  phase,  and  the  reports  from  the  stations  indicate  that 
more  people  than  ever  enjoyed  a  short  country  outing.  The  Great 
Eastern  Railway,  which  holds  the  key  to  Epping  Forest,  is  always 
among  the  most  sensitive  barometers  of  the  London  holiday-makers' 
movements.  On  Bank  Holiday  it  carried  135,000  passengers  from 
London  stations  to  stations  within  twenty  miles  of  London,  and 
5,000  more  to  Southend-on-Sea.  If  last  year  be  taken  as  a  standard, 
the  increase  is  very  striking,  last  year's  total  figures  being  only 
34,000.  That  was  an  exceptionally  cold  and  wretched  season.  The 
year  1890  was  a  very  brilliant  and  busy  Bank  Holiday;  the  weather 
was  fine,  and  the  working  classes  prosperous.  The  total  movement 
on  the  Great  Eastern  Railway  was  then  135,000,  as  against  at  least 
140,000  on  this  year's  Whitsuntide  Bank  Holiday ;  and  no  such 
figures  as  135,000  had  been  recorded  before,  the  nearest  totals  having 
been  127,000  and  120,000." 

Blackpool  is  the  paradise  of  the  excursionist.  A 
century  ago  it  was  a  desolate-looking  place  with  few 
houses,  which  were  sprinkled  on  a  flat,  almost  moor- 
land coast;  and  the  sea  swept  in  lonely  grandeur 
among  the  sandhills  and  tufted  grass   on   the   south 


C1.I.P.  xxvin.)  BLACKPOOL   A    CENTURY  AGO.  83 

shore,  where  dwellings  are  now  barricaded  against 
the  incoming  tide,  and  gipsies  have  their  swarthy 
colony  and  tell  the  fortunes  of  Lancashire  operatives. 
Catherine  Hutton,  writing  in  1788,  gives  a  frank  de- 
scription of  the  health  resort,  mentioning  its  scattered 
habitations,  the  characteristics  of  its  people,  and  the 
wintry  blast  which  howled  on  three  sides  of  the 
house  in  which  she  stayed.  "Blackpool  consists  of 
a  few  houses,  ranged  in  a  line  with  the  sea,  and 
four  of  these  are  for  the  reception  of  company ;  one 
accommodating  30,  one  60,  one  80,  and  the  other 
100  persons.  We  were  strangers  to  all,  and  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  master  of  the  inn  at  Preston 
we  drove  to  the  house  of  80,  which  is  called  the 
Lane's  End.  The  company  now  consisted  of  about 
70,  and  I  never  found  myself  in  such  a  mob.  The 
people  sat  down  to  table  behind  their  knives  and 
forks,  to  be  ready  for  their  dinner ;  while  my  father, 
my  mother,  and  myself,  who  did  not  choose  to 
scramble,  stood  behind,  till  someone,  more  considerate 
than  the  rest,  made  room  for  us.  The  general  ob- 
servations I  have  been  enabled  to  make  on  the 
Lancastrians  are  that  the  Boltoners  are  sincere, 
good-humoured,  and  nois}' ;  the  Manchestrians  reserved 
and  purse-proud ;  the  Liverpoolians  free  and  open  as 
the  ocean  on  which  they  get  their  riches.  I  know 
little  of  the  gentry,  but  I  believe  them  to  be 
generous,  hospitable,  and  rather  given  to  intemper- 
ance. All  ranks  and  both  sexes  are  more  robust 
than  the  people  of  the  south." 

y2 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


The  population  of  Blackpool  is  now  put  down  at 
24,000 ;  but  these  figures  give  really  no  idea  of  the 
enormous  size  of  the  place,  or  of  its  immense  capacity 


^■'(^'^ 


to  accommodate  visitors.  Its  buildings  are  not  so 
palatial  as  the  mansions  and  hotels  that  line  the 
King's  Road  and  the  Hove  at  Brighton,  but  it  has 
quite  as  much  extent  of  sea-front,  more  piers  and  places 
of  amusement,  great  markets,  and  streets  upon  streets 
stretching  away  from  Claremont  Park  right  down 
to  the  limit  of  the  south  shore.  The  town  has  the 
electric  light  and  an  electric  tramway,  and  asserts  that 
it  possesses  "  the  finest  promenade  in  England."  It 
spends    more   than    £1,000    a  year   in   advertising   its 


BLAOKFOOL    TO-LAY. 


attractions,  and  by  moans  of  pictorial  pesters  at  railway 
stations,  thousands  of  handbills  placed  in  return  railway 
carriages,    its    foam-crested  sea,    and    rough-and-rendy 


(fVvni  a  TJa/ta^rayh  b^ 


enjoyment,  has  made  a  famous  uaniu  for  itself.  In  fact, 
it  has  become  the  greatest  holiday  haunt  in  the  world. 
Tlie  trippers  surge  out  of  the  stations  in  thousands, 
and  pack  themselves  with  adroitness  and  good  humour 
into  the  houses  that  front  the  beach,  or  that  stand 
shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  A 
"  public  room  "  in  one  of  these  houses  in  August,  when 
twenty  or  thirty  Lancashire  operatives  or  Yorkshire 
mill-hands  are  taking  high  tea,  amid  an  incessant 
clatter  of  crockery,  and  cry  of  babies,  and  joyous  shout, 
and  joke,  laughter,  and  profuse  perspiration  tliat  must 


86  OUR   RAILWAYS.  (Chap.  xxvm. 

remind  sorae  of  them  of  steaming  in  weaving-sheds,  is 
a  sight  not  easily  to  be  reconciled  with  our  national 
reputation  for  sadness  and  taciturnity. 

Southport,  with  its  sands,  marine  lakes,  gardens, 
and  fine  main  street  that  reminds  one  of  tree-shadowed 
thoroughfare  in  Paris  or  Brussels,  also  tempts  many 
excursionists ;  and  on  Whit  Monday  no  fewer  than 
twenty  thousand  people  from  Manchester  alone  go 
down  to  the  pleasant  beach. 

Manchester,  in  Whit-week,  forgets  its  "  commercial 
inclination  to  profit."  The  warehouses  are  closed.  The 
merchant  hardly  heeds  the  price  of  spot  cotton  or  the 
state  of  the  yam  market.  The  city,  in  fact,  acts  on 
Shakespeare's  advice,  and  seizes  time  by  the  forelock 
with  shrewd  eagerness.  The  warehouse  staifs  formerly 
took  their  vacations  in  the  summer;  and  business, 
what  with  Easter,  Whitsuntide,  Bank  and  summer 
holidays,  was  apt  to  get  disorganised.  Now  the 
warehousemen  and  clerks  are  expected  to  take  their 
summer  holidays  at  Whitsuntide ;  and  though — ex- 
cept in  such  a  year  as  1893 — they  find  the  weather 
invariably  cold  and  stormy,  they  try  to  comfort  them- 
selves with  the  fact  that  it  is  more  bracing  than 
in  summer  or  autumn.  A  good  deal  of  valuable  time 
is  thus  saved.  The  city,  for  a  week,  practically  puts 
up  the  shutters,  partially  suspends  its  foreign  and  home 
trade ;  but  it  springs  into  vigorous  business  life  again 
with  a  clear  board,  with  a  long  stretch  of  trade  enter- 
prise and  steady  effort  before  it  until  the  end  of  the 
year,  when  it  indulges  in  another  long  holiday. 


ciup.  xxviiL)  GOINO-AWAY   CLUBS.  W 

The  industrial  portion  of  Lancashire,  however,  does 
not  so  keenly  husband  its  time,  or  show  so  much  nice 
calculation  in  its  holiday- making.  The  operatives 
work  hard  and  deftly  in  the  mills ;  but  they  delight 
to  break  away  from  their  toil,  and  they  do  this  not 
only  at  the  orthodox  popular  times,  but  at  times 
peculiarly  their  own.  They  cling  to  the  old-fashioned 
custom  of  celebrating  feasts  and  wakes ;  but  they  are 
no  longer  content  with  the  ancient  modes  of  enjoyment 
at  them — with  wrestling,  clog-dancing,  swarming  the 
greasy  pole,  and  club-walking.  In  many  of  the 
Lancashire  towns  the  operatives  contribute,  methodi- 
cally, all  the  year  round,  to  what  are  styled  "  going- 
away  clubs."  The  mill-hand  takes  up  one  or  more 
sixpenny  shares  in  the  club,  and  has  a  substantial  sum 
to  receive  when  the  annual  holiday  or  wakes  come 
round.  There  are  thrifty  families  that  invest  the  whole 
or  part  of  these  savings  in  cotton-spinning  companies, 
or  co-operative  societies,  or  real  property ;  but  the  bulk 
of  them  feel  bound  to  spend  the  money  in  enjoying 
themselves — in  "  going  away/'  The  mills  are  closed 
for  a  week,  and  the  hands,  with  the  plesisant  ring  of 
gold  in  their  pockets,  and  feeling  more  like  cotton  lords 
than  doublers  and  minders,  buy  fine  raiment,  and  much 
food,  and  travel.  In  July,  1891,  no  fewer  than  thirty 
thousand  excursionists  left  Burnley  on  this  annual 
hoUday  for  the  seaside.  In  August,  1892,  when 
the  Oldham  wakes  were  held,  the  mills  and  workshops 
were  closed  for  a  week,  the  enormous  sum  of  £80,000 — 
sufficient  to  build  and  fit  a  cotton  mill — ^was  paid  out 


88  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxviii. 

to  the  operatives  from  the  "  going-away  clubs/*  and 
thousands  of  hands  went  to  Blackpool,  Southport,  the 
Isle  of  Man ,  and  more  distant  resorts,  gratifying  every 
wish  as  freely  in  this  their  "  crowded  hour  of  glorious 
life"  as  if  they  possessed  the  wealth  of  Midas. 

The  tourist  and  excursion  fever  that  now  quickens 
the  pulse  of  our  national  life  has  had,  perhaps,  the 
most  marked  effect  on  the  Isle  of  Man.  Eailway 
enterprise  in  England,  particularly  on  the  part  of  the 
companies  running  into  Liverpool,  Fleetwood,  and 
Barrow,  has  not  only  encouraged,  but  developed  the 
steamboat  traffic;  and  one  crosses  to  Douglas  by  day 
trip,  forenoon  service,  extra  sailings,  or  night  boat 
with  as  little  thought  or  concern  as  if  one  were  simply 
going  to  Seacombe  or  New  Brighton.  Douglas  has 
been  revolutionised  by  the  money-spending  invasion 
of  the  English  people.  The  rapidly- expanding  town, 
crowded  with  visitors,  is  losing  every  Manx  character- 
istic. Ten  or  twelve  years  ago  the  waves  gently 
swished  against  the  back  of  quaint  old  Strand  Street. 
The  narrow  thoroughfares  had  a  Continental  look, 
reminding  one  of  the  bouldered  by-streets  of  Antwerp, 
and  the  still  more  ancient  ways  of  Bruges ;  the  lodgings 
were  humble,  but  clean  and  cheap,  and  it  was  en- 
tertaining to  have  a  landlady  named  **  Quark "  or 
"  Corkish,"  and  to  listen  wonderingly  as  she  addressed 
you  in  the  Celtic  tongue.  Since  then  Douglas  has 
imdergone  a  metamorphosis  as  great  as  that  ex- 
perienced by  Cinderella.  It  is  now  a  city  by  the 
sea,  and  its  chief  highway,  the  Loch  promenade^  is 


I 


Ch.p.  XIVIII.1  ON   DOUGLAS    (iUA7.  89 

almost  as  tbrouged  with  vehicles  and  pedestrians  as 
Market  Street  in  Mancliester,  or  Lord  Street  in 
Liverpool. 

The   old    Manx  proverb,  "  When    one    man   helps 


another,  God  laughs,"  is  seldom  heard  now  on  the 
quay.  The  crowd  is  too  great ;  there  is  too  much 
hurrying,  struggling,  and  shouting  for  the  effective 
quotation  of  proverbs.  Besides,  the  proverb  has 
become  obsolete.  It  has  been  superseded  by  the 
more  worldly  doctrine,  "  Every  man  for  himself." 
Douglas  has  lost  its  simplicity  and  its  sentiment.  It 
is  for  three  months  every  year  a  crowded  city, 
with  a  crowded  city's  instincts ;   and  there  is  a  good 


90  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxviii. 

deal  of  profit  made  out  of  its  recreations  and 
enjoyments.  The  mansions  on  its  picturesque  slope 
have  been  converted  into  great  hotels;  other  large 
hotels  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  long  line 
of  boarding-houses  on  the  sea-front,  or  climb  up  the 
steep  streets  that  diverge  from  the  parade;  and  away 
at  the  back  of  the  main  thoroughfare  lodging- 
houses  cluster  thickly.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of 
accommodation,  but  in  July  and  August  it  is  taxed 
to  the  utmost.  Nearly  every  house  is  crowded,  the 
promenade  is  as  thronged  as  the  Strand,  and  at  night 
the  dancing  halls  on  the  heights,  brilliant  with 
electric  light,  are  filled  with  people,  who  waltz  or 
skip  and  jump  impervious  to  fatigue,  or  watch  with 
more  or  less  interest  the  daring  performances  of 
music-hall  atliletes. 

There  is  bathing  at  Port  Skillion,  boating  in  the 
bay,  restful  lounging  on  the  wind-swept  headland, 
pleasant  excursions  to  Port  Soderick,  and  delightful 
drives  inland;  but,  after  all,  the  enjoyments  of 
Douglas  are  becoming  more  and  more  permeated  with 
the  flavour  of  city  life.  Some  of  the  visitors  never 
stir  out  of  the  town.  They  know  nothing  of  health- 
ful roving  about  Snaefell,  or  the  quiet  beauty  of  the 
heather-clad  bay  of  Fleshwick,  or  the  picturesque 
charm  of  Port  Erin.  They  prefer  the  wide  pro- 
menade, and  always  like  to  keep  within  measurable 
distance  of  a  house  with  a  licence.  They  spend  a 
great  deal  of  their  time  in  eating,  drinking,  smoking, 
and   at  public  entertainment.      They  get   through  a 


Chap.  XXVIII.)  THE   MANX    TRAFFIC.  91 

large  amount  of  money  in  a  very  small  area ;  and 
it  is  not  surprising  that  the  Douglas  bank  deposits 
should  increase,  or  that  the  island,  unworried  by 
income-tax,  and  with  wealth  poured  freely  into  her 
hands,  should  be  in  a  state  of  prosperity. 

England,  in  the  summer  of  1892,  was  in  the  throes 
of  a  general  election ;  but  the  fight,  intense  and  severe 
though  it  was,  did  not  diminish  the  Manx  traffic. 
The  passengers  who  stepped  on  shore  at  Douglas  ex- 
ceeded by  five  thousand  those  who  disembarked  there 
in  July  of  the  preceding  year,  totalling  73,000,  of 
which  number  87,000  arrived  from  Liverpool,  12,000 
from  Fleetwood,  and  5,000  from  Barrow.  In  July, 
1893,  there  was  an  apparent  decrease  in  the  number 
of  passengers  landing  from  the  English  and  the  Irish 
ports,  the  figures  given  being  only  61,000;  but 
these  statistics  reveal  no  decadence  of  attractiveness 
of  Douglas. 

In  1892  the  Saturday  preceding  the  August  Bank 
Holiday  fell  in  July,  and  large  arrivals  on  that  day 
were  included  in  the  July  figures.  During  the  tourist 
three  months  of  1893  the  island  was  by  no  means 
deserted.  The  arrivals  at  Douglas  numbered  110,000, 
at  Bamsay  there  were  6,000,  and  there  were  also 
many  boat  passengers  to  Peel.  More  than  120,000 
visitors  landed ;  and  the  bulk  of  these  passengers  must, 
of  course,  have  been  carried  first  by  the  railway  to 
the  English,  the  Scotch,  or  the  Irish  coast.  The 
figures  are  remarkable,  indicating  as  they  do  the 
modem  desire  for  travel,  change  of  scene,  and  healthy 


92  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [cimr.  xxviu. 

enjoyment  fostered  by  quicker  and  cheaper  means  of 
communication. 

The  Cheshire  Lines  advertise  a  day  trip  that  would 
have  astonished  even  William  Clements  if  he  had 
heard  of  it.  He  was  appropriately  described  as  the 
"  Last  of  the  Whips,"  and  early  in  the  century  drove 
the  famous  coach  "  Tally  Ho !  '*  from  London  to 
Brighton.  Neither  broken  axle,  nor  overturned  vehicle, 
nor  snowdrift,  nor  highwaymen  perturbed  him.  But 
he  got  a  little  fidgety  when  the  locomotive  was  born 
and  began  to  show  its  paces.  He  grimly  rac^d  it 
for  some  years,  but  was  obliged  gravely  to  admit  at 
last  that  the  railway  had  "killed  his  coach."  The 
calm,  reflective  life  of  the  road  had  imbued  him  with 
fortitude ;  and  he  lived  on,  though  his  coach  was 
dead.  He  reached  the  age  of  ninety-one,  dying  in 
1891 — with  a  very  mean  opinion  of  railways;  but 
his  contempt  of  them  would  probably  have  been 
greater  still  if  he  had  known  that  the  Cheshire  Lines 
were  prepared,  by  arrangement  with  the  Isle  of  Man 
Steam  Packet  Company,  to  run  passengers  down  by 
express  to  Liverpool,  to  take  them  across  in  the 
Quee?i  Victoria  or  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  Douglas, 
and  bring  them  back  again  the  same  day  to  Man- 
chester, for  seven  shillings. 

The  Great  Western,  during  their  broad-gauge  days, 
with  their  wide  line  and  great  roomy  carriages  like 
family  coaches,  though  less  prone  to  break  down,  felt 
a  quiet  satisfaction  because  their  system  had  never  been 
held  up  to  public  comment  by  big  accidents.     It  was. 


k 


A  BANK  HOLIDAY  DISASTER. 


in  Sir  Eichard  Moon's  time,  tlie  boast  too  of  the 
London  and  North -Western  that  they  had  never  had  a 
great  disaster ;  but  within  the  past  few  years  the  latter 
company  have  not  been  quite  so  fortaoate,  and  the 
memory  of  Easter,  1893, 
is  a  sad  one  in  many  a 
family  on  account  of  the 
piteous  disaster  that  oc- 
curred at  Hampstead  Heatli 
Station.  Thousands  of  holi- 
day-makers had  climbed 
the  hill  and  roamed  aboui 
the  Heath  — joyous,  exu- 
berant,     light-hearted  —  a 

typical  London   crowd  out  

on  Bank  Holiday,  delighted    ' 1 

with  the  consciousness  that 

they   were    tree  for    a   few 

hours   from    the    city's   roar  of    traffic  and    incessant 

round  of  toil. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  our  comprehensive  climate, 
which  includes  so  many  varieties  of  wet  and  boisterous 
weather — from  the  drizzle  to  the  blizzard — the  English 
people  have  such  a  dread  of  rain.  An  Englishman  will 
face  the  fiercest  foe  in  war,  but  is  put  to  flight  by  a 
shower.  An  Englishwoman,  self-sacrificing,  enduring, 
and  sometimes  even  more  courageou^j  than  an  English- 
man, becomes  panic-stricken  (if  she  has  a  new  bonnet 
on)  at  the  slightest  rainfall.  Clouds  gathered  this 
day  on  the  Heath ;  rain  and  sleet  fell ;  and  the  people, 


94  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ohtp.  xxviii. 

among  whom  were  many  young  children,  surged 
towards  the  railway  station.  The  platform  was  soon 
crowded,  and  the  staircase  leading  down  to  it  rapidly 
got  into  the  same  condition.  The  company  were 
running  trains  every  quarter  of  an  hour  to  the  City, 
with  special  trains  in  between  ;  but  this  train  move- 
ment was  altogether  inadequate  to  carry  away  the 
struggling  multitude.  The  passengers  on  the  edge 
of  the  platform,  fearing  lest  they  should  fall  beneath 
the  passing  trains,  pushed  backward,  and  the  crowd 
behind,  having  no  outlet,  found  themselves  in  the  midst 
of  a  frightful  crush.  The  station  was  of  curious  make. 
The  ticket-collector's  box,  instead  of  being  at  the  top, 
was  at  the  bottom  of  the  staircase,  encroaching  on  the 
passage  way,  and  near  it  was  a  pair  of  gates  that  opened 
inwards.  Beyond  these  gates — which,  according  to  the 
stationmaster's  story,  were  open  on  the  day  of  the 
disaster — sl  flight  of  thirty  stairs  led  to  the  booking- 
office,  and  down  these  stairs  the  people  hurried,  until 
they  were  inextricably  wedged  into  a  dense  mass, 
struggling  and  screaming  for  help. 

Such  was  the  crush  that  the  back  of  the  ticket- 
collector's  box  was  smashed  in,  and  some  of  the  panes 
were  shattered.  A  man's  head  was  forced  through  the 
glass  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the  box,  and  he  was 
powerless,  with  his  throat  just  across  the  broken  glass. 
"  For  God's  sake,  stand  back ;  you  will  kill  him  1 "  cried 
Exton,  the  ticket-collector,  trying  in  vain  to  push  the 
excursionist's  head  away.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
ticket-box  another  man   narrowly  escaped  having  his 


Ch«p.  xxviii.j  THE   INQUEST.  95 

ear  shaved  off  by  the  broken  edges  of  the  glass ;  and  a 
boy  had  his  head  jammed  between  the  box  and  the 
railings.  This  boy,  tripping  against  one  of  the  rail- 
foot  projections  on  the  staircase,  fell  against  the  box, 
others  stumbled  over  him,  and  the  pressure  of  the 
crowd,  partly  from  the  platform,  but  chiefly  from 
behind,  wrought  the  mischief.  At  the  top  of  the 
staircase  there  were  joke  and  frolic,  and  the  refrain 
of  the  senseless  song  "  Ta-ra-ra  boom-de-ay."  At  the 
bottom  of  the  staircase  there  were  the  cries  and  screams 
of  an  entangled  mass  of  people.  So  fierce  was  the 
struggling  that  a  child  was  dragged  from  its  mother's 
arms,  so  fearful  the  crush  that  many  women  swooned, 
and  one  row  of  excursionists  were  pressed,  as  in  a  vice, 
till  their  faces  became  blue  through  lack  of  breath. 
When  the  peril  was  realised  by  those  free  to  act,  the 
work  of  rescue  was  prompt ;  but  it  was  found  that  no 
fewer  than  eight  persons — two  women  and  six  boys — 
had  been  crushed  to  death. 

At  the  inquest  one  witness  urged  that  the  station 
should  be  rebuilt,  saying  that  its  capacity  had  not  been 
extended  for  thirty  years,  though  the  population  of 
Hampstead  had  in  that  time  increased  from  20,000  to 
70,000.  The  stationmaster  gave  a  striking  idea  of  the 
growth  in  holiday  traffic  since  Thomas  Cook  ran  his 
first  excursion  train  from  Leicester  to  Loughborough, 
for  he  reckoned  that  38,000  passengers  had  passed 
through  that  station  alone  on  Bank  Holiday.  Great 
importance,  on  behalf  of  the  railway  company,  was 
attached   to  the   fact    that    on    no  previous  occasioo 


^ 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


had  there  been  difficulty  or  accident  in  dealing  with 
a  great  crowd;  but  Captain  Fox,  who,  a-s  an  expert, 
condemned  the  station  approach,  the  staircase  pro- 
jections, and  particularly  the  situation  oE  the  ticket- 
collector's  box,  asserting  that  the  whole  staircase  was 
twenty  years  behind 
its  time,  said  it  had 
been  "a  case  of  pro- 
vidence only." 

In  the  result  the 
jury  found  that  the 
ticket-box  was  placed 
in  a  most  dangerous 
position,  and  further, 
that  on  the  occasion 
in  question  the  whole 
of  the  arrangements 
made  by  the  company 
were  totally  insuffi- 
cient to  cope  with 
the  increased  traffic  on 
public  holidays.  And 
they  expressed  them- 
selves as  being  of 
opinion  that  further 
general  accommodation  should  be  provided  for  the 
public  at  the  station;  tliat  the  ticket-box  should  be 
removed  from  the  bottom  of  the  staircase ;  that 
farther  and  more  complete  arrangements  should  be 
made  to  regulate  the  traffic  of  passengers  generally 


Ghap.xxvnL)  A   MISHAP   AT  SOUTHEND.  97 

to  and  from  the  platforms;  and  that  an  extra  and 
separate  exit  should  be  at  once  provided. 

The  company,  acting  on  the  jury's  recommenda* 
tion  and  Major  Marindin's  suggestion,  lost  no  time 
in  removing  the  ticket-collector's  box,  in  erecting  an 
additional  booking-office  and  waiting-hall,  in  making 
an  additional  platform  and  a  new  entrance  to  deal 
with  "the  large  and  increasing  crowds  that  visit 
Hampstead  Heath  at  stated  periods  of  the  yeiir." 

A  remarkable  scene,  strangely  contrasting  with 
the  foregoing  one,  was  witnessed  at  Stepney  some 
months  ago.  Owing  to  an  accident  at  the  junction, 
thousands  of  excursionists  were  delayed.  Not  only 
were  the  ordinary  trains  blocked,  but  there  were  nine 
Southend  special  trains  stretching  away  behind  the 
train  that  caused  the  accident.  The  passengers  sat 
with  patience  in  the  carriages  for  some  time,  but,  as 
hour  after  hour  went  by,  and  little  progress  was 
made,  they  swarmed  out  of  the  compartments,  grouped 
themselves  upon  the  station  platforms,  and  "passed 
the  time  in  singing  and  dancing." 

Experience  of  excursion-train  delay  is  not  always 
80  diverting.  A  passenger  with  whom  the  author  is 
acquainted  went,  during  the  tourist  season  of  1893,  on 
"  a  day  trip  "  to  a  Welsh  watering-place.  The  ticket 
permitted  travel  by  the  ordinary  service ;  and  the 
journey  coastward  by  express  was  rapid  and  delight- 
ful; but  the  return  ride  was  decidedly  uncomfort- 
able. The  wag  of  the  party  said  the  railway  company 
were  trying  the  novel  experiment  of  taking  all  their 
A 


Vd  VVR   UAILWATS.  rhap. xxvm. 

passengers  back  in  one  train.  Sundry  carriages  were 
added  on  the  way;  but  they  were  soon  crowded.  At 
Chester  a  great  throng  of  people  sought  seats  in  vain, 
•and  more  coaches  were  attached.  Even  then  there 
was  a  crush  in  every  compartment;  and  the  heat  was 
«o  oppressive  that  men  pulled  off  their  coats,  and 
women  fanned  themselves  with  books,  newspapers, 
liats — anything  that  would  disturb  the  still,  sultry 
atmosphere.  The  American  humorist's  story  about 
the  long  word  that  required  a  special  train  to  reach 
the  end  of  it,  did  not  raise  a  laugh.  The  people  were 
hot,  thirsty,  fatigued;  besides,  the  train  conveying 
them  was  far  longer  than  any  word  fashioned  by 
Yankee  brain  or  even  by  Welshman's  tongue.  It 
was  so  long  that  it  had  to  pull  up  twice  at  nearly 
every  station  ;  and,  as  though  overcome  by  the  heat 
itself,  it  travelled  so  wearily  that  it  took  more  than 
five  hours  to  do  what  is  usually  a  two  hours'  journey. 
"  Ah  say,  Tom  ;  this  'as  bin  a  settler !  Ah'm  as  stiff 
as  an  owd  camel,"  remarked  an  angry  lady,  gathering 
her  children  and  baskets  on  the  platform.  "Thah  can 
talk  as  thab  likes ;  but  thah'll  get  me  on  no  more  o' 
them  excursions." 


99 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

STRANGE    TRACKS — RAILWAY    STATION    THRONG    AND 

QUIET. 

Railways  in  Remote  Lands — Opening  a  Station  at  Jerusalem— A  Railway 
in  am  Arsenal — The  Line  up  Vesuvius — Running  Down  the  Lickoy— 
Whimsical  and  Miniature  Railways — Life's  Movement  at  the  Railway 
Station — Notable  Passengers — Railways  and  the  Drama — What  they 
do  for  Sport  and  Pastime — Animals  Wild  and  Tame  on  the  Line 
— Two  famous  Railway  Dogs — A  County  Court  iu  a  Train — Some 
Lost  Luggage— Mrs.  Gamp  at  the  Booking  Office — Lifting  a  Railway 
Station — "The  Station  Master  of  Lone  Prairie" — A  Mystifying 
Notice  to  Passengers. 

There  are  railways  everywhere,  through  prairies, 
beneath  mountains,  over  chasms,  across  seas,  under 
rivers,  and  in  strange  lands  that  seemed  very  unlikely 
a  few  years  ago  to  be  dominated  by  steel  rail  and 
locomotive.  The  Chinaman  runs,  with  his  pigtail 
flying,  to  catch  the  train  ;  the  Maori,  who  once 
fought  the  English  settler  in  New  Zealand  defile, 
now  puts  his  knobstick  peacefully  under  his  arm, 
and  takes  a  third-class  ticket  like  a  Christian.  The 
American  Indian  does  not  go  so  frequently  on  the 
trail  after  scalps.  He  finds  it  easier  to  journey  by 
train,  and  scarcely  misses  the  savagery  and  poetry 
of  his  old  life,  with  its  hideous  yell  and  crash  of 
tomahawk,  with  its  howl  of  wild  beast,  and  rustle 
of  grass,  and  whisper  of  wind  in  the  forest.  The 
Sepoy  has  become  a  railway  passenger;  .so  has  the 
A2  ■■'•- 


1 


100 


OXm  RAILWA78. 


Ka£Sr ;  and  in  a  few  years  the  strange  tribes  in 
Central  Africa  may  be  clamouring  for  thicker  sun- 
shades    to     their     railway     carriage     windows,     and 


grumbling  at  the  fines  for  smoking  in  non-smoking 
compartments,  or  at  the  heavy  railway  rates  for  the 
transit  of  goods  to  and  from  Mombasa,  or  along  other 
lines  in  the  interior. 

The  navvy-  has  even  been  busy  in  Palestine. 
Obedient  to  the  modem  spirit  of  trade  enterprise, 
he  has  broken  into  hallowed  ground  with  his  pick. 
The  sacred  associations  of  the  land  do  not  perhaps 


Chap.  XXIX.)      A  MOHAMMEDAN  BAILWAY-OFENINQ.  101 

impress  him  much,  for  the  Biblical  education  of  the 
navvy  has  been  neglected.  But  the  intelligence  that 
a  line  has  been  made  from  Haifa  to  Damascus  was  of 
intense  interest  to  the  devout,  whether  they  liked  the 
enterprise  or  not. 

The  slowly-moving  caravan,  the  lurch  and  sway 
of  the  close- packed  diligence ,  the  patient  plodding  or 
erratic  progress  of  the  ass,  are  superseded.  The  rapid 
locomotion  of  the  West  is  running  towards  the 
East.  The  opening  of  the  Jaffa-Jerusalem  Railway 
in  the  summer  of  1892  was  thus  described: 

"  The  Jerusalem  terminus  was  dressed  out  with  palm  branches, 
and  Turkish  cavalry  kept  a  way  open  for  the  railroad  directors 
and  their  guests,  and  for  the  official  representatives  of  the  Sultan. 
The  iron  road  was  opened  according  to  the  Muslim  rite.  Three 
white  sheep  with  gilded  horns  were  ditigge^  on  to  the  rails,  and 
there  slaughtered  after  an  Iman  wearing  a  green  turban  had 
offered  up  a  prayer.  When  the  sheeps'  veins  were  emptied  the 
carcases  were  withdrawn  by  soldiers,  and  a  locomotive  advanced 
over  the  i-eddened  spot,  and  the  official  world,  the  line  being 
considered  blest  and  free  from  the  influence  of  evil  genii,  got  into 
the  compartments  reserved  for  them.  The  other  carriages  were  open 
to  the  public,  which  rushed  into  them.  Three  guns  were  next 
discharged,  and  the  train  started  for  Bitir,  the  first  station  outside 
Jerusalem." 

Railway  engineering,  so  daring  and  oblivious  of 
old  landmarks,  has  always  had  a  whimsical  vein. 
Dr.  William  Anderson,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Institute  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  has  given  an  inte- 
resting description  of  what  may  be  called  a  survival  of 
the  early  railway.  "  There  is,"  he  says,  "  a  railway  still 
worked  in  the  old  way  at  this  moment — that  is  to  say. 


102  OUR  RAILWAYS.  tchap.  xxix. 

the  drivers  have  to  get  off  the  engines  in  order  to  set 
the  points,  and  sometimes  in  order  to  apply  the  brakes. 
The  railway  has  an  aggregate  length  of  nineteen  miles, 
and  it  has  thirty-seven  locomotives  which  run  at  a 
pretty  good  speed.  The  locomotives  and  the  rolling 
stock  present  a  remarkable  variety.  The  railway  is 
at  the  Itoyal  Arsenal,  at  Woolwich,  and  is  an  example 
of  how  traffic  can  go  on  without  rules  or  time-tables. 
The  locomotives  are  curiosities  in  their  way.  Nearly 
every  form  of  light  locomotive  that  has  ever  been 
devised  for  the  18-inch  gauge  and  for  the  4-ft.  8^-inch 
gauge  has  a  representative  at  the  Koyal  Arsenal.  The 
engines  do  their  work  very  well  ;  but  it  has  at  last 
been  deemed  advisable  to  appoint  a  traffic  manager, 
draw  up  a  time-table,  and  work  the  line  according 
to  some  sort  of  rules." 

The  Lickey  incline  on  the  Birmingham  and 
Gloucester  section  of  the  Midland  Railway  is  another 
curious  survival.  Brunei,  the  engineer,  objected  to 
such  a  steep  descent,  and  suggested  that  the  railway 
should  be  carried  further  west;  but  the  erratic  track 
was  made,  the  urgent  argument  in  favour  of  it  being 
that  it  would  more  easily  serve  the  populous  places. 
The  mountain  railway  over  Mont  Cenis  includes  some 
startling  inclines,  and  the  track  which  climbs  up 
Pilatus,  near  Lucerne,  has  a  gradient  calculated  to 
disturb  the  equanimity  of  the  nervous  passenger;  while 
the  railway  up  Vesuvius  has  not  only  an  uncomfort- 
ably steep  incline,  but  is  disagreeably  suggestive  of 
the   great    fiery   cauldron    beneath,   for  a  thick  wall 


^ 


FANCY  LINES. 


has  been  built  "  to  protect  the  line  from  possible 
flows  of  lava ;  and  pillars  of  smoke  frequently  burst 
up  from  the  ground  close  to  the  spot  where  the 
railway  ends,  and  chasms  open,  swallowing  up  any- 
thing which  may 
be  on  the  spot." 
Travelling  under 
these  conditions 
is  exciting,  and 
would  no  doubt 
be  pleasant  to 
such  passengers 
as  the  one  once 
found  hanging  be- 
neatli  a  carriage 
of  the  Irish  mail 
on  its  arrival  at  ] 
Chester  —  a  triX- 
veller  who  con- 
sidered it  irksome 
to  pay  any  fare, 
and  preferred  to 
ride  from  Holy- 
head clinging  with  his  hands  and  legs  to  the  brake- 
rod  in  imminent  risk  of  his  life  along  every  yard 
of  the  ninety-mile  run. 

Some  railways  up  mountains  may  be  termed 
merely  fancy  lines.  They  have  not,  like  the  Lickey, 
settled  down  to  steady  everyday  work.  The  Lickey 
has  proved  far  more  useful  than  the  old  High  Peak 


THE  RAILWAY  UP  PILATU9. 


OUR  BAILWAYS. 


Railway,  though  in  its  day  this  line,  when  life  was 
Blower  and  time  did  not  always  mean  so  much  money, 
did  a  good  deal  of  work  both   in    the  conveyance  of 


A  STATioir  (tan-t-bwlcb)  ok  t 

(Fnm  n  /'AdlognijA  hg  FrUK  t  Co.,  fififolc) 

passengers  and  the  transit  of  goods.  The  Lickey  incline 
lias  outlasted  prejudice.  It  is  not  without  a  spice  of 
danger ;  the  cost  of  it  in  waste,  inconvenience,  and 
loss  of  time  would  have  constructed  a  level  line,  and 
yielded  a  big  profit,  but  the  Lickey  works  on  still. 
It  is  one  of  the  steepest  inclines  to  be  found  on  an 
English  through  main  line.  Pilot  engines  are  used 
to  help  trains  np  it,  but  tbey  run  down  unassisted. 
The  difficulty,  of  course,  is  not  to  make  them  go,  but 


Chap.xxix.1  SIR  GEORGE  NEWNES'S  RAILWAYS.  105 

to  check  them,  to  hold  them  back,  and  before  now, 
when  the  rails  have  been  in  a  slippery  condition, 
heavy  trains  have  been  known  to  run  a  mile  or  more 
along  the  flat  line  at  the  bottom  of  the  incline  before 
they  could  be  pulled  up. 

The  miniature  narrow-gauge  railway,  winding  firom 
Dinas  to  Rhyd-du,  four  miles  from  Beddgelert,  is  a 
line  that  has  caused  some  diversion;  and  the  terraced 
railway  which  runs  between  Port  mad  oc  and  Pes- 
tiniog,  with  a  gauge  of  1  foot  11^  inches,  is  almost 
impressive.  Sir  George  Newnes,  Bart.,  and  his  co- 
proprietor,  however,  have  the  distinction  of  owning  the 
steepest  line  in  the  world.  Their  track,  which  was 
opened  on  April  7,  1890,  is  only  nine  hundred  feet 
long,  but  it  serves  a  most  useful  purpose,  connecting 
Lynton  and  Lynmouth,  and  effecting  quick  transit 
between  the  two  places.  The  tiny  railway,  which 
has  water  for  its  motive  power,  cuts  through  a  great 
cliff,  and  its  rails,  bolted  to  the  solid  rock,  have  an 
incline  of  1  in  If.  It  is  a  curiosity  in  gradients; 
but  does  its  work  well,  and  has  practically  super- 
seded the  old  cart-road  down  the  slope,  which 
reminded  one  of  the  Derbyshire  sheriff's  complaint 
about  the  highway  leading  to  the  Peak  village — 
that  it  was  "  no  use  keeping  a  coach,  for  the  town 
stood  on  one  end."  Sir  George  is  now  promoting  a 
line  from  Lynton  to  Barnstaple ;  and  at  Matlock, 
his  native  place,  he  opened,  in  March,  1893, 
an  ingeniously  constructed  cable  tramway,  which, 
fitted   with  garden- seat  cars,   is   a   great    convenience 


106  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ch.p.  xxix. 

to  visitors,  and  removes  Defoe's  quaint  reproach, 
"This  Matlock  Bath  would  be  much  more  frequented 
than  it  is  if  a  bad  stony  road  which  leads  to  it,  and  no 
accommodation  when  you  get  there,  did  not  hinder." 

Cassell's  "  World  of  Wonders  "  describes  a  curious 
little  railway,  a  model  line,  built  by  Mr.  Percival 
Ileywood  in  his  grounds  at  Duffleld  Hall,  in  Soutli 
Derbyshire  : 

"The  object  ia  a  miniature  railway,  over  and  under  ground, 
where  an  example  of  every  engineering  difficulty  encountered  in 
the  construction  of  an  ordinary  railway  system  has  been  artificially 
created,  so  as  to  illustrate  the  working  of  this  as  completely  as 
possible.  In  gauge  the  line  is  but  15  inchef^,  and  is  laid  partly 
with  steel  and  partly  with  iron  rails,  of  a  rate  varying  from 
9  lbs.  to  12  lbs.  per  foot.  In  length  it  is  little  short  of  a  mile, 
and  has  many  curves.  On  the  way  there  are  the  features  of 
embankment,  cutting,  bridge,  a  viaduct  22  feet  in  height,  a  tunnel 
hewn  out  of  solid  rock,  points,  crossings,  and  lastly  a  number  of 
picturesque  stations,  named  according  to  the  nature  or  position 
of  the  ground.  Passengei-s  may  get  out  at  the  Tennis  Lawn,  the 
Wood,  the  Manor  Copse,  or  other  convenient  stations,  the  first- 
named  being  the  central  one.  Mr.  Heywood  is  a  skilled  workman, 
and  has  accomplished  the  task  of  putting  together  the  rolling 
stock  without  much  aid." 

A  railway  in  East  Frisia  claims  notoriety  for 
diminutiveness : 

"  Its  entire  length  is  only  five  miles,  and  its  breadth  only 
2^  feet.  It  employs  the  huge  staff  of  one  guard,  one  engine-driver, 
one  fireman,  and  only  one  platelayer.  The  sum  of  £4  10s.  is  paid 
in  wages  every  week.  It  has  two  engines,  three  carriages,  four 
trucks,  and  a  couple  of  vans.  The  engine  and  the  tender  together 
only  weigh  seven  tons.  The  fares  are  in  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  company,  and  average  threepence  halfpenny  *  all  the  way.' " 

To  the  nervous  and  irritable  a  railway  station  is 


•  •  •  . 


^ 


Chap,  xxix.i  A   RAILWAY  STATION.  107 

an  objectionable  necesf5ity,  a  place  of  torture,  where 
there  is  not  only  the  banging  of  boxes,  the  discour- 
teous thrust  of  the  crowd,  the  bumping  and  clattering 
of  carriages,  the  shouts  of  porters,  the  blast  of  shunt- 
ing horn,  but  the  hideous  yells  and  shrieks  of  the 
"  steam  devils,"  which  the  engine-drivers  liberate  no 
doubt  with  inward  chuckles,  while  preserving  their 
grave  and  serious  mien  whenever  they  pull  up  at,  or 
start  out  of,  a  station.  The  English  engine-driver  is 
absolutely  without  nerves.  They  have  been  completely 
shaken  out  of  him,  and  he  apparently  takes  placid 
delight  in  the  locomotive's  shriek  and  in  letting  off 
steam ;  while  the  passengers  cease  their  converse, 
quiver  with  nervous  shock,  put  their  hands  to  their 
ears,  or  hold  on  the  tops  of  their  heads. 

But,  apart  from  its  incessant  noises,  there  is 
something  interesting  in  the  station;  or,  rather,  in 
the  quickly-changing  picture  of  human  life  it  presents 
— the  robustness,  the  feebleness,  the  pathos,  the  pas- 
sion, the  humour,  the  grief,  the  love,  the  hate,  and 
the  tragedy  of  it.  Mr.  Frith  caught  its  earnestness 
and  reality  in  his  familiar  picture  "  The  Railway 
Station,''  which  forms  the  frontispiece  to  Vol.  I.  of 
this  work.  The  figures  look  gawky,  and  the  garb 
antiquated  and  old-fashioned  to  modern  eyes  ;  but 
there  is  truth  and  fidelity  in  this  remarkable  repre- 
sentation of  early  railway  travelling,  and  Henry  Graves, 
the  noted  printseller,  the  friend  of  Turner,  Constable, 
and  Landseer,  thought  so  highly  of  it  that  he  bought 
the  picture,  with  the  copyright,  for  £20,000. 


108  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch*p.  xxix. 

At  every  station  there  is  some  study  of  character. 
Tlie  stout,  perspiring  nurse,  struggling  with  the  new 
haby;  the  diffident,  self-conscious  honeymoon  couple; 
the  little  group  of  quiet  men,  in  shabby  black,  who 
make  a  business  of  death,  and  are  lifting  a  coffin  from 
the  train.  Here  a  girl  is  blushingly  meeting  her  lover ; 
there  a  husband  his  wife ;  and  almost  before  the  lad 
has  got  off  the  carriage  step  the  mother  is  fondly 
embracing  her  son.  Meanwhile,  a  business  man  calls 
a  hansom  and  clatters  away;  a  portly,  glossy  bishop 
crosses  the  platform  with  stately  tread,  and  is 
escorted  by  his  solicitous  host  to  a  carriage ;  and 
a  ragged  thief,  or  poverty-stricken  Ishmael,  who 
has,  in  his  sincere  desire  to  economise  the  ticket- 
collector's  time,  tmvelled  unobtrusively  beneath  the 
carriage  seat,  slides  furtively  from  the  compartment 
and  is  lost  in  the  crowd. 

That  group  of  serious-faced  men  on  the  platform 
may  include  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  some  shrine, 
or  missionaries  destined  for  Uganda,  or  explorers 
bound  for  Somaliland  or  Thibet.  Perhaps  the  slim, 
hardy,  self-reliant  man,  in  tough  and  warm  apparel, 
standing  reflectively  near  the  bookstall  yonder,  is 
Dr.  Nansen,  the  intrepid  traveller,  who,  undismayed 
by  the  hardship  and  sad  fate  of  Franklin,  took  his 
railway  ticket  for  the  first  stage  of  his  journey 
towards  the  grim  sea  of  ice,  which  he  has  resolved 
shall  give  up  the  secret  of  the  North- West  passage. 
At  the  railway  station  you  may  get  a  glimpse  of  the 
Queen's  face,  and  make  acquaintance  with  her  humblest 


DiaTINQUIBBBD   PA88SN(iES,8. 


subjects — the  melancholy  shoeblack,  the  versatile  and 
persistent  seller  of  wax  lights,  and  the  feckless  wretch 
who  has  seen  better  days  and  is  desperately  bent, 
as  he  lurches  or  shambles  by  your  side,  on  carrying 


BC  BAUBLE. 


your  hag  or  your  parcel.  You  may  rub  shoulders 
with  some  great  soldier  who  is  arriving  or  departing 
amid  the  crash  of  music,  or  some  great  statesman 
who  is  welcomed  with  wild  shout  of  victory  in 
political  Bght,  or  some  great  actor,  who  as  his 
company  crowds  about,  is  not  bestowing  a  thought 
on  fame,  but  wondering  whether  the  twenty-four 
truclts  laden  with  costumes  and  scenery,  with  dresses 
and  armour,  with  stage  castles  and  palaces  and  hovels, 
with  sylvan  landscape  and  rugged  glen,  will  escape 


no  OUR  RAILWAYS.  laiap  xxix. 

the  crush  and  ruin   of   collision,  and    reach   the  next 
town  safely. 

The  railway  has  revolutionised  the  drama.  The 
stock  company  is  not  only  dead,  but  almost  forgotten. 
In  a  provincial  theatre  some  )'^ears  ago,  when  a  player 
uttered  the  line  in  Hamlet,  "  How  came  you  hither  ?  '* 
he  was  startled  by  the  reply,  **  Sum  on  us  com  hi 
t'  coach,  and  sum  on  us  bi  t'  train ! "  The  incident, 
humorous  in  itself,  was  rudely  indicative  of  the  change 
that  has  been  wrought  by  the  railway  in  theatrical 
life.  The  actor,  be  he  even  Irving  or  Toole,  has  to 
pack  himself  up  and  go  on  tour.  He  travels  by 
8pe<;ial  train  to  play  before  the  Queen ;  he  quits  town 
by  train  with  almost  as  much  baggage  as  an  army, 
on  his  way  to  Liverpool,  to  star  in  the  States;  and 
when  playing  in  his  own  land  the  railway  carriage 
is  his  home,  though  not  alwajs  a  comfortable  one, 
on  Sunday.  To  the  actor  the  railway  is  indispens- 
able. It  takes  him  swiftly  through  the  country.  It 
gives  him  quick  opportunity  of  appealing  to  different 
masses  of  people  with  widely  different  sympathies;  it 
takes  him  onward  to  fame  and  sometimes  to  fortune. 
Not  only  is  it  a  trusty  agent  that  enables  him  to 
keep  his  engagements  ;  but  it  takes  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  about  the  transit  of  his  properties,  be  they 
dead  crusaders  or  live  lions.  The  author  has  on 
Saturday  night  at  the  theatre,  in  '*  Pepita,''  watched 
with  some  alarm  the  fierce  charge  of  the  live  bull ; 
and  on  Sunday  morning,  at  the  railway  station,  seen 
the  animal,  subdued  and  apparently  docile,  led  to  the 


cimp.  xxra.i  CLASSIFYING   A   MONKEY.  Ill 

truck  by  a  dainty  member  of  the  company,  who  must 
have  been  at  least  the  "  first  walking  gentleman  "  out 
that  (lay. 

The  railway  has  also  proved  a  great  encourager 
of  sport  and  pastime.  It  takes  the  stalker  to  the 
fringe  of  the  deer  forest,  and  the  grouse-shooter  to  his 
moor ;  while,  in  the  words  of  Anthony  Trollope,  the 
railway  **  has  done  so  much  for  hunting  that  it  may 
be  said  to  have  created  the  sport  anew  on  a  wider 
and  more  thoroughly  organised  footing  than  it  ever 
held  before."  The  cricketer,  on  his  way  to  county 
♦engagement;  the  footballer,  all  striped  like  a  zebra, 
as  he  hurries  to  the  final ;  and  the  golf-player, 
as  he  journeys  to  his  links — are  all  beholden  to  the 
railway. 

These  conspicuous  figures  in  our  myriad-sided 
civilisation  give  variety — sometimes,  indeed,  very 
boisterous  variety — to  the  movement  of  life  at  the 
railway  station ;  but  hardly  such  exciting  movement 
as  that  created  at  the  up-country  station  in  India 
when  the  stationmaster,  in  despair,  telegraphed  to 
the  nearest  official  :  **  Tiger  jumping  about  on  plat- 
form— please  arrange  1 "  Wild  beasts  have  occasionally 
caused  embarrassment  on  English  lines ;  but  not 
so  much  perplexity  as  the  late  Frank  Buckland's 
pets.  **  On  one  of  his  railway  journeys  his  baggage 
included  a  mookey.  Jacko  was  a  stumbling-block 
to  the  man  on  duty  at  the  booking-office,  who 
carefully  went  through  the  schedule  of  charges  for 
the  carriage  of  animals.     'Cows   is   horses,  and   so  is 


112  OUE  RAILWAYS.  (Ohap  uix. 

donkeys/  he  murmured.  'Cats  is  dogs,  and  fowls 
is  likewise,  and  so  is  monkeys.  Please,  sir,  that  'ere 
wiU  'ave  to  go  as  a  dawg,'  he  said,  not  without 
lingering  doubt,  as  he  pointed  to  the  monkey. 
'  Indeed,'  said  Buckland ;  and,  putting  his  hand  into 
the  pocket  of  his  coat,  he  pulled  out  a  tortoise. 
'  What  will  that  go  as  ? '  he  asked.  Once  more  the 
schedule  was  pei*used,  but  it  gave  no  instruction  as 
to  the  carriage  of  tortoises.  '  They  are  nothing,'  said 
the  porter  with  scorn.  *We  don't  charge  nothing  for 
them.     They  are  an  insek.'  "  * 

Another  railway  servant  was  unable  to  express  such 
contempt  for  a  gimflfe.  Eesponsible  for  the  transit  of 
the  lofty  animal  from  Liverpool  to  town,  he  managed 
to  get  it  upstanding  in  a  truck ;  but  the  stupid  thin{3f 
declined  to  lie  down  or  even  to  be  seated.  He  coaxed 
it,  pleaded  with  it,  and  tried  to  leg  it  down,  but  in 
vain.  The  giraflTe  was  hopelessly  dense.  It  gave  the 
man  a  stony  stare,  and  continued  its  melancholy 
clatter  on  the  truck  floor.  "  What  are  tha  struggling 
with,  Jim  ? "  asked  the  goods  guard,  with  a  winsome 
smile,  as  he  walked  by.  "  Well,"  replied  the  panting 
servant,  "  Buffin  calls  him  a  jaraff ;  but  a'U  call  him 
a  long-legged  clattering  fool;  and  a'U  reckon  tha'U 
have  some  strugglin'  wi'  him  thisen  when  t' train 
gets  t' first  bridge.  If  tha  doesn't  tie  his  neck  in  a 
knot,  he'll  have  his  head  knocked  off !  " 

The  railway  horse,  whether  shunting  or  pulling 
dray,  is,  as  a  rule,  well  developed  in  body  and  shrewd 

•  <<  Our  Iron  Boada,"  by  Frederiok  S.  Williamfl. 


I 


Chap,  xxix.i  FAMOUS   RAILWAY  DOQS,  113 

after  a  fashion ;  but  it  does  not  rival  the  dog  in  the 
quality  of  its  instinct,  and  has  never  yet  acted  as  station- 
master.  For  many  years  a  black-and-tan  collie  dog  did 
duty  practically  as  deputy  stationmaster  at  Lowestoft, 
on  the  Great  Eastern  Railway.  He  had  no  need  to 
study  the  working  time-table.  It  is  said  that  he 
knew  the  exact  time  at  which  a  train  should  begin  its 
journey,  and  a  restless  excitement  characterised  him  as 
the  moment  drew  near.  As  the  bell  uttered  its  first 
sound,  he  would  scamper  down  the  platform,  and, 
planting  himself  close  to  the  engine,  bark  furiously 
until  the  wheels  began  to  move.  Satisfied  apparently 
in  this  respect,  he  would  next  make  a  move  for  the 
guard's  van,  and  hurry  the  guard  to  his  post.  As  the 
train  passed  out  of  the  station  he  retired,  and  no  more 
was  seen  of  him  till  a  similar  operation  had  to  be 
repeated  on  the  departure  of  another  train. 

Another  famous  dog  on  the  railway  was  "  Help." 
The  animal,  which,  after  a  very  useful  life,  died  in 
December,  1891,  was  indefatigable  in  asking  for  sub- 
scriptions. It  pleaded  down  the  line,  at  the  congress 
of  railway  men,  at  any  gathering  that  was  likely  to 
recognise  zeal  in  philanthropic  duty.  "  The  dog  was 
trained  by  John  Climpson,  who  has  been  thirty-five 
years  guard  of  the  tidal  train  from  London  Bridge  to 
Newhaven,  and  the  idea  was  to  get  'Help'  to  act 
as  a  medium  for  the  collection  of  money  in  aid  of 
the  Orphan  Fund  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of 
Railway  Servants.  It  was  the  late  Rev.  Norman 
Macleod  who,  struck  with  the  excellence  of  the  object 


I 


Ui  OUS  RAILWAYS.  ICtep.  zxix 

for  which  the  dog  was  to  be  trained,  obtained  a 
fine  Scotch  collie  from  Mr.  W.  Riddell,  o£  Hailes, 
Haddiogton.  The  mission  of  '  Help '  was  made 
known  by  a  silver  collar,  to  which  was  appended  a 
silver  medal,  having  on  it  the  following  inscription : 


"BKLP,"  TBS  RAILWAS  COO, 

"  '  I  am  "  Help,"  the  railway  dog  of  England,  and  travelling  agent 
for  the  orphans  of  railway  men  who  are  killed  on  duty.  My  office 
is  at  No,  65,  Colebrooke  Row,  London,  wLero  8ubsciii>tioaB  will  le 
tbankfully  received  and  duly  acknowledged.' 

"At  the  Bristol  Dog  Show  in  1884,  'Help'  was 
presented  with  a  silver  medal,  and  bis  visit  realised  ten 
guineas.  Altogether  the  faithful  >i^mal,  which  was 
very  docile,  was  instrumental  in  .  ning  upwards  of 
£1,000  for  the  orphan  fund." 

The  railway  station  lias  been  used  for  many  a  novel 
purpose.     It  has  been  used  as  a  barrack,  as  u  coroner's 


Oitp.  XX1Z.1      A   GOGBT  IN  A  RAILWAY  OARRIAQB. 


I.  JOHN  CLIUF8 


court,  and  as  a  county  court.  His  honour.  Judge 
Williams,  County  Court  Judge  of  South  Wales,  had 
the  distinction  of  converting  a  railway  carriage  into 
a  civil  court,  of  hearing  a  case  in  a  compartment, 
and  giving  his  decision  at  a  railway  station.  He 
sat  at  Bridgend,  and  had  before  him  an  action  in 
which  the  plaintifi'  claimed  the 
sum  of  fifty  pounds  as  compen- 
sation for  damages  caused  by 
furious  driving.  When  the  time 
arrived  for  his  honour  to  leave 
by  train,  the  case  was  not  finished 
— a  most  important  witness  had 
still  to  be  examined.  What  was 
the  judge  to  do  ?  He  could  not  u™-. .  i**  tv  Bictro« 
well  leave  the  action  unfinished. 

He  did  not  wish  to  kick  his  heels  (if  such  an  irre- 
verent remark  may  be  applied  to  a  judge)  in  Bridgend 
all  night.  There  was  a  whispered  conference.  His 
honour  rose  from  his  seat  and  bowed  to  the  court,  and 
the  court  rose  and  bowed  to  his  honour,  who  then 
dofied  his  wig  and  gown,  and  went,  with  such  haste 
as  the  dignity  of  his  appointment  would  permit,  to 
the  railway  station.  On  the  platform  he  was  joined 
by  the  advocates  representing  the  litigants,  and  also 
by  the  material  witness.  The  train  ran  in.  His 
honour,  and  the  persons  interested  in  the  action,  jumped 
into  a  compartment ;  and  the  guard  had  scarcely  waved 
his  arm,  as  a  sign  that  all  was  clear  for  the  train 
to  start  again,  when  the  hearing  of  the  action  was 
(2 


116  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  xxix 

continued.  The  advocate  for  the  defendant  does  not 
appear  to  have  quoted  any  clause,  section,  or  case 
showing  that  there  was  no  precedent  for  turning  a 
railway  carriage  into  a  travelling  county  court.  The 
witness  was  examined  and  cross-examined  while  the 
train  sped  on  its  journey.  At  Llantrissant  his  honour 
and  the  court  alighted ;  and  the  judge,  sitting  iu 
the  stationmaster's  oflSce,  gave  a  verdict  for  the 
plaintiff. 

The  Lost  Luggage  OflSce  at  every  station  is  really 
an  epitome  of  human  life — of  forgetfulness  and  folly. 
It  is  the  last  desperate  hope  of  thoughtless  people  who 
have  left  feeding-bottles,  gloves,  reticules,  purses,  dolls, 
pinafores,  books,  hats,  or  bagpipes  in  trains  miles  away. 
During  the  year  1889  alone  the  Eailway  Clearing  House 
succeeded  in  returning  to  their  owners  no  fewer  than 
600,000  articles  found  in  railway  carriages  or  on  the 
line ;  but  none  of  these  things,  which  included  an 
immense  variety  of  articles  for  use  or  wear,  was  so 
extraordinary  in  character  as  the  luggage  left  at 
Swindon  Station  some  years  ago,  and  completely 
forgotten  by  the  owner — "  a  pair  of  bright  bay 
carriage  horses,  sixteen  hands  high,  with  black  switch 
manes  and  tails,  sold  to  pay  expenses  !  " 

The  railway  station  has  been  the  scene  of  many 
a  humorous  incident,  of  which  Mrs.  Gamp's  well- 
known  experience  was  typical.  The  old  lady  would 
have  been  in  a  greater  fluster,  probably,  if  she  had 
tried  to  get  a  ticket  at  Frodsham  Station  in  August, 
1892.     Complaints  had  been  made  for  some  years  of 


lih'MOVIXG    A    STATION    liODILY. 


inadequate  platform  accommodation,  and  finally  it  was 
decided  to  remove  the  stationmaster's  house,  booking- 
offices,  and  general  waiting-room  some   six  feet  baclc. 


% 

% 

fe;'^-.._. 

1  ^ 

ufl 

P^^H 

L  "'- 

^^^^p! 

^^^H 

■ 

ii 

IM 

^1^ 

1 

FRODSHAM   BTATIOW   IN   COUBSB    OF    REMOVAL. 

ihroH  II  rA..I"j™p)l  l>v  it.  W.  Morrli,  Chi^tr.) 


In  order  to  accomplish  the  task  without  taking  down 
the  structures,  excavations  were  made  beneath  them 
until  they  were  supported  on  large  baulks  of  timber. 
Then  came  the  crucial  point,  whether  they  would  slide 
intjj  their  new  situation.     Eleven  powerful  jacks  were 


118  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxix. 

brought  into  operation  under  the  superintendence  of 
Mr.  Johnson,  the  company's  engineer.  Although  the 
mass  to  be  moved  weighed  quite  400  tons,  the  work 
was  successfully  accomplished,  save  that  a  chimney- 
stack,  which  cracked,  had  to  be  taken  down. 

In  England,  though  the  country  is  said  to  be  over- 
crowded, there  are  many  lonely  and  almost  weird 
stations ;  but  none  so  queerly  desolate  as  the  one  Bret 
Harte  describes  in  his  poem  "The  Station-Master  of 
Lone  Prairie : " — 

"  An  empty  bench,  a  sky  of  greyest  etching, 
A  bare  bleak  shed  in  blackest  silhouette, 
Twelve  yards  of  platform,  and  beyond  them  stretching 
Twelve  miles  of  prairie  glimmering  through  the  wet. 

"  Nothing  beyond.     Ah,  yes  !     From  out  the  station 
A  stiff,  gaunt  figure,  thrown  against  the  sky, 
Beckoning  me  with  some  wooden  salutation, 
Caught  from  his  signals  as  the  train  flashed  by, 

"...    The  spell  of  desolation 

Broke  with  a  trembling  star  the  far-off  cry. 
The  coming  train  !     I  glance  around  the  station, 
All  is  empty  as  the  upper  sky. 

"  Naught  but  myself — nor  form  nor  figure  waking 
The  long  hushed  level  and  stark  shining  waste — 
Naught  but  myself,  that  cry,  and  the  dull  shaking 
Of  wheel  and  axle  stopped  in  breathless  haste. 

"  Now  then — look  sharp  !     Eh,  what  1    The  station-master  ? 
ThcLT^a  none  /  we  stopped  here  of  our  own  accord. 
The  man  got  killed  in  the  down  train  disaster 

This  time  last  evening.     Bight  there  !     All  aboard  !" 


CI,,,!.,  ssix.j        ENGLTSn  AS    WniTTEN  IN    WALES.  1V» 

America,  which  has  produced  much  that  is  tragic 
in  railway  travel  and  disaster,  is  supposed  to  be  the 
home  of  quaint  humour;  but  it  has  not  yet  given  us 
so  whimsical  a  railway  notice  as  that  placed  over 
the  Welsh  booking-office,  and  quoted  in  a  newspaper 
of  1875: 


"You  [>assengers  must  be  careful.  For  have  them  level  monej 
for  ticket,  mul  to  apply  at  once  for  asking  tickets  when  will  booking- 
window  o{ieu.     No  tickets  to  have  after  departure  of  the  train." 


■:   I^.VOINB  J3BKD   OH  THE   FESTINIOO   RAILWAT,       (Poft    106.) 
{From  a  PlMvra^Jt  by  FrUk  t  Ca..  fiit^ott) 


120 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

IICNGRY   AM)   THIRSTY  TRAVELLERS THE   REFRESHMENT- 
ROOM. 

The  Refreshment-Room—An  Early  Visit— Buffets  at  Big  Stations— The 
Hungrry  Man  at  Magby — ^Manners  at  the  Post-Office — ^The  Platform 
Boy — Passengers  and  their  Appetites-^Ten  Minutes*  Stop  at  Swindon 
— The  Humour  of  It— A  Sinjrular  Action  at  Law — Charjrinf:  for  a 
Special  Train — A  Splendid  Digestion — The  Surjreon  and  the  Sausage 
Rolls — An  Enticing  Refreshment- Room— The  Navvy  at  the  "Firat- 
Class  "  Bar— The  "  Young  Ladies  "  Behind  the  Counter— Their  Duties, 
Hardships,  and  Prospects — The  Railway  Companies  as  Caterers — A 
Bishop's  Church  on  Wheels — The  Travelling  Hotel. 

The  refreshment  system  on  our  railways  is  not  quite 
perfect  yet ;  or,  at  all  events,  if  it  is  impossible  to 
find  much  fault  with  the  system,  the  mode  in  which 
it  is  carried  into  practice  is  sometimes  productive  of 
exasperation.  The  early  bird  is  always  supposed  to 
get,  according  to  its  peculiar  taste,  the  most  delicious 
worm;  but  the  early  traveller,  who  has  dressed  in 
haste,  and  rushed  from  home  without  breakfast  in 
his  anxiety  to  catch  the  train,  seldom  gets  any 
toothsome  morsel  to  satisfy  his  hunger  if  he  depends 
on  the  railway  refreshment-room.  The  waitresses  are 
sometimes  sleepy  or  curt;  the  waiters,  who  later 
on  will  appear  in  evening  dress,  with  serviette  on 
left  arm  and  with  dignified  deportment,  are  now  in 
shabby  mufti,  busy  dusting  the  tables,  the  seats, 
and  the  marble-topped  counter. 


w"*!  *  ■  -  y  'if^ 

"^"^1^'^ 

m 

■hiMi^S 

Wr 

RliFirliHi 

Um-'^lSBBIca    K^ 

^^^^SBtA^ 

If^i  ■ 

1  Kli, 

—        -ffMJr--;^^ 

JKJI^I 

/  ^^^ 

W< 

'Ir'^K 

122  OUB    RAILWAYS.  ichap.  xxx. 

There  is  only  three  minutes  in  which  to  get  your 
meal.  You  ask,  in  desperation,  for  a  sandwich  and  a 
cup  of  coffee.  The  coffee  is  hot  and  nourishing.  The 
sandwich  is  an  overnight  one.  It  has  been  in  its 
glass  prison  for  eight  hours  at  least.  The  bread  is 
stale,  hard,  and  curled  at  the  corners,  and  the  ham 
looks  the  reverse  of  tempting.  You  take  one  hopeful 
bite  at  the  sandwich,  thinking  that  it  may  not  taste 
amiss,  notwithstanding  its  somewhat  suspicious  ap- 
pearance. Then  you  place  it  on  the  plate  again, 
without  comment,  but  with  your  mind  crowded  with 
indignant  thought,  and  wonder  as  you  hurry  to  the 
train  why  the  modern  refreshment-room,  with  its  pretty 
adornments  in  coloured  glass  and  electro-plate,  and 
its  really  good  food  and  drink  supply  throughout 
the  day,  should  endeavour  to  foist  on  the  early  and 
most  particular  traveller  the  stale,  oft-pronged,  smoke- 
dried  sandwiches  that  have  curled  up  in  the  night 
with  gradual  loss  of  vitality,  though  folded  in  the 
damp  cloth  that  pretends  to  keep  them  fresh  and 
appetising. 

The  railway  traveller  nevertheless  has  something  to 
be  thankful  for  in  the  way  of  refreshment.  At  most 
of  the  great  stations — at  Euston,  King's  Cross,  St. 
Pancras,  and  Charing  Cross ;  at  Manchester,  Liver- 
pool, Norman  ton,  Leeds,  York,  Carlisle,  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  and  at  the  stations  of  a  hundred  other 
places — he  can,  as  a  rule,  obtain  all  he  desires  in 
the  way  of  food  and  drink  served  quickly  at  a 
moderate  price ;   and   would   now  find   it   difficult  to 


Chap.  XXX.)  MUGBY  JUNCTIONS.  123 

discover  such  a  den  on  the  English  railway  system 
as  the  one  to  which  Charles  Dickens  introduced  ''the 
gentleman  from  nowhere,"  who,  under  the  whim- 
sical name  of  Bardox  Brothers,  tried  to  travel  beyond 
the  memory  of  his  own  birthday,  and  alighted  at 
Mugby  Junction  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  in 
the  beat  of  rain  and  the  bluster  of  wind. 

Bardox  Brothers  made  a  long  and  instructive 
study  of  this  junction  for  days  after  the  guard  had 
said :  "  Stand  clear,  sir,  if  you  please.  One,  two, 
right ! "  and  the  engine  had  shrieked  and  the  train 
gone  out  into  the  darkness.  The  pictures  he  gives 
of  the  precocious  boy  and  the  uncompromising  missis, 
and  the  young  ladies,  the  repellent  room,  and  the 
extraordinary  food  supply,  are  turned  to  again  and 
again  by  lovers  of  fiction,  and  by  travellers  who  have 
grimly  striven  to  get  sustenance  in  remote  refresh- 
ment-rooms that  in  some  features  remind  them  of 
the  famous  but  uninviting  resort  at  Mugby. 

The  sardonic  spirit  of  the  boy  at  Mugby  has 
flitted  from  its  original  dwelling-place,  and  now 
seems  to  lurk  chiefly  in  the  breast  of  the  post-office 
clerk,  who  can  "  line-survey "  you  with  consummate 
skill  and  coolness,  secretly  enjoying  your  hurry, 
flutter,  and  irritation  as  he  calmly  cashes  your  order 
or  serves  you  with  stamps   at  his  own  convenience.* 

*  Official  notice  has  been  taken  of  the  incivility  that  had  become  a  scandal, 
and  a  few  years  ago  the  then  Postmaster- General  (Sir  James  Fergusson), 
by  a  hint  about  the  importance  of  courtesy  in  the  transaction  of  business, 
gave  a  lesson  in  good  manners  to  those  behind  the  poet-office  counter  that 
was  badly  needed. 


12*  OUR  RAir.rVAYS.  [Ci,,^|.,  \-M. 

The  boy  at  Mugby  has  improved.  There  is  no  boy, 
in  fact,  so  smai*t,  alert,  obliging,  and  polite  as  the 
boy  at  the  railway  station,  whether  lie  moves  quickly 
at  your  behest  in  the  refreshment-room  or  marches 
up    and    down   the   platform   with  his  wicker  basket, 


selling  his  viands,  or  goes  from  carriage  to  carriagts 
with  his  itinerant  bookstall  slung  around  his  nock, 
and  offers  you,  in  cheerful  tones,  the  last  new  book 
or  the  latest  venture  in  periodical  literature,  or  the 
choice  of  a  dozen  daily  newspapers  and  weekly 
publications.  The  refreshment-room  has  improved, 
too.  Charles  Dickens  wrote  "  Mugby  Junction  "  as  a 
Christmas  piece  shortly  before  his  second  visit  to 
America,  which  took  place  in  1807.  By  the  time  the 
story  saw  the  light  it  was  possible  to  obtain  good 
food  at  many  a  railway  station. 

"  The  ten  minutes'  stop  at  Swindon,"  a  privilege 


TSB    STOP    AT   SWINDON. 


conceded  in  order 
that  the  refreshment- 
room  keeper  might 
be  able  to  make  a 
steady  profit,  soon  be- 
came an  unmitigated 
nuisance.  It  was  irri- 
tating to  the  Great 
Western  Company,  in- 
asmuch as  it  delayed 
all  their  trains  going 
west.  It  was  an  exas- 
perating stop  to  all 
passengers  who  re- 
quired no  refreshment, 
and  were  anxious  to 
i*eauh  their  destina- 
tion. It  lias  prompted 
far  more  impatient  in- 
quiry than  any  sadden 
pull-up  iu  timnel  or 
on  viaduct,  or  in  deep 
cutting,  with  the  sig- 
nal atdanger.  "Guard 
—  porter  —  Hi !  you, 
there.  What  the  deuce 
are  we  kicking  our 
heels  for  here?"  "Ten 
minutes  for  refresh- 
ments, sir,"  replies  the 


126  OUB   RAILWAYS.  (Ohap.  xxx. 

guard  respectfully,  trying  meanwhile  to  keep  his  face 
straight;  or,  maybe,  the  porter  mechanically  answers 
the  question  which  has  been  put  to  him  with  more 
or  less  vigour  a  thousand  times,  and  perhaps  mutters 
to  himself,  "  My  stars.     The  old  gentleman  is  wild !  " 

The  company  were  always  in  a  dilemma  about  this 
stoppage.  Whenever  the  train  stopped  ten  minutes 
the  passengers  would  fidget  about  the  compartments, 
bang  the  windows  down,  and  drag  them  up  again, 
stamp  on  the  carriage  floors,  hurl  grim  satire  at  the 
lamptnen,  the  porters,  the  guards,  the  stationmaster, 
and  curse  the  company.  If  the  company,  anxious  to 
oblige  their  customers,  lopped  off  a  minute  or  two  from 
the  waiting-time,  and  ventured  to  start  any  train  after 
a  stoppage  of  only  seven  or  eight  minutes,  some 
passenger  who  had,  on  the  solemn  assurance  that  the 
train  would  stop  ten  minutes,  got  comfortably  into 
the  middle  of  his  dinner  in  the  refreshment- room, 
would  find  to  his  dismay  that  the  train  was  running 
out  of  the  station ;  and  if  he  was  hasty  and  choleric  in 
temperament,  there  was  a  dramatic  scene.  The  com- 
pany have  at  last  got  out  of  the  difficulty  by  buying 
out  the  proprietor  of  the  hotel  and  refreshment-room, 
and  now  few  of  their  trains  stop  at  Swindon  for  so 
long  as  ten  minutes. 

A  novel  action,  arising  out  of  this  train  stop 
came  before  the  courts  a  few  years  ago.  It  disclosed 
quite  a  railway  *' comedy  of  errors."  A  wealthy 
passenger,  named  Lowenfeld,  travelled  first-class  from 
London    to    Teignmouth    on    August    7,    1891,    the 


Chap.  XXXI  LEFT  BEHIND  AT  SWINDON,  127 

express  leaving  Paddington  at  3  p.m.  The  train 
was  timed  to  arrive  at  7.42  p.m.,  and  to  stop  the 
inevitable  t^n  minutes  at  Swindon  from  4.27  p.m. 
to  4.37  p.m.  He  was  told  by  the  servants  of  the 
company  that  the  express  would  undoubtedly  make 
a  stop  of  ten  minutes  on  this  occasion;  and  he 
went  to  dine.  But  the  train  made  a  stop  of  only 
seven  minutes;  and  when  the  first-class  passenger 
came  upon  the  platform  again,  congratulating  himself 
that  he  had  put  the  ten  minutes  to  excellent  use, 
he  found  that  the  train  had  gone.  Any  expression 
of  annoyance  at  Swindon  would  have  been  idle. 

The  indignant  passenger,  feeling  that  he  had 
been  hoodwinked  by  the  company,  went  on  to  Bristol, 
and  from  that  city  took  a  special  train  to  Teignmouth, 
arriving  at  the  latter  place  at  8.20  p.m.  The  special 
train  cost  £31  17s.,  and  he  gave  a  cheque  for  that 
amount  to  the  stationmaster,  but  afterwards  stopped 
the  cheque.  The  Great  Western  Railway  Company 
then  sued  him  for  the  cost  of  the  special  train;  and 
he  counter-claimed  against  the  company  for  damages 
because  they  had  failed  to  convey  him  by  the  express 
from  London  to  Teignmouth,  and  had  broken  their 
contract,  inasmuch  as  the  train  did  not  stop  ten 
minutes   at   Swindon. 

His  Honour  Judge  Stonor,  who  heard  the  case  in 
the  Brompton  County  Court,  held  that  sending  on 
the  train  three  minutes  before  its  time  was  an  act 
of  wilful  misconduct  on  the  part  of  the  Swindon 
stationmaster,    and   that  the    passenger    was    entitled 


128  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chop  xxx. 

to  damages  for  his  detention  and  its  consequences. 
Then  arose  the  interestmg  point  as  to  what  the 
damages  really  were.  It  had  been  laid  down  by  Lord 
Justice  Mellish  that  "  it  would  be  unreasonable  to 
allow  a  passenger,  delayed  in  his  journey,  to  put  the 
company  to  an  expense  to  which  he  could  not  think 
of  putting  himself  if  he  had  no  company  to  look  to." 
If  the  object  of  the  passenger's  journey  had  been 
some  important  public  or  private  business,  and  still 
more  the  performance  of  some  public  or  private  duty 
which  would  not  admit  of  any  delay,  the  expense 
of  a  special  train  could,  his  honour  thought,  be  in- 
curred without  any  exceptional  extravagance ;  but  he 
was  not  prepared  to  say  that  joining  your  own 
family  and  friends  three  hours  sooner — the  only 
object  in  this  case — [justified  the  expenditure  on  a 
special  train;  therefore  he  considered  that  the  pas- 
senger was  not  entitled  to  recover  the  cost  of  that 
special  train  from  the  company.  But  the  judge 
decided  that  he  was  entitled  to  recover  his  first-class 
fare  from  Bristol  to  Teignmouth,  seeing  that  the 
company  had  not  completed  their  contract,  and  that 
he  should  be  repaid  the  three  shillings  he  had  spent 
in  sending  telegrams  to  his  family.  The  passenger, 
the  judge  further  held,  was  entitled  to  damages  for 
the  discomfort,  annoyance,  and  inconvenience  suffered 
by  him.  Mr.  Justice  Hawkins,  in  the  case  of 
Woodgate  V.  the  Great  Western  Kailway  Company, 
had  held  that  detention  for  two  hours  in  winter, 
pacing    up    and     down    a   cold    platform,    facing    a 


130  OUR   RAILWAYS.  ichap.  xxx 

refreshrnent-stall  with  nothing  but  jam  tarts  and  bottles 
of  soda-water,  and  being  sent  on  by  a  slow  train, 
entitled  the  passenger  to  damages;  and  though  the 
passenger  in  the  present  instance  did  not  seem  to 
have  incurred  a  great  deal  of  physical  suffering,  his 
separation  from  the  party  with  whom  he  was 
travelling,  and  from  family  and  friends  in  the 
evening,  and  his  loss  of  the  comfort  of  a  direct 
express  train,  entitled  him,  in  his  own  interest  and 
in  that  of  the  public,  to  reasonable  damages,  which 
his  honour  assessed  at  forty  shillings.  While  only 
allowing  the  passenger  the  cost  of  the  counter-claim 
on  the  amount  recovered,  the  judge  gave  the  rail- 
way company  full  costs ;  and  passengers  who  have  had 
experience  of  the  freaks  of  trains  at  Swindon  may 
be  excused  for  considering  that  the  Great  Western 
were  very  leniently  dealt  with  for  their  "wilful  mis- 
conduct." 

The  humour  of  the  refreshment-room  is  varied  and 
inexhaustible.  A  solicitor  from  St.  Neots,  according  to 
Mr.  F.  S.  Williams,  arrived  ravenous  at  Leicester  Station, 
entered  the  refreshment-room,  and  then  returned  to 
the  compartment  with  a  piece  of  very  heavy  pork-pie 
and  a  flask  of  sherry.  "  Can  you  digest  that  ?  '* 
sceptically  inquired  a  fellow-traveller.  "Digest  it?" 
was  the  reply.  "  Do  you  think,  sir,  that  I  allow  my 
stomach  to  dictate  to  me  what  I  think  proper  to  put 
into  it  ?  " 

O"  a  different  temperament  was  the  passenger 
..hose  conduct  aroused  humorous  comment  in  Chester 


c]«p.xxx.i  AN  ACTION  FOB    LIBEL.  131 

in  1888,  and  led  to  an  action  at  law,  the  refreshment 
contractors  at  the  station  suing  Mr.  Ernest  Solly, 
a  surgeon  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital,  for  libel.  The 
defendant  purchased  a  sausage-roll  at  the  refreshment- 
room    counter,  examined  it  suspiciously,    ventured    to 


LE1CB8TEB  STATION. 


bite  it,  asserted  that  it  was  stale,  and  declined  to 
eat  it,  notwithstiinding  the  manager's  earnest  de- 
claration that  the  roll  was  fresh  and  wholesome. 
What  the  surgeon  really  thought  about  the  delicacy 
may  be  gathered  from  his  subsequent  conduct.  He 
went  on  his  journey,  indignant,  leaving  the  roll 
behind  him,  and  telegraphed  to  the  Inspector  of 
/2 


132  OUR    TiAILWAYS,  [Ci.ap.  xxx. 

Nuisances  at  Chester :  "  Please  examine  sausage  rolls, 
refreshment  rooms  at  station.  Bad  meat.  Will  write 
to-night.''  The  sanitary  authorities  took  the  telegram 
seriously.  They  swooped  down  upon  the  refresh- 
ment rooms,  seized  the  sausage  rolls,  and  found  that 
they  were  wholesome.  The  defendant,  undisma3'^ed 
by  the  consensus  of  opinion  against  him,  still  main- 
tained that  the  roll  supplied  to  him  resembled 
venison — that  it  was  "high."  The  verdict  showed 
that  the  world  is  not  without  sympathy  for  those 
who  travel  by  train,  and  are  obliged  to  eat  by  the 
line-side.  The  plaintiffs  were  only  awarded  one  far- 
thing damages,  each  side  being  ordered  to  pay  its 
own  costs. 

Many  class  barriers  are  breaking  down.  Tlie  time 
has  gone  by,  for  instance,  when  the  officers  in  the 
Guards  would  think  of  giving  a  significant  hint  to  the 
young  fellow  who  last  joined — that  he  had  better  get 
a  commission  in  another  regiment,  inasmuch  as  he  was 
a  manufacturer's  son.  Purchase  in  the  army  has  be- 
come obsolete,  and  much  foolish  pride  and  class  hauteur 
has  gone  with  it.  The  public  school  no  longer  closes 
its  portals  to  the  parvenu.  It  takes  his  fees,  and  tries, 
with  its  academic  manner  and  classical  learning,  to 
mould  him  into  shape.  But  the  class  barrier  is  still 
strong  and  sturdy  in  the  railway  refreshment-room. 
The  bishop  and  the  blacksmith  may  travel  third-class 
together,  and  chat  by  the  way;  but  they  will  not  be 
permitted  to  take  luncheon  side  by  side  in  the  first- 
class    refreshment-room,   if    the   blacksmith    like   the 


CJup,  XXX.i      A  DLACK^iitlTH  I2i  tllE  WRONG  PLAOE.       133 


bishop,  wears  the 
apron  of  his  call- 
ing. "  You  must 
go  to  the  other 
room,  sir,"  says  the 
graceful  girl  behind 
the  counter  firmly 
to  the  blacksmith ; 
and  the  great  robust 
worker,  blushing 
through  the  grime 
that  streaks  his  face, 
awkwardly  protests, 
perhaps,  but  with- 
draws. The  first- 
class  refreshment- 
room  is  sacred  to 
the  well-dressed  and 
those  free  from  toll- 
stain. 

The  author  once 
saw  a  rigid  applica- 
tion of  this  rule.  He 
was  standing  at  the 
counter  of  the  first- 
class  refreshment- 
room  in  a  large 
railway  •  station  in 
the  north  which  it 
is  not  necessary  to 


134  OUB   RAILWAYS,  [Chap.  xxx. 

name,  when  a  navvy  came  clumping  in.  He  was 
a  great,  muscular  fellow,  with  a  pleasant  face.  When 
he  put  his  feet  down  the  fancy  glasses  on  the 
shelves  jingled  again;  and  when  he  placed  his 
bundle  and  his  pick  and  shovel  on  the  floor,  the 
exquisites  who  had  been  whispering  soft  nothings 
to  the  young  lady,  looked  round  in  dismay,  thinking 
there  must  have  been  an  earthquake ;  still,  they  were 
afraid  to  smile  at  the  gigantic  figure.  The  man  had 
put  down  his  things  as  gently  as  he  could,  and 
after  tightening  the  cords  at  his  knees,  looked  up, 
and  said,  "  Ahll  tak'  a  glass  of  y'  ale,  miss/'  "I 
cannot  serve  you  here,"  she  said  coldly;  "you  must 
go  to  the  other  bar  I "  *'  Ay  ! — wha-at !  "  he  ex- 
claimed in  surprise.  "  Ain't  my  money  as  good  as 
other  folks's?"  "Oh!  yes,"  she  replied;  "but  I 
cannot  serve  you,  all  the  same — you  must  go  to  the 
other  bar.'' 

The  man  was  dumbfoundered.  "  Ay !  "  he  muttered, 
"  it's  a  rum  'un — by  gosh !  "  and  he  slowly  picked  up 
his  bundle,  and  left  the  room.  But  he  did  not  go  to  the 
other  bar.  His  feelings  had  received  such  a  shock  that 
he  wandered  about  the  platform,  muttering  to  himself, 
and  he  went  without  refreshment.  It  seemed  odd 
that  this  man,  who  was  sober,  inofiensive,  and  ready 
to  pay  for  what  he  needed,  could  not  be  served  at 
that  bar.  It  was,  indeed,  almost  grotesque  that  this 
navvy,  who  had  delved  and  shovelled  to  make  the  line, 
and  without  whose  tireless  physical  effort,  and  that  of 
his   kind,  there  never  would  have   been   a  station  or 


Ch*p.xxx,j  THE   STATION   BARMAID.  135 

refreshment-room  at  all,  should  be  kept  at  bay,  as 
altogether  unfit  to  herd  with  ordinary  men. 

The  position  of  the  barmaid  at  a  railway  station 
refreshment-room,  hard  as  it  is,  is  not  altogether  a 
hopeless  one.  Her  rest  is  broken,  and  in  many  cases 
her  houre  of  duty  are  long  and  jading.  But  .-he 
has  this  solace  in  a  career  often  of  hardsiiip  and 
endurance — that  she  generally  marries  well.  In  the 
group  of  men,  or  mther  mashers,  who  daily  buzz 
around  her,  there  is  probably  one  worth  having  for 
personal  regard  or  position,  and  she  marries  him, 
and  is  perhaps  "  happy  ever  afterwards,*'  for  there 
may  be  good  even  in  the  gaitered,  bangled,  high- 
collared  fop  of  to-day,  just  as  there  was  in  Robert- 
son's stage  exquisite. 

To-day,  the  marriage  of  the  actress  to  the  nobleman 
causes  very  little  surprise.  Nor  is  it  phenomenal 
for  the  railway  station  barmaid  to  marry  a  lawyer, 
or  an  architect,  or  a  banker,  or  even  that  exceedingly 
busy  and  practical  man  the  stationmaster  himself. 
The  condition  of  those  doomed  by  fate  to  remain 
behind  the  counter  is  also  improving.  The  Barmaids' 
Guild,  and  the  Home  of  Rest  for  Barmaids,  estab- 
lished by  Lady  Wolverton,  promise  to  have  a  most 
beneficial  infiuence  on  the  life  of  the  girl,  whether 
she  is  in  or  out  of  employment ;  and  legislation  is 
also  interesting  itself  in  her  career.  But,  after  all,  it 
is  to  the  railway  companies  and  the  refreshment 
contractors  that  she  must  look  for  immediate  relief 
in   the   shape   of  shorter  hours  and  better  pay.     In 


136  OUR    RAILWAYS,  [CUap.  xxx. 

fact,  at  many  railway  stations  the  reform,  so  far  as 
the  arrangement  of  duty  is  concerned,  has  begun. 
For  instance,  at  Liverpool  Street  Station,  on  the 
Great  Eastern  Railway,  an  entirely  new  system  of 
hours  has  been  introduced,  of  which  a  London  news- 
paper has  given  the  following  account: 

"Under  the  new  regime  one  division  of  young  women  is  on  duty 
with  half  an  hour's  respite  for  dinner,  from  seven  in  the  morning  till 
four  p.m.,  and  is  then  quite  free  for  the  rest  of  the  day ;  for  at  that 
hour  a  second  lot  takes  up  the  work  till  closing  time,  with  intervals 
for  tea  and  supper.  In  addition  three  or  four  special  barmaids  have 
to  be  up  at  ^yq  a.m.,  and  end  their  service  entirely  at  two  p.m.  In 
short,  the  time  of  labour  is  lessened  by  about  one  hour  daily.  Week 
by  week  the  two  large  divisions  exchange  hours,  and  are  enabled 
alternately  to  spend  the  mornings  or  the  evenings  during  the  seven 
days  with  their  friends.  Or  they  can  rest  in  the  comfortable  house 
at  Hackney  Downs,  where  they  are  lodged  and  boarded,  everything, 
even  a  piano  and  a  housekeeper,  being  provided  for  their  comfort  and 
recreation.  Their  average  salaries  amount  to  ten  shillings  a  week, 
and  they  have  no  expenses  except  laundry  bills.  Every  year  they 
have  a  week's  holiday,  and  can  always,  if  necessary,  obtain  two  or 
three  days'  extra  leave.  These  rules  only  apply  to  Liverpool  Street, 
the  young  ladies  *  down  the  line '  having  to  keep  hours  suited  to  the 
local  requirements,  and  being  housed  in  cottages,  or,  in  some  cases,  in 
the  stations  themselves/' 

The  halcyon  time  desired  by  Mr.  Harry  Furns^ 
— and  no  doubt  by  many  other  people — of  free  book- 
stalls and  free  restaurants  on  all  railways,  has  not 
yet  come ;  but  railway  literature  is  wonderfully  varied 
and  cheap,  and  the  refreshment-rooms,  though  the 
proprietors  still  insist  on  payment,  are  differently 
conducted  from  what  they  were  in  the  days  when 
Mrs.  Sniff  taught  the  young  ladies  behind   the  high 


% 


ciiap.xxx.1       RAILWAY  COMPANIES  A8  CATEBEB8.         137 

counter  how  to  "  smooth  their  cuffs,  and  look  another 
way  while  the  public  foamed  "  with  hunger  and  rage. 

It  is  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  the  railway 
companies  have  realised  the  importance  of  refreshment 
to  the  passenger,  and  discovered  that  they  can  make 
a  profit  out  of  him,  in  addition  to  his  fare ;  but  having 
made  the  discovery,  they  are  doing  their  utmost  to 
get  all  the  refreshment-rooms  into  their  hands,  and 
will,  no  doubt,  ultimately  achieve  their  object,  absorb- 
ing, perhaps,  the  pioneer  and  familiar  business  of  Spiers 
and  Pond.  It  is  also  not  improbable  that  they  may 
cater  for  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body  of  the  passenger, 
and  acquire  the  whole  of  the  railway  station  bookstalls. 
There  is  apparently  no  limit  to  the  business  enter- 
prise of  the  great  companies ;  indeed,  one  of  them,  not 
content  with  the  provision  of  sleeping  cars  and  dining 
cars,  and  the  acquirement  of  hotels  in  great  cities, 
intends  to  erect  a  number  of  "  light  hotels,  on  the  Swiss 
style,  for  the  accommodation  of  visitors  to  some  of  their 
tourist  haunts." 

The  question  of  refreshment  and  rest  is  thus  be- 
coming almost  as  important,  not  only  to  the  passenger, 
but  to  the  railway  shareholder,  as  the  joui-ney  itself. 
Mr.  Towle,  the  manager  of  the  Midland  Eailway 
Company's  hotels  and  refreshment-rooms,  holds  that 
"  if  it  be  the  duty  of  a  railway  company  to  carry  a 
passenger  safely  to  his  destination,  it  may  be  properly 
and  equally  its  duty  to  make  reasonable  provision  for 
his  personal  comforts ; ''  and  directors  do  not  now 
dissent   from   this   opinion,  especially  as   they  see   in 


138  OUR   RAILWAYS,  (Chap,  xxx, 

the  supplementary  business  a  means  of  increasing 
dividend.  The  passenger  has  the  notion  that  every 
railway  refreshment -room  is  the  sole  property  of 
Messrs.  Spiers  and  Pond;  yet  the  Great  Western 
own  four  large  hotels,  and  intend  to'  take  over  the 
whole  of  their  refreshment-rooms.  The  London  and 
North -Western  work  ten  hotels  and  twenty-seven 
refreshment-rooms;  the  Midland  have  six  hotels  and 
forty  refreshment-rooms;  the  Great  Eastern  three 
hotels  and  twenty-five  refreshment-rooms  ;  the  Great 
Northern  four  hotels  and  fifteen  refreshment-rooms; 
and  the  North-Eastern  six  hotels  and  twenty-eight 
refreshment-rooms,  only  three  of  the  latter,  however, 
being  worked  by  the  company.  Many  of  the  hotels 
are  not  merely  rich,  but  comfortable  in  appointment ; 
and,  as  the  coimtry  reporter  once  remarked  to  the 
head  waiter  at  the  county  banquet,  "the  cuisine 
leaves  nothing  to  be  desired."  But  many  of  the 
refreshment-rooms  might  be  improved  both  in  arrange- 
ment and  in  their  food  supply.  On  the  question  of 
the  tariff,  Mr.  Towle  says : 

**  This  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  include  food  and  drink  for 
every  class  of  travellers,  and  special  stress  is  laid  on  the  necessity  for 
the  provision  of  luncheon  baskets,  trays  of  tea,  milk,  and  fruit  being 
served  at  the  trains,  especially  to  women  and  children,  and  the  free 
provision  in  every  buffet  of  a  glass  of  cold  filtered  water  willingly 
served  to  any  passenger  applying  for  it.  Wherever  the  journey 
occupies  several  hours,  and  the  traffic  is  sufficient  to  require  express 
trains,  restaurant  cars  should  be  attached,  and  made  available  at  a 
uniform  charge  for  meals  for  all  passengers  whilst  travelling  by  the 
particular  train,  and  the  tariff  should  be  moderate,  say,  four  shillings 
the  first  series  of  dinners,  and  two  shillings  and  sixpence  for  the 


A    OHUROH    ON    WBEEL8. 


139 


second  serieB,  thus  enabling  persona  of  moderate  means  to  satisfy 
their  wants.    Befi-eshments  ordinarily  obtained  in  buffets  should  also 
be  provided  for  passengers  who  do  not  wish  to  sit  down  to  a  meal." 
In  some  refreshment-rooms  Mr,  Towle's  suggestions 


have  already  been  adopted ;  the  travelling  buffet  has 
also  become  an  institution.  The  Bishop  of  Dakota 
goes  through  his  diocese,  wherever  there  is  a  railway 
track  and  no  place  of  worship,  in  a  travelling  church 
— a  long  carri^e  with  two  divisions,  the  small  one 
being  fitted  up  as  a  house  for  his  use,  while 
the  large  compartment  is  set  out  as  a  church,  with 
aitar,  pulpit,   font,  and  organ,  and  so  spacious  that 


140  Om   HAILWAYS.  icup.  xxx. 

it  will  seat  seventy  people.  In  this  country  there 
is  comparatively  little  need  of  a  travelling  church, 
but  the  train  is  becoming  a  travelling  restaurant  and 
hotel. 

The  Great  Northern,  the  Midland,  and  the  London 
and  North -Western  are,  as  has  already  been  pointed 
out,*  running  third-class  as  well  as  first-class  dining 
cars,  admirably  appointed,  and  all  keeping  good  tables ; 
and  one  seems  almost  within  measurable  distance  of 
the  time  when  every  long- journey  English  train,  like 
the  German  Emperor's  new  train  de  luxcy  will  contain 
dining,  sleeping,  and  bath  car,  though  at  a  penny  a 
mile  even  our  richest  railway  companies  may  find  it 
impossible  to  provide  the  passengers  with  a  library 
hung  with  Gobelin  tapestry. 

•  VoL  1.,  p.  S8i>  ff 


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1   PAGE   (nEDUCED)   yjlOM    E 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


QUAINT    AND    MODKRN    TIME-TAlll.KS. 

A.  Tailed  Timo-TabU— Thu  Train  Service  Halt-K-Centnry  Ako— ConditioM 
o(  Travi'l — fiooil  Advice — Smoking  Forbidden^No  Tips  for  the 
Portx'C— Riding  Outside  the  Carriage —PaBacrRera  CoDTDywl  in  Rota- 
tion— Line- Making  CurioeiCies — Glowing  Description  of  Rallwav 
Works—"  Brad^baw  "—The  Official  Time-Tablea— Ho\¥  thcj  are 
Frodnoed— An  Old  Time-Table  from  Stockton  and  Darlingtoa— Old 
MMwuy  Stations, 

A  FADED,  well-thumbed  time-table  was  lent  to  the 
author  last  year  by  a  bookworm,  who  treasures 
everythinfj  in  the  way  of  transient  literature,  from 
playbills  to  waybills.  This  tiny  book,  that  you 
could  almost  slip  into  your  vest  pocket,  is  a 
"Bradshaw's    Railway    Time-Table.    and    Assistant  to 


142  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxxi. 

Railway   Travelling."     It  is  dated  October  25,  1839, 
and   opens   with   an  "  address  "  to  the  effect  that  the 


BRADSHAW'S 

CONTINENTAL  RAILWAY, 

STEAM  NAVIGATION,  &  CONVEYANCE 


AND    TRAVELLEK\S    MANUAL 

WHOLE    CONTINENT    OF    EUROPE: 

CONTAISISO    EVmV    INKORMATlUX    CONNliCTKII     WITH    U.VILWAtS.     ^TLAXl 

X\V|V;ATI0N.  and  COSVtYANtH'*; 

AND  PRACTICAL  INSTKUCTrONS  FOR  TRAVKLLEUS. 


PUCE  oiE  vmmf 

ACCOMrANlEli    WITH    A    IVL-1.C    fiXLCUTKll    MAP    UP    Till.    KAILWW) 


PARIS. 

rt'llLISHED  BY  UALLIGN'AMI  4  Co.,  18.  BUE  VIVIKNS'K:    W    C    bLKNAK(»r. 
13,  CITK  VISDE.  BOCLT  DL  LA  MADKLKlNil: 

BRUSSELS  :—W.  UiODtROK.  K.  MoKTAGMK  Ok  la  Cooa. 

LONDON  :—PuBLi«HKO  at  BaAMRAWs  TSimoiAL  RAitwAT  PcBUCATiojt  Orricjc. 

bO,  PLUT-CTkUXi— W.  J.  ADAJU,  AOtNT. 

MANCHtlSTKR  :-Uiaimiiai%  AMD  Blacuxkx.  S7,  laowM-iTSKn. 


■aADSBAW  AMD  aiLkcKtocji,  i>a>ifrus. 


FAC-SIMILE    (reduced)    OP    TITLE-PAOE    OP    THE    FIRST    "CONTINENTAL" 

BBADSHAW,  1847 

book  "is  published  by  the  assistance  of  several 
railway  companies,  on  which  account  the  information 
it  contains   may  be   depended  upon   as   being   correct 


Ourxxxi]  BAILWAT   TRAVELLISG   IX  1839.  143 

and  authentic.  The  necessity  of  such  a  work,"  it 
adds,  ''is  so  obvious  as  to  need  no  apology ;  and 
the  merits  of  it  can  be  best  ascertained  by  a  refer- 
ence to  the  execution,  both  as  regards  the  style  and 
correctness  of  the  maps  and  plans  with  which  it  is 
illustrated." 

The  table  gives  the  number  of  trains  daily  between 
London  and  Birmingham ;  between  London  and  Twy- 
ford  on  the  Great  Western ;  between  Birmingham, 
Liverpool,  and  Manchester ;  Manchester  and  Liverpool ; 
and  Newcastle  and  Carlisle.  Its  maps  of  the  country 
the  railways  traverse,  and  its  plans  of  Birmingham, 
Manchester,  and  Leeds  are  admirable.  It  contains 
tables  of  hackney  coach  fares,  and  of  coach  routes 
to  Liverpool  and  Manchester  from  Carlisle,  and  also 
a  table  by  which  the  passenger  may  calculate  the 
rate  of  speed  per  hour.  Between  London  and  Bir^ 
mingham  there  were  ten  trains  per  day,  six  mixed, 
two  first-class,  and  two  mail  trains,  the  last  mail 
train  quitting  town  at  half-past  eight  o'clock  at 
night,  being  the  mixed  mail.  The  fares  were 
32s.  Cd.  each  person,  in  a  *'  four  inside  car,  by  day, 
or  first-class,  six  inside,  by  night;"  30s.,  in  a  "first- 
class  carriage,  six  inside,  b}'  day;  "  258.,  in  a  "second- 
class  carriage  closed,  by  night ;  "  and  208.,  in  a  "  second- 
class  carriage,  open  by  day.'* 

In  these  days  some  of  the  companies  are  providing 
sleeping  accommodation  on  long  journeys  for  third- 
class  passengers ;  fifty  years  ago  the  first-class  mail 
carriage  bad  one  compartment  that  could  be  converted 


144  OUR   RAILWAYS.  ia.ap.  xxxi. 

into  a  bed-carriage  if  required.  Now  that  so  manj? 
corapanies  have  abolished  the  second-class  carriage, 
and  given  the  passenger  quite  as  comfortable  a  com- 
partment for  a  third-class  fare,  it  is  interesting  to 
read  in  this  old  time-table  that  the  second-class  car- 
riages in  the  mixed  trains  were  "  open  at  the  side,  and 
without  linings,  cushions,  or  divisions  in  the  com- 
partments/' "  Infants  in  arms,  unable  to  walk,** 
were  permitted  to  travel  free  of  charge;  carriages 
and  horses,  unless  they  reached  the  station  five 
minutes  before  the  train's  arrival,  were  not  forwarded ; 
and  passengers  were  subjected  to  the  same  rigid  rule, 
for  the  station  doors  were  closed,  and  no  matter 
how  late  the  train,  or  how  many  tardy  travellers 
raged  outside,  nobody  was  admitted.  The  railway 
companies  were  inexorable.  Nevertheless  there  was 
some  thought  for  those  who  went  by  train,  inasmuch 
as  one  of  the  notices  says :  "  A  passenger  may  claim 
tlie  seat  corresponding  to  the  number  of  his  ticket ; " 
and  another :  "To  guard  against  accident  and  delay, 
it  is  especially  requested  that  passengers  will  not 
leave  their  seats  at  any  of  the  stations  except 
Wolverton — half  way — where  ten  minutes  are  allowed 
for  refreshment."  It  was  the  custom  to  place  the 
luggage  on  the  roofs  of  the  coaches,  to  advise  passen- 
gers (at  all  events,  on  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
Kailway)  "  to  get  in  and  out  of  the  railway  carriages 
on  the  left  hand  side  as  they  face  the  engine,"  and 
"for  better  security,"  they  were  requested  "to  take 
carpet  bags  and  small  packages  inside  the  carriages.'^ 


MAP  OF  THE    RAILWAYS   OF  GREAT   DRITAIN   IN    1811. 


146  OUR   RAILWAYS,  ich*p.xxxi. 

Smoking  was  not  allowed  either  in  the  carriages  or  at 
the  stations  ;  and  every  railway  servant  who  accepted 
a  tip  was  in  fear  of  instant  dismissal. 

On  the  latter  point  the  "Grand  Junction  Eailway 
Guide  Book  "  half-a-century  ago  was  very  emphatic : 

**  The  regulations  of  the  company  do  not  admit  of  gratuities  to 
any  of  its  servants.  The  consequence  is  that,  instead  of  that  un- 
pleasant and  selfish  obsequiousness  and  that  disj>osition  to  insult 
which  persons  of  that  class  usually  practise,  the  greatest  civility  is 
experienced,  questions  are  replied  to  in  a  respectful  manner,  and 
when  you  have  received  the  attention  you  require,  without  any 
request  on  the  part  of  the  porter  to  bo  *  remembered,'  either  by  a 
touch  of  the  hat  or  an  insolent  scowl,  he  walks  quickly  to  attend  to 
the  next  person  who  happens  to  arrive." 

The  railway  porter  has  recovered  from  his  early 
trepidation  about  the  tip.  The  by-law  still  threatens 
him  at  nearly  every  station  with  the  worst  of  all 
pains  and  penalties;  but  he  quietly  treats  the  by-law 
with  contempt  and  takes  the  tip.  Like  the  keeper 
on  the  moors,  the  valet  in  the  country  house,  and  the 
waiter  in  hotel  or  restaurant,  he  looks  upon  the  ti[) 
as  his  perquisite.  He  expects  it,  and  he  invariably 
gets  it,  and  probably  few  passengers  begrudge  hira 
the  pence. 

The  same  book  gives  novel  advice  to  the  passenger 
who  is  a  good  climber  and  does  not  wish  to  miss 
anything  on  the  journey : 

•*  If  you  wish  to  see  and  hear  all  about  the  matter,  take  your 
place  outside.  You  will  want  an  extra  great  coat,  and  a  pair  of 
gauze  spectacles  to  keep  the  dust  and  smoke  out  of  your  eyes  ;  but 
in  all  other  respects,  you  will  enjoy  it  ten  times  more  than  your 
fellow-travellers.     I  shall  suppose  ^ou  are  mounted  on  the  box-seat, 


k 


wiap.xxxLi  ON    THE   "BOX   8EATr  147 

You  look  round  and  see  several  engines  with  red-hot  fires  in  their 
bodies,  and  volumes  of  steam  issuing  from  their  tall  chimneya  One 
of  them  moves  slowly  towards  you.  The  huge  creature  bellows  at 
first,  like  an  elophant  Deep,  slow,  and  terrific  are  the  hoarse 
heavings  that  it  makes.  .  .  .  There  it  is,  roaring,  groaning, 
and  grunting,  like  a  sea-horse,  and  spouting  up  steam  like  a  whale. 
You  feel  a  deep,  strong,  tremulous  motion  throughout  the  train, 
and  a  loud  jingling  rattle  is  heard,  analogous  to  what  is  experienced 
in  a  cotton  mill.  .  .  .  The  passengers  pi'etty  generally  avail 
themselves  of  the  excellent  accommodation  in  the  first- class  carriages 
for  repose ;  and  as  they  feel  perfectly  secure,  many  of  them  sleep 
soundly  the  whole  distance.  When  the  train  stops,  a  long  and  loud 
creak  is  felt  and  heard  throughout  the  wliole  line  of  carriages, 
and  a  few  little  ones  afterwards — this  is  all  the  inconvenience  which 
is  found  on  stopping." 

In  **  The  Midland  Counties'  Eaihvay  Companion/' 
published  in  1840,  which  has  already  been  referred 
to,*  it  is  set  forth  that  "passengers  at  the  road 
stations  will  only  be  booked  conditionally — that  is  to 
say,  in  case  there  shall  be  room  in  the  train  for 
which  they  are  booked ;  in  case  there  shall  not  be 
room,  passengers  booked  for  the  longest  distance  will 
be  allowed  the  preference;  and  passengers  booked  for 
the  same  distance  will  have  priority  according  to  the 
order  in  which  they  are  booked/*  Nearly  everything 
in  this  book,  written  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  is 
described  in  glowing  periods.  The  old  station  at  Derby 
"  is  a  handsome  brick  structure  of  very  great  extent,'* 
with  "  handsome  '*  refreshment-rooms  ;  and  we  are 
ingenuously  told  that  in  the  carriage-houses  and 
workshops  it  "  is  intended  to  repair  everything  on  the 
spot/'      In   the  making   of   the   line    at    Borrowash^ 

•  Sh  VoL  L,  p.  128. 

k2 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


just  outside  the   town,  the   navvies  unearthed   eighty 
skeletons.     Nine  of  them  were  of  gigantic  stature;  and 


LIST  OF  TBI  FBINCITAL  RAILWAYS  ifl  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


K  A  R  L  &    L  A  N  (i  S  'r  I)  N  , 


mv^^ 


if 


i:':; 


=  lp;!jL. 


mn^ 


7.  I'C y.  'iTz!^, 


PAr-siuiLE  (beduced)  of  pa.oe  from  bbadsuaw's  -'kailwat  guide"  < 

■j  lUa,  BHOWIHG  LIBT  OF  THE  FBISCIPAL  RAILWATS  THEN 
COMPLETED. 


in  one  of  the  skulls  was  the  head  of  an  arrow.  "  A 
singular  box,  lined  with  gold,  which  contained  some 
amulets  and  jewels,  was  also   discovered."     But  even 


A    YESKRABLB    TOAD. 


these  relics,  enpposed  to  be  the  fomis  and  property  of 
ancient  Britons,  can  hardly  be  looked  upon  as  objects  of 
antiquity  in  comparison  with  the  toad  that  was  dug  out 
of  a  railway  cutting  at  Greenock,  in  September,  1888. 


SHEWIKO  XaE  JIATE  OF  TKiVELLIKG  VV.r.  HODH. 

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THOHPSON'tl  R&ILWAI  TABLE. 


The  reptile  was  found  alive,  but  limp  and  lazy,  in  a 
clay  bed  through  which  the  navvies  were  working ;  and 
an  expert  gave  its  age  as  thirty  thousand  years  !  "  The 
Midland  Counties'  Railway  Companion "  also  says  the 
old  station-house  at  Leicester  was  "  a  magnificent 
building;"   that  the    Birmingham  terminus  was  "a 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


magnificent  building  "  fronting  the  town ;  and  that  the 
train  stopped  beneath  an  "elegant  metallic  shedding." 

About  Wolverton,  the   centre  of  the  London  and 
Birmingham   Railway,  the   writer  groivs  enthusiastic. 


THE  W0EK3  AT  WOLVEETOS— THE 


"The  extent  of  the  works  for  the  railway,"  he  saj-s, 
"excites  the  admiration  of  every  beholder.  It  is  a 
little  artificers'  world  in  itself:  engine  manufactories, 
machinery,  a  grand  dep6t,  dwellings  for  the  workmen, 
the  whole  establishment  laid  out  on  an  excellent  plan, 
the  sight  of  which,  as  the  model  of  a  pei'fect  work-town, 
would  have  delighted  Peter  the  Great.  The  locomotive- 
engine  station  is  a  noble  work.  No  trade  but  has  here 
its  appropriate  and  perfect  exercise.  A  large  wharf  and 
storehouses  render  this  grand  establishment,  with  its 


RAILWAY   hlTEUATU&E. 


fine  architectural  stnictuues,  combining  elegance  and 
beauty  with  utility,  and  every  accommodation  and 
luxury  a  traveller  can    desire,   more   like  the   fabled 


[tithebabn  stkest)  IX  issa 


mansions  of  German  gold-hunters  and  dwarfs  than  the 
work  of  a  single  English  company." 

The  increase  in  railway  literature  is  almost  as 
amazing  as  the  growth  of  the  railway  itself.  Trains 
have  become  so  numerous,  and  are  run  so  often,  that 
it  would  be  idle  for  even  the  most  famous  mathe- 
matician to  attempt  to  "  carry  them  all  in  his  head." 
In  fact,  he  is  relieved  from  this  responsibility,  for 
"officially  every  month"  is  issued,  under  the  Queen's 


152  OUR   RAILWAYS.  (Cinp.xxxi. 

patronage,  "Bradshaw's  General  Kailway  and  Steam 
Navigation  Guide  for  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  and 
in  its  seven  liundred  pages,  more  than  an  incii  thick, 
it  yields  remarkable  reading,  and  tells  you  much  about 
the  nation's  work.  The  study  of  "  Bradshaw  "  is  sup- 
posed to  indicate  one  of  two  mental  conditions — that  a 
man  has  a  brain  like  Babbage  or  some  modern  "chess 
fiend,"  or  that  he  is  a  hopeless  lunatic,  and  should 
forthwith  be  removed  to  an  asylum.  There  is  to  the 
average  eyesight  and  mind,  shrinking  from  small  type 
and  detesting  bother,  something  bewildering  about 
"  Bradshaw."  You  wonder  where  the  proprietor  got 
the  precise  men  who  set  it  up,  and  how  on  earth  it  is 
done;  for  after  a  glance  at  the  key,  with  its  instructions 
as  to  what  new  stations  have  been  opened,  what  places 
on  the  railway  track  have,  like  brides,  just  changed 
their  names,  how  to  tell  ''  shunts,"  and  when  the  train 
is  going  to  stop  by  signal  to  take  up,  you  gradually 
become  disheartened  as  you  wade  through  the  index 
with  its  interminable  list  of  railway  stations,  orna- 
mented with  asterisks,  daggers,  double  daggers,  and 
other  mysterious  typographical  signs,  showing  that  at 
this  station  there  is  a  refreshment- room,  at  that  a 
telegraph  office,  and  at  the  other  no  telegraph  office 
whatever,  though  there  is  one  in  the  town  or  village 
half-a-mile  away. 

W  hen  you  get  into  the  maze  of  this  huge  monthly 
magazine  that  scorns  fiction  and  is  congested  with 
facts,  amid  the  intricate  tables  of  place-names,  dots, 
figures,  warning   hands,  dark   lines,  notes,  references, 


154  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxxi. 

indications  of  trains  "up''  and  "down/*  trains  that  run 
on  "  week  days,"  trains  that  run  on  "  Wednesdays 
only,"  and  trains  that  run  on  "Saturdays  only,''  and 
when,  after  striving  in  vain  for  half  an  hour  to 
ascertain  really  what  time  you  will  arrive  at  your 
destination,  you  alight,  with  your  head  in  a  fog  and 
your  eyes  aching,  on  the  encouraging  words  in  italic 
"see  above,"  or  "vice  versa,"  you  feel  inclined  to  fling 
*'  Bradshaw  "  out  of  the  window.  Yet,  if  the  book  is 
properly  approached,  and  studied  with  method,  it  is 
full  of  interest;  indeed,  for  some  men  who  like  nicety 
of  work,  calculation  and  research,  and  understand  "  the 
philosophy  of  figures,'  it  has  a  fascination  that  no 
other  book  possesses,  and  there  is  a  tradition  to  the 
effect  that  a  statesman,  much  given  to  calculation  and 
finance,  peruses  it  daily  in  the  solitude  of  the  recess. 

The  controversy  as  to  the  originator  of  "  Bradshaw's 
Guide,"  like  the  controversy  with  regard  to  the  writer 
of  the  "  Letters  of  Junius,"  will  never  die.  There  are 
people  who  still  believe  that  John  Gadsby,  the 
Manchester  printer,  issued  the  first  railway  guide ; 
but  those  who  are  confident  that  George  Bradshaw 
did  invent  the  now  noted  time-table  may  be  interested 
in  this  gossip  from  a  Lancashire  journal  about  him: 

**  George  Bradshaw  was  the  originator  and  publisher  of  *  Brad- 
shaw's  Railway  Guide,'  the  first  edition  of  which  appeared  on 
October  19th,  1839.  This  contained  twenty-four  pages  only,  and  a 
number  of  maps.  In  1844  it  had  increased  to  fifty-nine  pages,  puny 
indeed  when  compared  with  the  thick  guide  of  to-day,  and  which, 
like  the  *  Post  Office  Guide,'  is  every  year  becoming  more  unwieldy. 
In  course  of  a  holiday  ramble  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  in  1874,  T 


ciM{kXXZL)  GEORGE  BBADSSAW.  155 

one  day  went  into  an  old  village  churchyard  At  OptJo,  and  there  saw 
George  Bimlshaw's  grave.  It  had  a  headstone  and  low  border  of  red 
granite,  with  the  inscription  as  follows  :  '  George  Bradgliaw,  of  Man- 
chester, England,  who  died  Cth  September,  1853,  aged  53  years.'" 

Another  business  man,  it  should  be  reraerabered, 
was  associated  with  the  impiovement  o£  "  Bradshaw." 
On  the  cover  of  the  guide  for  1843  appears  tlie 
name  and  address,  "W.  J.  Adams,  170,  Fleet  Street, 
London."  Mr.  Adams  was  the  agent  and  publisher 
oE  the  little  work  in  town.  He  made  many  valuable 
and  persistent  suggestions  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
guide,  ultimately  got  his  own  way,  and  thirty  years 
ago  the .  time-table  consisted  of  200  pages,  and  gave 
the  departures  and  arrivals  on  throe  hundred  lines. 

Innumerable  time-tables  are  printed  in  addition  to 
"Bradshaw."  The  railway 
companies  produce  official 
time-tables  giving  informa- 
tion with  regard  to  the 
running  of  their  own  pas- 
senger trains  and  connec- 
tions. They  also  get  out, 
for  the  use  of  their  ser- 
vants, elaborate  "  working 
time-tables,"  giving  the 
running  of  every  train,  and 
particulars  as  to  the  shunt- 
ing and  marshalling.  In 
nearly  every  large  town  there  are  time-tables,  too, 
the  product  of  private  commercial  enterprise,  time-tables 


15«  OUtt    RAILWAYS.  (Ctaj..  xxxi. 

with  diaries  attached,  or  time-tables  half  buried  in 
advertisements.  Some  of  these  time-tables  are  con- 
spicuous for  their  accui-acy  aud  handy  make-up ;  and 
one   of  the   most   notable    is    "  Cassell's    Time-Tables 


and  Through-Route  Guide,"  which  includes  every 
railway  station  within  one  hundred  mile»  oE  town 
and  mauy  of  the  principal  places  beyond,  gives  you 
an  admirable  railway  map,  and  a  useful  index  con- 
taining not  only  the  stations,  but  the  single  and  return 
fares  to  them. 

The  ofiBcial  time-tables  of  the  various  companies 
are,  however,  the  most  surprising  productions.  They 
are  sold  at  the  price  of  one  penny  ;  but  they  cost  nearly 
sixpence  per  copy.  These  time-tables  are  not  merely 
instructive  as  to  the  running  of  trains,  but  give  a  host 


THE    OOUPANIES'    TmE-TABT.E8. 


of  hints  to  passen- 
gers as  to  how  they 
can  travel,  lunch, 
(line,  sleep,  utilise 
country  coaches  or 
town  omnibuses, 
catch  the  boat  for 
the  Continent,  or 
the  liner  for  New- 
York.  They  are  in 
some  sense  edu- 
cators, for  their 
maps  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  and  their 
plans  of  the  great 
cities,  extend  one's 
geographical  and 
topographical  know- 
ledge. They  tell 
also,  in  tlieir  blunt, 
practical  way,  the 
story  of  the  restless 
railway  development 
of  the  age,  one  bear- 
ing on  its  title-page 
the  announcement 
that  you  can  run 
from  London  to 
Aberdeen  in  eleven 
and   a   half  hours, 


158  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Ch»p.xxxi. 

and  that  there  are  sleeping  saloons  on  the  night 
trains ;  another  that  the  new  through  express  service 
has  started  to  and  from  the  West  of  England  by 
way  of  the  Severn  Tunnel;  another  that  the  direct 
route  is  open  to  the  north  along  the  Forth  Bridge; 
and  another  taking  you  mentally  away  from  the  roar 
of  the  city  and  the  striving  of  business  to  the  quiet 
CQuntry-side,  and  tempting  you  by  its  list  of  farm- 
house apartments. 

The  plan  adopted  for  the  production  of  the  official 
time-table  is  practically  the  same  on  every  railway. 
At  the  conference  of  the  officers  of  the  system,  held 
the  third  week  in  every  month,  questions  relating  to  the 
working  of  the  line  and  the  conduct  of  traffic  are  dis- 
cussed, and  it  is  at  this  conference  that  the  alterations 
in  the  train  service  are  decided  upon.  The  time-table 
must  be  carefully  and  rapidly  revised.  However  drastic 
the  change  in  the  running  of  a  train  from  London  to 
Holyhead,  or  from  the  metropolis  to  Glasgow,  and 
however  great  the  upset  of  the  time  of  trains  running 
on  branch  lines  in  consequence,  the  alterations  must  be 
made  in  a  few  days,  and  the  time-table  be  in  the  hands 
of  passengers  by  the  first  of  the  month.  The  work,  pre- 
suming it  is  a  London  and  North -Western  Company's 
time-table,  is  done  in  this  way:  "The  printing  con- 
tractors have  their  offices  at  Newton-le-Willows.  To  that 
town,  within  a  few  days  of  the  train  alterations  having 
been  decided  upon,  there  repairs  a  clerk  for  each  of  the 
ten  districts,  who  is  called  the  '  time-table  clerk,'  and 
with  these  ten  clerks  comes  an  official  from  the  office  of 


i 


•  »    ■ 
•      .  r  •  • 


Chap.xxxLj  PBODUOTION  OF  TIME-TABLES,  169 

the  superintendent  of  the  line  to  supervise  their  labours 
and  assist  them  with  his  experience.  Taking  the 
minutes  of  the  officers'  conference  as  their  guide,  these 
clerks  proceed  to  revise  the  time-table,  each  working 
out  the  times  of  his  own  section  of  the  line,  but  all 
comparing  notes  to  ensure  a  harmonious  result.  As 
they  progress  the  results  of  their  labours  are  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  printers,  who  are  on  the  spot,  and  the 
proof  sheets  are  afterwards  revised  and  corrected  by  the 
clerks  who  have  prepared  them.*'  Now  and  then  tlie 
work  is  done  under  great  pressure,  requiring  zeal  and 
toil  by  night  as  well  as  by  day ;  and  the  production  of 
the  time-table  in  the  final  rush  of  copy,  and  the  last 
quick  correction,  rather  reminds  one  of  the  bustle  and 
rapid  movement  in  a  daily  newspaper  office  when  the 
first  edition  is  going  to  press.  Fifty-seven  years  ago 
the  production  of  the  time-table  did  not  require  so 
much  forethought  and  typographical  skill,  judging 
from  the  one  given  on  the  following  page,  and 
formerly  in  use  on  the  Stockton  and  Darlington 
Railway. 

There  are  no  fewer  than  sixteen  weekly  and  monthly 
newspapers  and  periodicals  devoted  to  railway  news  and 
literature,  in  addition  to  the  multitude  of  time-tables ; 
and  the  official  guides  issued  or  sanctioned  by  the  great 
railway  companies — books  filled  with  useful  informa- 
tion, brightened  by  many  illustrations,  and  rendered 
additionally  instructive  by  maps  of  the  country  and 
plans  of  great  cities  —  make  a*  valuable  library  in 
themselves, 


100  OUR  RAILWAYS.  {CiuikXxxi. 


SvMinBB  OF  1 S36. 
COACHES. 


Sepirate  Enfinet  htrtnc  l«rii  apnointnl  fnr  the  Cnnfeyance  of  PMyngrrt and  M«firtitn4lM,  «Dd 
«  Coakch  attaclird  t»  fbc  latter  Train,  ihc  Oppor>unitirt  of  fjommunici* too  between  the  Tovna  off 
Darlingtoa  and  blocktoo  are  doubled,  and  between  l>arlingt«n  aud  Sbildoa  tbey  arc  uom  fear.tkiMa 
•  day. 

DAB&inOTON  «c  ST.  BSLSH'S  AUCXftAHD  TBAIV. 

Fnret :  Intide,  It.  6d.*-0utside.  It.  3d  each  wa/, 

STATIONt.  TIMRtOr  STAftTlirO 

From  l>arliii|rtun.al  .       Iair|«at  8  o'clock 

Do                .  .     lairpait    I      '* 

Do.  .    balf|M»i   ft      ** 

!»«»         to<liild«n  .                       8 


•TATIOirt.  TIMBS  Or  8TARTIIIO 

Shiltlon.  at  .  6  o'clock. 

St.  dclco'a  Auckland  qoarler bet   7      *• 
Uo.         .    -  .  II      - 

Do.  •  qiiarlrr  lirf  .  4 


From  the  LANDS  at  a  quarter  |iaal  8  in  the  Morning,  and  from  DARLINUTllN  to  the  LaNDS  at 

H.  D.  The  TVain  will  leave  Shildoiiliairau  iinurarirr  leaving  M    llclen'a  Auckland     A  CAR  from 
nnbop  Auckliod  to  9U  Helen's  or  New  Shildon.  meeuracli  off  tlieac  Tnina  in  goinf  aftd  rcturuing . 

Fares  (o  Sliitdoo  :  ln>idc,  U  — Ouiiid0»  9d 


DABLINQTON  AMD  STOCXTOH  TBAtH. 

First.clttM  Faiet:  Inside,  St— OuUide,  is    6d  ,  each  way. 
Secoiid-class,  or  Merchamliie  Fare*:  lusiJo,  it.  6«l.«>0iilside,  U  ,  each  leay 


4k  P^oraDarUogloo,(Merchd)athair|iaM  6u'clock 

Da.  •    lialf|ian  8     ** 

I  Dob  (Merchandise)  II     ** 

Do.  :    halfpast  I    ** 

Da  (Merchaadiie)  3    •• 

Do  .  .    half  past  ft    ••' 


From  Stockton,  al  qiiarler  past  7  o'clock 
l»o  (Ncrotaandise)  0  ** 
Do  quarter  bcC  IS  ** 
Do  (Mcrcliandise)  .  I  ** 
Do  qoarterpasC  4  ** 
half  "      * 


Do    (Merchandize)  half  past       0 

One 
Fint.claM  Coach  Trmiu. 


«lB  MON DAYS  iitd  W£DNESDA Y$._a  Second  cl«t.  or^Ont  SbiUiag  Carriise,  «iU  accompany  iha 


STOOXTOV  AXD  BBIDDLSi^BO'  TBAIX. 


JPlTftB  MiddlcSbra*  a  «  halfiast   8  o'clock 

Ho  '   •  •  halfpasi  8 

Ooi  •  •                     II 

Do.  •  •  faairpastia 

Do  •  •                          9 

Do  •  liairpaa  'J 

Do.  •  •                        G 

r        Do.  •          -  •                         7 


Fartt:  Intid^,  0d.— Outside,  dd.,  aacb  way. 

F«oo  Stockton,  at  •  halfpaaC  yo'«lac>i 

Do.  .  .  bairpani  D  *• 

Do:  •  •  half  past  II  •* 

Do.  •  •  halfpast   C  *» 

DO  •  •  halfpast  S  * 

im  •  •  hair:iarf   4  ** 

Da  •  Kalfpnit   6  ** 

Do.  ,        •  •  lulfpast   1  •■ 

All  tha  Osrllngfoaaa4  Middicsbro*  Tralnsare  in  immediate  c«Minc«ioa  with  etch  ottter.  esc^tiQjp 

IlifKc  lOirked  tliun  #  i 

.  Tilt  MUrcrahDIZI Train  will  lie Mll'twrdthtni  Otir  4imJ  a  Half  lo  Two  Hours  between  DSr- 
liactoa'and  Stnektm^  whilsi  vnri«ms  4|i|ilH«ii4cri  liavduc  ncrn  nude  by  tinitlcmrn  i>i  Hie  Neixtiboui^ 
l«ood.lohavctheC*«M(iiTra>i»»eieiMNtit>-4a*Ml  imiinivert.  Air4u«*-int*ni«  fuve  tired  made  to  mo  tho 
Darlinttnn af*d  M'icktitM  riipM FORTY  FIVK  MINUTES. a  New  Kn^incaifl  OiiitHle  Coich  are 
providM.  and  tlie  Hirc9i»««f|iar4MfNf  il«««(*la«S4f«coNSniu<ntlvalMulo«Ui*»iaaul  other  K«tlwa«« 

FAC-SIMILE    (reduced)     OF  ADVERTISEMENT    OF    STOCKTON*  AM) 

DARLINGTON  TRAINS  IN   1836. 

While  gossiping  about  old  time-tables  it  is  ai)pro- 
priate  to  mention  some  of  the  old  stations  at  which 


Cft«p.xxxi.i  OLD   STATIONS.  161 

they  were  perused  in  a  hurry.  A  Liverpool  station 
in  1850 — though  **  Drake's  Eoad  Book  of  the  Grand 
Junction  Railway"  states  that  at  that  time  the  city 
by  the  Mersey  had  busy  quays  and  crowded  docks — 
does  not  give  such  a  bracing  picture  of  life,  bustle, 
and  business  energy  as  Lime  Street  Station  in  189G. 
Passengers  were  in  1845,  iiccording  to  the  illustration, 
going  with  quick  step  to  catch  the  train  at  Peter- 
borough; but  there  is  evidence  in  the  scene  outside 
the  station  that  tlie  coaching  days  still  lingered,  and 
that  the  family  carriage  had  not  l^een  discarded  by 
the  squire.  Peterborough  has  since  become  one  of 
the  most  important  railway  avenues  in  England  ;  and 
John  de  Sais,  the  Norman  abbot,  if  he  had  been 
engaged  in  building  the  cathedral  now,  would  have 
marvelled  at  the  daily  throng  of  people,  and  the  train- 
loads  of  coal  that  are  ever  crossing  '*  the  frontier " 
at  this  place  of  exchange  and  transit.  There  has, 
too,  been  railway  improvement  at  the  beautiful  city 
of  Norwich  and  in  the  boot-making  centre  North- 
ampton; but  no  express  has  yet  gone  through  the 
latter  town  at  the  pace  attained  by  the  late  Mr. 
Bradlaugh's  thought  and  utterance. 


Itt 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

TIIK    REVOLUTION    IN    RAILWAY    FARES. 

Free  Travel— The  Old  Parliamentary  Train— A  Lesson  in  Patience— Aji 
Enterprising  North- Western  Train— The  Midland  Fare  Policy— Sir 
James  AUport  on  Journeying-  An  Old  Train  Speed— Tribute  to  a 
Useful  Life— The  New  Manager  of  the  Midland— The  Third-Class 
Gold  Mine— Bemarkable  Expansion  of  Traffic — Threatened  Extinction 
of  First-Class- Clinging  to  Uie  Second-Class  Fare— What  Railway  Men 
Think  and  What  the  Railway  Companies  are  Doing— The  Sort  of 
"  Goods  "  to  Carry. 

The  tendency  in  English  political  and  social  life  is 
towards  freedom — free  speech,  free  libraries,  free  parks 
and  museums,  free  education,  free  dinners;  and  it 
would  have  been  strange  and  little  in  accord  with 
what  Mr.  Goschen  calls  our  "imaginative  foresight" 
if  no  one  had  suggested  free  railway  travel.  The 
bold  proposal  has  been  put  into  cold  type,  however, 
one  writer  taking  much  pains  to  show  that  the  time 
has  come  when  the  State  should  acquire  the  railways 
for  the  purpose  of  making  them  free  to  the  use  of 
the  public,  and  that  the  project  would  prove  a  saving 
to  the  nation;  that  shameful  waste  would  be  avoided 
by  paying  traffic  expenses  out  of  rates  and  taxes, 
instead  of  fares;  and  that  free  travel  would  mean 
a  healthier  people,  inasmuch  as  it  would  provide  an 
easy  and  pleasant  remedy  for  the  overcrowding  in  our 
great  cities. 

Lord    Derby   did    not    go    quite    to    this   length. 


Ch.p.xxxii.1        THE   STATE  AND   THE  RAILWAY.  163 

DealiDg  with  the  suggested  purchase  of  railways  by 
the  State,  in  a  speech  he  made  at  the  Society  of 
Arts  on  June  18,  1873,  he  said  the  public  had  no 
security  that  railways  would  not  be  superseded  like 
coaches  and  canals,  for  the  inventive  power  of  the 
human  mind  was  unlimited.  "  What,"  he  asked, 
"  would  have  happened  if  the  Government  of  the 
day  liad  bought  up  stage-coaches  and  canals  P  "  The 
State  administration  of  railways  would,  he  added,  put 
the  Government  in  possession  of  a  powerful  engine 
of  corruption.  Nevertheless,  he  thought,  in  the  future 
the  question  of  the  State  purchase  of  railways  would 
be  worth  considering. 

The  State,  in  the  guise  of  a  philanthropist,  eager 
to  give  us  free  travel,  and  also  to  sweep  squalor,  vice, 
and  despair  from  reeking  courts,  makes  a  splendid 
figure.  Notwithstanding  Mr.  Gladstone's  saying  that 
''  it  is  the  business  of  a  Government  not  to  trade, 
but  to  govern,"  and  uninfluenced  by  the  annoyance 
of  railway  directors  and  shareholders,  the  State  may 
enter  upon  this  herculean  task,  for  no  change  seems 
too  drastic  in  these  days  of  political,  industrial,  and 
social  revolution.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  travel, 
and  especially  free  travel,  worked  by  the  State  would 
be  such  a  blessing  and  monetary  relief  as  some 
imagine;  whether  the  State  would  not  bungle  this 
vast  enterprise,  and  whether,  in  the  just  application 
of  the  restrictions  and  penalties  it  has  imposed 
with  regard  to  the  transit  of  goods  and  the  safety 
of  the  passengers,  it  would  not  be  in  quite  as 
/2 


IM  OUR   EAJLWAYS.  [CUap.  xxxii. 

awkward  a  position  as  the  Mikado's  Lord  High 
Executioner,  who  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
embarrdiising  duty  of  punishing,  and  finally  executing, 
himself. 

The  most  profitable  passenger  is  the  third-class 
passenger,  but  formerly  he  received  little  consideration. 
The  parliamentary  train,  by  which  he  was  graciously 
permitted  to  travel,  lacked  speed  and  vigour.  It  went 
slowly,  and  needed  frequent  rests.  *'  Neither  through 
tickets  nor  through  journeys  could  be  taken,  and 
travellers  had  to  get  forward  as  best  they  could  by 
a  series  of  fragmentar}"^  journeys  over  tlie  lines  of 
diflerent,  rival,  and  often  conflicting  companies."  The 
third-class  passenger  had  no  social  position  on 
the  railway,  and  he  was  often  handled  as  roughly 
as  merchandise.  He  looked  with  a  feeling  akin  to 
awe  on  the  luxury  of  the  first-class  train,  for  the 
convenience  of  which  he  was  nearly  always  igno- 
miniously  shunted.  He  had  practically  to  touch  his 
cap  to  the  first-class  traveller.  There  was  almost  as 
great  a  gulf  between  the  one  and  the  other  as 
between  the  agricultural  labourer  and  the  squire  or 
the  parson.  Both  had  to  wait  on  their  **  superiors," 
or,  to  paraphrase  the  words  in  the  Catechism,  **  to 
order  themselves  lowly  and  reverently  to  all  their 
betters."  Indeed,  it  is  related  that  a  parliamentary 
train  was  once  delayed  so  long  at  Darlington  that 
the  reverence  of  the  passengers  for  the  upper  classes 
was  transformed — so  unreasonable  is  human  nature — 
into   rage,  and  they  indignantly  complained   that   at 


^^»^W^•^iPl^   « 


''i'tftSEHw**^"''!' 


FinST,  BSCOKD,  AKD  THIRD  CLASS  TO  THB  DEKBT  IN  li 


166  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch»p.xxxir. 

that  rate  they  would  never  get  to  their  journey's 
end ;  but  the  porter  was  cool  and  contemptuous,  and 
said :  "  Ye  mun  bide  till  yer  betters  gaw  past ;  ye 
are  only  the  nigger  train  !  " 

The  third-class  passenger  for  a  long  time  had  to 
be  content  with  a  truck-like  carriage,  with  low  sides, 
and  seldom  roofed.  How  he  had  to  go  to  the  Derby 
in  the  early  days  of  the  railway,  if  he  did  not  go 
by  road,  may  be  seen  from  the  illustration  on  page  165. 
It  is  the  Midland  Eailway  Company  that  have  always 
taken  the  most  interest  in  the  third-class  passenger. 
On  April  1st,  1872,  they  began  to  run  third-class 
carriages  by  all  trains.  The  bold  step  was  viewed 
by  mauy  a  railway  magnate  as  suicidal,  and  the 
company  were  actually  besought  to  reverse  their 
policy.  Sir  James  AUport,  then  the  general  manager, 
received  the  influential  hint  respectfully,  but  he  did 
not  budge.  The  rugged  face  that  surmounted  his 
tall  form  was  not  mobile;  but  it  was  not  a  compre- 
hensive index  of  his  mind.  Ever  since  he  began 
his  career  on  the  Birmingham  and  Derby  Railway, 
all  through  the  railway  mania,  and  during  his  long 
and  clever  management  of  the  Midland,  he  was 
quiet  in  manner,  actuated  by  a  sense  of  right,  polite 
but  resolute,  and  not  accustomed  to  let  the  mere 
money-maker  have  things  all  his  own  way.  After 
half-a-century  as  a  railway  worker,  he  retired  in 
1880  from  the  position  of  general  manager,  and  was 
presented  by  the  shareholders  with  ten  thousand 
pounds,  and  made  a  director ;  but,  much  as  he  valued 


ciup.  XXXII)  SIB  JAMES   ALLPOBT.  1G7 

these  recognitions  of  his  earnest  work,  he  was 
proud  of  his  knighthood,  conferred  upon  him  in 
1884,  not  for  political  toadyism,  but  for  saving  the 
time  of  the  poorest,  and  insisting  that  they  should 
travel  with  cheapness  and  comfort.  "  If  there  is,"  he 
said,  *'  one  part  of  my  public  life  on  which  I  look 
back  with  more  satisfaction  than  on  anything  else, 
it  is  with  reference  to  the  boon  we  conferred  on 
third-class  travellers.  I  have  felt  saddened  to  see 
third-class  passengers  shunted  on  a  siding  in  cold  and 
bitter  weather — a  train  containing  amongst  others 
many  lightly-clad  women  and  children — for  the  con- 
venience of  allowing  the  more  comfortable  and  warmly- 
clad  passengers  to  pass  them.  I  have  even  known 
third-class  trains  to  be  shunted  into  a  siding  to 
allow  express  goods  to  pass.  When  the  rich  man 
travels,  or  if  he  lies  in  bed  all  day,  his  capital 
remains  undiminished,  and  perhaps  his  income  flows 
in  all  the  same.  But  when  the  poor  man  travels,  he 
has  not  only  to  pay  his  fare,  but  to  sink  his  capital, 
for  his  time  is  his  capital ;  and  if  he  now  consumes 
only  five  hours  instead  of  ten  in  making  a  journey, 
he  has  saved  five  hours  of  time  for  useful  labour — 
useful  to  himself,  his  family,  and  to  society.  And  I 
think  with  even  more  pleasure  of  the  comfort  in 
travelling  we  have  been  able  to  confer  on  women  and 
children.  But  it  took  twenty-five  years  to  get  it 
done.'* 

In  the  year    of  his    knighthood,   he   had  further 
honour    conferred     upon    him    by    his    friends     and 


168  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxxn. 

colleagues  of  the  Midland,  who  entertained  him  at 
dinner,  and  presented  him  with  an  address  which 
showed  how  great  was  the  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held  by  those  among  whom  the  great  part  of  his 
earnest  life  had  been  spent. 

For  nearly  six  years  Sir  James  Allport  continued 
a  conspicuous  and  respected  figure  on  the  directorate 
of  the  Midland,  giving  the  company  the  benefit-  of 
his  shrewd  counsel.  He  lived  to  see  the  jubilee  of 
the  railway  of  which  he  was  practically  the  father, 
and  to  see  the  jubilee  also  of  the  Clearing  House, 
in  the  establishment  of  which  he  took  so  much 
interest,  and  he  lived  to  see  a  great  development  on 
every  side  of  train  services  and  train  speeds ;  but  he 
was  not  amazed  at  any  modern  acceleration  of  travel- 
ling, quietly  remarking  that  on  February  2f)th,  1848, 
express  speed  was  not  unknown  in  England,  inas- 
much as  on  that  day,  at  the  request  of  Messrs. 
Smith  and  Son,  he  sent  a  train,  with  newspapers 
containing  a  report  of  the  Budget  speech,  from 
London  to  Newcastle  in  nine  hours  and  seven 
minutes,  the  train  travelling  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles 
an  hour.  Sir  James  Allport  outlived  his  old  chair- 
man, Sir  Matthew  Thompson,  six  months,  and  died — 
full  of  years  and  honours — on  April  25th,  1S92, 
at  the  Midland  Grand  Hotel,  London,  practically  on 
the  premises  of  the  company  for  which  he  had  so 
long  and  worthily  toiled. 

Mr.  George  Ernest  Paget,  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
pany, gave  graceful  tribute  at  the   next  sliareholder^' 


170  OUli   RAILWAYS,  [Chap.xxxii. 

meeting  to  their  old  director's  sturdy  character  and 
personal  worth,  remarking : 

"We  mention  in  the  report  the  death  of  Sir  James  Allport. 
He  has  been  intimately  and  universally  identified  with  the  Midland 
Railway  for  a  very  long  period.  Sir  James  joined  the  Midland  Rail- 
way service  in  1839,  or,  I  should  say,  he  joined  the  service  of  the 
Birmingham  and  Derby  Railway  Company,  which  was  then  only 
forty  miles  in  length,  and  had  a  capital  of  about  one  million  and  a 
half.  Sir  James  lived  to  see  the  system  of  the  Midland  Railway 
Company  grow  up  around  him  until  at  length  it  had  a  mileage  of 
something  near  1,500  miles,  with  a  revenue  of  £9,000,000  per 
annum,  and  with  a  capital  of  £100,000,000.  While  I  should  be 
very  far  from  wishing  in  the  slightest  degree  to  disparage,  or  to  take 
away  from  the  services  which  others  have  rendered  to  the  Midland 
Railway  Company,  still  I  think  it  is  without  doubt  that,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  very  far-seeing  policy,  and  for  the  indomitable  persever- 
ance and  energy  of  Sir  James  Allport,  the  Midland  Company  would 
not  now  be  in  the  very  prominent  and  independent  position  which  it 
occupies.  While  that  is  the  case  as  far  as  the  Midland  Company  is 
concerned,  I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  the  British 
nation  itself  is  indebted  to  Sir  James  Allport,  more  than  perhaps 
anyone  else,  for  the  policy  of  accommodating  and  encouraging  the 
third-class  passengeins.*' 

The  Midland  Railway  have  in  Mr.  G.  H.  Turner, 
the  new  general  manager,  a  man  of  great  business 
capacity  and  ceaseless  eflfort.  His  rise  has  been  rapid. 
His  first  practical  connection  with  railway  working 
was  in  1853,  when  he  joined  the  Midland  Bailway 
at  Bristol.  From  the  old  city  by  the  Avon  he 
climbed  gradually  northward,  improving  his  position 
at  Birmingham,  at  Nottingham,  and  at  Derby,  so 
mingling  courtesy  and  consideration  with  trade  insight 
and  unremitting  work  that  he  found  himself  popular. 
Then  he   broke   away  across  the   border;   but  at  the 


I 


Chap.  XXXII.)  MR,    0.    H.    TURNER,  171 

end  of  two  years  in  Scotland  as  goods  manager  on 
the  Glasgow  and  South -Western,  he  returned  to  the 
Midland,  and  in  1891  was  practically  appointed  to  the 
position  of  general  manager  of  the  company. 

Congratulation  on  his  success  was  sincere,  and  it 
was  accompanied  by  generous  gifts.  He  said  that 
his  progress  reminded  him  of  a  romance ;  but,  after 
all,  it  was  a  romance  of  the  old-fashioned  type,  such 
as  Richardson  would  have  written,  a  romance  of 
honest  struggling,  and  of  virtue  rewarded — a  refreshing 
romance  in  these  days  when  sterling,  unassuming  merit 
does  not  always  get  recognised,  when  the  shallow 
and  conceited  swagger  to  the  front,  and  the  charlatan 
is  often  taken  at  his  own  estimate  by  a  world  too 
busy  to  inquire  about  him.  "  George  Turner,"  writes 
a  railway  man,  "may  be  safely  left  to  consolidate 
and  extend  the  work  initiated  by  James  Allport." 

It  has,  in  connection  with  this  work,  been  my 
good  fortune  to  have  considerable  communication  with 
the  general  manager  of  the  Midland.  He  has  no 
sinecure.  He  is  up  to  the  eyebrows  in  business.  Not 
long  ago  I  went  to  Derby  to  see  him,  in  the  old 
offices,  bordering  the  station  platform.  There  was 
a  crowd  of  people  in  the  ante-room,  where  clerks 
were  busy  appeasing  discontented  customers  by  letter, 
and  the  directories  and  railway  books  stood  in  rows 
over  the  fireplace,  apparently  in  the  same  order  they 
occupied  years  ago  when  I  went  down  to  see  Sir 
James  Allport  with  regard  to  the  guards'  strike.  An 
architect  with  his  plans,  a  deputation  seeking  a  branch 


172  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chai».  xxxii. 

line  to  their  village,  the  general  manager  of  another 
line — altogether  a  score  of  people  were  waiting.  The 
door  was  incessantly  on  the  swing  as  oflicers  went  in 
and  came  out.  There  were  the  voice  of  the  telephone 
and  the  ring  of  the  electric  bell. 

I  sent  in  my  card,  and  at  last  my  turn  came. 
I  was  heartily  greeted ;  and  I  found  that  Mr.  Turner, 
though  he  gave  a  gesture  of  half-mock  despair,  at 
the  thousand  things  he  liad  to  do,  was  really  more 
skilful  than  Sir  George  Findlay.  It  was  the  latter's 
motto  to  "  do  one  thing  at  a  time : "  Mr.  Turner 
could  easily  do  three  things  at  once,  reminding  one 
of  the  smuggler  in  the  play,  who  found  it  possible 
to  hold  a  sword  in  each  hand  and  a  pistol  in  the 
other.  He  had  his  luncheon  in  one  hand,  ami  a 
bundle  of  papers  in  the  other,  so  that  he  was  build- 
ing up  his  own  system  while  extending  that  of  the 
Midland ;  and  he  managed  meanwhile  to  take  an 
interest  in  the  object  of  my  visit,  and  to  promise 
and  arrange  for  the  information  I  sought.  Yet  it 
was  an  unusually  busy  day  even  in  his  busy  life ; 
for  not  only  had  he  to  dispose  of  the  "  Oh,  I-must- 
see-him "  group  in  the  ante-room,  and  of  the  shoal 
of  work  on  his  table,  but  to  travel  to  Scotland  that 
night,  with  the  directors,  who  had  decided  to  go 
over  the  Glasgow  and  South -Western  system,  with 
the  intention,  perhaps,  of  ultimately  merging  it  into 
the  Midland.* 

♦  As    indicating    Mr.   Turner's  alertness  in  railway  management    it  is 
worth  recording  that  he  has  prepared  a  charming  litt^e  book,  sty^led  "  Visito^'ft' 


Chap.xxxn.j       ABOLISHING    THE   SECOND   0LA88.  173 

Sir  James  Allport's  concession  to  the  third-class 
passenger  turned  out  a  good  thing  for  the  company 
and  a  great  convenience  to  the  public.  By  permitting 
him  to  travel  in  any  train  there  were  fewer  empty 
compartments,  and  less  wear  and  tear  of  rolling  stock. 
Some  of  the  old  parliamentary  joggers,  that  wheezed, 
and  clattered,  and  jolted  from  station  to  station,  were 
taken  oft'  the  line  altogether,  and  the  total  mileage 
much  reduced.  The  company  obtained  2,000,000  addi- 
tional passengers  in  the  first  year  of  the  concession, 
with  £220,000  additional  receipts,  and  they  saved 
£37,000  through  the  more  general  use  of  their  trains. 
The  reform,  so  satisfactory  in  its  results,  encouraged 
the  company,  three  yeai"s  afterwards,  to  venture  upon 
even  a  bolder  course.  On  January  1st,  1875,  they 
practically  wiped  the  second-class  passenger  out  of 
existence  on  their  line.  There  were  no  longer  any 
second-class  fares  or  second-class  carriages  on  their 
system.  They  eased  the  first-class  fares,  and  at  the 
same  time  improved  tho  third-class  carriages,  making 
them  with  separate  compartments,  cushioned  seats 
and  backs,  hat  racks — converting  them,  in  fact,  into 
quite  as  comfortable  coaches  as  the  second-class.  The 
innovation  startled  many.  It  was  styled  a  revolution, 
a  mistake,  a  nuisance.  It  was  asserted  that  it  would 
lead  to  the  extinction  of  that  "  powerful  middle- 
class  "  to  which  Lord  Beaconsfield  paid  a  compliment 

Souvenir  of  the  World*B  Fair,  Chicago,  presented  by  the  Midland  Railway 
Company  of  England  *'  to  travellers  between  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  and 
giving  a  pen-and-picture  description  ot  the  Midland  route  from  town  to  the 
Mersey. 


174  OUB  RAILWAYS.  c<»»p.MXii. 

in  his  novel  "  Endymion."  One  journal  went  so  far 
as  to  say  that  "  it  would  inflict  great  annoyance  on 
every  lady,  and  some  annoyance  on  every  man  with 
a  black  coat,  who  travelled  by  that  system."  Sir 
James  Allport  was  characterised  as  the  "  Bismarck 
of  railway  politics ; "  and  the  plutocracy  shook  their 
heads,  thought  the  Midland  directorate  had  gone 
mad,  and  that  they  were  courting  financial  ruin. 
But  what  has  been  the  result  ?  Not  financial  ruin ; 
but  the  most  conspicuous  prosperity. 

In  the  lifetime  of  the  present  generation  there 
has  been  an  enormous  increase  in  the  number  of 
passengers  travelling  on  home  lines.  The  report  made 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  in  1890  stated  that  "in  the 
last  ten  years  the  total  number  of  passengers  carried 
yearly,  exclusive  of  season-ticket  holders,  has  grown 
from  just  under  604  millions  to  81 7f  millions,  the 
third-class  having  increased  in  the  same  time  from 
500  millions  to  over  724^  millions.  The  figures  as 
to  third-class  traffic  continue  to  give  proof  that  in 
affording  increased  and  improved  accommodation  for 
this  class  of  passengers  the  railway  companies  have 
benefited  their  own  shareholders  as  well  as  the 
travelling  public."  Mr.  Giffen  and  Mr.  Hopwood 
have  a  similar  story  to  tell  in  the  report  they  issued 
in  August,  1893.  They  hazard  the  opinion  that  the 
railway  companies  are  really  doing  more  work  for 
less  money  than  formerly;  but  state  that  what 
attracts  attention  in  the  mass  of  statistics  they  have 
marshalled  to  ascertain  the  cost  of  working,  and  the 


I 


Chap,  xxxn.]  THE    0LA88    THAT  PATS.  175 

profit  obtained  on  our  railways,  is  "  the  enormous 
preponderance  of  the  third-class  traffic,  the  increase 
of  over  20  millions  in  1892  following,  as  it  does, 
increases  of  27  millions  in  1891,  42  millions  in 
1890,  and  33^  millions  in  1889.  Since  1888  there 
has  been  an  increase  of  122^  millions  of  third-class 
passengers,'*  and  the  following  array  of  figures  is 
eloquently  indicative  of  the  growth  of  this  traffic  in 
the  past  three  years : — 

1890.  1891.  1892. 

No.  No.  No. 

Firstrclass 30,187,000  30,424,000  30,602,000 

Second-class  ...       62,860,000  63,378,000  61,848,000 

Thiixi-class     ...     724,697,000  751,661,000  771,985,000 


Total 817,744,000    845,463,000      864,435,000 

The  Midland  Company  were  the  first  to  discover 
that  the  third-class  passenger  was  the  life  and  soul 
of  the  English  railway,  and  they  have  reaped  the 
most  benefit  from  accommodating  him.  It  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact  that  in  the  first  half  of  1891,  when  coal 
was  high  in  price,  when  labour  was  dearer  owing  to 
shorter  hours  or  wage  concessions,  when  goods  traffic 
was  shrinking  and  railway  stocks  depressed,  the 
Midland  alone  of  the  great  railway  companies  were 
enabled  to  give  an  increase  of  ^  per  cent,  in  the 
dividend,  chiefly  because  they  were  no  longer  dragging 
second-class  carriages  at  their  heels,  but  steadily  de- 
veloping their  third-class  traffic,  which  showed  an 
increase  in  receipts  for  the  six  months  of  nearly 
£12,000,  while   the  increased  gain  on    the   first-cUvss 


176  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Otop.xxxn. 

traffic    in  the    same   period  amounted   to   tbe   trifling 
sum  of  £92. 

The  prosperous  working  of  the  Midland  during 
this  particular  half-year,  with  its  many  grave  diflS- 
culties,  aroused  a  good  deal  of  comment  in  the 
railway  world.  The  secret  of  the  success  was  attri- 
buted to  the  profitable .  character  of  the  third-class 
traffic,  and  there  were  all  kinds  of  rumours  in  the 
air  as  to  contemplated  reforms  by  other  companies. 
It  was  even  said  that  the  extinction  of  the  first- 
class  passenger  was  at  hand.  The  statement  was 
perhaps  a  little  premature;  nevertheless  he  is  on  his 
probation.  He  exists  rather  by  the  courtesy  of  the 
companies  and  the  dignity  of  his  deportment  than 
as  a  profit-making  institution.  Probably  he  knows 
how  slender  is  his  tenure,  for  he  does  not  presume 
so  much  on  his  position  as  formerly.  He  no  longer 
"  insists  on  a  seat  for  which  he  pays,  and  another 
for  his  feet  for  which  he  does  not  pay."  He  does 
not,  except  in  a  few  instances,  sprinkle  his  rugs, 
shawls,  and  newspapers  everywhere  as  if  he  had 
engaged  the  entire  compartment,  and  he  does  not 
now  make  it  an  absolute  condition  of  travelling  that 
a  through  carriage  should  be  specially  run  out  of 
the  shed,  and  coupled  to  the  train,  for  his  use  only. 
But  on  some  lines  he  is  treated  more  luxuriously  than 
ever ;  perhaps  because  his  life,  as  a  first-class  passenger, 
is  likely  to  be  a  short  one. 

The  falling  receipts  for  first-class  and  second-class 
passengers  point  not  only   to  the   universal  abolition 


cup.«iu.|                   THE   ZOSB  SYSTEM.  177 

of  second-class    fares,  but   to  the  ultimate  abolition 

of  first-class   fares  also,    to   the    time    when  all    lines 

will  provide  only    one    class    of    carriages,  spacious, 


well-appointed,  comfortable,  at  a  still  cheaper  rate — 
when  all  our  trains  will  run,  so  far  as  fares  are 
concerned,  like  tramcars  and  omnibuses,  with  every 
compartment  open  to  all  at  the  same  price,  unless 
special  accommodation  at  a  special  fare  is  desired. 
Or  it  may  be  that  the  zone  system,  which  works 
profitably  on  the  Continent,  and  is  now  on  trial  in 
Ireland,  will  be  adopted.* 

*  TkB  toae  ayet«ui  ^aa  adopted  on  the  Cork,  BUolcrock,   nnd    Fassage 
Bailmy  on  Hsy  1,  1891,  the  diitaiiM  bmog  conndered  one  zone.    The  iaxea 


^ 


178  OUE  RAILWAYS.  [Oh»p.xxxii. 

In  the  meautime  there  has  been  some  concern  on 
the  boards  of  the  various  railway  companies*  with 
regard  to  the  second-class  traffic.  There  is  no  doubt 
it  is  doomed ;  but  there  are  directors  who  are  loth 
to  see  it  die.  Sir  Richard  Moon,  who  maintains  his 
interest  in  the  London  and  North -Western,  though 
he  has  ceased  to  be  chairman,  does  not  think  the 
abolition  of  the  second-class  fare  either  necessary  or 
politic.  He  clings  to  that  highly  respectable  fare  as 
tenaciously  as  one  would  to  the  old  house  in  which 
he  was  born,  or  to  an  old  book,  or  an  old  friend. 
"Upwards  of  three  million  people,"  he  wrote  in  the 
autumn  of  1891,  "are  willing  to  pay  an  extra  price 
for  a  little  extra  accommodation  in  second  class 
compartments,  and  if  they  cannot  have  it  will  travel 
third-class  at  a  lower  price.  Why  should  we  in- 
convenience them,  and  refuse  their  extra  pay?  It 
is,  in  fact,  a  mere  question  of  management,  of  ac- 
commodating the  number  of  compartments  to  the 
probable  number  of  occupants,  and  this  has  been 
done  at  Euston  for  years."  But,  with  all  respect  for 
Sir  Richard  Moon,  it  will  not  be  done  at  Euston 
much  longer.  The  fate  of  the  first-class  and  second- 
class  was  foreshadowed  even  by  Sir  George  Findla}-, 
who  wrote :  "  The  companies  have  spent  and  are 
spending  large  sums  of  money  in  providing  the  most 

were  small,  and  in  the  first  mouth  there  was  an  increase  of  2,500  in  the 
number  of  passengers.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  chairman  said  the 
directors  were  satisfied  with  the  experiment— that  tlie  zone  system  was 
admirably  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  the  company  and  to  the  convenience 
of  the  majority  of  the  travelling  public. 


Oh.p.xxxiLi  8E00ND-0LAS8   tBAFflO.  179 

luxurious  accommodation  and  every  facility  and  con- 
venience for  the  benefit  of  the  superior  classes,  but 
they  are  doing  this  practically  at  their  own  expense, 
and  it  is  really  the  humble  and  despised  third-class 
traveller  who  furnishes  the  sinews  of  war !  While 
it  may  still  be  profitable  to  carry  first-class  season- 
ticket  holders  or  passengers  by  local  and  suburban 
trains,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  upon  first- 
class  passengers  carried  long  distances  by  express  trains 
there  is  any  profit  at  all." 

What  does  this  statement  really  mean?  That 
there  is  little  to  choose  between  the  first-class 
passenger  and  the  second-class  passenger.  They  are 
not  profit-yielders.  They  are  more  or  less  a  drag  on 
the  dividend.  But  the  London  and  North  -  Western 
do  not  like  to  abandon  their  old-fashioned  style  of 
three  classes.  At  the  meeting  in  the  spring  of  1892, 
Lord  Stalbridge,  the  new  chairman  of  the  company, 
said  in  the  passenger  receipts  there  was  one  peculiar 
feature — that  the  first-class  traffic  had  still  decreased, 
while  in  the  second-class  they  had  carried  more  pas- 
sengers, but  received  less  money.  The  latter  fact  was 
accounted  for  by  the  large  intrease  in  the  number  of 
passengers  carried  to  and  from  Rock  Ferry  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Mersey  Eailway,  for  which  they  only 
received  one  halfpenny  per  head ;  but  it  appeared  that 
the  second-class  traffic  had  still  some  vitality  about  it. 
The  directors,  he  added,  saw  that  the  abandonment 
of  this  traffic  must  result  in  considerable  loss,  and  they 
had  decided  at  present  not  to  interfere  with  it. 
m2 


180  ODB   BAIIWAYS.  [CUp.xxxu. 

A  significant  cODfession  was  made  at  the  meet- 
ing in  August  of  1893  by  Lord  Stalbridge.  The 
company,  he  said,  had  built  fourteen  new  second- 
cliiss  Ciirriagcs,  because  bo  long  as  they  carried  a 
million  and  a  half  second-class  passengers,  they 
must  provide  coaches  for  their  accommodation ;  but 
these  carriages  were  con- 
structed with  a  view  to 
easy  and  cheap  conversion 
into  third-class  when  the 
iiiillenuium  prophesied  by 
one  of  the  sjicakers  came. 
Tl;e  approacliiug  demise 
of  the  second-class  traffic 
fills  the  hearts  of  the 
directors  with  sadness  ; 
aud  the  cliairmau,  white 
«.»  sTA,...iD»r..  iulmittliig  that  during  the 

{FntH  a  riuios.a]>i,  b,  tht  Lm.da»  last    hall'-ycar     they     had 

earned  1,105,732  more 
third-class  passengers,  yielding  £40,000  additional  re- 
ceipts, gravtdy  remarked  that  "  the  average  receipt 
per  passenger  was  rather  less,  poiuting  to  shorter 
journeys  and  bad  times."  The  probability  is  that 
though  the  second-class  will  obtain  a  little  longer  on 
the  North- Western,  the  company  will  presently  drop 
their  second-class  fares  without  a  word,  and  astonish 
their  third-class  passengers  by  the  i)rovisiun  of  carriages 
more  comfortable  and  luxurious  even  than  those  they 
now  run. 


Ch*p.xxxii.i  SEGOND'OLASS    TRAFFIO.  181 

Other  railway  companies  have  been  guided  by  the 
Midland  rather  than  by  the  London  and  North -Western 
on  this  point.  The  second-class  passenger  made  some 
protest  when  his  particular  conveyance  was  placed  in 
the  third-class  rank.  He  expressed  himself  eager  to 
pay  the  extra  fare  in  order  to  escape  contact  "  with 
workmen  covered  with  lime  and  clay  "  and  "  hawkers 
carrying  stale  fish,"  and  generally  demanded  protection 
in  his  railway  travelling  from  *'dirt,  overcrowding, 
and  rowdyism."  But  on  many  lines  the  second-class 
carriages  have,  nevertheless,  been  abolished,  and  the 
fastidious  second-class  passenger,  finding  that  he  gets 
in  the  modern  third-class  carriage  accommodation  as 
excellent  as  that  he  obtained  in  the  old  second-class 
coach,  and  at  a  less  price,  has  adapted  himself,  without 
further  grumbling,  to  the  new  conditions  of  travelling. 

The  Manchester,  Sheflfield  and  Lincolnshire  Railway 
Company  were  the  first  company  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  Midland,  abolishing  the  second-class  fares  on 
some  parts  of  their  system — as  a  prelude  to  total  ex- 
tinction— on  April  1,  1891.  On  November  1  in  the 
same  year  the  Great  Northern  Railway  Company  took 
a  similar  course.  In  the  same  month  the  Marquis  of 
Tweeddale  wrote  :  "  We  have  practically  abolished  the 
second-class  on  the  trains  of  the  North  British  Railway 
Company,  and  we  propose  to  entirely  abolish  that 
class."  The  railway  shareholder  is  very  much  like  his 
neighbour  engaged  in  any  other  business :  he  does  not 
like  to  give  up  a  source  of  income;  and  though  the 
Midland,  the  Great  Northern,  the  Shefl&eld  Company, 


182  OUR    RAILWAYS.  VJUv-mn. 

the  Cheshire  Lines,  and  the  North  British  Eailway 
have  practically  aboliBhed  the  second-class,  some  im- 
portant companies  still  cling  to  it. 

There  was  do  hesitancy  about  the  passenger-traffic 
policy  of  the  Great  Western.  Mr.  Saunders,  the 
then  chairman,  said,  early  in  1892, 
that  they  were  always  receiving  sug- 
gestions from  ingenious  minds  as  to 
what  they  ought  to  do ;  but  the 
directors  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  so  long  as  they  had  five  millions 
oE  second-class  passengers,  it  would  be 
foolish  to  abolish  second-class.  Never- 
"fr^'a  mwX  theless,  he  admitted  that  the  company 
f.  o.  Ofirimj,  were  not  buildine;  so  many  first-class 
and  second-class  carriages  as  in  the  old 
days,  and  that  the  great  bulk  of  traffic  was  drifting 
towards  third-class  ;  in  fact,  in  the  previous  half-year  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  third-class  passengers  had 
been  one  million  and  a-balf 

The  Q-reat  Eastern  remained  in  a  condition  of  in- 
decision. Somewhat  influenced  by  the  action  of  other 
companies,  they  hesitated  to  take  the  step.  Lord  Claud 
Hamilton  announced  that  they  were  paying  careful 
attention  to  the  question  of  the  abolition  of  second-class 
carriages  on  some  portions  of  their  line,  but,  so  far  as 
their  suburban  lines  were  concerned,  the  idea  would 
not,  be  thought,  be  entertained.  But  the  directors  did 
entertain  it;  and  on  January  1,  1893,  they  declared 
that  the  second-class  fare  was  extinct  on  their  system. 


Chip.  XXXII.)  SECOND-GLASS   TRAFFIC.  188 

While  admitting  that  the  increase  of  traffic  was  due 
chiefly  to  third-class  passengers,  the  late  Mr.  Jonas  Levy, 
deputy-chairman  of  the  London  and  Brighton  Company, 
said  in  January,  1892,  that  there  were  objections  to  the 
total  abolition  of  second-class  on  a  pleasure  line  like 
their  own.  At  least  3,268,000  second-class  passengers 
travelled  on  their  system  in  the  year,  and  he  certainly 
thought  it  would  be  a  retrograde  and  unpopular 
measure  to  abolish  the  second-class,  unless  the  company 
were  prepared  to  reduce  the  first-class  fare  to  a  second- 
class  level — a  step  that  could  not  be  taken  without  the 
most  serious  thought. 

The  London  and  South -Western  Company  have  reso- 
lutely made  up  their  minds  to  retain  second-class  fares, 
Mr.  Portal  telling  the  shareholders  in  February,  1893, 
that  the  board  had  no  idea  of  doing  away  with  these 
fares.  Pressed  on  the  subject  again  at  the  summer 
meeting  in  the  same  year,  he  said  that  while  they 
carried,  as  they  did  at  present,  4,000,000  second-class 
passengers  annually,  they  might  well  hesitate  about 
abolishing  this  class  of  fares. 

The  London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Eailway,  on  the 
other  hand,  might  shunt  the  second-class  carriage 
into  oblivion  with  profit.  The  third-class  passenger 
is  undoubtedly  the  dividend-earning  traveller  on  this 
line.  The  first-class  and  second-class  passengers  are 
diminishing  in  number ;  but  though  London,  so  far 
as  road  and  railway  traffic  is  concerned,  is  in  a  fever 
of  competition,  with  cheap  'bus  fares,  cheap  tram 
fares,  cheap  electric  line  fares,  and  the  privilege   of 


OUR    ItAILWAYS. 


journeying  a  long  way  south  of  the  Thames  for  a 
halfpenny,  the  London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Company 
find  their  third-class  traffic  steadily  increasing. 

The  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway  Company, 
with  their  cross-country  tracks,  and  chiefly  short- 
distance  journeys,  are  naturally  reluctant  to  abolish  the 

second-class  passenRor,    Mr. 

Armytatr^,  the  chairman, 
holding  that  three  classes 
of  accommodation  are  re- 
quired on  the  system,  does 
not  see  why  the  company 
should  refuse  the  extra 
fare  the  second-class  pas- 
senger is  willing  to  give, 
especially  as  it  would  mean 
a  loss  of  £20,000  a  year 
in  recei]>ts.  In  a  recent 
utterance  on  this  point  he 
says : 

"  I  do  not  tliink  tlie  time  bos  quite  come  for  the  change.  We 
finrl  the  big  lines,  the  Great  Northern  and  so  forth,  have  taken  off 
a  good  deal  of  Becond  doss,  Ijut  they  have  maintained  it  in  suburbat) 
districts,  and  our  traffic  in  cliieBy  suburban,  I  venture  to  think  there 
are  still  three  classes  of  peojile  near  the  lai'ge  towns.  We  are  so  made 
up  of  large  towns  that  it  would  bo  a  dangerous  expeiiment  to  take 
this  class  olT,  and  difficult  indeed  to  put  it  on  again." 

The  dividends  on  most  of  the  great  lines  showed 
a  reduction  in  1893,  owing  to  the  increased  cost  of 
working  in  the  way  of  shorter  hours  and  better  pay 


Chipk  XXZIL) 


WOBKING-OLASS    TRAFFIC. 


185 


for  the  servants,  to  the  shrinkage  o£  traile,  aiul,  in 
somo  instances,  to  the  Durham  strike.  Lord  Stal- 
bridge  explained  to  the  shareholders  of  the  London 
and  North -Western  that  their  reduced  dividend  was 
also  owing  to  "  an  entire  absence  of  speculation  all 
over  the  world,  and  low 
prices  evory where."  The 
proprietors  of  the  great 
undertaking  did  not  derive 
mwh  consolation  from  this 
reference  to  the  causes  of 
the  stagnation  ;  and  one  of 
them,  Mr.  Beavis,  created 
a  little  well-bred  surprise 
among  the  directors  by 
asserting  that  the  board 
were  responsible  for  the 
decreased  dividend,  owing 
not  only  to  their  obstinate 
maintenance  of  a  worn-out  crotchet  in  favour  of  retain- 
ing the  second-class,  but  to  the  fact  that  the  company 
was  the  worst  of  the  great  railways,  except  the  Great 
Western,  in  its  treatment  of  the  workpeople  of  the 
metropolis,  for  though  tlie  working-class  traffic  was 
said  to  be  good  and  remunerative,  yet  the  board 
would  not  cater  for  it. 

What  dread  fate  would  have  awaited  him  if  he  had 
dared  to  utter  this  heresy  during  Sir  Richard  Moon's 
reign  one  hesitates  to  suggest.  But,  as  it  happened, 
his  speech  did  good.     It  was  a  strong  breeze  that  blew 


:.  OBOKOE  ABMTT40K. 
11  fltotoqraph  by  Arthur  Jtforc, 


186  OUE   RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  xxxil 

away  some  cobwebs  from  the  minds  of  the  directors ; 
and  the  chairman,  while  clinging,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  the  second-class,  said  they  intended  to  put  on 
more  workmen's  trains,  and  to  do  all  they  could  to 
develop  this  traffic — a  policy  which,  although  alien  to 
the  aristocratic  traditions  of  the  London  and  North- 
western, will  give  many  a  shareholder  satisfaction. 
There  was  irony  in  the  chairman's  remark  that  their 
line  happened  to  be  one  not  much  used  by  working- 
men.  It  was  one  of  Sir  Eichard  Moon's  boasts,  when 
he  was  at  the  head  of  affairs,  that  he  "  was  not  a 
suburban  traffic  man,"  and  the  inadequate  provision 
hitherto  made  by  the  company  for  industrial  traffic 
in  town  is  notorious,  the  London  and  North -Western, 
like  the  Great  Western,  not  having  yet  condescended 
to  run  many  workmen's  trains. 

Sir  Edward  Watkin  in  July,  1892,  told  the  share- 
holders of  the  South-Eastem  that  they  were  now 
carrying  more  passengers  than  at  any  former  time,  and 
the  reason  why  they  were  not  receiving  much  more 
money  was  that  every  one  was  travelling  by  third- 
class.  In  regard  to  this  matter,  too,  they  had  had 
to  follow  the  example  of  their  neighbours  and  com- 
petitors, and  the  third-class  carriages  had  been  very 
greatly  improved.  He  frequently  travelled  in  them 
himself,  and  saw  a  good  many  very  respectable  persons 
doing  the  same;  but,  of  course,  if  persons  who  could 
afford  to  pay  higher  fares  chose  to  travel  third-class, 
they  had  occasionally  to  put  up  with  certain  incon- 
veniences.    For  instance,  a  gentleman — a  respectable 


Ckipcxxxn.]  THB  RAILWAYS  m  189a  187 

merchant — the  otber  day  wrote  complaining  that  a 
third-class  carriage  in  which  he  and  some  ladies  were 
travelling  was  entered  by  a  policeman  with  a  prisoner, 
and  that  two  seats  were  occupied  by  these  persons. 

There  was  a  farther  abolition  of  second-class  fares 
in  1893.  Not  only  have  the  Great  Eastern,  the 
North-Eastem,  and  the  Cambrian  Railways  discontinued 
them,  but  the  London  and  North -Western  liave 
actually  done  away  with  second-class  fares  on  their 
West  Coast  route,  and  on  May  1st  labelled  their 
second-class  carriages  running  through  to  Scotland 
*•  Third  Class/'  Owing  to  the  abolition  of  second-class 
carriages  on  various  lines  in  1892,  there  was  a  decrease 
of  one  million  and  a  half  in  second-class  passengers,  and 
a  loss  of  income  of  £151,000 ;  but  the  decreased  revenue 
from  this  source  was  "  largely  counterbalanced  by  the 
increase  of  receipts  from  season  ticket  holders,"  and 
rendered  trifling  by  the  increase  in  the  number  of  third- 
class  passengers,  for  twenty  millions  more  were  carried 
than  in  the  previous  year,  and  the  additional  receipts 
amounted  to  £407,000.  The  Great  Northern,  like  the 
London  and  North -Western,  had  a  gratifying  increase  in 
the  third-class  traffic  during  the  first  six  months  of  1893, 
carrying  624,041  more  passengers,  yielding  £19,872  in 
additional  receipts.  The  results  in  the  same  period 
on  the  Midland  were  almost  equally  satisfactory, 
though  obtained  in  a  curious  way.  The  company 
created  a  problem  that  would  have  delighted  Lord 
Dundreary.  In  the  half-year  ending  December,  1892, 
they  carried  more  third-class  passengers  by  179,576,  and 


188  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxxii. 

received  less  money  by  £4,272.  In  the  first  six  months  of 
1 893  there  was  a  decrease  of  21,278  in  the  number  of  third- 
class  passengers,  but  the  receipts  were  £14,000  more  I 

To  this  it  may  be  added  that  the  results  of  the  pas- 
senger traffic  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  1894  further 
illustrate  the  triumph  of  the  third-class.  The  increase 
of  £545.150  was  accounted  for  entirely  by  this  class  and 
by  season  and  periodical  ticlcots,  the  first  class  showing  a 
decrease  of  £70,300,  and  the  second-class  of  £102,728. 

It  is  the  policy  of  the  modern  Government  to 
propitiate  the  working  man.  It  is  the  policy  of 
the  modem  railway  management  to  propitiate  the 
third-class ,  passenger ;  and  the  three  great  trunk 
lines  north  from  town  are  not  only  prepared  to  carry 
him,  but  to  provide  him  with  "  rest  and  refresh- 
ment." They  have  realised  that  he  is  really  the 
customer  to  conciliate.  They  have  tardily  taken  a 
leaf  out  of  the  book  of  the  district  traffic  manager 
who,  standing  some  years  ago  on  the  platform  "  as 
a  crowded  train  ran  in  and  emptied  its  passengers, 
nearly  all  third-class,"  said,  ''That  is  the  kind  of 
goods  I  like  to  carry.  It  loads  and  unloads  itself. 
It  requires  no  porterage,  no  delivery.  It  makes  few 
complaints,  and  does  not  get  damaged  on  the  road. 
It  gives  the  very  smallest  possible  amount  of  trouble, 
and  its  station  charges  are  next  to  nothing.  All  we 
want  is  more  of  it/' 


r -CLASS  VXRBl. 


CHAPTElt    XXXni. 


RAILWAY     CARUIAGKS — HOW     THLI     ABt     AProiNTKD 
AND    LIGIITF,]). 

rrirailiTe  liiiilway  Carriagm-A  Mayor's  Dmijci— How  Trains  iiro  Sladu  Up 
Now — Douycr  from  an  Improvemenc — ^Tho  Fuilmau  Cur's  First  Ilim 
on  an  English  Iiioo — Carriui^cs  uf  Hume  Make — Modern  Improvomonti 
in  Railivaj  Coaolies — The  Seclusion  of  the  Compartineut — Cuinmunioa- 
tion  n'iUi  tlie  Driver— Telegraphing  from  a  Speeding  Train— I>oor> 
Bangia;; — Tho  Old  Lady  and  the  Foot- Warmer— New  Method  of 
Ueatin^;  Carriages — American  Card  on  the  South -Hub  turn— A  I'rinoely 
Railway  Carriage — The  Qrcat  Western  Corridor  Train — Luxnrioua 
Travelling— Novel  Mode  of  Train-Lighting- Tho  "Candlu  Club" — 
Darkness  and  Harder- The  Oil  I^mp— Qoi  and  the  Elootrio  Lij^'ht. 

Lord  AiUNCiEB  laid  it  down  in  the  Court  of  Ex- 
chequer, during  the  struggle  of  railways  into  public 
favour,  "that  it  would  be  a  great  tyranny  if  tho 
court  insistud  that  a  witness  should  only  travel  by 
the  new  method,  and  if  he  were  a  witneEs,  in  the 
then  state  of  railways   he  should  refuse  to  come  by 


190  OUB  RAILWAYS.  cckip. xxxm. 


such  a  conveyance/  In  addition  to  the  feeling  of 
insecurity  that  prevailed  in  the  passenger's  breast, 
he  had  to  put  up  with  wretched  accommodation. 
Still  he  took  full  advantage  of  the  Englishman's 
privilege  to  grumble,  and  by  this  means  slowly 
brought  about  reform.  The  old  waggons,  mostly  seat- 
less,  and  open  to  wind  and  rain,  did  not  satisfy 
him.  The  inconvenience  of  traversing  tunnels,  nearly 
stifled  with  engine-smoke,  and  sprinkled  -with  soot, 
made  him  indignant,  and  the  railway  companies  were 
strongly  urged  to  provide  better  vehicles,  or  at  all 
events  to  cover  them  in.  Mr.  Punch  joined  in 
the  passenger's  plea  and  protest,  with  the  following 
parody : 

"  Pity  the  sorrows  of  a  tliird-chiss  man, 

Whose  trembling  limbs  witli  snow  are  whitened  o*er, 
Who  for  his  fare  has  paid  you  all  he  can  ; 

Cover  him  in,  and  let  him  freeze  no  mora 
This  dripping  hat  my  roofless  }jen  bespeaks, 

So  does  the  puddle  reaching  to  my  knees  \ 
Behold  my  pinched  red  nose,  my  shrivelled  cheeks ; 

You  should  not  have  such  carriages  as  these." 

By-and-by  the  carriages  were  covered  in,  and 
fitted  with  benches  and  toast-rack  backs,  that  left 
the  entire  vehicle  a  roaming-place  to  all  the  passen- 
gers, and  fostered  indulgence  in  the  game  of  leap- 
frog, men  climbing  over  the  partitions  to  get  more 
comfortable  seats  or  gossip  with  their  friends.  The 
first-class  carriages,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  illustration 
on  the  preceding  page,  were  fairly  comfortable,  though 
prim  and    straight-backed;    but  the  traveller  in   the 


ciiap.xxxiiLi  AN   UN80BUPUL0US  MAYOR.  191 

second-class  or  the  third-class  was  usually  discontented, 
and  apt  to  complain  that  he  got  more  jogging  than 
comfort  for  his  money.  Perhaps  on  this  account  he  had 
less  scruple  in  attempting  to  defraud  the  railway  com- 
pany.    Anyhow,  there  was  a  spirit  of  scheming  abroad. 

The  effrontery  of  the  passenger  was  not  so  glaring 
as  that  of  the  betting  men  who  in  1891  went  to  the 
booking-office  at  Sheffield  and  stole  a  bundle  of  tickets 
to  take  them  north  to  Ayr  races;  but  occasionally 
he  tried  to  hoodwink  his  carriers,  to  travel  without 
paying  his  fare,  and  to  sneak  out  of  the  compart- 
ment, sometimes  eluding  the  detective's  searching  gaze 
and  adroit  grasp.  He  was  not  always  so  fortunate, 
however;  and  the  passenger  without  conscience,  who 
thinks  it  no  sin  to  travel  without  paying  his  fare, 
or  to  ride  to  and  from  business  with  a  phantom 
season  ticket,  has  afforded  a  good  deal  of  amusement 
to  the  public,  and  considerable  trouble  to  the  rail- 
way companies,  and  work  for  the  magistrates. 

One  of  the  most  curious  stories  that  have  sprung  out 
of  this  tendency  to  defraud  has  reference  to  a  magistrate 
himself.  "The  first  compartment  of  the  leading 
carriage  in  the  first-cla«s  trains — the  post  of  danger, 
and  therefore,  perhaps,  the  post  of  honour — was  some 
years  back,  according  to  a  practice  which  had  sprung 
up,  reserved  for  servants  in  attendance  upon  their 
employers,  who  were  thus  allowed  to  travel  by  first- 
class  trains  at  second-class  fares.  It  is  related  that 
the  mayor  of  a  certain  borough  in  the  South  of 
England,  travelling   with  his  daughter   twenty  years 


192  OUR   BAILWATB.  [Ob^XZXUI. 

of  age,  conceived  the  idea  of  passing  himself  off  as 
her  attendant,  and  thus  effecting  a  saving  of  three 
shillings  in  his  fare.  Placing  her  alone  in  a  first-class 
carriage,  he  obtained  a  servant's  ticket,  and  betook 
himself  to  the  servants'  compartment.     Unfortunately, 


COI'.STIES    BAILWAT) 


however,  for  the  success  of  liis  artifice,  the  humble 
traveller  was  recognised,  and  the  authorities  at  the 
terminal  station  being  apprised  of  the  ch'cumstaDces, 
he  received  on  his  arrival  an  unpleasant  reminder 
that  he  had  rendered  himself  liable  to  a  fine  of 
forty  shillings,  which  he  was  glad  to  commute  by 
payment  of  the  difference  of  the  fare."  * 

The  old-fashioned  practice  ut  allowing  travelling 
privileges  to  servants  has  fallen  into  desuetude,  and 
the  modem  solicitude  for  the  safety  of  the   passenger 

■  '■  HaDch«itat  Bulw«7i  " :  ■  reprint  from  the  Manchttltr  City  Xta: 


OUR    BAILWAYS. 


has  wisely  ordained  that  the  first  compartment  of  the 
leading  carriage  shall  be  lockal  and  unused.  An  im- 
portant regulation  is  now  enforced,  too,  with  regard 
to  the  make-up  o£  the  train.  Many  passengers,  if 
obliged  to  travel  by  a  composite 
train  at  all,  have  been  under 
the  improssion  that  it  is  safest 
to  couple  the  trucks  to  the 
tender,  with  the  passenger  car- 
riages miming  behind  the  goods 
waggons,  so  that  "  if  anything 
happens"  the  trucks  will  bear 
the  brunt  of  the  collision  or 
other  mishap.  Experts,  how- 
ever, recommend  that  the  pas- 
senger coaches  should  be  placed 
next  the  tender,  with  the  goods 
waggons  in  the  rear  of  the  train,  the  operation  of  the 
continuous  brake  being  in  that  case  unbroken.  The 
common-sense  suggestion  has  so  impressed  the  Board 
of  Trade  that  this  make-up  of  the  composite  train  is 
now  compulsory. 

Another  danger,  arising,  singularly  enough,  out  of 
railway-carriage  improvement,  has  been  discovered, 
and,  wherever  possible,  guarded  against.  Tbe  bogie 
carriage,  with  its  great  long  body,  supported  on  bed 
frames  that  turn  beneath  it  on  pivots,  can  easily 
run  round  sharp  curves ;  but  tlie  old-fashioned  railway 
carriage,  in  which  all  the  wheels  are  fixed  rigidly  to 
the  frame,  finds  the  track  difficult  to  keep,  if  pu.'^hed 


,>* 


THIBD-CLA33  PASSEKOESa  IN 


A  SiyaULAR   31  IS II A r. 


sharply  onward 
by  a  heavy  bogie 
down  a  falling 
gradient,  and  may 
be  forced  off  tlie 
line.  The  tail  end 
of  a  train  left  the 
rails  at  Borough 
Market  Junc- 
tion, near  London 
Bridge,  on  Janu- 
ary 7th,  1892. 
and  one  of  the 
carriages,  thrown 
upon  its  side, 
killed  a  plate- 
layer. The  cause 
of  the  accident 
was  for  some  days 
a  mystery.  There 
was  no  defect  in 
the  line,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty- 
three  trains  and 
light  engines  liad 
passed  in  safety 
round  the  curve 
in  the  twenty -four 
hours ;  in  fact, 
there  had  not  been 
«2 


196  OUR  RAILWAYS.  (Chap,  xxxni. 

an  accident  on  the  curve  for  twenty  years.  Examina- 
tion of  the  track  and  of  the  rolling  stock  upheld  Major- 
General  Hutchinson's  suggestion  that  a  bogie  carriage 
had  pushed  a  third-class  carriage,  just  half  its  weight, 
over  the  outer  rail  of  the  curve ;  and  at  the  inquiry 
a  recommendation  was  made  that  heavy  bogie  carriages 
should  not  be  run  with  lighter  coaches  on  this  par- 
ticular bend.  Kailway  companies  are  not  eager  to 
court  accident,  and  hints  of  this  kind  are  readily 
taken.  The  old  jerking,  rattling,  jumping  third-class 
carriage  is  not  j^et  extinct;  but  to  the  utmost  extent, 
on  English  lines,  trains  are  now  made  up  of  bogie 
carriages,  and  drawn  by  bogie  engines. 

Travelling  has  become  not  only  rapid  and  cheap, 
but  exceedingly  comfortable ;  and  while  the  locomotive 
designer  and  constructor  have  made  marvellous  im- 
provements in  the  engine,  the  carriage-builder  has  also 
been  busy  with  brain  and  hand,  and  produced  travel- 
ling coaches  that  not  only  run  easily,  but  are  elegantly 
appointed.  The  Midland  Kailway  Compan}-  have  given 
English  travellei's  the  luxury  of  the  Pullman  cars.  Sir 
James  Allport,  impressed  with  their  suitability  for  long 
journeys  during  his  visit  to  the  United  States  in  1 872, 
made  an  arrangement,  with  the  sanction  of  his  board, 
for  the  introduction  of  the  cars  on  the  Midland  system. 
The  first  journey  was  made  on  June  1st,  1874,  from 
St.  Pancras  to  Bedford,  and  the  cars  were  the  talk 
for  some  days  of  the  railway  world.  One  passenger 
has  given  his  impressions  of  travel  by  this  Pullman 
train : — 


<%»v.  ZXxni.1     PntBT  PULLUAN  TRAIfT  IS  SNOLAND.       197 

"  literally  nothing  seemed  left  to  desire.  Entering  the  tmn  from 
one  end,  you  were  introduced  to  the  parlour  car — a  luxurious  con* 
trivance  for  short  lines  and  day  travel  only.  It  was  a  tastefully  and 
richly  decorated  saloon  over  fifty  feet  long,  light,  warm,  well 
Tentilated,   and    exquisitely  carpeted,   upholstered,   and   furnished. 


BBDrOBD  STATIOa, 


Along  each  side,  and  close  to  the  windows,  were  crimson-cushioned 
easy  chairs,  in  which,  by  means  of  a  pivot,  you  might  swing  yourself 
round  to  converse  with  your  neighbour,  or,  by  means  of  one  of 
the  thousand  ingenious  contrivances  with  which  the  whole  train 
abounded,  you  might  tilt  yourself  back  to  the  proper  angle  of  enjoy- 
ment. The  centre  is  free  for  passing  to  and  fro.  There  are  various 
little  saloons  of  the  private-box  order,  in  which  a  family  party  might 
make  themselves  happy.  Then  you  come  to  the  drawing-room, 
sleeping  car,  and  the  long  well-appointed  saloon,  with  fixed  seats  at 
the  window,  like  short  sofas,  two  and  two,  and  facing  each  other. 
Between  them  a  firm  convenient  table  could  be  planted,  and  upon 


198  OUB   RAILWAYS.  tchtp.  xxxm, 

one  of  them  we  were  able,  while  the  train  ran  at  over  6fty  miles  an 
hour,  to  write  without  difficulty.  The  tables  removed,  the  seats, 
lowered  to  meet  each  other,  became  an  admirable  bedstead ;  while 
some  beautifully  ornamented  and  finished  panels  overhead,  that 
ap|)eared  to  be  merely  |)art  of  the  sloping  roof  of  the  saloon,  were 
unfastened,  and  in  a  moment  converted  into  equally  comfortable 
upper  1)6^118.  By-and-by  the  saloon  was  restored  to  its  normal 
drawing-room  aspect,  the  tables  were  again  put  up,  waitera  entered 
with  snow-white  cloths,  pantries  and  ante-rooms  were  brought 
into  operation,  and  there  appeared  a  dining-hall  complete  in  its 
requirements." 

The  Pullman  train  is  no  longer  a  novelty,  and 
many  passengers  have  become  accustomed  to  its  free- 
dom and  its  luxury ;  but,  after  all,  there  is  an  old- 
fashioned  liking  for  the  railway  carriages  that  have 
been  made  in  English  workshops  and  are  the  out- 
come of  home  design.  In  fact,  the  passenger  coaches 
lately  placed  on  various  English  lines  vie  with  the 
Pullman  cars  in  the  beauty  of  their  appointments 
and  the  number  of  their  travelling  comforts,  and  are 
preferred  by  numerous  passengers  because  they  are 
so  cosy.  The  new  Midland  bogie  passenger-carriage, 
with  its  four  first-class  and  four  third-class  compart- 
ments, with  its  sycamore  woodwork  and  maple  mould- 
ings, its  rich  cushions,  is  good  enough  for  a  prince; 
the  dining-saloon  cars,  with  their  dainty  table-d'hote 
dinners,  run  by  the  Midland  and  London  and  North- 
western Companies  between  Manchester  and  London, 
combine  ease  of  travelling  with  epicurean  satisfaction  ; 
and  the  "  Flying  Scotsman,"  tearing  away  from  King's 
Cross  by  Grantham  and  York  to  Edinburgh,  is  made 
up    of  carriages   well   adapted    for   its   long    journey, 


k 


cup  Tiim.1 


BECL'ST  lilPRur£Jli:.\TS. 


vehicles  that  do 
iii6nite  credit  to 
the  Great  North- 
ern. Eren  the 
third-class  car- 
riages are  pro- 
vided mth  lava- 
tories, and  the 
company,  abreast 
at  all  e%'ent^  with 
other  leading  svs- 
t«ms  in  respect 
of  enterprise,  are 
now  proposing  to 
give  sleeping  ac- 
coiumodatioD  to 
third  -  class  [las- 
sengers  on  the 
East  Coast  route. 
There  is  an- 
other improve- 
ment still  required 
in  the  compart- 
ment railway  car- 
riages. The  com- 
partments are  too 
rigidly  separated. 
The  jxirtitions 
should  he  topped 
with  glass,  or  the 


8 

H 

1 

-  5 

ii 


200  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ch»p.  xxxui, 

bulkheads  removed  altogether,  so  that  in  emergency 
passengers  might  be  able  to  see  and  communicate  with 
each  other.  The  plan  has  already  been  partially 
adopted  on  some  railways,  and  if  generally  carried 
out  would  tend  to  prevent  railway  tragedy,  and  check 
and  perhaps  put  an  end  to  the  gross  assaults  on 
women  and  the  scandalous  blackmailing  of  men  to 
which  the  compartment  system  gives  encouragement. 
There  is  an  opportunity  awaiting  the  inventor  in 
the  present  mode  of  communication  with  the  driver. 
No  doubt  often,  on  a  long  journey,  when  you  have 
looked  through  your  daily  paper,  and  ascertained  how 
the  pulse  of  commerce  beats,  and  the  political  tongue 
wags,  and  what  new  freak  crime  has  been  indulging 
in,  and  when  you  have  skimmed  through  the  last 
new  book,  and  stared  abstractedly  at  the  rapidly - 
flitting  country-side,  and  yawned  and  dozed — your 
eyes,  wandering  towards  the  hat  strings  in  the  carriage 
roof  and  to  the  light  luggage  rack  just  beneath, 
you  have  read  the  familiar   notice : 

"  To  call  the  attention  of  the  guard  or  driver,  passengers  must 
pull  down  the  cord  which  will  be  found  out^de  the  carriage, 
close  to  the  cornice,  over  the  window  of  the  carriage  door.  There 
are  cords  on  both  sides  of  the  train,  but  that  on  the  right  hand  side 
in  the  direction  in  which  the  train  is  travelling  is  the  one  by  which 
alone  the  communication  can  be  made." 

The  communication-cord  has  been  of  service  in 
preventing  disaster,  and  in  bringing  help  to  defence- 
less passengers ;  but  it  is  an  erratic  and  unstable 
friend,  often   obstinate   and   disinclined   to    work,  and 


Otap.XXXlll.1    COMMUNICATION  WITH  THE  DBIVER.       201 

there  have  been  cases  in  whicli  it  has  proved  grievously 
useless  in  time  of  peril.  Surely  a  more  trustworthy 
communicator  could  be  generally  adopted ;  something 
in  the  form  of  an  electric  bell,  for  instance,  with  the 
ivory  knob  at  your  elbow,  a  system  of  communication 


:d: 


07  CABRIACE   SHOWING    ELECTBIC   COMMIJKICATION. 


already  in  use  on  some  lines.  By  such  a  method 
communication  would  be  swift  and  certain,  and  the 
passenger  would  have  no  need  to  stretch  himself 
half-way  out  of  the  carriage-doorway  in  wild  attempts 
to  reach  the  cord,  at  the  risk  of  having  his  head 
knocked  off  by  coming  in  contact  with  bridge,  or 
post,  or  p^issing  train. 

"  Sir  Edward  Watkin,"  says  the  writer  of  "  Man- 
chester Itaiiways,"  "  has  more  than  once  claimed 
for  his  company  that  it  was  the  first  to  warm  the 
carriages    with     hot-water    tins ;    the    first     to     take 


202  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Ch«p.xxxrn. 

into  Manchester  a  train  to  which  was  applied  the 
communication  between  guard  and  driver;  and  the 
first  to  provide  cushioned  carriages  for  the  second- 
class  passengers  and  to  permit  them  to  travel  by 
express  trains.  The  same  company  may  also  fairly 
claim  a  foremost  place  in  the  provision  of  continuous 
brakes  in  more  recent  times,  and  have  not  been 
behindhand  in  the  introduction  of  comforts  and 
conveniences  for  third-class  passengers." 

The  company  further  may  take  credit  for  another 
reform — for  an  improved  system  of  communication 
between  passenger,  driver,  and  guard.  A  handle  is 
fixed  just  beneath  the  hat  rack,  and  immediately 
the  handle  is  pulled  down  the  automatic  brake  is 
applied.  The  carriage  alarm  has  been  officially  sanc- 
tioned, and  is  to  be  brought  into  general  use  on  the 
line.  It  is  a  development  of  the  method  suggested 
by  Lieutenant  Le  Count  years  ago,  when,  urging  the 
importance  of  communication  between  the  guard  and 
driver,  he  wrote  : 

"The  guard  should  have  a  check-string  to  the  arm  of  the 
engine-driver ;  and  a  flexible  hollow  tube  should  be  fixed  from  the 
guard's  carriage  to  the  engine,  through  which  the  men  can  converse, 
which  the  noise  of  the  engine  and  train  will  otherwise  render 
difficult." 

Science  is  certainly  coming  to  the  help  of  the 
passenger  in  this  travelling  difficulty.  By-and-by, 
perhaps,  he  will  be  able  to  use  the  telephone  and 
the  phonograph  in  the  moving  train,  to  hold  a  sort 
of  running   comment  with   friends   miles   away  as  he 


Ckqi.xxxm.1        TELRGRAFHIXi:    FRtW   A    THAIS.  Sft^ 

speeds  through  the  land,  Altwidy  he  is  within 
measnrahle  distance  of  beinsj  aWe  to  send  a  teU>5?ww 
anywhere  fn>ni  the  train  in  which  he  is  travelHnjf, 
If  he  has  foi^>tten  at  King's  Cross  to  teU^graph  to 
his  partner  that  business  needs  him  in  Si>me  distant 
citr;  or  to  his  constituents  that  he  is  Oi>nuusj  down 
to  speak,  but  must  got  Ixiok  for  an  inqn^rtant  division ; 
or  to  his  wife  that  he  is  hurrviuij  honu^  to  dinner— 
he  will  be  able  to  send  a  mosv^igo  fi\>m  the  carrijijjt* 
in  which  he  sits,  to  the  telegraph  win\^  overhead 
by  the  line-side,  and  the  thing  will  Ih^  done ! 

"  At  the  meeting  of  the  Kailway  Tongtyss  in 
Paris,  an  interesting  paper,"  says  the  lunffntjif  XrH\t^ 
"  was  read  by  Mr.  W.  IMlitt,  general  managt^r  of 
the  Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincohishiro  Huilway, 
on  the  means  of  communication  Wtween  trains  whiU^ 
on  their  journey  and  stations  along  i\\o  line.  Tlio 
main  advantages  of  such  a  system  an^  that  in  the 
event  of  an  engine  or  train  running  away,  the  trains 
and  stations  could  be  simultjineously  advised  ;  that 
trains  broken  down  at  out-of-the-way  ])la(H»s  eoiild 
stop  approaching  trains  and  signal  for  h(»lp ;  that 
train  despatchers  would  be  in  direct  comnnminition 
with  all  moving  or  standing  trains ;  and  that  in  the 
event  of  an  error  having  been  made  by  a  Higiuilnum 
the  driver  and  guard  could  be  warned.  Tlwro  iivo 
also,  he  contends,  many  commercial  and  otlu^r  iwl- 
vantages.  Train  telegraphy  can  be  ac<j()mi)liHhed  by 
means  of  the  frictional  or  direct  contiict  HyHt<»nj,  or 
by  the  induced  current  method.     The  frictional  HyHt^'inn 


204  OUR   RAILWAYS.  rOh»p.xxxin. 

axe  those  of  Perl  and  Baillehache,  but  the  inductive 
systems  are,  it  is  claimed,  vastly  superior  in  detail, 
in  simplicity,  and  in  economy.  The  inductive  circuit, 
capable  as  it  is  of  so  many  and  various  practical 
adaptations,  has  never  been  employed  in  a  more  in^ 
genious  or  novel  manner  than  in  enabling  a  code 
of  signals  to  be  passed  from  a  station  to  a  train, 
without  any  direct  contact,  even  if  travelling  at  the 
rate  of  a  mile  a  minute.  To  accomplish  this  with 
wires  specially  laid  for  the  purpose  is  remarkable, 
but  to  arrive  at  precisely  the  same  results  by  making 
use  of  the  ordinary  telegraphic  wires  upon  which 
messages  are  being  sent  from  station  to  station  at 
the  same  time  is  both  striking  and  unique.  This 
system  is  the  joint  invention  of  Edison  and  Phelps, 
and  has  been  used  in  America  for  the  last  few  years." 

Meanwhile,  the  man  of  resource  who  succeeds  in 
inventing  contrivances  for  the  noiseless  shutting  of 
carriage  doors,*  and  for  the  gagging  of  locomotives, 
so  that  they  may  for  ever  cease  their  shrieking,  will 
earn  the  gratitude  of  the  public,  and  deserve  to  be 
canonised.  These  reforms  will  no  doubt  come  in 
time ;  and  when  they  are  introduced,  they  will  make 
a  pleasant  climax  to  the  series  of  improvements  that 
have  been  effected  in  modern  railway  carriages,  now 
fitted  with   alarm    signals,    heating   apparatus   or  old- 

•  The  Manchester,  South  Junction  and  Altrincham  Railway  have  taken 
sensihlo  action  to  check  this  nuisance.  *'  The  company  are  providing  india- 
rubber  stops  between  the  door  and  body  of  their  carriages  running  upon  this 
railway,  and  a  most  stringent  order  has  been  issued  to  the  staff  against  the 
slamming  of  carriage  doors." 


FuspendrTs,  lixg^a^re  rAci^  elbow  rcists.  draTXcbt  p^^• 
rentiers,  dust  sraardi^  sp^rnig  bands,  jmd  other  devices 
for  ensuriiig  a  comfortable  jourDey, 

There  aT>e  urtirraiefQl  passen^is  who  bare  always 
declined  Vj  ai-^v-pi  the  fcK^t-warmer  or  hot-water  tin 
as  an  iTni:»r':  Tement.  Sir  Edwaid  Wattin  tells  a  stonr 
of  an  old  laav  who  th'jUirht  one  of  these  hideous  foot- 
pans  was  an  iiifemal  inaehine,  atd  aerQa:ly  stopped  the 
train,  ai.d  insisted  up:n  the  ren^oval  of  the  thing 
from  the  compartmrnt.  l>urinir  the  craze  a  few  year? 
ago  for  weariniT  gutta-percha  lx»ots  the  foot-\i':irmer 
was  a  sc^uree  alike  of  annoyance  and  diversion :  scores 
of  passengers  unthinkingly  stuck  to  it.  Opinions 
diflVr  as  to  when  the  foot- warmer  is  the  sjreatest 
nuisance.  It  is  a  terror  to  a  woman  with  a  new  dress 
when  it  is  hot ;  it  is  a  stumbling-block  to  a  man 
when  it  is  cold.  The  onh'  good  worti  that  can  be 
said  for  the  foot-warmer  is  that  it  diffused  what  heat 
it  could  in  its  day ;  but  no  one  will  regret  that  i^s 
day  is  nearly  over.  More  rational  methods  of  making 
trains  comfortable  have  been  devised,  and  in  January, 
1S92,  the  Midland  ** aired''  the  carriages  in  their 
expresses  running  from  St  Paucras  to  liradforil 
b}^  means  of  pipes  connected  with  the  engine,  and 
so  placed  beneath  the  seats  of  the  compartments 
that  they  are  warmed  evenly,  the  passenger  no 
longer  having  **  hot  ache  "  in  his  feet,  and  anathema 
at  the  weather  and  at  tb^  railway  company  on  his 
tongue. 


206  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch.^xxx^I. 

The  South-Eastern  Railway  Company  Lave  at- 
tempted to  bring  carriages  on  tlie  American  pattern 
into  gi'eater  popularity.  On  March  2nd,  1892,  they 
made  a  trial  run  from  Charing  Cross  to  Hastings 
with  a  train  consisting  of  four  drawing-room  cars,  a 
buffet  car,  and  a  smoking  car,  all  built  by  the  Gilbert 
Manufacturing  Company,  whose  works  are  at  Troy,  on 
the  Hudson  River.  The  cars  were  sent  over  to  this 
country  piecemeal,  in  six  hundred  packages,  and  put 
together  and  fixed  on  American  bogies  at  the  works  at 
Ashford.  The  drawing-room  cars  have  saloons  thirty 
feet  long,  decorated  with  antique  oak  work,  and  fur- 
nished with  fourteen  revolving  chairs  and  three  fixed 
seats,  upholstered  in  frieze  plush  of  blue  and  gold. 
Adjoining  each  drawing-room  car  is  a  comfortable 
smoking-room,  where  you  may  lounge  and  lazily  admire 
the  scenery,  or  day-dream,  or  wat<;h  the  smoke-wreath 
from  cigar  or  pipe  drift  with  filmy  grace  into  oblivion. 
The  dining  car,  a  little  longer  tlian  the  saloons,  has 
seats  and  side  tables  fixed  on  either  side  of  the  central 
gangway  for  twenty-eight  persons,  and  at  one  end  is 
a  handsome  buffet.  Fitted  with  the  electric  light,  and 
warmed  with  the  Baker  stove,  the  train,  on  its  trial 
journey,  was  like  a  brilliantly-lighted,  sumptuously- 
furnished  house  on  wheels ;  and  the  swift  run  down 
to  the  seaside,  a  distance  of  between  sixty  and  seventy 
miles,  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  ever  made  on  an 
English  line,  for  the  travelling  was  not  only  luxurious 
but  easy,  the  hinged-bridge  plates  of  the  gangway 
connections  and  the  bogies  enabling  the  train  to  take 


INTERIOU    OF    A    I/)!(DON    AND    90UTH.WESTKItN    PULLMAN    TAIt, 


208  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Chapixxxia 

the   bends   which   occur   on   this   section   of  the   line 
without  jolt,  jar,  or  peril. 

The  luxury  of  the  American  train  is  to  some  minds 
and  bodies  greater  than  that  of  the  English  express. 
The  London  and  North -Western,  the  Midland,  the 
Great  Northern,  and  the  Great  Western  have  provided 
very  comfortable  carriages,  but  they  have  not  yet 
introduced  such  cars  as  the  one  lately  constructed  for 
the  Montreal  and  Toronto  line  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railway — a  car  CO  feet  long,  with  a  drawing-room 
32  feet  long  and  9  feet  wide,  with  six  bay  windows, 
and  a  ceiling  beautiful  with  frescoes  illustrating  the 
seasons;  a  car  sprinkled  with  easy  chairs  by  day,  and 
converted  into  a  bedroom  at  night ;  a  car  that  con- 
tains a  private  state-room,  a  library,  a  writing-desk, 
a  medicine  chest,  and  lavatories  so  scientifically  con- 
structed that  on  the  pressure  of  a  button,  powdered 
soap  slides  into  the  richly-ornamented  basins ! 

Many  carriages  on  English  railways  are  unlike  this 
princely  car.  On  the  suburban  lines,  and  on  some  of 
the  northern  tracks,  scarcely  a  day  or  a  night  passes 
without  fierce  growl  from  some  passenger  infuriated 
because  there  is  no  foot-warmer,  or  the  compart- 
ment is  in  darkness,  or  the  carriage  is  only  "fit  for 
a  cattle  truck."  But,  despite  the  apparent  indifference 
of  some  companies  to  the  comfort  of  their  passengers, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  there  is  on  our  great  railway 
systems  an  earnest  desire  towards  the  improvement  of 
rolling  stock  generally  and  the  better  design  and 
appointment  of  carriages. 


M 

^ 

■  J 

^     H.  If     m 

V     flF 

I    P-^  ■     '^ 

210  OUB   RAILWAYS.  v»tf.m.m. 

A  significant  example  of  the  keenness  of  railway 
competition  in  this  respect  was  afforded  hj  the  Great 
Western  Railway  Company  five  days  after  the  Soutb- 
Eastem  ran  their  train  of  the  American  pattern  to 
Hastings.  On  March  7th,  1892,  the  first  "  corridor 
train"  placed  on  the  Great  Western  steamed  out  of 
Paddington  Station  on  its  way  to  Birkenhead  in  the 


irOHUaHUf  BTATIOS  (HAaTIXaS   UKK)  IN   IBSl 


I 


presence  of  an  interested  group  of  spectators.  The 
Great  Western  carriages  are  joined  together  by  covered 
gangways,  and,  if  needful,  tbe  guard  can  make  his  way 
along  the  corridor  throagh  the  train.  The  passengers, 
however,  are  restricted  to  the  corridors  of  their  own 
carriages,  lest  the  third-class  traveller  should  take  a 
walking  tour  into  the  first-class  carriage,  and  recline  on 
its  morocco  and  broadcloth,  fo^tfal  of  the  &ct  that 
he  has  not  paid  the  first-class  fare.     There  are  four 


Ok.p.  zzzni.1      GREAT  WSSTSBIT  OORBIDOa  TBAItT.         211 

carri^es,  each  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  ibey  include 
one  second-class  carriage,  for  this  company  are  not  un- 
mindful that  thej  Btill  derive  considerable  revenue  from 
the  Becond-class  passenger,  and  rather  flinch  from  driving 
him  into  the  third-class.     The  corridors  are  at  the  side 


WADHnRBT   TCNNItL  (BAaTIHOB   LINE)   DT    IBM. 


of  the  carriages,  and  each  carriage  contains  a  gentle- 
men's lavatory,  a  smoking  saloon,  four  ordinary-shaped 
compartments,  the  fourth  being  reserved  for  lady 
travellers,  and  beyond  this  compartment  the  ladies' 
lavatory.  The  carriages  are  warmed  by  engine  steam, 
and  well  lighted  with  compressed  oil-gas.  There  is 
an  electric  bell  in  every  compartment,  and  if  you 
wish  to  call  the  guard,  you  push  the  button.    Nay, 


212  OUR    RAILWAYS.  [Ghap.zxznL 

you  can  not  only  summon  the  guard,  but  control  the 
driver ;  for  a  tug  at  a  wire  that  runs  along  the  cornice 
will  open  a  valve  in  the  train  pipe,  destroy  the 
vacuum,  apply  the  brake,  and  stop  the  train! 

Though  the  three  great  trunk  lines  were  tra- 
versed in  July,  1893,  by  the  new  corridor  trains, 
the  regular  service  of  these  luxurious  cars  between 
London  and  Scotland  may  be  chronicled  as  really 
beginning  on  August  1st  in  that  year.  The  Midland, 
the  Great  Northern,  and  the  London  and  North- 
western availed  themselves  of  all  their  mechanical 
and  decorative  skill  in  the  equipment  of  these  trains, 
which  consist  of  first-class  and  third-class  dining 
cars  and  corridor  carriages,  so  well  constructed  and 
so  prettily  adorned  and  furnished  that  each  train 
costs  no  less  than  £11,000.  The  corridor  train 
certainly  has  added  to  the  comfort  of  travel.  You 
may  dine,  take  tea,  smoke,  and  stroll  through  it; 
and  the  most  testy  passenger,  after  a  wholesome 
luncheon  or  table  d'h6te  well  served  in  a  brightly- 
appointed  dining  car  on  the  north  express,  is  no 
longer  justified  in  repeating  the  old  reproach  about 
the  Silurian  age  of  railway  refreshment. 

The  latest  made  carriages  on  all  the  great  lines  are, 
in  fact,  models  of  comfort  and  luxury.  The  "American 
Eagle  Express,"  running  on  the  London  and  South- 
western with  the  liner  passengers  from  Southampton, 
is  a  palace  on  wheels;  and  the  new  train  on  the 
London  and  Brighton  Bailway  resembles  a  lady's 
boudoir.     "  The  carriages/'  saya  the  Daily  Nev)%,  '*  are 


ci^zxziuj  PALACES   OH  WBBBL3.  213 

constmcted  on  what  is  known  as  the  'vestibule'  system, 
the  three  waggons  of  which  the  train  is  composed 
having  covered  passage-ways  between  them.  They 
are   fitted  with    bay  windows,   and    the    interiors   are 


finished  in  a  style  of  unusual  splendour.  Mirrors  ai-e 
all  around ;  the  chairs  are  upholstered  in  old-gold 
velvet ;  the  windows  are  draped  with  crushed  straw- 
berry damask;  the  floors  are  covered  with  "Wilton 
carpets ;  and  the  electric  light  is  everywhere." 


214  OUB  RAILWAYS.  tOhApc  xxxm. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  progress  in  railway  carriage 
comfort  has  been  in  train-lighting.  The  oil-lamp  has 
swayed^  and  flickered,  and  shone  in  the  roof  for  years, 
looking  down  with  its  feeble  but  kindly  light  on 
many  strange  sights,  reaUsing  more  vividly  even  than 
the  passengers  that  life  is  one  long  journey  in  which 
through  carriages  are  scarce,  and  doing  its  duty  in 
the  grim  darkness  of  tunnel  and  amid  the  crash  of 
collision  until  its  oil  was  spent  and  its  light  went  out. 

There  was  a  time  when  no  pretence  whatever 
was  made  to  light  railway  carriages,  and  journeys 
were  made  chiefly  in  the  daytime.  When  oil-lamps 
were  introduced  the  light  was  so  erratic  and  feeble 
that  it  was  impossible  to  read  by  its  aid  alone,  and 
here  and  there  one  meets  even  now  with  old  railway 
travellers  who  never  think  of  entering  a  train  with- 
out their  portable  reading-lamp,  so  accustomed  have 
they  been  to  provide  their  own  light.*  A  novel 
form  of  train-lighting  was  to  be  seen  years  ago  on 
the  Bolton  and  Kenyon  junction  line.  The  driver  of 
a  passenger  train  on  that  track  has  left  it  on  record : 

**  The  lamp  in  f  rant  of  the  engine  used  to  be  a  coal  fire.  A  sort 
of  crane  with  a  hook  at  the  end  of  it  stuck  out  from  the  buffer- 
plank,  and  from  the  hook  hung  a  fire-grate,  about  a  foot  in 
diameter,  filled  with  burning  coal,  the  same  sort  that  we  used  for 
the  engina  The  draught  created  bj  the  engine  as  it  ran  forward, 
and  as  it  oscillated  from  side  to  side,  kept  the  fire  bright,  and  the 
ashes  dropped  on  the  road.  We  could  see  the  line  well  before  ua 
I  have  ridden  on  such  an  engine  many  a  time." 

*  On  October  29th,  1882,  a  Pallman  oar,  rmming  from  London  to  Aberdeen, 
on  the  Midland  Railway,  was  set  on  fire  by  a  pasBenger't  reading  lamp,  and  Dr. 
Arthur,  a  government  official  from  Ceylon,  was  burned  to  death. 


oii»p.xxxia)  TEE   *' PADDY  MAIL.''  215 

In  another  part  of  this  work  the  anthor  has  re- 
ferred to  the  '^  Paddy  Mail/'  the  ramshackle  old  train 
that  conveys  the  workmen  daily  from  their  homes  to 
a  Derbyshire  pit;  but  he  had  no  idea  until  quite 
recently  that  the  battered  conveyance,  impregnated 
with  the  odour  of  tobacco,  aflForded  a  novel  example 
of  train-lighting.  When  the  train  goes  out  in  the 
darkness  of  the  winter  morning  a  light  is  placed  in 
the  brake  van.  The  illumination  is  not  provided  at 
the  cost  of  the  railway  company.  The  members  of 
the  "  Candle  Club  "  find  the  money.  The  subscription 
is  not  a  heavy  one — only  a  halfpenny  a  quarter; 
and  there  is  a  whimsical  rule  among  the  toilers  that 
any  member  thoughtlessly  increasing  his  subscription 
shall  be  fined.  Wright,  of  Derby,  the  noted  painter 
of  candle-light  pictures,  has,  in  "The  Orrery,"  given 
some  almost  dramatic  effects  of  light  and  shadow  on 
the  features  of  those  listening  to  the  philosopher's 
lecture;  but  the  brake-van  of  the  "Paddy  Mail" 
would  afford  even  a  better  subject,  with  its  erratic 
light,  its  flare  and  flicker  of  candle,  on  the  rough 
faces  of  the  pitmen  grouped  about  the  van  stove, 
listening  to  anecdote  or  laughing  loudly  at  story  or 
witticism. 

Passengers  in  the  forenoon  express  from  Man- 
chester to  St.  Pancras,  whisking  through  the  tunnels 
of  the  Peak,  have  observed  how  easily  the  electric 
light  is  turned  on  as  the  engine  gives  its  warning 
whistle  and  plunges  into  night,  and  how  deftly  it 
is     turned     off    as    the     train     runs     into    daylight 


iie 


OVtt    ItAILWAyS. 


and  8unshine  again.  But  until  a  few  years  back 
little  or  no  attention  was  given  to  train-lighting  in 
the  daytime,  and  the  passengers  had  to  traverse 
tunnels  in  darkness  with  snch  patience  as  they 
could  muster.  A  noted  crime  did  much  to  rouse 
the  railway  companies  to  more 
efficient  train-lighting — the  tra- 
gedy in  which  Ijefroy  was  the 
conspicuous  and  notorious  figure. 
'When  the  Lefroy  job  was  on," 
said  a  lampman  questioned  by 
Mr.  F.S.  Williams  on  the  subject 
of  lighting,  "  we  had  orders  to 
Tip  some  trains  by  day  that 
go  through  short  tunnels — trains 
we  had  never  lamped  before — 
and  we  have  lamped  them  ever 
since." 

The  railway  lamp-man,  as  you  are  rushing  to  catch 
your  train,  seems  a  rather  insignificant  person,  who 
makes  a  good  deal  of  unnecessary  noise,  and  con- 
tinually gets  in  your  way ;  but  in  trains  yet  nnlighted 
with  gas  and  the  electric  light  you  would  do  badly 
without  him,  and  it  is  better  to  grin  philosophically 
as  you  bark  your  shins  against  his  lamp  barrow  on 
the  platform,  and  forgive  the  bang  yon  get  from  the 
porter's  elbow  as  he  catches  the  lamp  thrown  from  the 
carriage  roof,  than  to  travel  in  the  dark.  The  old 
rape-oil  lamp,  stout  and  dumpy,  that  is  dropped, 
amid  the  clatter  of  hurrying  feet,   into   the  circular 


(iktkbiob). 


THE    ELBCTRIO   LIGHT. 


aperture  in  the  carriage  roo£  just  as  the  train  is 
about  to  start,  dies  hard.  It  will  linger  for  years 
yet  on  branches  and  by-lines ;  but,  whether  filled 
with  rape-oil  or  paraffin,  it  is  gradually  becoming 
superseded  on  main  lines  by 
compressed  gas  and  eleci.icity. 
The  Metropolitan  Bail  way  Com- 
pany, the  London  and  South- 
Western,  the  Great  Eastern, 
the  Glasgow  and  South-Wcst- 
ern,  the  Caledonian,  and  some 
of  the  English  trunk  lines  have 
used  compressed  gas  with  ad- 
vantage; but  the  electric  light 
seems  to  have  the  greatest 
attraction  for  experts  respon- 
sible for  train-lighting. 

On   the   London,  Brighton 
and   South  Coast   Bailway  the 

electric  light  has  been  in  use  for  some  years,  and  as  far 
baclc  as  October,  1881,  a  Pullman  car  was  fitted  with 
accumulators  and  worked  in  the  regular  traffic  on 
this  line  between  Victoria  and  Brighton,  causing  some 
comment  among  the  fashionable  throng  that  go  down 
to  the  sea  for  the  winter  season.  The  Brighton  Com- 
pany ten  years  later  had  sixteen  traioa  lighted  by 
electricity ;  but  the  Tivies  soon  afterwards  stated  that 
the  company,  "  after  experimenting  for  some  years  with 
the  electric  light,  have  announced  their  intention  of 
lighting    their    carriages    with    gaa.      Meanwhile    the 


218 


OUR  RAILWAYS. 


lOhap.  ZZXIH. 


passengers  continue  to  travel  in  darkness/'  The 
Great  Northern  Company  applied  the  electric  light  in 
July,  1886,  to  one  of  their  suhurhan  trains,  and 
are  at  the  present  time  making  extensive  use  of  it. 
The  Cheshire  Lines  followed  their  example,  the 
dynamo,   together  with  the   accumulator  cells,  heing 

placed  in  the  guard's  van,  and 
driven  from  the  axle  of  the 
vehicle.  The  London  and 
North -Western  introduced  the 
electric  light  into  a  train  run- 
ning between  Manchester  and 
Liverpool,  in  August,  1884,  but 
accumulators  were  not  used. 
The  dynamo,  coupled  to  a 
Brotherhood  engine,  drawing 
steam  from  the  locomotive 
boiler,  was  placed  in  an  iron 
closet  fixed  behind  the  tender,  so  as  to  be  under  the 
control  of  the  engine-driver,  two  wires  were  carried 
from  the  dynamo  through  the  train,  and  from  them 
the  lamps  in  each  compartment  were  fed,  the  djmamo 
revolving  and  the  lamps  becoming  luminous  imme- 
diately the  Brotherhood  engine  was  put  under  steam. 
The  light  here  depended  entirely  on  the  dynamo; 
but  in  the  system  adopted  on  the  Brighton  Eailway, 
even  if  the  dynamo  got  out  of  circuit  the  light 
could  still  be  obtained  from  the  batteries. 

In  1888  the  Midland  Company  gave  instructions 
for    the    equipment   of  two  trains   with   the  electric 


LIGHTER  OF  GAS  LAMP  OF 
18i5. 


1 


xxxmj      ELECTRK'  UGBT  OS  TEE  MimjLSIi         ti$ 

light  to  mn  between  London,  Mancketster,  tnd  Lii>N^ 
pool.  The  first  tnin,  wired  on  the  {Htfmllel  syt^tem, 
was  ready  in  May,  1SS9,  and  the  seccmd,  equipped 
on  the  series  system,  was  placed  cm  the  line  soon 
afterwards.  According  to  Mr.  Langdon,  in  his  in* 
teresting  paper  on  "Bailway  Train  Lighting/*  i^ad 
in  1891  before  the  Institution  of  Ciril  Engineers: 

^'The  main  adTmtage  of  the  pumUd  system  is  that  luiy 
deficieiicj  in  the  electricml  energy  o£  one  v^ude  is  wholl j,  or  to  a 
great  extent^  m^  by  the  efficiency  of  those  adjacent  to  it — the  one 
can  borrow  from  the  other.  The  main  disadvantage  of  the  series 
system  is  that  a  break  in  any  part  of  the  train — a  looso  connection — 
cuts  off  the  charging  circnit,  and  throws  the  entire  onus  of  the 
lighting  upon  the  batteriea  But  it  is  somewhat  less  costly,  in  that 
smaller  conducting  cables  may  be  used.  Experience  sjieedily  dis- 
played the  advantages  of  the  parallel  over  the  series  system,  and 
the  arrangement  of  the  second  train  was  modified  accordingly.  In 
each  case  the  electricity  was  generated  by  a  dynamo  driven  by 
belting  from  the  wheels  of  the  guard's  van.  These  installations 
have  continued  in  use  since  they  were  placed  upon  the  ^line.  The 
success  thus  attained  encouraged  the  directors  to  proceed  farther 
in  this  direction,  and  a  number  of  main-line  trains  are  now  equip|)od 
with  the  electric  light. 

*' These  trains  are  broken  up,  or  are  capable  of  being  broken 
up,  on  the  journey.  Each  vehicle  carries  its  own  lighting  power 
in  the  shape  of  accumulators,  and  the  electricity  for  the  whole 
is  generated  by  a  dynamo  driven  from  the  wheels  of  the  guard's 
van.  At  present — in  1891 — there  are  on  the  Brighton  lino 
sixteen  trains  running  lighted  by  electricity,  and  six  more  Imng 
fitted,  making  a  total  of  223  coaches  and  23  vans.  On  the  Groat 
Northern  Metropolitan  service  there  are  six,  and  two  being  fitted, 
in  all  72  coaches  and  17  vans.  On  the  Midland  there  are  eight 
main-line  and  two  local  trains,  either  in  operation  or  being  fitted, 
comprising  70  coaches  and  7  vans,  making  a  grand  total  of  365 
coaches  and  57  vans  electrically  lighted.  For  a  long  time  eleotrio 
lighting  was  limited  to  trains  which  ware  not  broken  up,  but  the 


220  OUB  RAILWAYS.  (Ohap.  xxxin. ' 

Midland  experiments  have  carried  the  application  to  a  point  which 
would  fairly  seem  to  meet  all  the  requirements  of  railway  service." 

What  development  the  future  has  in  store  with 
regard  to  train-lighting  it  is  impossible  to  prophesy, 
for  it  would  be  idle  to  attempt  to  gauge  the  possibilities 
of    such   a   dynamo  as   the   human   mind,  which   has 

• 

resources  and  energies  practically  inexhaustible.  It 
has  been  demonstrated  that  electricity,  though  it 
occasionally  indulges  in  curious  whims,  sometimes 
leaving  the  passenger  in  total  darkness  in  tunnel, 
and  now  and  then  shining  down  upon  him  vdth 
excessive  brilliance  in  broad  daylight,  vieing  with 
the  sunshine,  is  on  the  whole  a  steady,  safe,  and 
comparatively  economical  light,  capable,  with  already 
available  apparatus,  and  under  proper  supervision,  of 
illuminating  any  train. 

Some  experts,  however,  are  not  altogether  satisfied 
with  it.  Mr.  A*  M.  Thompson,  for  instance,  while 
admitting  that  a  train  running  en  bloc  may  be  success- 
fully lighted  by  electricity,  and  at  a  cost  comparing' 
favourably  with  that  of  oil  or  gas,  scarcely  thinks  the 
light  could  be  satisfactorily  used  on  a  train  leaving 
London  for  the  north  and  changing  its  character  on 
the  way,  passenger  carriages,  horse  hoses,  milk  trucks, 
and  the  stock  of  foreign  companies  being  attached 
and  detached.  Sir  George  Findlay  was  open  to  con- 
viction as  to  the  absolute  superiority  of  the  electric 
light.  It  was,  he  admitted,  more  brilliant  than  gas 
for  train  lighting,  and  for  local  and  suburban  trains, 
filled    with    passengers    returning    from    business    to 


xxxnu      THE    LIGHT  OF   THB  FUTTRE.  ^l 

their  homes  and  desiring  to  raid,  this  wiks  an  important 
consideration;  but  in  his  opinion  it  was  extremely 
doubtful  whether  this  advantage  extendeil  to  long^^ 
journey  trains  starting  at  night«  The  brilliancy  ot 
the  light,  he  thought,  would  become  rather  objection* 
able  to  passengers  wishing  to  sleep,  and  even  with 
the  gas-lights  now  in  use  on  the  North* Western  it 
had  been  found  expedient  to  provide  shades  to  olisoure 
the  light.  Finding  that  compressed  giu?  was  a  suoih^ss 
in  their  carriages,  the  company  introduced  it  int<^  the 
Royal  train;  but  the  Queen  preferred  the  oil-lam[>s, 
which  were  quickly  restored.  It  must  be  iuUUhI, 
however,  that  the  impression  prevails  among  many 
railway  men  that  notwithstanding  the  extensive  use 
of  oil-lamps  and  compressed  gas,  the  electric  light 
will  be  generally  adopted  in  England  for  train- 
lighting  ;  but  "  whether  the  current  will  eventually 
be  generated  from  the  wheels  of  the  carriage  or 
direct  from  a  separate  engine  is  a  question  which  rests 
equally  with  the  engineer  and  with  the  electrician." 

As  this  work  was  being  written,  the  author  learnt 
that  the  Midland  Company  had  withdrawn  the  electric 
lighting  apparatus  from  all  the  trains  in  which  it  was 
in  use,  and  were  substituting  compressed  oil-gas.  U\ 
view  of  such  facts  as  these,  it  is  wise  not  to  prophesy 
too  boldly. 


OBEAT  NOBTUERH  BNUINE  (S-FT.  DRIVINO  WBKRL  AHD  ODTSIDR  CTUXDEB). 
(Am  a  P^kobvmpk  btJ.R.  THobjum,  nmauhr.) 


CHAPTEE    XXXrV. 

RAILWAY    8PEKD, 

"FlfittK  Ooftohea" — LooomotiTea,  Old  and  New — Lsiinrolj  Traina — RmilwMy 
Bpeed— Wh»t  the  Pusenger  Thmki— The  Be«l  Pnoe  and  ita  Limit— 
The  RailwBj  Raoe  to  the  North— Sir  Edward  Watkin  in  the  Eight- 
Hour*  Expreaa— Fast  TiaToUinK  in  a  Btoadj  Train— Th*  Old  Fight 
for  the  Sootoh  Traffic— The  Renewed  StrnKgle-Ths -First  Honth*« 
Rnnning — Great  Kortberu  Time — Qoiok  Rnna  on  Other  LiQes — The 
Coming  Railxa; :  An  Ingeoioiu  Projeot — Amerioan  Railway  Hnrcy — 
'  Ten  Milei  in  Six  Minatea— Charln  Diokena  as  a  Railway  Traveller— 
The  "Greater  Britain"— Fast  Train*  from  Town— Railway  Ponotaallt;. 

"There  is,"  said  a  writer  in  1692,  "an  admirable 
commodiousness  both  for  men  and  women  of  the  better 
rank  to  travel  from  London,  the  like  of  which  has  not 
been  known  in  the  world,  and  that  is  by  stage-coaches, 
wherein  one  may  be  transformed  to  any  place,  sheltered 
from  foul  weather,  and  with  a  velocity  and  speed  equal 
to  the  fastest  posts  in  foreign  countries ;  for  the  stage- 
coaches, called  '  Hying  coaches '  make  forty  or  fifty  miles 
a  day."    Not  long  ago,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 


Chip.  XXXiT-I  THROUGH  THE  WOBKS  AT  DEBBY,  228 

John  Noble,  the  then  general  manager  of  the  Midland 
Company,  the  anthor  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
many  flying  coaches  that  travel  as  far  in  an  hour  as 
the  old  stage  coaches  did  in  a  day.  With  a  sort  of 
roving  permit  throogh  the  company's  works  at  Derby 
he  obtained  access  along  the  high  bridge  that  crosses 
the  maze  of  lines  behind  the  station  to  the  locomotive 
department,  and  learned  much  about  the  locomotive 
that  has  superseded  the  coaching  team,  and  takes  us 
in  what  may  be  more  truthfully  styled  "  flying 
coaches  "  through  the  land  at  any  hour,  often  in  the 
teeth  of  storm. 

The  great  machine  shop,  with  its  clang  of  labour, 
has  seen  in  its  busy  life  many  types  of  locomotive,  by 
no  means  the  least  notable  being  the  Midland  bogie 
express  passenger-engine    No.   1853,   built    from  the 


TBB  "KOBTK  BT&B"  (QBUT  WUTIRH). 


Ona    BAII  WAYS 


(lesif^^ns  of  Mr.  S,  W. 
Johnson,  the  locomo- 
tive superintendeDt, 
and  shown  at  the  Paris 
Exhibitioninl889.  It 
is  a  powerful,  rakish- 
^lookiag  engine,  weigh- 
ing forty-three  tons  in 
working  order,  and  ca- 
pable of  taking  loads 
of  from  nine  to  sixteen 
coaches.  It  is  fitted 
with  18  J  in.  cylinders, 
has  one  pairof  7ft.  6  in. 
driving  wheels  with 
tyres  of  Vickers  steel, 
and,  working  at  a  pres- 
sOre  of  160  lbs.  per 
square  inch,  does  it3 
work  between  London, 
Nottingham,  and 
Leeds  at  53^  miles 
per  hoar,  its  longest 
run  without  a  stop 
heing  124  miles.  A 
ship  captain  always 
feels  the  greatest  se- 
curity  on  his  own 
deck,  and  an  engine- 
driver  has  very  little 


628  OtTS   RAILWAYS.  t(»*p.xxii». 

tbonght  of  peril  on  his  own  footplate.  With  Buch  an 
engine,  skilful  in  design  and  worthy  in  workmanship, 
the  chance  of  mishap  is  very  small ;  for,  notwithstand- 
ing  its  high  speed,  it  runs  with  great  steadiness,  and 


works  so  smartly  and  with  such  ease  that  the  driver's 
attention  is  seldom  distracted  from  the  signals. 

The  contrast  between  a  locomotive  of  this  type  and 
some  of  the  engines  used  in  the  early  days  of  railway 
endeavour  is  not  only  interesting,  it  is  almost  ludicrous. 
Hedley's  "  PuflSng  Billy,"  constructed  in  1813,  and 
tried  with  success  on  the  Wylam  line,  was  somewhat 
whimsical  in  shape ;  still,  it  was  a  better-behaved 
engine  than  Brunton's,  patented  in  the  same  year — a 
steam-horse,  that  moved  on  its  hind  legs  wit^  futile 
strength.  The  development  of  the  locomotive  since  1814, 


a>^zxxiT.|  A   3PB0IAL   TRAIN  IN  1830.  227 

when  Geoi^e  Stephenson  placed  his  engine  "  Bliicher  " 
on  the  Eillingworth  Bailway,  is  an  instructive  study. 
"  Locoraotiou,"  the  "  Esperiment,"  the  "  Twin  Sisters," 
the  "Lancashire  Witch,"  the  "Rocket,"  the  "Invicta," 
the  "  Northumbrian,"  the  "  Planet,"  "  Mercury," 
"  Samson,"  "  George  Stephenson,"  the  "  Comet," 
"Hercoles,"  ^^^HBBM^Iowed  each  other  on  various 
lines.  The  '^^^^N^^  &  great  improvement  on 
Stephenson's  earlie^tforts  af  locomotive  construction, 
and  its  cylinders  were  placed  inside,  under  the  smoke- 
box,  and  its  driving  wheels  at  the  traihng  end  of  the 
engine.  On  November  23rd,  1830,  this  locomotive 
"  worked  a  specid  train  to  convey  voters  from  Man- 
chester to  Liverpool  for  an  election.  The  time  of 
setting  out  was  delayed,  rendering  it  necessary  to  use 
extraordinar^dfl^^h,  in  order  to  convey  the  voters 
to  Livei-p^fl^^^^y  ^nd  the  journey  was  performed 
in  sixty  u^H^^HcIiming  a  stop  of  two  minutes  on 
the  road  for^^^^'  * 

The  "Comet,"  which  worked  from  West  Bridge  to 
B^worth  at  the  opening  of  the  Leicester  uid  Swan- 
nington  Railway  in  1832,  had  its  cylinders  low  down, 
the  piston-rod  passing  under  the  leading  axle,  and  its 
reversing  gear  on  the  footplate  was  always  moving 
backward  and  forward  while  the  engine  was  in  motion. 
Its  chimney,  which  was  thirteen  feet  in  height  from  the 
rail  level,  was  knocked  down  in  the  Glenfield  Tunnel  on 
the  opening  day,  and  bad  to  be  reduced  in  stature.    The 

*  From  Uie  Joonud  of  the  Aiwodttad  Sooietf  of  Locomotive  Engineen 

T2 


228  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Oap.zzxn. 

"  Hercules  "  was  noted  as  a  powerful  goods  engine,  and 
the  "Atlas,"  which  had  six  coupled  wheels  and  its 
reversing  gear  worked  by  treadles  on  the  footplate,  was 
consideted  an  improvement  upon  it,  and  had  a  wider 
reputation.  Perhaps  of  these  earlier  locomotives  the 
"  Lancashire  Witch,"  a  four-wheeled  coupled  engine, 
constructed  in  1828  for  us^^flflfl^B|Bn  and  Leigh 
Railway,  had  the  most  disti^QP^^^^^and  met  with 
the  worst  fate.  After  dofiog  its  ^^re  well  for  several 
years,  it  was  consigned  to  the  scrap  heap. 

AmoDg  more  modem  engines  was  Bruuel's  "Hurri- 
cane," constructed  in  1838  for  the  broad  gauge,  with  a 
pair  of  ten-feet  driving  wheels ;  Trevithick's  "Cornwall," 
with  a  driving  wheel  of  eight  feet  six  inches,  built  at 
Crewe  in  1847  for  the  London  and  North -Western 
Railway ;  and  Crampton's  "  Liveri^^|^erected,  with 
eight-feet  wheels,  for  the  same  c|^^^BB^miirkable 
progress  has  heeu  made  in  tm.>^^^B^bl  build  of 
express,  mineral,  and  goods  eugii^WWing  the  jjast 
few  years.  Nearly  every  line  has  its  own  particular 
class  of  engine,  adapted  to  its  special  traffic ;  and  loco- 
motive superintendents  are  continually  suggesting  or 
devising  some  improvement  likely  to  steady  the  running 
or  increase  the  power  and  speed. 

There  are  whimsical  stories  told  of  railway  travel- 
ling in  remote  parts  of  America,  and  on  the  free-and- 
easy  lines  over  which  the  trains  saunter  in  some  parts 
of  Ireland  and  the  Isle  of  Man ;  how  the  driver  pulls 
up  opposite  some  homestead  to  chat  with  a  relative, 
or  gets  ofi  the  footplate  at  a  level-crossing  to  help  the 


SLOW    TRAVELLING. 


farm  lad  to  push  his 
milk-cart    across    the 
track,    or    drives    his 
train  so  slowly  "  that 
passengers     get     out 
when  tired  of  sitting 
still,  and  aft( 
ing  a  few 
until  the    train 
takes  thera."    An  ex- 
traordinary     incident 
comes  from  Now  Zea- 
land.     It  is    recorded 
tiiat  an  engine-driver 
in  that    colony  "no- 
ticed ft  la^y  -wa' 
her  hand  All 
where    he 
timed    to 

pulling  up  his  train, 
he  asked  her  if  she 
wished  to  get  on 
hoard;  but  she  said 
she  was  not  travel- 
ling. She  would  be 
real  grateful  if  the 
driver  would  ask  the 
passengers  if  any- 
one could  oblige  her 
with  change  for  a  £1 


230  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [O-p.  xxxir. 

note !  "  Even  more  remarkable  is  the  sporting  tale 
given  in  the  Port  Elizabeth  Telegraph  with  regard  to 
Mr.  William  Mackenzie,  a  noted  shot : 

"  Wbile  travelling  by  goods  traia  between  Oookbouse  and 
Cradock  he  happened  to  have  his  gun  with  him  in  the  guard's 
van.  Ob  ascending  a  curve  with  an  incline,  for  a  distance  of 
orer  a  mile,  of  1  in  40,  he  esjue^M^M^^^auietly  grazjng  on 
the  veldt  at  a  distance  of  ',^^9B^^B^^P^  railway  line. 
XTnable  to  resist  the  temptati(|4p^|q;^^^Eot^  he  seized  hia  gnn, 
sprang  from  the  van,  ran  ft  f^  yards  sIHK  the  veldt,  fired,  and 
shot  the  buck,  picked  him. up,  ran  and  overtook  the  train,  put 
the  buck  in  the  van,  gol  in  himself,  dressed  the  bnck,  and  had  it 
hang  np  in  the  von  before  the  summit  of  the  hill  was  reaohed. 
The  curious  part  of  the  story  is  that  the  driver  of  the  train 
knew  nothing  of  the  occurrence  until  the  next  station  wafi  reached, 
and,  when  apprised  of  the  fact,  would  not  believe  it  until  he  saw 
the  carcass  of  the  buck  still  reeking  in  the  van." 

The  speed  of  the  locomotive  is 
ing  topic  with  the  traveller,  i 
is  planging  along  a  falling  \ 
staggers  for  the  fraction  of  a  secoiH 
the  points.  "  That  was  a  close  Bhave," 
lurching  nearly  off  his  seat,  and  bending  until  his  face 
is  florid  in  search  of  his  bag  that  has  leapt  from  the  hat 
rack  to  the  carriage  floor.  He  is  quite  certain  that  the 
engine  has  been  running  down  the  sloping  track  at 
the  rate  of  100  miles  an  hour,  and  feels  a  sense  of 
relief  now  she  is  panting  up  a  steep  gradient,  and 
getting  some  collar  work.  But  the  probability  is  that 
the  locomotive  has  been  going  at  little  more  than  half 
the  speed  the  passenger  imagines.  When  an  engine  is 
travelling  at  from  50   to   00  miles   an   hour,  she   is 


TItAIN   SPEEDS  IN 


running  at  no  snail's 
pace,  and  the  express 
bogie  passengerengine 
tliat  glides  along  the 
line  at  a  booked  speed 
o£  100  miles  an  hour 
has  not  yet 
common  use. 

Mr.  Clement 
ton,  who  is  an  autho- 
rity on  the  locomotive 
tax^Jt^lfpeed,  says ; 
"Ij^^^^  one  of  the 
BrinH   and    Exeter 
nine-feet  engines  was 
oflici 
apeed 
miles  an' 
short  distau' 
falling  gradient  with 
a  light  load.      Upon 
several    occasions 
tween  1847  and  1854 
Brunei  and  Gooch 
tried   their  eight-feet 
Great  Western  en- 
gines, and  they  reached 
speeds  just    over    73 
railes    an    hour,    but 
the  engines  could 


OUn    RAILiVAYS. 


not  reach  the  speed  of  SO.  The  Great  Northern 
eight-feet-one-inch  engines  have  attained  speeds  of  79| 
miles  an  hour.  During  the  railway  race  of  1888 
several  trains  on  various  lines  ran  on  falling  gradients 
at  76  miles  an  hour;  and  in  ordinary  traffic,  speeds 
on  certain  portions  of  railways  are  daily  run  of  70,  73, 
and  occcasionally  75  niiles^M^^^^^^Bf^  be  said  that 
Bniotive's  pace, 
liles  an 
,  the  back  pres^re  and 
icome  so  great^ 
fft  the  engine, 
instructive  book  ■ 
Oeyelopment,"    the    sani* 


tressUre  and 


80  miles  an  hour  is 
and  the  cause  of  t)*^ 
hour,  the  resistanc*^ 
the  friction  togeth' 
absorb  the  whole  poj 
In  the  preface  ti 
Locomotive  and  its 
says: 

"  During  the  past  twenty-five 
many  engines,  ttnd  hatt  travelled  i] 
railways  in  this  country,  for  tlio  nfid 
rate  of  speed.  Upon  ct  few  occasions,  afl 
stances,  he  haa  i-ecorde<l  the  very  high  speed  of  799  miles  an  hour, 
bat  be  has  never  been  able  to  time  a  trun  or  engine  at  actually 
80  miles  an  hour.  Am  long  ago  as  1853,  SI  miles  an  hour  was  run  by 
enginefi  upon  the  Bristol  and  Exeter  Eailway,  but  these  have  now 
been  altered  and  their  speed  reduced.  It  is  not  wise  to  predict  what 
may  be  done  in  the  future,  but  at  present  80  miles  an  hour  is  the 
maximum  pace.  The  average  speed  of  the  fastest  express  train,  over 
a  long  run,  without  a  Bt«p — say  70  or  100  miles — is  54  or  55  miles 
an  hour,  and  to  muntain  this  it  is  not  necessary  to  run  at  more  than 
70  or  76  miles  an  hour  upon  any  part  of  the  journey." 

The  railway  race  to  the  north  in  1888  has  already 
been  incidentally  mentioned  (Vol.  I.,  p.  133).  The  North- 
Western,  determined  not  to  be  beaten  by  the  Great 


SM  OUR  SAILWATB.  lohip.  zxxir. 

Northern,  put  on  a  new  series  of  special  erpressee  in 
August.  The  first  train,  which  left  Euston  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  conBisted  of  four  vehicles, 
and  was  worked  in  turn  bj  three  engines.    The  first 


locomotive  ran  to  Crewe ;  the  second  took  the  train 
to  Carlisle ;  and  the  Caledonian  Company  continued 
the  running  with  one  of  their  own  engines  to  Edin- 
burgh, which  was  reached  at  5.52  p.m.,  or  eight 
minutes  to  spare.  A  epeed  of  75  miles  an  hour  was 
attained  on  one  stretch,  and  the  longest  ran  with- 
out stopping  was  from  London  to  Crewe,  158  miles. 
The  entire  distance  covered  was  400  miles,  and  the 
actual  time,  excluding  stops,  seven  hours  twenty-five 
minutes. 

Sir  Edward  Watkin  was  a  passenger  in  the  "  Eight 


dup.  XIIIV.1         THE  "EIOBT  nOUBS   EXPBESS."  235 

Hours  Erpress,"  aa  it  was  csalled,  on  the  third  day  of 
the  new  service,  and  gave  the  foUowing  account  of 
his  experience: 

"  I  have  travelled  all  over  the  world,  and  I   have 


PBBSTOir  BTATIOK. 

never  had  a  pleasanter  journey.  There  was  steadiness, 
noiselessness,  continuity  of  speed;  no  rushing  up  and 
down ;  no  block,  except  just  once  at  Atherstone ; 
always  before  time.  It  was  capital  in  every  way. 
And  then  the  refreshment  part — the  lunch,  at  Preston 
—soup,  choice  of  meat,  sweets,  cheese,  and  a  cup  of 
coffee,  and  all  for  three  shillings.  It  is  a  train  de  luxe, 
in  fact.  The  highest  speed  travelled  was  not  more  than 
65  miles  an  hour.     The  great  secret  in  getting  a  steady 


236  OUa   BAILWA73.  ic*.p.xxxiv. 

train  is  to  have  the  vehicles  the  Bame,  length,  the  same 
weight,  and  all  coupled  well  together.  That  was  the 
case  to-day,  and  I  never  experienced  easier  running.  I 
remember  when  I  was  a  boy  of  eleven,  and  Huskisson 
had  been  injured  at  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  Kailway,  that  George  Stephenson  ran  down 
on  one  of  his  engines  to  Manchester  to  get  doctors ;  and 
the  newspapers  said :  '  ]IaAV*i|f  to  relate,  the  engine 
bearing  George  Steph^^n  to  Manchester  attained  the 
extraordinary  speed  of  34  miles  an  hour.'  There  is 
really  no  danger  in  70  miles  an  hour,  exce^ii  cross- 
ings and  sidings,  and  not  there  if  the  poi^^^re  kept 
properly  cleaned  and  oiled.  I  should  say  on  the  whole 
that  the  West  Coast  is  physically  better  4v  ^^^ 
running  than  the  East  Coast.  The  advantages  of  the 
West  Coast  are  that  tlicy  have^fne^nola^  large 
amount  of  level  ground.  Thej^^^^^Rifr  99  almost 
all  the  way  to  Preston,  excepl^^^^^l^BR^ne,  which 
is  a  still  gradient — one  in  80.  TwBPBRhe  old  Lan- 
caster and  Carlisle  there  is  about  one  in  70 — up  Sbap 
Fell — and  there  is  Beattock.  On  the  East  Coast  the 
disadvantage  is  that  they  have  not  quite  so  level  a  line 
on  the  balance,  and  they  have  a  very  much  larger 
number  of  points  and  crossings  to  pass  through — all  the 
colliery  districts  of  the  north-east.  You  dare  not  go 
banging  through  all  these  points  and  crossings  at  the 
same  speed  as  on  an  unobstructed  line. 

"  The  Forth  Bridge  is  an  important  thing  in 
this  new  railway  struggle.  But  the  fact  is,  you 
always  find  Scotchmen  will  fight.     I  believe  the  real 


AUGUST, 

1888. 

C'UULl. 

Km^BO^H. 

Timc-Tihle 

Arr.  4.ST.    Dtp  4.3S. 

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TBS    RACE    TO    EDINBURGH. 


combatants  in  this  battle  are  the  Caledonian  and  the 
North  British.  The  East  Coast  last  year  managed 
by  a  little  dodging  to  filch  away  some  traffic  from 
the  West  Coast.  My  impression  is  that  the  com- 
bative Caledonian  people  have 
said  to  the  North -Western, 
'  Come,  you  must  help  us — 
we  won't  stand  this  any 
longer.' " 

Sending  me  an  extremely 
interesting  table  {see  front 
of  fly-sheet)  showing  the 
first  month's  running  in  this 
railway^  race,  Mr.  F.  W. 
Webb,  the  locomotive  sup- 
erintendent of  the  Iliondon 
and  Nortl^- Western  Itailway, 
says :      Appended  is  a  copy 

of  the  time  occupied  by  the  fast  trains  in  the  so-called 
race  from  Euston  to  Edinburgh.  The  speeds  then  run, 
however,  were  very  little,  if  anything,  in  excess  of  those 
often  obtained  on  the  line.  The  particularly  fast  trains 
ran  at  the  time  were  very  light,  and  we  constantly 
used  our  small  types  of  engines.  For  oar  heavier 
trains  we  principally  used  the  six-feet  compounds  and 
tlie  seven-feet  compounds." 

I  am  indebted  to  the  late  Mr.  Patrick  Stirling,  the 
locomotive  engineer,  for  information  with  regard  to  fast 
running  on  the  Great  Northern  Railway.  Writing  on 
September  10th.  1892,  he  said :  "  As  regards  the  speeds 


OUR    BAJLWATS. 


of  trains,  I  cannot  do  better 
than  send  the  records  of  the 
running  of  our  Scotch  train 
from  King's  Cross  to  York 
during  the  so-called  race.  I 
also  enclose  an  account  of  a 
special  run  with  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  in  July, 
1880,  as  well  as  particulars 
of  the  running  of  one  of  our 
HB.  PATRICK  sTiBLiKo.  Manchester  expresses,  taken 

DmadT^  '  '  by  Mr.  Martin,  the  locomo- 
tive engineer  of  the  New 
Zealand  Railway."  Few  more  remarkable  stories  have 
ever  been  told  by  figures;  and  if  George  Stephenson 
— notwithstanding  his  curious  prophecy  that  the 
company's  trains  would  never  be  able  to  r^ch  York 
on  this  track  in  foggy  weather — were  alive  now,  and 
could  study  them,  he  would 
be  more  surprised  even  than 
he  was,  in  the  early  part 
of  his  career,  when  he  was 
presented  with  a  silver  cup 
and  one  thousand  guineas 
for  his  discovery  of  the  rude 
wire-cased  safety  lamp.  The 
records  of  the  race  to  Edin- 
burgh will  be  found  at  the 
hack  of  the  fly-sheet;  ihe 
other  tables  are  as  follow : — 


Obap.  ZZXIV.] 


TRAIN  8PESD8. 


299 


Speed  of  a  Special  Train  run  from  London  to  York  on 
31  ST  July,  1880,  with  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

Klng*8  Cross,  London,  to  York,   188  miles,  in  3  hours  37}  minutes. 

Miles  per  Hour 

King's  Cross  to  Grantham ...         ...         ...         ...         52^ 

Grantham  to  York .  .         ...         ...         ...         ...         57 

King's   Cross  to   York,   including    10 J   minutes' 

stoppage 
King's   Cross   to    Peterboro'  (76J   miles   in   84^ 

minutes)  ...         ... 

Peterboro'  to  Stoke  Box,  rise  of  320  feet  (23|  miles 

in  28^  minutes) 
Hatfield  to  Peterboro'  (58|-  miles  in  60J  minutes) 
Claypole  to  Selbj  (59  miles  in  60}  minutes) 
Barkstone  to  Tuxford  (22^  miles  in  20|  minutes) 
Grantham  to  York  . . . 


} 
} 


52 
54 
50 


59 
64i 
57 
57-9 

58J 
58^ 
59 


Speed  Recorded  by  Mr.  C.  R.  Martin,  Locomotive  Engineer 
New  Zealand  Railway,  whilst  Travelling  in  the  2  p.m. 
Special  Express  from  Manchester  to  London  by  the  Great 

Northern  Railway. 


)} 

„       KfKil.K/y 

» 

„  Doncaster 

l> 

,,  Retford 

9> 

„  Newark 

H. 

Passed  Stoke  Box        4 

M. 

27 

Sees. 

21  p.m. 

MUet. 

.  •  • 

Speed. 
Miles  per  Hour. 

••• 

„      Corby                4 

30 

20    „ 

... 

• . . 

„      Tiittle  Bjtham  4 

34 

15    „ 

m 

75-45 

y,      Essendine         4 

37 

10    „ 

3f* 

77-10 

,,      Tallington        4 

40 

1    » 

3H 

79-40 

Distance  12U     mIS^  17715 

per  Hour  j 

Mr.  Worsdell,  the  locomotive  superintendent  of  the 
North-Eastern  Eailway,  sent  me  the  following  state- 
ment, showing  the  speeds  of  the  express  trains  on  that 


line:- 


OUB    RAILWAYS. 


-a      ti 

TJ 

13 

_ 

S     3 

g   a 

a 

9 

i 

lilt 

If 

If 

If 

TB  o  15  o 

1^1^ 

1^ 

i^ 

m^up<^ 

'P       ^ 

■* 

EjS-^-^Sgc 

71 

"gt^lS^^ag 

Sfi/SS^    -s 

-^ilol^- 

O  O  13  t^ 

—  o  m 

o  t-  —  O  1- 

.no 

g-n^;an£°.n 

<p  ■*  0)0 

"r      "?* 

_    -J-cp  «  -*1 

IlllcS^sg 

<&S£5a^8 

sss 

h 

"P 

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—         CJ 

o 

■  =  " 

in 

£i^ 

■ ^ 

w  o  to 

0>  to  lO  O  00 

h'' 

moo<~(0 

c-i  tpi:- 

t-  *  ,-  «  cp 

^OOlOl 

«  CO  51  to  CO 

■fl-m 

S'-JS 

-w  •n 

tt 

Srl-a,^^ 

OtD  — 

Ol  t-oot- 

•vai 

Kto^nM 

<M-*in 

(M  — 

^i 

^, . 

—  o  o 

ooooo 

oo 

U 

Ol-O  1- 

1-  to  'f 

a    " 

■50  to  :0  !C 

to  to-j- 

—  (M  ^          !M 

■-"^ 

^  „    '■ 

■^i'^ 

1  ^ 

1 

, 

ill 

ll 

Durham 

Darlingto 

Northalle 

Thirsk 

York 

5 
II 

:  ;    i  ; 

:| 

1 

i 

■3        ^ 

'If 

Iflll 

ll 

o  o   □  o 

III 

iai^'i 

tn^^Hl?; 

«z 

■g 

<  .  - 

1  =  = .- . 

•J    , 

■^   -  -  . 

S    s  :;   =  s 

3    :   =   = 

"g 

1  =  = 

1=  =  =  = 

1      = 

o      .    .     . 

S 

ooooo 

^q  -=>  m  o 

,ooo 

■^  T  T  ■*.  T 

oo 

oo- 

cb.[.  xxxiv.i       A  HUNDRED  4s  FIFTT  MILES  AN  EOUR.     241 


I.  a.  W.  JOBNBOR. 


Mr.  Johnson,  the  locomotive  superintendent  of 
the  Midland,  writes ;  "  So  far  as  my  knowledge  goes, 
72  to  75  miles  per  hour  is  frequently  made  by 
Midland  express  trains."  The  "  Flying  Dutchman," 
the  "Wild  Irishman,"  and 
the  "  Flying  Scotsman  "  go 
fast  enough  to  satisfy  most 
passengers  with  finely-strung 
nerves.  There  is  some  pros- 
pect, too,  of  the  construction 
of  a  railway  that  will  pro- 
vide travel  sufficiently  rapid 
to  gratify  the  earnest  haste 
of  the  Bishop  of  Eipon.  A 
German  engineer,  confident 
that  the  locomotive  has  now 
done  its  best,  and  that  its 
speed  can  never  attain  a  much  greater  rate  than 
sixty  miles  an  hour,  has  devised  a  method  of 
travelling  calculated  to  make  even  a  bishop  breathless. 
His  idea  is  to  supersede  the  old-fashioned  railway, 
with  its  ballast,  and  sleepers,  and  light  rails.  His 
line,  with  the  up  and  down  track  ten  yards  apart, 
must  be  made  of  much  heavier  rails  set  in  solid 
masonry ;  and  along  this  substantial  road  electrical 
express  cars  are  to  run  at  a  speed  varying  from 
120  to  150  miles  an  hour.  Each  car  will  be  prac- 
tically a  train  to  itself,  giving  accommodation  to  forty 
passengers,  dashing  away  unattached,  projected  from 
town  to  town  by  electricity    supplied  from  the  rails. 


242  OUB  RAILWAYS.  (oiuip. xxxi?. 

It  is  explained  that  the  two  sets  of  rails  will 
have  to  be  fixed  far  apart,  lest  the  passing  cars, 
raising  a  hurricane  in  their  flight,  should  blow  each 
other  o£E  the  track  ;  and  that  a  special  system  of 
signalling  will  have  to  be  introduced,  inasmuch  as 
ordinary  signals  would  be  useless  with  such  flying 
cars.  The  signalman  seems  to  be  entrusted  with  a 
good  deal  of  responsibility  on  this  marvellous  rail- 
way, for  he  is  expected  to  stop  the  car  by  shutting 
off  the  electric  current  from  his  stretch  of  line. 
One  shudders  to  think  what  would  become  of  the 
forty  passengers  if  the  signalman  happened  to  fall 
asleep,  or  fell  dead  among  his  levers;  but  a  distinct 
advantage  is  promised  on  the  new  line — there  will 
be  no  time-table  :  no  wild  hunt,  no  frantic  turning-out 
of  drawers  in  search  of  it,  at  breakfast-time;  for  the 
cars  will  start  every  ten  minutes. 

A  human  being  can  adapt  himself  to  anything, 
and  would  probably  soon  become  accustomed  to  this 
new  style  of  locomotion,  though  its  tendency  might 
be  to  flatten  him  out  like  the  aerial  voyager's  dog 
that  became  a  satellite  in  "The  Journey  to  the 
Moon ;  '*  still,  considering  the  enormous  amount  of 
capital  expended  on  the  present  system  of  railways, 
and  the  objection  shown  by  so  many  passengers  to 
such  unnecessary  haste,  it  is  doubtful  whether  this 
latest  form  of  railway  enterprise  will  be  widely  adopted 
in  the  present  generation. 

Meanwhile  there  is  a  desire  to  get  the  highest 
speed    possible    out  of  the    existing    railway  system, 


I 


TERES    NOTABLE    BUHS. 


and  the  speed  trials, 
particularly  on  the 
American  lines,  have 
produced  some  aston- 
ishing results,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from 
I^e  Engineer  ; 

"  Three  notable  runs 
have  been  made  recently 
on  American  railroads. 
The  first  of  these  took 
place  in  connection  with 
a  special  effort  to  accele- 
rate the  transport  of 
mails  from  Yokohama  to 
Queenstown.  The  steamer 
Empmt  of  Jtxpan  left 
Yokohama  on  August 
19th,  1891,  at  8.45  a.m., 
and  arrived  at  Vancouver 
at  noon  on  August  29th. 
A  special  tniin  on  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway, 
consisting  of  one  mail 
and  baggage  car,  and  one 
slee|)ing  car,  started  at 
I  p.m.  with  thirty-three 
bags  of  mails,  and  ran 
to  Erockville,  a  distance 
of  2,792  miles,  in  76 
hours  31  minutes  actual 
time,  the  average  ttpced 
being  thus  3623  miles  an 
hour.  At  Brockvillu  the 
train  croaiied  the  ferry  to 


2U  OUR   RAILWAYS,  routp-xxxiv. 

Morristown,  where  it  entered  the  Rome,  Watertown,  and  Ogdensburg 
line,  and  ran  to  Utica.  There  it  got  on  the  New  York  Central  and 
Hudson  Kiver  systems,  and  reached  New  York  on  September 
2nd.  From  Morristown  to  New  York  the  distance  is  361  miles, 
which  was  traversed  in  6*58  hours,  the  rate  being  51.81  miles  an 
hour.  The  second  run  took  place  on  August  27th.  It  was  made  by 
a  special  train  on  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad.  This  train 
was  run  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  how  fast  it  was  possible  to 
go,  and  the  quick  running  was  made  on  the  section  between  Jenkin- 
town  and  Langhome,  a  distance  of  12  miles.  The  total  weight  of  the 
engine  and  a  train  of  three  cars  was  150  English  tons  and  the 
average  speed  over  the  12  miles  is  given  as  82*7  miles  an  hour,  while 
one  mile  is  said  to  have  been  traversed  in  39  4-5  seconds,  or  very 
nearly  90*5  miles  an  hour.  The  third  run  was  by  far  the  most  note- 
worthy of  the  three.  It  took  place  ou  September  14th  on  the  New 
York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  from  New  York  to  East 
Buffalo,  a  distance  of  436^  miles.  The  train  consisted  of  an  engine 
and  three  cars,  the  total  weight  being  230  American  tons.  The 
distance  was  traversed  in  439  J  minutes.  The  engines  were  changed 
three  times,  and  there  was  a  short  delay  caused  by  the  heating  of  an 
axle-box.  The  actual  running  time  was  425  minutes  12  seconds,  and 
excluding  stops,  the  average  speed  was  61*56  miles  an  hour.  This 
performance  has  never  been  equalled.  The  speed  was  very  uniform, 
the  quickest  mile  being  done  at  the  rate  of  76*5  mih*^  an  hour. 
Taking  the  American  run  as  a  whole,  it  constitutes  a  distinct  de- 
parture in  railway  work." 

These  records  were,  according  to  an  Americaa 
correspondent,  broken  in  February,  1892,  by  a  run- 
away locomotive.  The  chronicler  of  this  marvellous 
run,  possessing  both  a  vivid  imagination  and  a  facile 
pen,  writes: 

"*  Locomotive  running  wild — clear  the  main  track,*  was  a  message 
sent  along  the  Pennsylvania  and  Poughkeepsie  Railway  the  other 
day.  The  truant  locomotive  had  been  standing  on  the  main  line  at 
Blairstown,  when  a  goods  ti*ain  coming  up  behind  ran  into  it.  The 
throttler  was  thrown  wide  open  by  the  shock,  and  before  anyone 


Ch«p.xxxiv.j  A  RUNAWAY  ENGINE.  245 

could  leap  on  board  the  engine  it  was  tearing  down  the  track  at 
the  rate  of  a  mile  a  minute.  The  small  knots  of  people  at  the  various 
stations  heard  a  rushing  roar,  and  saw  a  flash  of  burnished  brass  as 
the  engine  flew  by.  A  passenger  train  for  New  York,  on  the  Susque- 
hanna and  Western  road,  was  almost  due  at  Portland,  and  everyone 
expected  a  collision  on  the  tracks,  which  are  used  jointly  by  the  two 
roads;  but  the  runaway  reached  the  Poughkeepsie  Road  crossing, 
and  was  switched  on  to  that  road  two  minutes  before  the  Susque- 
hanna train  came  along.  The  switch  was  turned  half  a  minute 
before  the  engine  reached  it,  otherwise  nothing  would  have  saved  the 
passenger  train.  The  truant  engine  dashed  along  the  long  brir^jge  at 
Portland  at  the  mte  of  seventy-five  miles  an  hour.  Steam  began 
failing  on  the  heavy  gradient  of  the  bridge,  the  engine  slackened  its 
speed,  and  a  man  leaped  on  board  from  another  engine,  climbed  over 
the  coals  to  the  throttle,  and  stopped  the  runaway.  The  run  from 
Blairstown  to  Portland,  ten  miles,  had  been  made  in  six  minutes." 

America  always  has  gone  through  life  in  a  liurry. 
It  would  be  strange  if  Brother  Jonathan,  who  is 
always  telling  the  world  that  he  can  lick  creation, 
did  not  reach  a  higher  railway  speed  than  any 
other  people.  But  with  all  the  luxury  of  his  cars, 
the  romantic  look  of  his  locomotives,  that  pant  across 
the  prairie  and  toss  buffaloes  and  red  Indians  out 
of  their  path  with  fan-like  cow-catchers,  and  the 
tearing  speed  of  his  trains,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
he  gives  such  comfort  in  travelling  as  is  to  be 
found  on  any  of  the  best  managed  English  rail- 
ways. His  pace  is  faster,  his  permanent  way  less 
trustworthy,  and  his  railway  disasters  more  numerous 
and  altogether  more  sensational  and  thrilling  than 
the  most  serious  railway  accidents  that  occur  in  this 
country.  His  tracks  and  rolling  stock  have,  it  is 
true,   been    greatly   improved   since    Charles    Dickens 


246  OUB   RAILWAYS.  (Chftp. xxxiv. 

visited  America,  but  on  some  routes  even  yet  the  "fix" 
of  the  rails  does  not  tend  to  a  feeling  of  security. 

"I  have  often  asked  Americans  in  London," 
wrote  the  novelist,  "  which  were  the  better  rail- 
roads— ours  or  theirs.  They  have  taken  time  for 
reflection,  and  generally  replied  on  mature  considera- 
tion that  they  rather  thought  we  excelled,  in  respect 
of  the  punctuality  with  which  we  arrived  at  our 
stations  and  the  smoothness  of  our  travelling/'  "I 
wish,"  he  wrote,  during  his  visit  to  Philadelphia  and 
the  South  in  1842,  "you  could  see  what  an  American 
railroad  is,  in  some  parts  where  I  have  now  seen 
it.  I  won't  say  I  wish  you  colild  feel  what  it  is, 
because  that  would  be  an  unchristian  and  savage 
aspiration.  It  is  never  enclosed  or  warded  off.  You 
walk  down  the  main  street  of  a  large  town ;  and 
slap-dash,  headlong,  pell-mell,  down  the  middle  of 
the  street,  with  pigs  burrowing,  and  boys  flying 
kites,  and  playing  marbles,  and  women  talking,  and 
children  crawling,  close  to  the  very  rails — there  comes 
tearing  along  a  mad  locomotive  with  its  train  of 
cars,  scattering  a  red-hot  shower  of  sparks  (from  its 
wood  fire)  in  all  directions ;  screeching,  hissing, 
yelling,  and  panting;  and  nobody  one  atom  more 
concerned  than  if  it  were  a  hundred  miles  away. 
You  cross  a  turnpike  road ;  and  there  is  no  gate, 
no  policeman,  no  signal — nothing  to  keep  the  way- 
farer or  the  quiet  traveller  out  of  the  way  but  a 
wooden  arch  on  which  is  written  in  great  letters 
'Look    out    for  the   locomotive;'    and   if    any    man. 


AMSBIOAN  EAILWAYS. 


woman,  or  child 
don't  look  oat, 
why  it's  hia  or 
her  fault,  and 
there's  an  end  of 
it." 

When  he  re- 
visited the  States 
in  the  year  1807, 
he  seemed  rather 
angry  with  some 
phases  of  his  rail- 
way journeying, 
"  The  railways," 
he  declared,  "are 
truly  alarming — 
much  worse  (be- 
cause more  worn 
I  suppose)  than 
when  I  was  here 
before.  We  were 
beaten  about  yes- 
terday as  if  we 
had  been  aboard 
the  Cu6a.  Two 
rivers  have  to  be 
crossed,  and  each 
time  the  whole 
train  is  banged 
aboard     a     big 


248  OUR  RAILWAYS.  cch*p.xxxrr. 

steamer.  I'he  steamer  rises  and  falls  with  the  river, 
which  the  railroad  doesn't  do;  and  the  train  is  either 
banged  up-hill,  or  banged  down-hill.  In  coming  oflE 
the  steamer  at  one  of  these  crossings  yesterday,  we  were 
banged  ,up  such  a  height  that  the  rope  broke,  and  one 
carriage  rushed  back  with  a  run  downhill  into  the 
boat  again.  I  whisked  out  in  a  moment,  and  two  or 
three  others  after  me ;  but  nobody  else  seemed  to  care 
about  it.  The  treatment  of  the  luggage  is  perfectly 
outrageous.  Nearly  every  case  I  have  is  already 
broken.  When  we  started  for  Boston  I  beheld  to 
my  unspeakable  amazement,  Scott,  my  dresser,  lean* 
ing,  with  a  flushed  countenance,  against  the  wall  of 
the  car,  weeping  bitterly.  It  was  over  my  smashed 
writing  desk.  Yet  the  arrangements  for  luggage 
are  excellent,  if  the  porters  would  not  be  beyond 
description  reckless." 

Charles  Dickens  has  not  been  allowed  a  monopoly 
on  this  subject.  American  criticism  of  our  railways 
has  been  as  severe  as  the  novelist's  strictures  of  the 
tracks  in  the  States.  A  favourite  run  of  American 
travellers  on  reaching  the  Mersey  is  to  go  down  to 
the  Peacock  Inn,  at  Rowsley,  on  the  Midland,  for 
Chatsworth,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  place.  They 
are  delighted  with  the  old  grey-stone  house,  and 
its  quaint  garden  in  the  village,  and  with  the  park, 
and  the  art  treasures  of  the  Cavendish  mansion;  but 
they  find  the  ordinary  railway  c^irriages  crampy  and 
stuffy,  and  going  through  the  tunnel  they  calculate 
that  the  train  is  indulging  in  a  *'  darned  crawl." 


AMERICAN   CRITICS. 


At  a  watering-place  two  or  three  years  ago  the 
author  was  dining  with  an  American  lady  and  her  son. 
They  were    travelling  through  England,  and  thought 


BAILWAT  piTE  AT  CBEWE  IN 


it  a  worn-out  country.  The  lady  was  particularly 
incensed  against  our  mode  o£  railway  travelling. 
She  had  come  down  from  Scotland  by  the  West  Coast 
route,  and  the  express,  lurching  a  little  at  Shap,  had 
disturbed  her  equanimity,  and  given  her  son  such  a 
fright  apparently  that  his  hair  was  still  standing  on 
end.  She  was  nearly  choked  in  the  small  compart- 
ment, uneasy  because  she  was  locked  in,  and  so  upset 


250  OUE   RAILWAYS.  [GhAp.xzxiv. 

by  the  rattle  and  roar  of  the  express  that  she  wished 
she  was  back  on  her  clearing  in  "  Am-meri-ka."  Our 
stations  were  dirty  and  noisy,  our  railway  porters  rude 
and  uncouth,  and  our  carriages  execrable ;  but  she" 
was  quite  satisfied  with  our  railway  speed.  The  train, 
nevertheless,  was  not  running  a  mile  a  minute,  and  its 
speed  was  accelerated  and  its  clatter  intensified  in  the 
lady's  mind  by  the  state  of  hel:  nerves. 

A  locomotive  has  been  placed  on  the  London  and 
North -Western  Railway  that  can  travel  a  mile  a 
minute  without  much  straining.  It  is  the  outcome 
of  Mr.  Webb's  engineering  skill — a  compound  engine, 
with  a  long  boiler  and  an  intermediate  combustion 
chamber,  carried  on  four  pairs  of  wheels,  uncoupled, 
its  high  and  low  pressure  driving-wheels,  seven  feet 
one  inch  in  diameter,  being  in  front  of  the  firebox. 
The  locomotive,  designed  to  work  the  heavy  passenger 
traffic  over  the  West  Coast  between  Euston  and  Carlisle, 
weighs  in  working  order  52  tons  2  cwt.,  and  is  6j  tons 
heavier  than  the  ordinary  express  passenger-engine. 
It  is  conspicuous  for  its  length  and  look  of  power; 
and  when  the  "  Greater  Britain,"  of  which  a  view  has 
already  been  given,*  cleared  Crewe  Works  on  the  29th 
October,  1891,  and  with  its  huge  body  and  large 
wheels,  a  picture  of  burnished  brass  and  shining  steel, 
took  its  preliminary  canter  to  Chester,  it  aroused 
much  admiration  by  its  strength,  speed,  and  bearing. 
Romance  ran  much  faster  than  the  locomotive,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  glibly  asserted  that  the  new  engine 

•  Sm  VoL  I.,  p.  9. 


252  OUR   RAILWAYS.  tdutp. xixiv. 

could  easily  traverse  one  hundred  miles  in  an  hour. 
What  speed  she  could  make  if  her  fire  was  hanked  up, 
and  the  driver  let  her  have  free  play,  it  is  difficult  to 
estimate.  Probably  she  would  exceed  eighty  miles  an 
hour ;  but  on  such  a  run,  though  the  leading  wheels  are 
fitted  to  a  radial  axle,  and  can  take  the  sharpest  curves 
with  safety,  the  passengers  in  the  bogie  carriages  would 
be  apt  to  sway,  and  the  more  timid  travellers  perhaps 
feel  rather  uncomfortable.  On  her  trial  trip  from  Crewe 
to  London  on  November  4th  the  same  year,  the  loco- 
motive made  very  good  running,  especially  considering 
that  all  her  parts  and  gearing  were  quite  ne^,  and  had 
not  been  worked  into  condition.  The  train  consisted  of 
the  engine,  tender,  and  twenty-five  coaches,  and  ran  to 
Euston  in  four  hours  two  minutes,  including  a  stop  of 
twenty-one  minutes  at  Rugby.'  Between  Crewe  and 
Rugby  her  average  speed  was  4ri8  miles  per  hour,  and 
between  Rugby  and  town  44' 5 9  miles  per  hour.  The 
following  is  the  official  record  of  her  working: 


Running  Timea. 

Crewe            dep.  11.  4 

a.m. 

Distance 
Milea. 

... 

Speeds 

... 

Whitraore 
Rt^fford 

pass  11.25 
„    11.42 

99 

m 

14 

3000 
49-41 

Rugeley 
Lichfield 

„    11.55 
„    12.  6  ] 

99 

[>.m. 

H 

8 

42-69 
43-63 

Tamworth 

„    12.14 

»» 

61 

46-87 

Nuneaton 

„    12.33 

)9 

13 

4105 

Rugby 
Blisworth 

arr.  12.54 
dep.     1.16 
pa&s     1.46 

91 

I) 

•   •  • 

19  J 

41-42 

... 
38-22 

VVolverton 

„      2.  0 

99 

lOJ 

45  00 

Bletcliley 

„      2.  7 

9 

H 

49-28 

i 

k 

A^^JM 

g- 

m 

■  *;  !-ji>".  ^3i.3i;3j\; 

l! 

I'li 

m 

Pt 

4 

MP^hi 

li^ 

Mj 

F 

uufc! 

^; 

m 

I*-/ 

Ti^^^\ 

Fi 

]^y 

4 

M: 

:i^ 

^ 

^l=^-««)!^S3=    ■• 

^-      H  *    ^-^^S 

TT  J 

■■-.rfd 

*■*  ;;it 

H 

j*i 

Hi 

n 

f  i 

a 

rj' 

4.5- 

5 

I". 
i 

I :::: 


1:1:: 
fill 


••• 

•  •  •■  •< 


'• 


FBOU  OBEWE    TO   LONDON. 


Official  record 

(coniinued): 

,. 

nnlngXIma. 

"SS" 

Bpuda 

LeightOD 

pass    2.15  p.m. 

6} 

48-75 

T,ing 

„      2.28    „ 

8! 

39  33 

Walford 

,      2.*5    „ 

"1 

50-29 

WiUerien 

„      2,58   „ 

12 

55-38 

Euaton 

•rr.       3.  6    „ 

H 

39-37 

The  latter  part  of  her  journey  was  through  rain,  and 


TBB  BOILEB  BHOP  AT  CBBWB. 


iill  along  the  tracks  she  waa  buffeted  by  a  strong  side 
wind ;  but  in  the  twelve-mile  run  from  Watford  to 
Willesden  she  went  at  a  speed  of  5538  miles  per  hour. 
Opposite  this  page,  and  facing  page  21)0,  iire  given 
views  of  sections  of  a  later  engine  of  the  same  type, 
the  "  Queeu  Empress." 


OUB    RAILWAYS. 


At  the  request  of  Sir  Walter  Foster,  a  return  was 
placed  on  the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
]892,  showing  the  number  of  fast  trains  running 
between  London  and  fifteen  great  English  towns,  and 


BDOBI   STATION— TUB 


the  speed  they  made.  The  service  between  London 
and  Bristol  by  the  Great  Western  included  seventeen 
expresses ;  the  Great  Northern  sent  eighteen  down  to 
Hull,  the  same  number  to  Newcastle,  and  back  again  ; 
the  Great  Eastern  had  twenty-three  going  to  and  from 
Norwich;  Birmingham  had  thirty  up  and  down,  Sheffield 
had  thirty,  Bradford  had  thirty-two,  Leeds  thirty-four, 
Nottingham  thirty-five,  Liverpool  forty,  and  Manchester 


Omp-zzut.]       BLOWB8T  AND  QniOKEST  SPBSDS.         255 


forty-six.  The 
slowest  speed  per 
hour  was  on  the 
Great  Eastern,  the 
quickest  Norwich 
train  only  making 
a  pace  of  38  "3 
miles.  The  fast- 
est train  was  on 
the  Great  North- 
ern, the  afternoon 
train  from  town 
to  Sheffield.  It 
left  London  at 
two  o'clock,  was 
due  in  Sheffield 
at  ten  minutes 
past  five,  did  the 
journey  in  three 
hours  and  ten 
minutes,  and  tra- 
velled at  the  aver- 
age speed  of 
51157  miles  per 
hour.  The  Great 
Western  and  the 
London  and 
North-Western 
maintained  an 
average    speed    of 


•1 

m 

iV  1^01  H 

.  in 

■  1 

In 

11 

1 

"1  MlH 

j 

^IHIr' 

OVB   SAILWAY8. 


from  45  to  47  miles 
an   hour;    and   the 
Midland,    in    their 
express  service  from 
London  to  Notting- 
ham,   upheld    the 
s"     average    speed    of 
"      5r6      miles       per 
e      liour. 

£  A  writer  in  the 

<=      'limes,    who    is    an 
t      nuthority  on  "  Rail- 
^      way    Punctuality," 
z      has    analysed    and 
"     criticised  the    par- 
S      liamentary    return, 
S      He  points  out  that 
£      the  average  rate  of 
a      speed  for  the  Mid- 
^      land    Company    is 
(,      based  upon  the  ac- 
^      tual   running   time 
S      hetween      stations, 
3      stops     at     stations 
being      deducted; 
while   in    the  case 
of  every  other  com- 
pany   the    calcula- 
tion   of     speed     in 
based  on  the  total 


Chtp.  XXXITJ 


RAILWAY  PUNCTUALITY. 


257 


time  occupied  between  the  two  terminal  points.  In 
concluding  this  chapter  a  few  words  must  be  said 
about  the  great  race  to  the  North  in  1895,  to  which  tliere 
has  been  occasion  to  refer  elsewhere  (Vol.  I.,  p.  530). 
The  following  table  gives  the  arrival  times  at  Aberdeen, 
from  the  9th  to  the  22nd  of  August  inclusive,  of  the 
West  and  East  Coast  expresses,  starting  respectively 
from  Euston  and  from  King's  Cross  at  8  p.m. : — 

Arrival  Times  at  Aberdeen. 

East  C(MSt 


West  CoMt 

East  Coast 

West  Gout 

Aug.  9 

6-5 

6-23 

Aug.  16 

610 

»     11 

611 

6  30 

„     18 

6-23 

»     12 

6-12 

6-20 

„     19 

5-15 

„     13 

615 

6-28 

„     20 

4-58 

»     H 

613 

6-22 

»     21 

4-51 

„     15 

6-18 

6-25 

»     22 

4-32 

6-27 
6-17 
5-31 
511 
4-40 
6-23 


From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  540  miles  of  the 
West  coast  route  was  covered  on  the  22nd  of  August 
in  512  minutes;  while  the  best  run  from  King's  Cross 
was  that  on  the  21st,  when  the  journey  of  523  miles 
was  accomplished  in  520  minutes.  It  is  necessary, 
however,  to  point  out  that  the  Euston  train  which  did 
this  record-breaking  run  was  reduced  to  three  carriages. 
Up  to  this  time  the  record  long-distance  run  in  this 
country  was  that  between  Preston  and  Carlisle,  in  the 
race  of  1888,  a  North-Western  express  doing  the  90 
miles  in  as  many  minutes.  On  the  22nd  of  August, 
1895,  the  distance  was  run  in  79  minutes,  an  extra- 
ordinary achievement  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
train  has  to  do  the  seven  miles'  climb  up  the  Shap  bank. 
r 


268  OtJR  RAXtWAtS.  t<*•^XIJtlV. 

Between  the  summit  of  tlie  bank  and  Carlisle,  82^ 
miles,  the  speed  was  74  miles  an  hour. 

The  Great  Western  also  beat  its  record  in  the  same 
year,  the  train  which  carries  the  Hambui^-American 
mails  running  on  one  occasion  from  Plymouth  to 
Paddington — 247  miles — in  267  minutes,  while  the  194 
miles  between  Exeter  and  Paddington  were  covered  iu 
just  194  minutes. 

The  locomotive  bears  the  impress  of  power ;  but  in 
the  eyes  of  the  ordinary  passenger  it  possesses  little 
beauty.  The  modern  type  of  engine,  however,  is  a 
vast  improvement  on  the  old  style  of  machine,  such 
as  the  "Twin  Sisters"  of  the  year  1827,  which  was 
a  combination  of  telescope  and  tower,  built  on  six 
wheels.  Not  only  the  Midland,  but  the  Great  Northern, 
South  -Western,  Great  Eastern,  and  Brighton  expresses 
illustrated  in  this  chapter  axe  models  of  symmetry, 
sound  construction,  and  mechanical  movement ;  and 
their  paces  show  that  tlie  engineer  and  his  craftsmen 
have  not  laboured  in  vain. 


259 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

THE    DEMAND    FOR    SHORTER    HOURS    FOR    RAILWAY    MEN. 

"The  Man  in  Charge  of  the  Clattering  Train  " — Unrest  Among  Workers — The 
Strike  Fever — How  the  School  Boys  "  Came  Out  *' — Strikes  of  Railway 
Men — ^Tho  Stubborn  Fight  on  the  Scotch  Lines— Folly  and  Riot — ^The 
Coal  Struggle  in  England  :  Its  Effect  on  Railways  and  Trade  in  General 
— Overwork  on  Railways — Dismissing  a  Stationmastcr,  and  What  Came 
of  It — The  Terrors  of  a  Breach  of  Privilege — An  Interesting  Night 
in  the  House — Directors  at  the  Bar — The  Speaker's  Admonition — 
Recommendations  on  Railway  Work — ^The  New  Act — Robberies  on 
the  Line — Ned  Farmer,  Detective  and  Poet. 

Mr,  Punch,  the  clever  reflector  of  our  national  life, 
who  has  given  us  such  humorous  "  Sketches  in  a  Train/* 
full  of  Mr.  Harry  Furniss's  grotesque  caricatures  of  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  his  collar,  Sir  William  Harcourt  and  his 
numerous  chins,  and  Mr.  Balfour,  the  demon  golf- 
player,  can  be  serious  and  pathetic  enough  if  the  event 
is  fitting,  and  he  has  rarely  produced  a  more  striking 
and  touching  picture  than  that  of  "  Death  and  his 
Brother  Sleep,"  a  title  taken  from  "  Queen  Mab." 
There  had  been  a  railway  collision  at  Eastleigh,  and 
Major  Marindin  attributed  it  to  the  fact  that  the 
engine-driver  and  the  stoker  had  failed  to  keep  a 
proper  look-out.  Both  men  werp  asleep,  or  nearly 
asleep,  on  the  engine,  for  they  had  been  on  duty  for 
sixteen  hours  and  a  half  at  a  stretch! 

Particularly  during  the  past  twenty  years  there  have 
been  unrest  and  dissatisfaction  among  workers  by  hand 
r2 


260  OUB  EAILWAY8.  (Chap.xjixv 

against  small  pay  and  long  hours  of  labour.  There  has 
been  cause  enough  for  this  impatience  and  discontent. 
The  shuflSer,  whose  life  is  a  pretence,  and  who  has 
always  one  eye  on  the  clock  in  his  anxiety  to  cease  his 
so-called  employment,  is  only  worthy  of  contempt ;  but 
the  working-man^  who  comes  punctually  to  duty,  who 
takes  a  pride  in  his  work,  who  puts  brain  as  well  as 
hand  into  his  handicraft,  who  has  learned  the  lesson  of 
thrift,  and  who  brings  up  his  family  uprightly,  is  the 
backbone  of  England,  and  deserves  the  best  considera- 
tion, for  it  is  on  him  that  the  prosperity  of  the  nation 
depends.  Genius,  inventive  skill,  and  capital  are  of 
little  account  unless  there  are  also  the  willingness 
and  the  strength  to  execute — to  weld,  mould,  and 
handle  the  material  they  supply. 

The  sense  of  right  in  the  English  breast  has  begun  to 
recognise  that  the  artisan  has  aspirations  and  feelingps 
outside  the  workshop  and  that  he  has  a  mind  capable 
of  sensible  thought.  The  trade  union  has  spoken  em- 
phaticaUy,  and  fought  desperately  on  his  behalf.  The 
legislator  has  pleaded  the  toiler's  cause.  Parliament, 
glib  in  talk  but  chary  in  act,  has  at  last  listened  to 
the  imperative  outcry  of  the  industrial  community,  and 
has  done  much  towards  improving  the  conditions  of 
labour,  which  were  in  many  trades  a  disgrace  to  our 
civilisation  and  our  Christianity.  The  political  econo- 
mist, the  employer  of  labour,  and  the  shrewd  working- 
man  who  gives  a  comprehensive  glance  at  the  world's 
trade,  all  look  askance  at  a  universal  eight-hour  day ; 
but  without  enforcing  such  a  rigid  limit  of  toil,  and 


I 


oi»p.xxxv.i  8H0BTEB   HOURS.  261 

withoat  imperilling  Great  Britain's  commercial  position, 
much  can  still  be  done  to  make  our  industries  more 
acceptable,  especially  to  the  crowding  hands  in  our 
great  cities,  and  to  the  servants  on  our  great  lines 
of  railways. 

There  is  a  disposition  here  and  there  to  treat 
industry  fairly.  Some  employers,  persuaded  by  trade- 
union,  arbitrator,  or  conscience,  have  given  higher 
wages,  and  instances  have  recently  arisen  in  which  firms 
have  made  the  experiment  of  profit-sharing,  to  the 
mutual  advantage  of  themselves  and  their  workers.  On 
some  railways,  at  an  uncomplaining  sacrifice  of  dividend, 
generous  concessions  have  been  made  in  the  way  of 
shorter  hours  and  better  pay.  On  others  the  greed  of 
gain,  or  the  fear  of  vanished  dividend,  still  obtains ;  and 
men  toil  wearily  and  hopelessly  at  their  tasks  till 
Nature  can  endure  no  longer,  and  confusion,  error,  and 
disaster  make  a  tragic  scene  in  life's  drama.  The  time 
is  at  hand,  however,  when  these  cases  of  overwork  will 
surely  become  only  a  tradition.  The  signalman  and 
the  engine-driver  are  the  two  servants  by  whose  steady, 
faithful  work  railway  travelling  is  made  possible  and 
safe;  and  even  the  old-fashioned,  proud,  pompous, 
obstinate  director  is  beginning  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of 
his  policy  towards  the  men  on  the  line;  to  wonder 
whether,  after  all,  quite  apart  from  any  sentiment,  it 
would  not  be  more  profitable  to  ease  a  little  in  hours 
and  pay  those  who,  with  courage  and  vigil,  earn  his 
dividend,  than  gloomily  to  sanction  the  drawing  of  big 
cheques  as  compensation  for  injuries  sustained  in  railway 


262  OUR  RAILWAYS.  (cautp-xxxv. 

smashes.  Besides,  public  opinion  has  been  loudly  and 
incessantly  wagging  its  tongue  on  this  question  of  rail- 
way overwork;  and  Parliament,  not  only  by  Select 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  by  Labour 
Commission,  has  during  the  past  few  years  been  making 
earnest  and  patient  inquiry  into  industrial  grievances, 
with  the  intention  of  doing  what  it  can  to  remedy  them. 

Hope  is  sanguine  that  the  era  of  strikes  is  drawing 
to  its  close ;  that  arbitration  and  conciliation  will  take 
the  place  of  the  old  rough  methods  of  settling  labour 
disputes.  These  duels  remind  one  of  the  passionate, 
unthinking  couple  who,  differing  in  opinion  as  to  the 
amount  necessary  for  household  expenses,  wrecked  all 
the  furniture  and  parted,  with  hatred  in  their  hearts. 
Strikes  always  prove  more  of  a  curse  than  a  blessing. 
Homes  are  broken  up,  men  demoralised  and  embittered; 
and  trade,  driven  to  other  localities,  or,  worse  still,  to 
other  lands,  never  returns  in  its  old  bulk  or  with  its 
old  profit. 

The  strike  of  servants  on  the  Taff  Vale,  Rhymney, 
and  Barry  Railways,  which  began  on  August  7th,  1890, 
was  not  in  itself  of  long  duration;  but  it  led  to  the 
Cardiff  strike,  which  dragged  on  for  some  time,  and  out 
of  which  sprang  the  prosecution  and  imprisonment  of 
a  trade-union  leader.  At  this  time  there  was  much 
restlessness  among  many  toilers  of  the  country  as  to 
their  conditions  of  labour.  The  London  Dock  Strike, 
in  August  of  the  previous  year,  did  much  to  paralyse 
trade,  and  drove  some  shipping  altogether  from  the 
Thames.     The  loss  to  commerce  was  roughly  estimated 


a^^XxxT.)  AN   ERA    OF  STRIKES.  263 

at  three  millions,  but  the  men  practically  sacceeded 
in  their  demands,  obtaining  increased  pay  and  shorter 
hours.  Both  skilled  and  unskilled  labour  became  dis- 
satisfied, and  within  the  next  few  months  there  were 
many  strikes — strikes  of  bakers,  omnibus  men,  gas 
stokers,    policemen,    postmen,   and   railway    men.     Six 


^  ■ 

m 

■?1 

% 

■ 

uJD 

^Blril 

'  -. 

-s 

rV!ll 

iH, 

■ 

_  B' 

^T-'il 

1 

■ 

companies  of  the  Grenadier  Guards  strack  at  Welling- 
ton Barracks,  finding  the  drill  and  guard  duty  un- 
endurable,  and  were  sent,  on  their  good  behaviour,  to 
Bermuda ;  but  the  most  grotesque  development  of 
modem  ^itation  against  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  life  was  the  strike  of  schoolboys. 

In  several  towns  the  little  fellows,  brimming  with 
the  courage  that  made  "Tom  Brown's  School  Days" 
breezy,  resolved  that  they  would  not  be  downtrodden  by 
the  masters,  and  "  marched  through  the  streets,  demand- 
ing shorter  hours,  half-holidays  on  Wednesdays,  '  no 
cane,  and  no  home  work.' "  Some  of  these  strikes 
were  difficult  to  settle,  but  the  schoolboys  were  easily 


264  OUB  RAILWAYS.  tcauip.xxxv. 

overcome,  for  there  are  people  who  believe  in  another 
definition  of  "  striking  *' — in  the  doctrine  "  no  cane,  no 
character."  The  Welsh  railway  men  greatly  embarrassed 
the  companies.  The  passenger  and  goods  traffic  on  the 
lines  affected  were  almost  entirely  suspended,  and  the 
trains  that  did  run  were  so  erratic  with  regard  to  time 
that  they  made  traders  waiting  for  merchandise,  and 
travellers  anxious  to  get  homeward,  marvel.  When  the 
block  had  lasted  a  week,  the  most  urgent  demand  of 
the  men  was  conceded,  and  they  returned  to  work. 

But  the  strike  on  the  Scotch  railways  at  the  end  of 
the  same  year  was  far  more  stubborn  and  disastrous. 
The  men  demanded  a  ten-hour  day,  an  eight-hour  day 
for  shunters,  more  pay  for  overtime  and  Sunday  work, 
and  the  estabUshment  of  a  mileage  system  for  passenger 
and  goods  trains.  The  railway  workers,  thinking  it  an 
astute  move,  left  their  duties  abruptly  in  Christmas 
week,  confident  that  by  this  course  they  would  utterly 
disorganise  the  traffic.  On  Christmas  Eve  no  fewer  than 
nine  thousand  railway  servants  were  idle ;  and  on  the 
North  British,  the  Caledonian,  and  the  Glasgow  and 
South -Western  Kiiilways  travelling  developed  itself  into 
two  phases.  It  was  either  quick  and  hazardous,  or  so 
slow,  and  affording  such  long  pauses  for  expletive  and 
reflection,  that  it  was  better  not  to  start  on  a  journey  at 
all.  Manufacturers  were  crippled  for  want  of  fuel  and 
means  of  transit.  Goods  trains  were  massed  here  and 
there,  hopelessly  blocked  or  without  drivers.  Merchants 
and  traders  were  at  their  wits'  end.  People  became 
unpunctual   and   uncertain;    for  some  trains  made  no 


THE  SCOTCH  BAILWAY  STRIKB. 


pretence  of  starting,  and  others  were  so  late  in  arriving 
tbat  many  a  business  engagement  was    broken,  many 


KtOT    AT    M0TI1EBWKI.L  :     WBECKINQ    THB 


a  maftter's  equanimity  disturbed,  and  many  a  workman's 
tenure  shaken.  The  public,  at  first,  were  inclined  to 
sympathise  with  the  men,  who  had  requested  con- 
cessions  in  vain,  and  had,  in  some  cases,  been  kept  at 


266  OUB   RAILWAYS.  (Char.xxxv. 

work  for  grievously  long  periods  without  rest;  but 
people  entirely  free  from  selfishness  are  rare,  and  when, 
owing  to  the  strike  and  utter  disorganisation  of  traffic, 
passengers  were  subjected  to  irksome  delay  and  the 
spoiling  of  their  holiday,  loving  couples  had  to  put  off 
their  weddings,  and  heads  of  families  suffered  bitter 
disappointment  at  the  non-arrival  of  turkeys,  geese, 
and  venison  intended  for  Christmas  feasting,  there  were 
murmurs  and  at  last  indignant  protests. 

The  railway  companies  were  condemned  for  permit- 
ting the  traffic  to  enter  chaos.  Even  the  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  was  asked — ^just  as  though  he 
possessed  the  goodi  fairy's  wand  in  the  pantomime — ^to 
stop  the  strike.  The  companies,  in  their  desire  to  guard 
the  interests  of  the  shareholders,  declared  the  profits 
on  working  to  be  so  little  that  they  were  not  justified 
in  granting  the  concessions,  that  the  men  had  committed 
an  unpardonable  wrong  in  deserting  their  posts,  and 
that  they  could  not  treat  with  trade-union  leaders  in 
the  difficulty.  The  traffic  receipts  decreased  ominously. 
The  public  clamour  grew  louder.  The  companies  re- 
mained firm  through  loss  and  storm.  The  men — or, 
at  least,  the  reckless,  thoughtless  section  of  them — 
finding  that  they  were  unable  to  move  the  companies 
by  the  embarrassing  method  they  had  adopted,  and 
that  with  the  employment  of  outside  engine-drivers 
and  patient  working  the  directors  were  gradually 
improving  the  traffic,  had  recourse  to  violence.  The 
most  exciting  scene  was  at  Motherwell.  The  railway 
servants  resisted  the  ejectment  of  some  of  their  mates 


Gk^xxKTj  ST&IKK   SCEXESi  d57 

from  the  cottages,  and  a  riot  followed.  Givat  damage 
was  done  to  the  station-house  and  the  signal-boxes. 
Some  of  the  rioters  frolicked  with  a  locomotive  on  the 
turn-table,  and  others  threw  stones  at  passing  trains. 
The  Riot  Act  was  read.  The  military  were  called  out. 
The  disturbance  was  crushed,  some  of  the  men  were  sent 
to  prison.  Attempts  were  made  to  wreck  trains,  but, 
fortunately,  ther  were  unsuccessful,  and  onlv  one  serious 
accident  occurred.  There  were  some  cowardly  deeds 
done  during  the  strike.  One  man,  fierce  with  hate, 
crept  upon  a  bridge,  waited  for  a  train  to  pass,  and 
threw  a  missile  at  the  driver,  splitting  his  head  open. 

The  strike  on  the  Glassrow  and  South -Western 
Railway  only  lasted  a  fortnight;  but  on  the  North 
British  and  the  Caledonian  it  continued  for  nearly  six 
weeks,  the  directors  refusing  to  accept  the  trade-union 
officials  as  the  representatives  of  their  old  servants  in 
any  negotiation.  The  men  finally  abandoned  their 
demands  on  condition  that  the  companies  withdrew  all 
prosecutions  against  them,  restored  as  many  to  work 
again  as  possible,  and  consented  to  receive  deputations 
from  the  different  groups  of  workers  to  consider  their 
grievances.  On  January  30th,  1891,  the  drivers,  guards* 
and  signalmen  were  busy  trying  to  cope  with  the  work 
of  the  North  British  line,  and  the  Caledonian  nicMi  soon 
followed  their  example ;  but  many  days  elapsed  before 
the  traffic  resumed  its  old  regularity. 

The  loss  in  traffic  receipts  alone  during  the  six  weeks 
of  the  strike  was  estimated  at  £128,000,  and  the  Earl  of 
Wemyss  stated  in  the  House  of  Lords  that  the  dispute 


268  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ohap.xxxv. 

had  resulted  altogether  in  a  loss  to  the  railway  com- 
panies of  nearly  £300,000,  and  to  Scotland  of  one 
million  sterling.  The  Times  said :  **  The  result  of  the 
strike  established  two  points.  In  the  first  place,  the 
ability  of  the  companies  to  cope  with  a  strike  of  large 
dimensions ;  and  in  the  second  place,  their  power  to 
ignore  the  officials  of  the  union."  On  the  other  hand, 
the  men  said  the  result  of  the  strike  established  this 
point — that  the  fight  between  capital  and  labour,  though 
it  had  proved  disastrous  in  many  ways,  had  convinced 
the  directors  that  the  grievances  of  the  men,  particularly 
with  regard  to  the  long  hours  of  labour,  must  be 
ameliorated. 

The  men  correctly  gauged  the  effect  of  the  strike. 
Capital  is  frequently  more  powerful  than  labour,  a  fact 
that  came  piteously  home  to  the  wives  and  children  of 
the  Durham  miners  in  the  prolonged  strike  during  the 
spring  of  1892 — a  struggle  that  paralysed  the  iron 
trade  of  the  north  so  completely  that  the  platelayers 
working  on  a  new  line  in  Essex  had  to  suspend  their 
labour  because  they  could  not  get  the  rails.  But  capital, 
though  bound  to  fight  for  its  own  hand,  dislikes  to 
fritter  away  its  gold  in  conflicts  with  workmen.  The 
Scotch  railway  companies  undoubtedly  won.  The  men 
were  worsted,  and  it  was  a  bitter  experience  to  them  to 
find  that  their  trade-union  leaders  were  merely  the  scoff 
of  railway  directors.  Yet,  as  is  often  said  by  both 
political  parties  when  hopeful  in  defeat,  the  railway 
servants  gained  a  "  moral  victory.** 

Not  long  after  the  Durham  miners*  strike,  the  country 


OtopLXXXT.]  THB   QBE  AT   GOAL  8TEIKS.  269 

was  in  the  throes  of  another  industrial  struggle. 
In  July,  1893,  the  coalowners  gave  notice  to  the  miners 
that,  owing  to  the  depression  in  trade,  they  must 
insist  upon  a  reduction  of  25  per  cent,  in  wages. 
The  men  refused  to  submit  to  the  reduction,  and 
quitted  the  pits.  At  first  little  inconvenience  was 
felt.  The  demand  for  coal  was  met  by  the  accumu- 
lated stocks  at  the  collieries,  and  sellers  not  under 
contract  did  a  profitable  trade  at  rising  prices.  By- 
and-by,  however,  the  demand  far  outran  the  supply. 
Many  mills  were  closed  because  manufacturers  could 
not  get  fuel,  and  the  railway  companies  had  to 
suspend  sections  of  their  train  services.  Produc- 
tion in  various  industries  ceased,  trade  was  checked, 
and  passengers  made  only  imperative  journeys.  All 
the  mineral-carrying  lines  suffered  severely,  and  in 
the  middle  of  October  the  loss  to  the  Midland 
Railway  Company  in  decreased  goods  traffic  was  put 
down  at  more  than  half  a  million.  In  the  mean- 
time the  miners  endured  much  want  and  misery. 
The  trade-union  funds  became  exhausted,  and  public 
sympathy  and  help  waned,  the  trader  and  the 
householder  buttoning  up  their  pockets  at  last,  and 
expressing  their  indignation  at  the  stupidity  of  the 
conflict.  In  Yorkshire  and  Derbyshire  some  of  the 
miners  grew  desperate  in  their  need.  They  attempted 
to  wreck  a  train ;  they  demolished  more  than  one 
colliery  office ;  and  at  Featherstone,  near  Pontefract, 
they  made  such  a  serious  disturbance  that  the  Riot 
Act  was  read,  the  military  called  out,  and  two  men 


270  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [OhaiMXXV 

shot  dead.  Fuel  became  so  scarce  that  house-fire 
sorts  were  sold  in  London  at  £2  per  ton ;  and  the 
poor,  who  by  the  irony  of  misfortune  are  driven  to 
a  dearer  market  than  the  rich,  gave  2s.  6d.  per  cwt. 
for  slack  that  was  little  better  than  pit-bank  dirt. 
Masters  and  men  held  independent  conferences  to 
consider  the  situation ;  a  few  coalowners  permitted 
the  miners  to  resume  work  at  the  old  rate  of  wages; 
and  a  notable  effort  was  made  by  Mr.  Batty  Langley, 
the  Mayor  of  Sheffield,  to  settle  the  dispute  by  the 
pacific  influence  of  conciliation.  But  it  was  not  till 
the  fourteenth  week  of  the  struggle  had  been  reached 
that  a  joint  conference  of  masters  and  mining  leaders 
was  held  in  London  with  the  earnest  purpose  of 
ending  the  quarrel.  The  pitmen  by  this  time  were  in 
dire  necessity,  grimly  fighting  for  what  they  styled 
"  a  living  wage ;  "  and  some  of  the  coalowners,  though 
they  scarcely  liked  to  confess  it,  were  feeling  the 
stoppage  keenly.  The  proposals  for  settlement  were 
futile.  So  grave  did  the  situation  become  that  at  last 
Mr.  Gladstone  suggested  Government  intervention,  with 
Lord  Eosebery  as  mediator.  The  offer  was  accepted ; 
and  the  then  Foreign  Secretary,  presiding  at  another 
conference  in  London,  on  November  17th,  succeeded 
by  common-sense  and  tact  in  bringing  the  disastrous 
dispute  to  an  end.  The  men  returned  to  work  on 
November  20th  at  the  old  rate  of  wages;  but  the 
most  important  outcome  of  the  conference  was  the 
establishment  of  a  Board  of  Conciliation,  consisting  of 
an  equal  number  of  coalowners  and  miners,  with  an 


xxxTj    TES  E^'VES    OF  £JULSUr   1C£X 


independent  cittirmaiL  which  v;is  inTested  with  the 
power  to  deUnuDe  the  nte  of  wa^:^^  Thxv*ugh 
indnstiial  disorganisaiioii  and  loss  of  tzade  the  struggle 
cost  the  OGUDtzT  neariT  twentr  millions :  and  amon^ 
the  effects  <tf  the  pn>Iong>ed  tussle  wei>e  the  £^11  of 
railway  stc«eks  and  the  shrinka^  of  dividends.  * 

In  the  discnssion  on  the  railway  strikes  spoken  of 
above,  fair-minded  people  did  not  deny  that  both  on 
the  English  and  Scotch  railway  systems  the  day*s  work 
was  too  long,  in  some  cases  to  a  grievous  extent.  At- 
tention was  called  to  the  sabject  in  Parliament,  and 
a  Select  Committee  of  the  House  was  appointed  to 
inquire  how  the  excessive  hours  of  labour  on  the  line 
could  be  lightened,  or,  if  needful,  restricted  by  legis- 
lation.t  Evidence  was  given  by  men  in  the  service 
of  all  the  great  railway  companies,  by  signalmen, 
shunters,  platelayers,  and  porters ;  and  by  drivers,  fire- 
men, and  guards.  Some  of  the  testimony  was  diverting. 
Some  of  the  stories  were  piteous,  showing  that  even 
on  prosperous,  good  dividend-paying  railways,  the  men 
were  kept  on  duty  a  scandalous  length  of  time. 

During  the  sitting  of  the  Committee  a  remarkable 
case  of  overwork  aroused  public  indignation.  James 
Choules,  a  goods   guard  on  the  Midland  and    South 

*  In  January,  1894,  the  Manchoeter,  ShcfiBeld  and  Lincolnnhiro  dinx^tort 
announced  that  not  only  would  the  ordinary  stock  rocoivo  no  dividend  for  the 
second  half  of  1893,  but  that  as  many  as  seven  proforonco  stocks  wore  aUo 
left  out  in  the  cold. 

t  The  Select  Committee  on  Kailway  Sorrants  (Hours  of  lial)Our)  wai 
appointed  in  1891  after  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  motion 
introduced  by  Mr.  F.  A.  Channing,  in  which  he  assorted  that  the  ozcumivo 
hours  of  railway  servants  constituted  a  grave  social  injtutico,  and  woro  % 
constant  source  of  danger  both  to  the  men  and  the  travelling  publio. 


272  OUR   RAILWAYS.  coutp-xxxv. 

Junction  Eailway,  was  crushed  to  death  between  the 
buffers  of  two  waggons  at  Weyhill  sidings  on  October 
16,  1891.  The  accident,  which  occurred  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  was  not  the  fault  of  the  shunters. 
The  weather  was  wild  and  stormy;  and  Choules,  who 
had  been  on  duty  as  much  as  22  hours  18  minutes 
consecutively,  was  in  such  a  condition  of  physical 
collapse,  or  so  nearly  asleep,  that  he  could  not  see  how 
far  the  waggon  rebounded,  or  how  closely  the  engine 
followed  it  up.  Major  Marindin  attributed  the  accident 
to  the  terribly  long  hours  the  man  had  been  called  upon 
to  work;  and  on  making  a  searching  inquiry  into  the 
man's  railway  life  for  some  days  previous  to  his  death, 
was  amazed  at  the  enormous  number  of  hours  he  had 
been  on  duty — at  what  appeared  the  almost  sardonic 
heartlessness  of  the  railway  company  in  keeping  the 
man  at  his  post  to  the  utmost  limit  of  his  endurance. 
His  daily  record  of  duty  for  nearly  a  fortnight,  without 
Counting  the  time  spent  in  coming  from  and  going  to 
his  home,  was  never  less  than  12  hours  58  minutes,  and 
one  day  it  actually  reached  23  hours  15  minutes. 

The  man  was  practically  at  work  day  and  night. 
His  short  and  wearied  glimpses  of  home  must  have 
been  a  mockery.  He  had  not  time  to  go  to  bed.  He 
had  to  snatch  sleep,  as  locomotives  take  in  water,  as  he 
went  along.  His  only  consolation — if  he  thought  at  all 
in  the  dreary  time  that  led  up  to  his  dreadful  death — 
was  that  he  was  not  the  only  slave  in  the  sidings ;  for 
Annalls,  the  driver,  had  been  on  duty  23  hours  48 
minutes;   the  fireman  18  hours  40  minutes;   and  the 


% 


THE  CAMBRIAN  RAILWAYS  CASE. 


porter  14  hours  8  niiniites.  "Tiic  booked  liours  were 
too  long,  while  the  actual  hours  worked  were  beyond  all 
reason,"  said  Major  Marindin  in  his  report,  and  he 
added:  "The  company  have,  since  this  accident,  made 
some  alterations  in  their  time-table  which  have,  I  am 
told,  somewhat  improved  the 
punctuality  of  the  trains ; 
and  something  to  lessen  the 
fearfully  long  hours  of  duty 
might  be  done  by  a  re-ar- 
rangement of  the  Iiours  and 
the  institution  of  a  proper 
system  of  relieving  tlie  men 
when  necessary,  but  I  fenr 
that  notliing  but  a  consid- 
erable addition  to  the  staff 
will  altogether  remove  the 
evil,  which  has  become  in- 
tolerable." 

Out  of  this  inquiry  into 
the  hours  of  railway  servants  arose  one  of  tiie  most 
remarkable  scenes  that  characterised  the  last  session 
of  Lord  Salisbury's  second  administration.  The 
Select  Committee  took  some  startling  evidence  con- 
cerning the  time  on  duty  and  the  condition  of  the 
permanent  way  on  the  Cambrian  Railways;  and  soon 
after  they  had  taken  it,  John  Hood,  the  station- 
master  at  Montgomery,  was  dismissed  from  his  appoint- 
ment. The  action  of  the  company  caused  a  good 
deal  of  comment  in  the  country.     There  were  whispeis 


OtTB    RAILWAYS. 


about  coercion  and  vindictive  management ;  then  oat- 
Rpokcn  indignatiou  among  the  railway  servants  them- 
selves. The  outcry  became  louder  when  tlie  directors 
declined  to  reinstate  Hood  on  the  petition  of  the  people 
of  Montgomery.  A  question  was  asked  in  Parliament, 
and  many  more  were  asked 
outside,  as  to  the  real  cause 
of  the  man's  dismissal.  The 
Select  Committee,  determined 
to  sift  the  matter,  and  to 
give  both  sides  fair  play  with 
their  tongues,  took  evidence 
from  men  and  masters. 
The  chairman  of  the  Cam- 
brian Railways,  and  the  then 
manager,  were  examined. 
They  denied  that  Hood  had 
been  dismissed  simply  for 
giving  evidence  before  the  Committee,  and  alleged 
certain  derelictions  of  duty  against  him.  They  also 
denied  the  statements  made  by  Humphreys,  a  railway 
servant,  as  to  the  condition  of  the  line  and  the 
excessive  hours  of  duty.  The  Select  Committee, 
shortly  before  Parliament  adjourned  for  the  Easter 
recess,  issued  a  report  in  which  they  said : 

"The  witness,  Jolm  Hood,  wiw,  by  a  resolution  of  the  directors 
of  the  Cambrian  Railways  Compiiny,  at  a  meeting  held  on  the  6th 
of  August,  diamissed  from  the  service  of  tlie  company,  mainly  in 
conHoqueiice  of  charges  arising  out  of  tlio  evidence  given  by  him 
before  your  Committee,  and  laid  l>efore  the  directors  by  Jolin 
Conacher,  then   manager  of    the    railway ;    and   James    Frederick 


Oh«p.xxxv.i        A    QUESTION  OF  PEIVILEQB.  275 

Buckley,  John  William  Maclure  (a  member  of  this  House),  and 
William  Bailey  Hawkins,  directors  of  the  company,  and  John 
Conacher,  did,  at  a  meeting  at  Crewe  on  the  30th  September,  1891, 
held  in  consequence  of  an  application  by  John  Hood  for  the  rehear- 
ing of  his  case,  at  which  John  Hood  was  present,  call  him  to  account, 
and  censure  him  for  the  evidence  he  gave  before  your  Committee, 
in  a  manner  calculated  to  deter  other  railway  servants  from  giving 
evidence  before  your  Committee.  Your  Committee  have  not  deemed 
it  to  be  part  of  their  duty  to  express  any  opinion  as  to  how  far  the 
conduct  of  John  Hood,  and  the  irregularities  disclosed  by  his  evidence, 
as  well  as  the  character  of  his  evidence,  were  calculated  properly  to 
forfeit  the  confidence  of  the  directors  of  the  Cambrian  Company." 

Kobert  Collingwood,  a  mineral  guard  on  the  North- 
Eastern  Railway,  said  he  had  been  called  a  renegade, 
and  dismissed  by  his  fellow  railway  servants  from  his 
position  as  secretary  to  the  Tyne  Dock  Branch,  because 
he  had  given  evidence  before  the  same  Committee ;  and 
Sir  Michael  Hicks- Beach  suggested  that  both  sides — 
that  both  sets  of  charges — should  be  considered  by  the 
House  together.  A  distinct  breach  of  privilege  had, 
however,  been  alleged  •against  the  directors  of  the 
Cambrian  Railways.  The  House  was  averse  to  deal 
with  the  Collingwood  case  in  association  with  Hood's 
dismissal ;  and  at  the  sitting  on  April  5th,  Sir  Michael 
Hicks-Beach  felt  bound  to  move  "  that  Mr.  John 
William  Maclure  do  attend  in  his  place,  and  that 
Mr.  James  Frederick  Buckley,  Mr.  William  Bayley 
Hawkins,  and  Mr.  John  Conacher  do  attend  this 
House." 

Jealous  of  its  honour  and  power,  the  House  never 
brooks  delay  on  a  question  of  privilege.  The  most  lenient 
honourable  members  of  both  political  creeds  thought 
s  3 


276  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Ohap.xxzT. 

that  the  directors  had  acted  indiscreetly.  Some  strong 
partisans  considered  that  they  ought  tx)  be  severely 
punished  for  the  grave  misdemeanour  of  intimidating 
witnesses  giving  evidence  for  the  benefit  of  the  House 
and  the  nation  ;  that  they  should,  at  least,  like  the  late 
Mr.  Bradlaugh,  be  imprisoned  in  the  Clock  Tower. 
Years  ago  Mr.  Speaker  Onslow  wondered  what  calamity 
would  happen  after  "naming"  a  member;  but  his 
curiosity  was  scarcely  so  intense  as  that  in  the  railway 
world  as  to  the  fate  of  these  unhappy  directors.  What 
would  become  of  them  when  they  appeared  on  the  floor 
of  the  House  for  judgment  ?  Even  Parliament  was  not 
quite  clear  on  this  point.  In  some  quarters  there  was  a 
notion  that  they  would  be  served  like  the  enter- 
prising newspaper  proprietors  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
who,  daring  to  report  the  speeches  of  honourable  mem- 
bers, were  heavily  fined,  and  compelled  to  apologise  on 
their  knees  at  the  bar  of  the  House. 

The  offending  directors  were  summoned  to  the  bar 
on  the  night  of  April  8th,  1892.  The  House  was 
crowded.  Every  seat  was  occupied  in  the  body  of  the 
building,  and  honourable  members  thronged  the  gang- 
ways. The  peers  clustered  over  the  clock.  The  Strangers' 
Gallery  was  filled.  The  ladies  in  their  gallery  looked 
with  curiosity  through  the  grating  from  behind  their  bar 
at  the  men  standing  at  the  other  bar  beneath.  The 
scene  was  an  impressive  one.  There  had  been  a  little 
tendency  to  joke  about  the  incident,  but  the  House 
thoroughly  realised  that  it  must  not  merely  uphold  its 
own  dignity,  but  defend  freedom  of  speech  and  guard 


Oh*p.xxxv.i  A    CONDITIONAL  APOLOGY.  277 

truth.  Mr.  Maclure,  with  a  bow  to  the  Speaker, 
stood  up  in  his  place.  Mr.  Buckley,  Mr.  Hawkins, 
and  Mr.  Conacher,  who  had  been  escorted  from  the 
lobby  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  stood  in  a  row  at  the 
bar.  Mr.  Speaker  Peel,  gravely  addressing  the 
directors,  informed  them  of  the  purport  of  the  special 
report,  and  said  it  was  alleged  against  them  that 
they  had  dismissed  the  stationmaster  mainly  in  con- 
'icquence  of  charges  arising  out  of  the  evidence  given 
by  him  before  the  Select  Committee,  and  had  censured 
him  for  that  evidence  in  a  way  calculated  to  deter 
other  railway  servants  from  giving  evidence  before  a 
Committee  of  the  House. 

The  gentlemen  grouped  at  the  bar  were  then 
asked  if  they  had  anything  to  say  in  answer  to  the 
charge,  and  Mr.  Maclure,  not  at  all  perturbed,  promptly 
replied  from  his  place  on  the  front  bench  below  the 
gangway  on  the  Ministerial  side  of  the  House.  He  read 
his  speech  in  a  loud  but  not  aggressive  voice,  saying, 
amid  indications  of  dissent  from  the  Liberals,  and 
cheers  and  cries  of  "  Order  !  "  from  the  Conservatives, 
that  in  dismissing  the  stationmaster  they  had  acted 
entirely  in  what  they  believed  to  be  the  discharge  of 
their  duty  as  trustees  of  the  Cambrian  Railways  Com- 
pany, and  for  the  general  interests  of  the  public.  They 
had  not  the  slightest  intention  of  deterring  any  railway 
servant  from  giving  evidence  before  the  Committee,  and 
if  they  had  unintentionally  infringed  any  privileges 
of  the  House,  they  tendered  the  fullest  expression  of 
their  unqualified  regret.    Mr.  Buckley  took  a  manuscript 


278  ODB  RAILWAYS.  [Oh.p.  ixiv. 

out  of  the  depths  of  his  tall  hat,  and,  speaking  in  a  low 
tone,  said  he  fully  concurred  in  the  words  that  had 
fallen  from  Mr.  Maclure's  lips,  vaguely  adding,  "  I 
thank  you." 

The  directors,  at  the  order  of  the  Speaker,  then 
withdrew  from  the  bar,  and  the  House  proceeded  to 
consider  what  penalty  should  be  meted  out  to  them. 
Sir  Michitel  Hicks-Beach  moved  that  they  should  he 
called  in  and  admonished  for  committing  a  breach  of 
privilege.  Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor  moved  an  amendment 
that  they  would  not  have  purged  their  contempt  till 
they  reinstated  the  stationmaster  or  compensated  him, 
Mr.  Channing,  the  champion  of  the  railway  servants  in 
the  House  and  out  of  it,  was  in  favour  of  giving 
Mr.  Buckley  and  Mr.  Conacher  into  the  custody  of  the 
Serjeant-at-Arms.  During  the  debate  many  a  member 
betrayed  his  search  into  parliamentary  record,  or  recalled 
some  exciting  breach  of  privilege  in  the  past;  and  Mr. 
Gladstone,  still  vigorous  and  enthusiastic,  said  he  recol- 
lected hearing  a  reprimand  delivered  from  the  Chair  to 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  merabere  of  the  House 
— Mr.  O'Connell,  but  in  that  case  it  was,  he  thought,  a 
charge  of  perjuiy,  or  something  very  near  it,  and  Mr. 
O'Connell  refused  to  apologise  for  what  he  had  done. 
The  amendment  was  iu  the  end  rejected,  and  the 
original  motion  carried  by  the  lai^e  majority  of  349 
against  70. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  the  Seqeant-at-Arma, 
hearing  the  mace,  again  conducted  the  offenders  to  the 
bar  in   the   midst  of  the  crowded  House.      Though 


Chap.xxxv.j        THE   SPEAKER'S   ADMONITION.  279 

they  may  have  **  felt  their  position  acutely/*  their 
demeanour  in  very  trying  circumstances  was  never- 
theless quiet  and  dignified.  In  the  course  of  his 
austere  rebuke  the  Speaker  said : 

"  The  privilege  of  which  a  breach  has  been  committed  by  you  is 
that  you  liave,  by  your  conduct,  intimidated  a  witness  before  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  House.  Your  conduct  towards  him  is  calculated  to 
deter  othei*s  from  giving  evidence.  So  dear  is  this  special  privilege 
to  this  House  that  I  must  remind  you  that  at  the  commencement  of 
every  Session,  and  therefore  at  the  commencement  of  this  Session,  in 
the  very  first  day  of  the  meeting,  two  resolutions  are  passed  by  this 
House.  In  one  of  these  it  is  declared  that  if  any  person  has  given 
false  evidence  in  any  case  before  this  House  or  its  Committees,  this 
House  will  proceed  with  the  utmost  severity  against  such  person. 
The  second  of  these  resolutions  expresses  the  determination  of  the 
House  that  if  it  shall  appear  that  any  peraon  has  been  tampering 
with  any  witness  in  respect  to  any  evidence  to  be  given  to  this  House, 
or  to  any  Committee  thereof,  or — and  tliis  is  a  point  to  which  I  would 
sjiecially  direct  your  attention — shall  directly  or  indirectly  endeavour 
to  deter  or  hinder  any  person  from  appearing  to  give  evidence,  the 
same  is  declareil  to  be  a  high  crime  and  misdemeanour,  and  this 
House  shall  proceed  with  the  utmost  severity  against  such  pei-son. 
These  are  resolutions  which  are  fresh  in  the  memory  of  this  House, 
and  which  I  am  surprised  that  those  gentlemen  whom  I  now  see 
before  me  at  the  bar  should  have  so  liglitly  passed  over.  It  is  a  very 
grave  and  serious  offence  you  have  committed.  The  House  in  its 
judgment,  and  in  its  mercy,  I  should  add,  has  decided  that  I  should 
admonish  yon.  I  do  most  seriously  admonish  you,  and  I  warn  you 
that  any  repetition  of  this  offence,  for  it  is  an  offence,  will  be  visited 
by  this  House  with  its  very  severe  rebuke  and  disapproval.  A  great 
principle  has  been  infringed,  the  principle  that  evidence  given  before 
this  House  shall  be  free  and  unrestrained.  I  warn  you  against  ever 
repeating  an  offence  of  this  kind.  The  offence  is  a  very  serious  one, 
for  it  is  no  less  an  offence  than  that  of  trying,  however  unintention- 
ally it  ma}'  be  in  certain  circumstances,  to  deter  witnesses  from  giving 
evidence  before  Committees  of  this  House,  and  thus  to  disturb  and 
taint  the  very  sourpe  gf  truth.     J  believe  J  aw  acting,  as  J  wi*.U  to 


280  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Ohap  xxxT. 

act,  as  the  interpreter  of  the  feelings  of  this  House,  when  I  say  that 
I  seriously  admonish  you,  and  hope  that  your  example  will  act  as  a 
deterrent  to  others,  and  that  it  will  also  act  as  a  warning  to  your- 
selves never  again  to  presume  to  commit  a  like  offence  against  the 
character,  the  dignity,  and  the  purity  of  this  House." 

There  is  in  the  English  heart  a  strong  sense  of 
justice;  and  John  Hood,  though  dismissed,  was  not 
neglected  or  forgotten.  His  cause  was  championed 
on  many  a  platform,  and  he  became  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  the  world  of  labour.  It  was  generally  con- 
sidered that  he  had  been  harshly  treated.  People 
were  quite  ready  to  admit  that  employers  must  act 
with  firmness;  but  it  was  thought  that  he  had  been 
held  too  tightly  in  the  grasp  of  discipline.  A  vast 
number  of  workers  sympathised  with  him,  and  their 
sympathy  was  not  a  mere  sentiment.  The  platelayer, 
the  shunter,  the  signalman,  and  the  driver  subscribed 
to  a  fund  for  his  benefit,  and  Members  of  Parliament 
interested  themselves  in  his  welfare.  A  substantial 
sum  was  presented  to  him,  and  he  shrewdly  applied 
it  to  the  erection  of  a  dwelling  at  Ellesmere,  which 
he  has  styled  "  Trevelyan  House,"  as  a  reminder  of 
the  staunch  support  of  Sir  George  Trevelyan,  who  had 
ably  and  courageously  defended  him.  John  Hood's 
chequered  career  proves  that  good  does  sometimes 
spring  out  of  evil ;  and  his  dismissal,  though  it  caused 
him  much  anxiety  and  misery,  was  a  blessing  in 
disguise. 

The  Select  Committee  on  Eailway  Servants'  Hours 
of  Labour,  after  many  sittings,  expressed  the  following 
opinion  : — 


282  OUR  RAILWAYS.  (Chap.xxxv. 

Overwork  on  the  railways  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  widespread 
and,  in  general,  systematic,  and  not  accidental  or  exceptional. 

The  demands  of  the  men  for  a  fair  day's  work,  so  far  as  they 
have  been  formulated  through  their  various  Unions,  are  reasonable, 
but  cannot  under  existing  circumstances  be  obtained  by  means  of 
conciliation  or  arbitration. 

While  steps  have  been  taken  on  some  railways  in  the  right 
direction  to  bring  hours  within  fair  limits,  the  returns  of  overtime 
work  and  the  evidence  proved  that  there  has  not  been,  and  is  not 
likely  to  be,  general  and  effectual  reform,  if  this  matter  is  left  to 
take  care  of  itself. 

Hallways  are  State-granted  monopolies,  and  the  State  has  the 
right  and  the  duty  to  insist  on  safe  working  and  just  conditions  of 
labour,  including  reasonable  hours. 

The  State  can  exercise  this  right  and  discharge  this  duty  better 
through  the  Board  of  Trade,  the  department  to  which  the  conditions 
of  safe  railway  working  are  refened,  than  by  direct  legislative 
restriction. 

The  varied  conditions  of  the  railway  service  make  it  advisable 
for  the  Board  of  Trade  to  deal  with  each  case  on  its  merits. 

The  Board  of  Trade  must  have  compulsory  powers  to  enforce 
their  recommendations. 

The  Railway  Commissioners  should  be  made  a  court  to  enforce 
penalties  and  adjudicate  on  questions  arising  out  of  the  exercise  of 
their  powers  by  the  Board  of  Trade  in  the  i-estriction  of  houi*s  of 
labour. 

Your  Committee  therefore  recommend  that  the  necessary  powers 
be  given  to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  to  the  Eailway  Commissioners 
by  legislation  without  delay. 

Since  these  recammendations  were  raade.  Parliament 
has  been  busy  on  behalf  of  railway  servants.  With 
the  return  to  power  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Government 
in  July,  1892,  and  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Mundella 
to  the  Board  of  Trade,  industrial  questions  gained 
in  interest;  and  that  of  railway  servants'  hours 
speedily    received    earnest    attention.       The     Kail  way 


i 


Oh.p.xxxv.)      AN  AOT   TO   PREVENT  OVERWORK.  283 

Servants*  Hours  of  Labour  Bill  was  introduced  by 
Mr.  Mundella,  read  a  third  time  in  both  Houses, 
and  passed.  It  set  forth  that,  if  it  is  represented 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  by  any  class  of  railway 
servants  that  their  hours  of  labour  are  excessive, 
and  do  not  provide  sufficient  intervals  of  rest, 
the  Department  may  order  the  railway  company  to 
submit  to  them  such  a  schedule  of  time  for  the 
duty  of  the  servants  as  will  bring  the  actual  hours 
of  work  within  reasonable  limits,  regard  being  had 
to  all  the  circumstances  of  the  traffic.  It  also  provided 
that  if  the  railway  company  fail  to  comply  with 
the  order,  the  Eailway  Commission  may  compel  them, 
or  inflict  a  daily  fine  so  long  as  the  default  con- 
tinues. Mr.  Mundella  was  confident  that  the  Act 
would  kill  overwork  on  railways;  nevertheless  Sir 
John  Gorst  on  the  one  hand,  and  Mr.  John  Burns 
on  the  other,  sought  to  make  it  more  drastic, 
being  convinced  that  a  legislative  limit  of  eight 
hours  for  signalmen  and  ten  liours  for  other  servants 
should  be  fixed. 

The  difficulty  of  fixing  a  maximum  was,  however, 
deemed  insurmountable,  so  varied  are  the  conditions 
of  railway  labour.  Mr.  Mundella  said  there  were 
signal  boxes  in  London  where  more  than  ninety 
trains  passed  in  an  hour,  and  where  no  signalman 
could  work  eight  hours.  The  author  knows  a  signal- 
box  in  the  country  in  which  eight  hours'  duty 
would  be  a  delightful  holiday.  The  cabin  is  just  on 
the  fringe  of  the  village.     A  hawthorn  hedge  divides 


OVB    RAILWAYS. 


the  line  from  the  bowling-green,  and  the  doorway 
to  this  pleasant  haunt  is  not  more  tlian  a  dozen 
yards  from  the  signal-box  steps.  Trains  are  few. 
The  signalman  is  a  dandy,  and  an  adept  at  bowling. 


He  spends  bis  leisure  on  the  green  ;  and  the  last 
time  the  writer  saw  bim  be  bad  partly  doffed  tlie 
corduroy  of  the  company,  and  wore  a  lavvn-tonuis 
blouse  and  lawn-tennis  shoes,  and  altogether  looked  a 
good  deal  more  like  a  prosperous  shopkeeper  than  a 
humble  signalman,  as  he  skilfully  sent  the  ball  towards 
the  jack. 


THE   FORCE    OF  PUBLI0IT7. 


The  Act,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty  of  equit- 
able legislation  on  railway  labour,  is  an  admirable 
safeguard  f^ainst  excessive  work  on  the  line,  trusting, 
as  Lord  Playfair  remarked,  "  very  much  to  the  force 


i  COUNTRT    SlONiL-OABIK. 


of  publicity,"  rather  than  to  a  rigid  limit  of  hours 
tliat  would  make  capital  shy,  fetter  trade,  and  tor- 
ment the  passenger ;  for,  however  sincere  may  be  the 
traveller's  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  the  railway  servant, 
he  becomes  an  awkward  customer  if  the  train  is  five 


286  OUR   RAILWAYS.  ccn«ip.xxxv. 

minutes  late,  even  though  the  five  minutes  may  have 
been  lost  in  relieving  driver  or  signalman.* 

England  has  fortunately  produced  no  such  daring 
railroad  speculator  as  Jay  Gould,  the  well-known 
American  millionaire,  who  died  fabulously  wealthy, 
but  quitted  the  world  amid  few  regi-ets.  George 
Hudson,  the  "Railway  King,"  was  a  puny  financial 
operator  in  comparison  with  this  selfish  figure.  Sharp 
practice  has  not  loomed  conspicuously  in  our  home 
railway  management;  still  there  have  been  some  cases 
in  which  railway  officials  and  servants  have  brought 
upon  themselves  disgrace  and  discredit. 

At  an  inquest  in  Loudon,  a  few  years  ago,  relative 
to  the  death  of  a  railway  fireman,  who  was  killed 
by  the  open  carriage  door  of  a  passing  train,  as  he 
was  leaning  over  the  footplate,  a  juryman  bluntly 
remarked  :  *'  I  should  like  to  hang  a  director."  This 
frank  citizen  would,  no  doubt,  have  derived  a 
mitigated  satisfaction  from  the  position  of  the  chair- 
man of  the  Tenbury,  Worcester  and  Ludlow  Railway 
Company,  on  August  27th,  1846,  for  on  that  day  he 
appeared  at  the  Mansion  House  to  answer  a  charge 
of  forgery.  It  was  alleged  that  the  figures  on  a 
cheque,  signed  by  the  prisoner  as  chairman  of  the 
company,  had  been  altered  to  a  much  larger  amount, 
and  paid  in  notes,  which  were  cashed  by  the  accused 

♦  The  RaUway  Servants'  Houra  of  Labour  Act  duly  received  the  Royal 
assent;  and  on  September  19th,  1893,  a  circular  was  issued  by  the  Board  of 
Trade  to  the  railway  companies,  calling  their  attention  to  its  provisions,  and 
asking  what  steps  they  were  taking  voluntarily  to  bring  the  actual  hours  of 
work  of  their  servants  within  reasonable  limits. 


0b.p,xiiT.j      AS    UNPLEASANT  ANNOUNCEMENT. 


at  the  Bank  of  England.  The  prisoner  was  duly 
committed  for  trial  ;  but  the  grand  jury  ignored 
the  Bill. 

Tlie  directors  of  the  Charnwood  Forest  Railway 
Company,  on  April  Uth,  1885,  made  the  unpleasant 
announcement  to  the  share- 
holders that  al  though  only 
£46,000  of  debenture  stock 
had  been  authorised,  at  least 
£150,000  worth  had  been 
dealt  in.  Tiie  fraud  aroused 
much  indignation  and  cha- 
grin, especially  as  it  was 
ascertained  that  the  official 
who  had  so  dishonestly  en- 
riched himself  bad  fled,  had 
managed  to  escape  to  the 
wrong-doer's  refuge — Spain.*  ""  "™' 

The  then  secretary  of  a  Scottish  railway,  who  had  been 
"held  in  high  esteem  for  works  of  benevolence,"  was 
sentenced  at  Glasgow,  on  December  28th,  1879,  to 
penal  servitude  for  life,  for  fraud. 

In  the  collection  of  Derbyshire  books  given  to  the 
county  town  by  the  late  Duke  of  Devonshire  is  "  Ned 
Farmer's  Scrap  Book."    Ned  Farmer  was  for  many  years 


JAY  OOULD. 


*  A  coireepoodent  writes  to  tha  author:  "It  should,  in  justice  to  the 
ditectora,  be  explained  that  they  were  no  parties  to  the  fraud.  An  official 
embexzled  the  money,  and  the  directors  had  to  make  up  the  loss.  I  knov, 
because  the  anxiety  in  connection  with  tbs  matter  caused  my  father's  dcalh. 
Through  no  fault  of  his  own,  ho  had  to  find  £40,000  tovards  meeting  tha 
deficienof.'' 


288  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Cb»p.xxxv. 

a  railway  detective.  Like  H!awkshaw,  the  detective  in 
"Tlie  Ticket-of-Leave  Man/'  he  was  not  only  brave, 
but  tender-hearted ;  and  the  constant  contact  with  the 
seamy  side  of  life  in  nowise  blunted  his  fine  nature. 
His  recreation — a  strange  contrast  from  his  business 
of  thief-catching — was  the  composition  of  the  songs 
and  poems  contained  in  his  "  Scrap  Book,"  and  through 
all  these  rhymes  there  is  evidence  of  kindliness.  His 
piece  "Little  Jim,"  which  gives  a  pathetic  picture  of 
the  death  of  a  pitman's  child,  is  more  than  a  rhyme 
— it  is  a  poem,  and  is  worthy  of  a  higher  place  in  "  the 
niche  of  fame  "  than  it  has  reached,  though  it  has 
become  a  school-book  ballad,  and  is  a  familiar  piece 
in  many  a  home,  nearly  every  English  lad  knowing 
the  pathetic  story  beginning — 

The  cottage  was  a  thatched  one,  the  outside  old  and  mean. 
Yet  everything  within  that  cot  was  wond'rous  neat  and  clean. 

There  is  a  robust  ring  and  swing  in  his  verses  to 
"  King  Steam  ":— 

Hurrah  for  the  rail  1  for  the  stout  iron  rail, 

A  boon  to  both  country  and  town, 
From  the  very  first  day  that  the  permanent  way 

And  the  far-famed  fish-point  was  laid  down. 
Tis  destined,  you'll  find,  to  befriend  all  mankind, 

To  strew  blessings  all  over  the  world  ; 
Man's  science,  they  say,  gave  it  birth  one  fine  day. 

And  the  flag  of  King  Steam  was  unfurled. 

Then  hurrah  for  King  Steam,  whose  wild  whistle  and 
Gives  notice  to  friends  and  to  foes,  [scream 

As  he  makes  the  dust  fly,  and  goes  thundering  by, 

So  stand  clear,  and  make  room  for  King  Steam. 


b 


Cb.p.xxxv.i  KING   STEAM.  289 

Aye  !  a  monarch,  I  say,  hath  he  been  from  the  day 

He  was  bom  ;  on  that  glad  happy  hour, 
Until  now,  when  we  know  the  vast  debt  that  we  owe 

To  his  daring,  his  speed,  and  his  power ! 
See  the  birds  left  behind,  as  he  outstrips  the  wind 

By  the  aid  of  key,  sleeper,  and  metal ; 
Great  Watt  little  thought  what  a  giant  he'd  caught, 

When  the  infant  was  boiling  a  kettle. 

They  may  tell,  if  they  will,  that  our  monarch  can  kill, 

'Tis  a  fact,  I  admit,  and  well  known. 
But  fairly  inquire,  and  there's  this  to  admire, 

The  fault  is  but  rarely  his  own. 
With  fhe  high  and  the  low  he's  his  failings,  we  know, 

And  his  moments  of  weakness,  no  doubt. 
Since  the  world  first  begun  there  were  spots  on  the  sun, 

Then  why  should  King  Steam  be  without? 


Ned  Fanner  was  succeeded  by  a  detective  who 
apparently  became  demoralised  by  his  own  occupation, 
for,  after  quitting  the  company's  service,  he  was,  on 
November  20,  1877,  sentenced  to  two  years'  imprison- 
ment, for  the  Goncourt  turf  frauds.  As  a  rule,  how- 
ever, the  men  in  the  detective  department  of  a  great 
railway  do  not  fall,  like  the  persons  they  track,  into 
disgrace.  They  are  perhaps  a  little  restive  under 
criticism  when  they  fail  in  their  quest;  but  on  the 
whole  they  are  patient,  enduring,  smart,  and  some- 
times do  clever  and  important  work  that  has  more 
than  money  value  to  the  company.  They  plan  and 
watch  without  much  hope  of  fame ;  but  when  they 
have  run  their  man  to  earth — or  rather  caught  him  at 
dawn    in   a    siding    encumbered   with    stolen    goods, 


290  OUE  RAILWAYS.  [Oh»p.xxxv. 

or  at  noon  on  the  station  platform  as  he  is  stepping 
jauntily  into  the  express,  or  considerately  stop  the 
mail  for  him  at  a  wayside  station  at  midnight  just 
as  he  is  congratulating  himself  on  escape — they  do 
their  duty  as  neatly  as  the  gentlemanly-looking 
oflBcers  who  are  acting  strictly  according  to  law  in 
Frith 's  picture. 


291 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

ENGINE-DRIVERS    AND    SIGNALMEN. 

Aristocratic  Enjjrinc -drivers — Absence  of  Mind  on  the  Footplate — Perils  and 
Escapes— An  Express  in  Collision — How  an  Engine-driver  is  Trained 
—  Curious  Rides  on  Railways — Goinjr  Over  a  New  Line — In  Search  of 
Facts  at  Railway  Accidents — The  Drivers*  Strike  on  the  Midland 
— An  Exciting-  Night — Erratic  Driving — A  Driver's  Desperate  Deed 
— The  Signalman  and  His  Work — Some  Dramatic  Incidents — Old 
Fashioned  Signals— Modern  Modes  of  Signalling — How  to  See  Round 
a  Corner. 

Some  years  ago  an  English  aristocrat,  with  a  liking  for 
more  robust  recreation  than  the  ordinary  patrician 
cherishes,  donned  the  garb  of  an  engine-driver,  took  his 
place  on  the  footplate,  and  controlled  the  locomotive, 
even  on  a  long  journey,  with  care  and  skill.  The 
Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  of  Austria  has  a  similar 
fondness  for  railway  work.  He  has  considerable  knowledge 
of  the  mechanism,  action,  and  habits  of  the  locomotive, 
and  is,  for  an  amateur,  a  very  capable  engine-driver. 
Not  long  ago  he  drove  the  express  from  Wiener- 
Neustadt  to  Glogguitz,  and  kept  well  up  to  his  working 
time-table,  arriving  punctually  at  his  destination.  In 
fact,  he  was  far  more  careful  than  the  engine-driver  on 
the  Northern  Railway  of  France,  who  steamed  out  of 
Beaumont  for  Paris,  and  found,  to  his  utter  confusion, 
after  going  some  distance,  that  he  had  left  the  train 
behind  him  !  He  had  been  signalled  out  by  the  station- 
master,    but   the   carriages    were    not   coupled    to   the 


OUB    RAILWAYS. 


tender,  and  away  went  the  engine,  leaving  the  passengers 
laughing,  scowling,  and  shrugging  their  shoulders. 

The  engine-driver  of  sound  mind  requires  more  nerve 
than  the  soldier,  for  sometimes  he  drives  fast  towards  a 
certain  peril,  knowing  all  the  while  that  if  he  escapes 
death  it  will  be  only  by  a 
miracle.  Take  the  case  of 
Mark  Inglis,  for  instance.  In 
November,  1890,  he  was  the 
driver  of  a  special  train  char- 
tered to  convey  an  officer  of 
the  Scots  Guards  from  Car- 
lisle to  Langholm.  The  train 
was  despatched  in  front  of 
the  Pullman  express,  and 
went  like  the  wind  until  it 
reached  Diamond  points, 
when  it  plunged  down  the 
embankment,  killing  the 
driver  and  breaking  the  fireman's  legs.  Both  men  had 
had  ugly  shakes  previously  at  the  very  spot  wliere 
the  train  struck  the  points,  and  felt  thankful  when 
they  got  over  it  in  safety ;  but  they  did  not  like  to 
complain  to  the  officials  of  the  line.  The  engine- 
driver  has  had  far  more  hair-breadth  escapes  than 
Othello.  He  has  been  burned  by  the  back-draught,  the 
rush  of  fire  and  smoke  out  of  his  engine  fire-hole,  and 
yet  kept  his  hand  on  the  regulator.  He  has  been  blown 
off  his  engine  in  a  gale ;  and  blown  off  his  footplate  by 
explosion.     He  has  been  knocked  from  his  post,  aud 


(Prtm  a  Pliolt)tnph  by  AOiU,  VUnim.) 


Chjip.xxxvr.i  SHARP   WEATHER,  293 

seriously  injured,  by  a  tree  that  fell  down  an  embank- 
ment and  across  his  locomotive  ;  and  in  winter  he  has 
often  been  frost-bitten — the  upper  half  of  him  nearly 
frozen  to  death. 

"  Yes,  it's  sharpish  in  cold  weather,"  said  one 
driver.  "  I  once  had  a  fireman — he'd  been  a  fitter, 
and  been  brought  up  in  a  warm  shop.  It  was  Christ- 
mas Eve.  When  we  were  getting  water  at  Tam- 
worth  he  put  his  hand  into  the  tender  to  feel  if  it  was 
getting  full,  and  then  he  put  his  hand  on  the  engine 
rail,  which  was  covered  with  ice,  and  in  a  minute  his 
hand  was  frozen  to  it.  As  he  tore  it  away  the  skin 
peeled  off  his  fingers  just  for  all  the  world  as  if  he  had 
put  them  on  a  red-hot  bar.  He  was  also  frost-bitten 
in  the  chest,  and  was  eight  weeks  oft'  work." 

In  the  shock  of  collision  the  driver  has  been  flung 
off  the  footplate,  pitched  on  his  head,  and  been 
seriously  injured.  Now  and  then,  having  done  all  he 
can  to  avert  disaster,  he  leaps  off  the  engine  that  is 
plunging  to  destruction,  and,  perhaps,  escapes  unhurt. 
He  has  had  to  run  his  train  for  miles  with  a  lifeless 
fireman  for  his  comrade,  his  mate's  head  having  come  in 
contact  with  some  low  bridge ;  he  has  had  to  choose 
whether  he  should  slacken  speed  or  increase  it  on  finding 
a  bullock,  a  horse  and  cart,  a  pack  of  hounds,  a  flock  of 
sheep,  or  a  herd  of  elephants  on  the  track. 

At  Gaberston,  Alloa,  on  the  North  British  Eailway, 
a  carter  was  crossing  the  line  with  a  horse  dragging  a 
soil-laden  wagon  when  the  animal  took  fright,  breaking 
away  from  the  cart,  which  stood  on  the  up-line  in  the 


2d4  OUB   RAILWAYS.  cob»P.xxxvi. 

path  of  the  express  from  Edinburgh.  The  locomotive 
dashed  against  the  cart,  smashing  it  to  pieces,  overtook 
the  horse,  and  actually  ripped  the  harness  off  its  back, 
but  did  not  injure  the  animal.  It  is  too  often  a  human 
being  that  the  engine  strikes,  and  tosses,  with  grim 
contempt,  out  of  its  way,  or  pounds  to  ruin.  The 
driver  finds  a  splash  of  blood  on  the  head-light,  or  a 
shred  of  clothing  clinging  to  the  driving-wheel,  and 
these  apparently  trifling  discoveries  account  for  the 
scarcely  perceptible  jerk  his  locomotive  gave  ten 
miles  south,  where  a  mangled  body  is  lying  in  the 
four-foot.  '*  A  few  months  ago,"  says  a  writer  in  the 
Strand  Magazine^  "  I  was  shown  by  a  locomotive  super- 
intendent of  one  of  the  principal  northern  lines  a  dead 
bird  which,  strange  to  say,  though  a  very  rapid  flyer, 
had  met  its  doom  through  the  agency  of  the  locomotive. 
This  bird  was  a  sparrow  hawk.  The  driver  of  the  train 
relates  that  he  was  travelling  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles 
an  hour  near  Melton,  when,  just  on  the  point  of  entering 
a  long  tunnel,  he  observed  fluttering  in  front  of  the 
engine  some  object  which  he  at  first  mistook  for  a  rag, 
but  when,  on  leaving  the  tunnel,  he  went  forward,  he 
discovered,  to  his  astonishment,  that  it  was  a  sparrow 
hawk,  which  had  become  entangled  between  the  hand- 
rail and  smoke-box  of  the  engine,  and  was  held  there 
firmly  by  the  pressure  of  the  wind.  It  was  not  quite 
dead  when  taken  out  of  this  curious  death-trap,  though 
one  eye  had  been  destroyed.  There  is  no  doubt  that  it 
met  its  death  accidentally,  as  a  hawk  can  fly  quicker  than 
the  fastest  trains  travel — so  the  drivers  say,  who  often 


Chap.  XXXVI.)  ACCIDENT  TO  MANCHESTER  EXPRESS.      295 

observe  them  flying  low  down  in  the  hedgerow  and 
keeping  up  with  the  train  till  some  unwary  small  bird, 
frightened  bj-  the  noise,  flie^  out  of  the  fence,  when  the 
hawk  pounces  on  it  and  devours  it." 

However  freely  one  gives  imagination  the  rein,  it 
cannot  outrun  the  incidents  of  the  driver's  life.  He 
runs  the  express  from  London  Bridge  to  Dorking,  and 
is  going  through  the  station  at  a  speed  of  forty  miles  an 
hour,  when  he  sees  a  heavy  portmanteau  fall  from  the 
platform  on  the  line,  and  a  porter  leap  down  in  the  face 
of  death  to  drag  it  away.  Driving  the  Stockport  and 
Leeds  express  through  Marsden,  he  hears  a  startled  cry, 
and  finds  that  his  train,  going  at  the  rate  of  forty-five 
miles  an  hour,  has  struck  a  shunter  walking  in  the 
six-foot,  whirled  him  completely  over  into  a  sitting 
position,  then  struck  him  on  the  head  with  the  foot- 
board, dislocating  his  neck. 

There  are  few  more  thrilling  stories  of  railway  travel 
than  the  incident  that  befell  the  Manchester  express 
on  its  way  from  town,  by  the  Midland,  on  January  27, 
1892.  It  was  running  at  full  speed,  near  Leicester,  with 
that  light,  easy,  swinging  motion  that  deceives  you  as  to 
the  real  quickness  of  progress,  when  two  goods  trains, 
shunting  on  the  other  line,  came  into  collision,  and  one 
of  the  trucks  fouled  the  track  of  the  express.  The 
powerful  engine  dashed  the  goods  waggon  in  pieces ; 
but  the  shock  of  collision  was  so  severe  that  the 
locomotive,  tender,  three  horse-boxes,  and  two  bogie 
carriages  jumped  the  rails,  ploughing  the  permanent 
way  for  eighty  yards.      The  Pullman  car   and   other 


296  OUB   RAILWAYS.  (Chap.xxxvi. 

carriages  in  the  rear  part  of  the  train,  however,  kept  the 
track.  The  express  was  crowded  with  passengers,  but, 
though  there  was  much  alarm,  no  one  was  injured.  Sir 
James  All  port,  who  was  travelling  in  the  Pullman  car, 
said  he  scarcely  felt  the  shock  ;  but  in  the  front  portion 
of  the  express  there  was  ample  evidence  of  its  force. 
The  driver  trembled,  not  with  fear,  but  with  the 
shake  of  the  impact.  The  engine  was  disabled.  The 
tank  of  the  tender  was  pierced.  The  front  of  the  horse- 
box next  the  tender  was  wrecked ;  *and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  if  a  carriage  occupied  by  passengers  had  been 
coupled  next  the  tender,  even  though  the  front  com- 
partment was  empty,  there  would  have  been  loss  of 
life.  The  escape  of  the  passengers  from  serious  injury 
was  remarkable,  and  will  be  quoted  by  the  advocates  of 
quick  travelling  as  a  proof  that  highest  speed  is  the 
safest,  the  inference  being  that  if  the  train  had  been 
running  at  only  thirty  instead  of  nearly  sixty  miles  an 
hour,  the  engine  would  have  been  forced  back  on  its 
own  carriages,  and  there  would  have  been  a  scene  of 
disaster  and  death. 

A  young  man,  discontented  with  the  wages  he  got 
for  pushing  a  barrow  laden  with  Manchester  goods,  gave 
up  the  work  in  disgust,  saying,  "  I'll  go  and  be  an 
engine-driver."  But  a  locomotive,  with  a  train-load  of 
l)Jissengers  behind  it,  is  not  a  plaything  for  a  novice  to 
toy  with,  and  the  cotton-goods  porter  found  his  attempt 
to  get  on  the  footplate  of  an  engine  a  hopeless  one. 
The  engine-driver  requires  a  special  training.  Not 
only  must  he  possess  good  sight,  be  free  from  colour- 


^ 


THE    '■QUEEN     EMPRKSS." 
{FordOaiUnflhii  Engint,  la  Iht  illiilnilion  fiirh 


Cbap.xxxvi.1         HOW  DRIVERS   ARE   MADE.  297 

blindness,*  and  strong  in  nerve;  but  he  must  know 
how  to  drive  and  take  care  of  his  engine.  The  driver,  as 
a  rule,  grows  up  on  the  railway.  He  begins  work,  when 
a  boy,  in  such  engine  sheds  as  those  at  Crewe,  Derby, 
and  Doncaster,  and,  as  a  cleaner,  gets  to  know  the  make 
of  a  locomotive.  In  time  he  is  promoted  to  be  a  fireman. 
He  is  the  mate,  the  comrade,  of  an  experienced  driver. 
He  is  taught  to  feed  the  locomotive,  and  finds  that  she 
requires  almost  as  much  dieting  as  a  human  being,  now 
going  well  with  a  low  fire,  and  now  needing  fuel  right 
away  up  to  the  fire-hole.  He  becomes  familiar  with  the 
controlling  mechanism  of  the  engine,  with  her  beat  and 
tricks  in  ranning.  He  learns  the  lay  of  the  line.  He 
grasps  the  meaning  of  the  signals.  He  gets  many  a 
shrewd  hint  from  the  fat  driver  who  has  driven  the 
express  for  years ;  and  some  day,  when  he  is  secretly 
congratulating  himself  on  the  fact  that  he  is  acquainted 
with  everything  about  the  line,  from  the  loneliest  signal 
cabin  to  the  busiest  junction,  that^e  is  capable  of  taking 
the  West  Coast  mail  through  to  Scotland  on  the  wildest 
night  that  ever  lowered  on  Shap  Fell,  his  day-dream  is 
broken  by  the  instruction  that  he  must,  for  awhile,  try 
his  hand  as  the  driver  of  a  goods  train.  If  he  puts  the 
brake  on  his  ambition,  and  drives  the  goods  train  well, 

*  Professor  Hardy,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  British  ]\(cdical  Association  in 
1891,  urged  that  the  railway  compjinies  should  employ  a  skilled  ophthalmic  expert 
to  test  the  eyesight  of  their  servants,  and  mentioned  *'  the  case  of  a  man  who 
had  been  so  short-sighted  for  years  that  he  could  not  distinguish  a  man  from  a 
woman  at  ten  yards*  distance,  and  yet,  within  twelve  months,  had  been  re- 
examined and  passed  by  the  railway  surgeon  with  the  so-called  practical  tests — 
that  is,  naming  coloured  lights  shown  through  a  long  tube,  and  naming  signals 
exposed  at  a  certain  distance." 


298  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch»p.  xxxvi. 

he  is  afterwards  elevated  to  the  position  of  driver  on 
some  local  passenger  train ;  and  finally,  possessing  both 
experience  and  shrewdness,  climbs  proudly  on  the  foot- 
plate of  an  express  bogie  passenger  engine,  and,  perhaps, 
realises  his  dream  as  the  fearless  bnt  careful  driver  of 
the  night  mail. 

Some  years  ago,  in  my  capacity  as  a  journalist,  it 
was  my  duty  to  spend  a  good  deal  of  time  on  railways. 
I  have  caught  trains  at  all  times  in  all  sorts  of  remote 
places.  I  have  ridden  on  the  engine.  I  have  jogged 
along  at  night  in  the  guard's  van,  trying  to  write  by 
the  help  of  the  flickering  light  of  the  stove  and  the 
lamp.  I  have — like  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  when  the 
express  left  him  stranded  at  a  wayside  station — ridden 
in  a  fish  train  to  keep  an  important  engagement.  I 
have  ridden,  too,  in  a  coal  truck,  in  a  contractor's  office 
on  wheels,  and  in  a  van  converted  for  the  time  into  a 
prison,  on  the  floor  of  which,  among  the  straw,  a 
desperate  criminal  reClined,  shamming  feebleness  and 
prostration,  and  on  the  watch  to  escape.  On  January  9, 
1884,  I  had  a  very  long  day  on  a  railway.  Making 
my  way  to  Stairfoot  Junction  early  in  the  morning, 
I  climbed  the  roughly-made  embankment,  and  started 
in  a  curious  train,  made  up  of  heavy  uncushioned 
carriages,  along  the  Hull  and  Barnsley  line,  which  at 
this  time  had  not  carried  a  passenger  for  money,  though 
it  was  within  measurable  distance  of  opening.  I 
jogged  and  jolted  for  miles  along  the  newly-made  track 
with  many  adventurous  holders  of  railway  stock.  In  a 
deep  cutting  we  all  crowded  the  permanent  way,  and 


Oh«p.  XXXVI.)      A   JOURNALISTS   EXPEBIENOES.  299 

the  line  was  unlocked  by  Colonel  Gerard  Smith,  with  a 
silver  key.  Then  the  directors  spread  themselves  fan- 
like across  the  track,  and  half-a-dozen  pressmen  climbed 
upon  the  engine,  grouping  about  the  head-light,  and 
everybody  was  photographed  amid  laugh  and  jest,  for 
hope,  throbbing  within  the  investor's  breast,  said  that 
the  railway  would  soon  pay  a  good  dividend,  and  that 
the  Great  Alexandra  Dock  at  Hull  would  get  a  lion's 
share  of  the  shipping  of  the  port.  In  fact,  no  one 
dreamt  that  he  would  have  to  wait  until  the  first  half 
of  1892  for  a  dividend,  and  that  it  would  then  be  at 
the  rate  of  f  per  cent,  for  one  year. 

I  have  gone  to  railway  accidents  in  prosy  and  also 
in  dramatic  fashion.  Once  I  narrowly  escaped  being 
cut  to  pieces  by  an  express  as  I  was  making  my  way 
down  the  line  to  an  accident  at  South  Wingfield,  a 
fearful  accident,  in  which  the  engine  ran  off  the  line 
into  the  country  lane  below,  and  then  plunged  into  a 
stream,  the  tender  overturning  on  the  driver  or  stoker 
and  crushing  him  terribly  as  he  lay  on  the  embankment. 
I  have  been  chased  in  the  dead  of  night  by  an  in- 
furiated householder  and  his  ferocious  dog,  as  I  crashed 
through  his  garden  and  his  cucumber  frame,  and  rolled 
into  the  cutting  at  Parkwood  Springs,  in  my  eagerness 
to  get  information  with  regard  to  a  serious  accident  that 
occurred  there.  I  have  ridden  to  the  scenes  of  railway 
accidents,  now  on  the  footplate  of  an  engine,  and  then 
in  the  breakdown  van.  I  have  been  allowed  to  run 
down  to  the  disaster  in  a  first-class  bogie  carriage, 
and,    through   the    kindness    of   officials,   the    express 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


has  been  slowed  to  drop  me  practically  in  tlie  midst  o£ 
the  wreckage.  T  have  been  fetched  away  from  a  dance 
to  go  to  a  railway  collision ;  I  have  been  roused  from 
sleep,  after  a  hard  day's  work,  to  be  told  at  two  o'clock 
on  a  wintry  morning  that  a  hansora  is  waiting  outside, 
and  that  I  must  get  down  the  line  somehow  to  a  railway 
smash    twenty  miles  away.     On  New 

©Year's  Day,  1885,  when  busy  with  note- 
book in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  people 
who  were  listening  to  a  speech  by  Mr. 
Mundella,  M.P.,  on  the  site  of  a  new 
building  in  Sheffield,  a  little  printer's 
devil  wriggled  towards  me,  and  rudely 
interrupted  my  task  of  reporting  the 
siEM.w.  THOMPSON,  right  hon.  gentleman's  utterances  by 
'*''^^'  thrusting   a  telegram  into    my   hand. 

4.  Sack,.  BT«4fi>rd.)  It  Tcud  :  Anothcr  smash  at  Feni- 
.stone.  Many  killed  and  injured.  Send 
reporter."  Leaving  the  statesman  in  the  midst  of  his 
rhetoric,  I  hurried  to  the  scene  of  an  accident  that 
accentuated  the  notoriety  of  the  stretch  of  line  asso- 
ciated with  previous  disaster;  for  the  killed,  the  in- 
jured, and  the  wrecked  train  brought  very  sharply 
to  mind  the  peril  of  travelling  with  flawed  axle  or 
cracked  tyre. 

But  1  do  not  recollect  a  more  exciting  night  on  a 
railway  than  that  of  August  5,  1887,  when  nearly  four 
thousand  engine-drivers,  firemen,  and  cleaners  came 
out  on  strike  on  the  Midland  Railway.  The  directors, 
for  the  better  working  of  the  traffic,  insisted  upon  making 


Chap.  XXXVI.)    DRIVERS  AND  FIREMEN  ON  STRIKE.        3Ul 

new  terras  with  the  drivers.  These  men  alleged  that 
they  were  entitled  to  be  guaranteed  six  days'  work  per 
week.  They  thought  they  were  roughly  handled  by  the 
company,  and  determined,  at  a  certain  time,  generally 
agreed  upon,  to  desert  their  engines.  The  directors, 
who  have  always  pursued  a  bold  policy,  resolved  to 
insist  upon  the  new  conditions  of  work,  and  to  cope 
as  best  they  could  with  the  traffic,  should  the  drivers 
take  the  extreme  step  of  forsaking  the  line. 

Sir  Matthew  Thompson,  the  then  chairman  of  the 
company,  firmly  indicated  the  attitude  of  the  Midland 
in  a  letter  that  aroused  admiration  on  one  hand  and 
indignation  on  the  other,  writing : 

"The  Midland  aloiio  among  the  large  railway  companies  has 
hitherto  included  in  its  conditions  of  service  a  guarantee  that  drivers 
and  firemen  shall  be  paid  for  six  days  of  ten  hours,  although  they 
may  not  have  been  employed  for  the  full  time.  After  many  yeara' 
experience  the  directors  and  chief  officers  were  satisfied  that  this 
condition — although  undoubtedly  valued  by  the  men — was  prejudicial 
to  the  efliciency  and  discipline  of  the  service,  and  on  that  account 
only  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  alter  it.  I  need  not  say  how  deeply 
my  colleagues  and  I  deprecate  a  dispute  of  this  kind,  with  its  attend- 
ant inconvenience  to  the  public,  loss  to  shareholdei-s  and  tradera  on 
the  Midland  Railway,  and  separation  from  old  and  hitheito  zealous 
and  faithful  servants.  I  told  the  delegates  that  we  would  do  any- 
thing consistent  with  our  duty  to  secure  them  against  injury  or 
injustice  under  the  new  regfllations.  Unfortunately,  nothing  would 
satisfy  them  but  tlie  withdrawal  of  the  circular,  which  was  impossible. 
I  do  not  wish  to  speak  harshly  of  the  action  of  the  men ;  the  public 
must  form  their  own  opinion.  It  is,  perhaps,  inevitable  that  in  a 
large  railway  service  there  should  be  agitators  who  consider  it  their 
mission  to  foment  discontent  amongst  their  fellow-s(;rvants,  even  by 
gross  and  shameless  mis-st;itement8.  Unfortunately  for  themselves, 
the  men  appear  to  have  listened  to  the  suggestion  that  by  a  concei*ted 


302  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  xxxvl 

strike  they  could  cause  such  an  amount  of  public  inconvenience  as 
would  force  the  Board  to  give  way  to  them.  Directors  who  would 
surrender  to  such  pressure  what  they  have  deliberately  and  for  good 
reasons  adopted,  and  believe  to  be  essential  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
service,  would  be  unworthy  of  the  trust  reposed  in  them." 

The  entire  Midland  system  was  in  a  ferment.  Tele- 
graphic messages  were  sent  hither  and  thither  by  trade- 
union  leaders,  urging  the  drivers  to  maintain  a  firm 
attitude,  and  to  come  out  on  strike  at  all  hazard.  The 
company  in  the  meantime  were  busy  promoting  drivers 
from  their  shops,  or  engaging  them  from  other  lines. 
At  Derby,  Birmingham,  and  St.  Pancras  there  was 
suspense  and  anxiety.  When  I  reached  Derby  station 
at  night,  the  platform  was  thronged  with  hurrying 
messengers,  or  obstructed  with  whispering  groups. 
Loiterers  were  driven  off  the  platform  by  the  police,  and 
towards  midnight  the  doors  leading  from  the  station  to 
the  town  were  closed.  Gossip  was  in  her  wildest  mood, 
and  passengers  were  in  a  flutter.  The  strangest  stories 
were  current — that  the  drivers  intended  to  put  on  the 
brake  at  midnight,  and  to  leave  the  trains  in  deep 
cutting  and  in  tunnel,  indifferent  as  to  what  became  of 
the  passengers.  In  some  cases  they  actually  took  this 
step,  and  one  driver  was  sent  to  prison  '*  for  deserting 
his  engine  on  the  main  line."  A^twelve  o'clock  struck, 
several  drivers,  who  had  run  into  Derby  station,  left 
their  engines  and  walked  doggedly  across  the  platform, 
wiping  the  oil  and  grit  off  their  faces  and  shaking  the 
company's  coal  dust  from  their  feet. 

The  next  day  the  traific  of  the  Midland  was  in  a 


^ 


oiap.  xxzYi.]  AMATEUR  DBIVEE8.  303 

curious  jumble.  The  engines,  as  far  as  possible,  were 
manned  by  officials  and  old  drivers  or  firemen  secured 
by  hook  or  by  crook.  But  some  whimsical  men  got 
on  the  footplate  in  the  company's  need,  and  the 
adventures  of  drivers  and  passengers  were  for  a  few 
days  exasperating,  exciting,  and  by  no  means  free 
from  peril.  Scarcely  an  engine  ran  out  of  the  dep6t 
or  station  without  three  or  four  men  grouped  about 
the  firehole,  and  it  did  not  beat  very  far  on  its 
way  before  there  was  dismay  in  the  quadruple 
driver's  breast  with  regard  to  some  blunder  that 
threatened  disaster.  There  were  errors  in  firing,  in 
watering,  bungles  with  regulator  and  with  brake,  and 
the  misreading  or  ignoring  of  signals.  The  narrow 
escapes  from  collision  were  amazing,  and  nobody  would 
have  been  very  surprised  if  the  engines  had  blown  up, 
and  flung  their  amateur  drivers  into  space.  There 
were  several  humorous  breakdowns;  but  the  companj'' 
were  fortunate,  and  managed  to  struggle  through  the 
fight  with  the  men  without  serious  accident,  though  not 
without  much  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  public, 
for  passengers  were  woefully  late  or  stranded  on  their 
journeys,  and  goods  were  delayed  so  long  in  transit  that 
some  perished  by  the  way. 

The  drivers  on  strike  were,  in  the  meantime,  miser- 
able. They  sat  brooding  at  home,  or  sought  comfort 
in  taverns.  In  the  public-houses  about  the  Morledge, 
in  Derby,  there  were  many  contrasts.  In  some  tap- 
rooms out-of-work  drivers,  maudlin,  wept  over  their 
rashuess  and  folly.     In  others  the  men  bragged  about 


304  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [oiuip.xxxvi. 

their  wrongs,  and  swore  they  would  not  be  trodden 
upon  by  the  directors,  and  cursed  the  company. 
When  passion  and  drink  had  lost  some  of  their  power, 
the  men  endeavoured  to  get  back  to  work  again. 
It  was  suggested,  on  their  behalf,  that  the  dispute 
should  be  settled  by  arbitration ;  but  the  directors, 
unflinching,  and  determined  at  any  cost  to  teach 
disaflfection  a  lesson,  said  the  vacancies  on  their 
engines  had  been  filled,  and  ''there  was  nothing 
to  arbitrate  upon."  Places  were,  however,  found  for 
some  of  the  drivers,  and  they  were  content,  after 
their  bitter  experience,  to  man  their  engines  on  the 
company's  terms. 

The  traffic  was  gradually  worked  into  its  old 
regularity  and  punctuality,  and  the  strike  was  soon 
almost  forgotten,  but  it  had  two  sad  sequels.  One 
driver,  in  despair  lest  he  should  be  unable  to  get  work, 
drowned  his  three  children  and  himself  in  the  river 
Derwent,  and  in  his  pocket  was  found  a  scrap  of  paper, 
containing  this  desperate  commentary  on  the  strike. 
"  Those  villains  of  traitors  have  brought  me  to  this, 
and  the  directors  and  officers  of  the  Midland  Railway 
Company.  May  God  forgive  me  for  this  rash  act." 
The  other  grievous  outcome  of  the  strike  was  the 
emigration  of  a  number  of  drivers  who  could  not  get 
work  at  home.  They  bade  farewell,  with  many  a  pang, 
to  the  pleasant  Midland  tracks  with  which  they  were 
familiar,  and  to  the  engines  they  had  driven  in  sun- 
shine and  storm,  and  went  out,  with  sad  hearts,  to 
seek  fortune  in  the  colonies. 


Ch.p.xxxvi.1     TEE  SIGNALMAirS  RESPOSSIBILITT.         305 

The  signalman  leads  a  lonely  but  often  an  exciting 
life ;  and  if  he  were  prone  to  laziness  and  carelessness 
he  is  always  strung  up  to  duty  by  responsibility.  He  is 
nndoubt^ly  the  most  responsible  servant  on  the  rail- 
way. He  is  the  arbiter  of  life  and  death.  By  omitting 
to  give  five  beats  of  the  needle  to  the  man  in  the  next 
cabin,  telling  him  that  there  is  a  goods  train  on  the 
line  in  the  track  of  the  express,  he  may  cause  a  disas- 
trous collision ;  by  a  pull  of  the  wrong  lever  he  may 
wreck  the  night  mail.  In  sheer  forgetfulness  he  may 
cause  a  lamentable  accident,  like  the  one  that  occurred 
to  the  Fleetwood  train  on  the  Lanciishire  and  Yorkshire 
line  in  July,  1891,  when  Mr.  Eichard  Hinchcliffe,  a 
Lancashire  cotton  spinner,  was  killed.  The  pointsman 
at  the  Salford  Hoist  Cabin  received  a  signal  that  a  train 
was  approaching ;  he  accepted  it  on  the  loop  line, 
lowered  the  home  and  caution  signals,  and  on  ran  the 
train,  crashing  into  an  engine  and  four  empty  carriages 
that  had  been  placed  on  the  loop  4ine  a  few  minutes 
previously  by  the  same  pointsman's  instructions.  When 
asked  why  he  lowered  the  signals,  he  said  he  entirely 
forgot  that  he  had  put  the  engine  and  carriages  on 
the  loop  line. 

The  accident  which  took  place  at  Norwood  Junc- 
tion, on  the  London,  Brighton  and  South  Coast  Railway, 
in  D^ember,  1891,  illustrates  the  occasional  bewilder- 
ment of  the  signal  clerk.  A  special  train,  crammed 
with  rollicking  schoolboys,  was  run  into  during  a 
dense  fog  by  a  passenger  train,  and  nearly  forty 
lads  were  injured.  The  signalman  omitted  to  giv(» 
u 


806  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Ch»p.xxxvi. 

the  second  signal  for  the  train ;  but  the  signal  clerk 
actually  entered  the  special  train  as  having  passed  the 
junction,  though  he  acknowledged  that  he  had  not 
heard  the  bell-signal  given.  Major-General  Hutchinson 
thought  he  must  have  made  two  other  entries — the 
second  signal  of  the  special  train,  and  the  first  signal  of 
the  passenger  train — without  having  heard  the  bells  of 
those  signals,  and  added  : 

**The  difficult  question  of  providing  a  mechanical  or  electrical 
fog-signal  to  fulfil  all  necessary  conditions  is  now  receiving  consider- 
able attention,  and  there  is  reason  to  hope  that  a  satisfactory  solution 
may  be  shortly  arrived  at.  The  mistake  on  the  part  of  signalman 
Glift,  which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  this  collision,  might  have 
been  rendered  harmless  had  a  system  of  electrical  interlocking  been 
in  force  between  the  two  junctions." 

"  Ulysses,"  who  appears  to  be  as  adventurous  as 
his  classical  namesake,  going  up  factory  chimneys, 
and  down  coal  pits,  and  riding  on  locomotives,  has 
given  in  Chums  an  interesting  account  of  how  he 
spent  "A  Day  in-^ft  Signal  Box,"  and  heard  two  good 
stories  from  the  quiet  man  with  the  lever : — 

*'  Once,  some  four  years  ago,  the  famous  three  o'clock  express 
from  Paddington  had  the  narrowest  shave  possible.  My  signalman 
had  given  "  Line  clear  "  for  her,  and  she  was  thundering  on  towards 
him,  when  he  received  this  dramatic  telegram,  *  Stop  express ;  a 
man  has  been  seen  trying  to  pull  the  danger  cord.*  Hardly  had  he 
read  the  message  when  he  heard  the  thunder  of  the  train,  but  with 
lightning  speed  he  threw  up  the  starting  signal  on  his  platform,  and 
waved  his  red  flag.  Had  the  driver  seen  him  1  He  could  not  tell, 
but  the  perspiration  carao  cold  on  his  forehead  when,  looking  at  the 
central  first-class  carriage,  he  saw  that  the  axle  of  the  front  pair  of 
bogies  was  broken.  That  minute  must  have  been  a  terrible  one. 
Would  the  train  stop  or  crash  to  atoms  when  the  carriage  dropped  1 


A    NABBOW  ESCAPE. 


307 


Happit/  t)ie  driver  had  se«n  htm,  and  applying  his  vacuum  brake 
witli  all  its  force  he  pulled  the  train  ap  jaac  as  the  axle  flew  all  to 
pieces. 

"Another  story  e>juullr  dmioatic.  It  was  a.  summtrr's  evening, 
and  the  signalniHu  sat  waiting  for  the  fast  up  express.  She  w.is 
ju8t  doe  when  he  heard  the  sonnd  of  a  gallopins  horse,  and  anoa 
a  gig  drove  up  at  the  station,  while  a  bn>iitliless  man  sliout(>d, 
'  Stop  all  trains^tlie  w.io<l<?ii  bridge  is  on  lii-e  : '  The  signalni.in 
on  hearing  the  words  siniply  dasbeil  at  bis  levers,  tlirowiiig  Ibem 
back  at  dancer,  and  then  listening.  Ilsd  the  express  time  to 
stopT  Would  Rhe  tliundor  on  the  b'uziiii;  bnd;,'e  to  her  destruction  t 
He  listened  from  the  window  of  his  l>ox,  heard  her  dist:int  whistle, 
knew  by  tiio  hum  of  the  mils  that  she  liiul  not  slackentKl  speed, 
felt  every  nerve  in  his  body  st rallied  to  its  utmost  tension  as  she 
came  still  nearer— then  at  last  he  lieard  her  daiiger  whistle,  and 
with  a  grCiit  cry  of  joy  fainted  in  his  box.  She  had  stopped  at  the 
very  threshold  of  the  burning  bridge." 


The  signalman's  task 
especially  in  contrast  to  his 
by.  When  railways  were 
first  opened  in  this  country 
there  were  no  signals  what- 
ever. On  a  train  that  rail 
from  Shildon  to  Middles- 
brough "  there  was  no 
guard  and  no  brake-van, 
and  everything  depended 
on  the  driver  and  fireman. 
It  was  necessary  in  the 
daytime  to  put  a  board  up 
on  the  last  waggon,  so  as 
to  be  sure  they  bad  not 
lost  any  of  the  train.     At 


a     very    onerous    one, 
isy  duty  in  years  gone 


UAJOB    OKNKttAL    MIJTCIIINHOIt. 
{From  a  WotofntI*  *»  Wn""  *  *«, 


308  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [CJbap.  xxxvl 

night  a  large  pan  of  fire  was  fixed  to  the  front 
of  the  tender  and  to  the  last  waggon  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  fireman  to 
keep  both  alight.  There  were  no  signals,  and  no 
pointsmen,  each  man  taking  care  of  himself  and 
his  train,  and  keeping  out  of  the  way  of  the  few 
passenger  trains  run."  One  of  the  earliest  signals 
was  in  use  on  the  North- Eastern  Railway  at  Whit- 
wood  junction.  It  consisted  of  a  board  which  was 
turned  to  let  the  train  go  by.  At  night  a  fire 
was  lighted  on  the  line,  and  though  it  could  scarcely 
be  called  a  signal,  it  was  a  welcome  beacon  to  many 
a  driver. 

On  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway  one  of 
the  station  masters  hit  upon  a  novel  though  homely 
mode  of  signalling.  He  placed  a  lighted  candle  in 
the  window  of  the  station-house  if  it  was  imperative 
that  the  driver  should  stop;  and  left  the  window  in 
darkness  if  the  line  was  clear,  and  the  train  was 
free  to  go  on  its  wdy.  Flags  waved  by  hand,  or 
run  up  on  poles,  were  afterwards  used  as  signals  by 
day  ;  and  at  night  lamps  showing  red  or  white 
lights  were  hoisted  on  lofty  posts.  The  disc  signal 
was  used  on  the  Grand  Junction  Railway  in  1837. 
It  was  fixed  on  a  pole  twelve  feet  high,  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  lamp.  If  the  disc  faced  the  train 
and  the  lamp  gleamed  red,  the  driver  pulled  up; 
but  if  it  merely  showed  its  edge,  and  the  lamp- 
light was  white,  the  driver  ran  on.  The  old  disc 
signal   gradually  gave  place  to  the  semaphore,    which 


RAILWAY    SIGNALS    IN    1311. 


310  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Char  xxxvi. 

was  adopted  in  1842,  and  which  indicated  three 
conditions:  *'  all  right,"  ''  slacken  speed,"  and  "  danger." 
Fourteen  years  afterwards,  in  1850,  John  Saxby  dis- 
covered a  plan  of  interlocking  the  levers  working 
points  and  signals,  and  his  idea  was  put  in  practice 
at  a  junction  in  London  with  success;  but  it  was  not 
till  1859  that  the  first  interlocking  frame,  the  invention 
of  Austin  Chambers,  was  placed  on  the  North  -Western 
at  AVillesden. 

The  semaphore,  so  familiar  to  every  traveller  by 
rail,  is  the  signal  that  has  been  fixed  on  every 
English  railwa3^  When  its  great  arm  stretches 
horizontally  at  the  top  of  the  post,  it  warns  the 
driver  to  "  stop ;  "  and  when  it  is  lowered  it  tells 
him,  in  semaphore  language,  that  he  may  ''go  on." 
At  night  a  lamp  is  lighted  on  the  mast,  and  as  it 
shines  through  the  frames  of  coloured  glass,  the 
signal  "  spectacles "  that  work  with  the  semaphore 
arm,  the  driver  knows  by  the  red  light  that  there 
is  **  danger,"  by  the  green  light  that  there  is  need 
of  "caution,"  and  by  the  white  light  that  he  can 
dash  along  with  a  clear  line  and  a  sense  of  security. 
The  signal  is  the  engine-driver's  adviser,  and  whether 
it  is  a  home  signal  fixed  near  the  signal  cabin,  or 
a  distant  signal  put  up  a  thousand  yards  away 
from  the  home  signal,  or  a  junction  signal  giving 
its  warning  near  the  facing  points,  it  invariably 
proves  a  true  friend.  The  signalman  is  generally 
thoughtful.  Whether  his  many-windowed  cabin  stands 
sentinel  near  the  railway  bridge  that  crosses  a  wide 


Chii|..xxxvLi  THE    BLOCK   SYSTEM.  311 

thoroughfare  m  a  great  city,  and  all  about  him  is  the 
roar  of  traffic  and  the  hum  of  the  multitude,  or  is 
perched  on  the  breast  of  some  crag,  far  away  from 
big  town  and  drowsy  hamlet,  in  the  midst  of  solitude 
only  broken  now  and  then  by  the  voices  of  nature, 
or  by  the  shriek  of  the  express  engine  as  she  tears 
through  the  dale,  he  gives  no  heed  to  his  surroundings. 
His  work  occupies  his  thoughts.  He  moves  carefully 
along  his  iron  frame,  which  bristles  with  levers, 
pulling  one  this  way,  or  pushing  one  that  way,  open- 
ing the  track  here,  closing  it  there,  and  raising  the 
signal  to  ''  danger.  " 

"It  is  astonishing,"  writes  Mr.  Dorsey  in  his 
book,  *'  English  and  American  Eailroads  Compared,'* 
"  to  see  the  blind  faith  the  English  engine-driver 
places  in  the  block  signals.  In  dense  fogs  where 
he  cannot  see  a  hundred  feet  ahead ;  or  dark  nights, 
when  his  vision  is  also  very  limited,  for  his  head 
light  is  only  an  ordinary  lantern,  useless  for  illu- 
minating the  track  and  only  used  as  a  signal,  the 
same  as  a  tail  light ;  or  frequently  where  he  has 
both  the  dark  night  and  the  dense  fog  to  run  through, 
yet  he  runs  at  full  speed,  and  generally  on  schedule 
time,  feeling  sure  that  he  is  perfectly  safe,  because 
his  block  signals  have  told  him  so,  and  they  cannot 
make  a  mistake  or  lie/' 

By  the  use  of  the  block  system  the  signalman 
enables  the  driver  to  bring  on  his  locomotive  with 
a  more  fearless  hand,  and  gives  a  feeling  of  greater 
security    to    the   passenger.      Even    the    timid    now 


3i^  OtiR   RAILWAYS.  [c*»r.  xixVt. 

place  their  faith  in  it,  for  they  know  that  the 
telegraph  is  ever  flashing  message  from  cabin  to 
cabin,  that  by  bell  or  dial  signal,  repeated  to  the 
sender  before  being  acted  upon,  the  man  on  guard 
in  his  glass-house  by  the  line-side  has  got  the  track 
clear.  The  signalman  is  the  last  person  one  would 
suspect  of  frolic.  To  him  "life  is  no  joke."  He 
does  not  often  get  a  rollicking  visitor  like  the 
gentleman  sketched  in  Punchy  Mr.  Foozler,  who, 
while  waiting  for  the  last  train,  wandered  to  the  end 
of  the  platform,  opened  the  door  of  the  signal-box, 
watched  the  signalman's  manipulations  for  some  time 
in  hazy  perplexity,  and  tlien  suddenly  remarked, 
"  'Arf  a  Burt'n  birrer  V  me,  Gov'nor,"  thinking,  as 
he  tried  to  pull  himself  together,  and  to  keep 
his  silk  hat  balanced  on  the  back  of  his  head,  that 
he  was  again  in  his  favourite  bar  parlour,  and  that 
the  levers  were  beer-pump  handles.  Nevertheless, 
the  signalman  occasionally  indulges,  in  the  way  of 
business,  in  a  little  quiet  humour.  He  may  not 
boast  of  his  cleverness,  like  some  people  one  meets, 
who  flatter  themselves  that  they  "can  see  into  the 
middle  of  next  week ; "  but  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
signalman  "  can  see  round  a  corner."  If  Dick 
Swiveller  had  possessed  this  wondrous  power  of  vision 
he  would  undoubtedly  have  used  it  to  confound  his 
creditors  ;  but  the  signalman  is  more  sturdy  in 
principle  than  the  graceless  medical  student  whom 
Dickens  pictured,  and  only  uses  his  capacity  to  see  round 
a  curve  or   along  two   lines    inclining  to   each  other 


Obai..  xxxvt.i       OnlGlX  OP  TtiK  DISTANT  StOXAL  313 

when  on  duty,  and  lie  does  it  by  means  of  an 
electric  current  which  leaps  from  the  signal  post 
round  the  corner  into  his  cabin,  and  tells  him  by 
its  words  of  light  "  lamp  in,"  or  *'  lamp  out,"  in 
the  little  frame  just  above  his  head,  and  its  ding 
on  the  alarm  bell  if  the  lamp  has  gone  out,  that 
he  must  be  on  the  alert  to  warn  any  passing  driver.* 

*The  distant  signal  had  a  curious  introduction  to  railway  work,  judging 
from  the  primitive  way  in  which,  according  to  Sir  George  Findbiy,  it  was  first 
used.  In  184G,  ho  suys,  a  pointsman  who  had  to  attend  to  two  station  signals, 
some  little  distance  apart,  in  order  to  save  himself  the  trouhle  of  walking  to  and 
fro  between  them,  procured  some  wire  which  he  attached  to  the  lovers  of  the 
signals,  using  a  broken  iron  chair  as  a  counter- weight,  and  so  found 
himself  able  to  work  both  signals  without  leaving  his  hut.  Since  those 
days  science  lias  come  to  the  help  of  the  signalman ;  and  it  is  ix)S8iblo 
now  to  signal  in  foi^  and  in  timnel  by  a  touch  of  the  electric  battery  in  tho 
signal-box.  An  electric  current  is  sent  through  the  locomotive  as  it  goes 
by;  the  circuit  is  msidc  by  the  contact  of  a  brush  at  the  rail-side  with  the 
footplate,  and  the  current  rings  a  bell  on  the  weather-guard. 


314 


CHAPTER   XXXVTI. 

SOME   NOTED    TUNNELS,    AND    HOW    THEY    WERE    MADE. 

Mining  Years  Apo — Burrowing  Beneath  a  Snow-clad  Mountain — The  French 
and  the  Railway  Under  the  Sea— The  Lenjrths  of  Enjrlish  Tunnels — 
The  Toil  and  Danjrer  of  Making  Them — Under  the  Severn — Sir  Daniel 
Gooch — On  the  Look-out  for  a  Late  Train — Creeping  into  the  Tunnel 
— ^Tough  Work  in  the  Peak— Making  the  Totlej  Tunnel — Exploring 
the  Underground  Way — Trudging  Beneath  the  Moorland— A  Stormy 
November  Day — A  Jubilant  Journey  through  Woodhoad  Tunnel — 
The  Box,  Shugborough,  and  other  Tunnels -The  Thames  Tunnel. 

English  industry  litis  always  tended  towards  burrowin{]f 
in  the  earth.  It  is  natural  for  us  to  dive  underground 
in  search  of  mineral  wealth ;  and  in  the  far-back  time 
they  delved  in  Cornwall  for  tin,  in  Somerset  for  lead, 
and  in  the  north  for  iron.  Coal  was  worked  near 
Newcastle-on-Tyne  in  1239,  though  three  centuries 
later  London  housewives  had  not  become  accustomed 
to  its  use,  memorialising  the  Crown  against  it,  saying 
that  "it  flew  abroad,  fouling  the  clothes  that  are 
a-drying  on  the  hedges."  There  is  ample  evidence  of 
the  daring  of  the  early  lead  miners  in  the  Peak  of 
Derbyshire,  and  of  their  rough-and-ready  justice  :  the 
punishment  for  the  thief  caught  stealing  lead  for  the 
third  time  being  that  he 

Shall  have  a  knife  stuck  through  his  hand  to  the  haft 
Into  the  stow,''*'  and  there  till  death  shall  stand, 
Or  loose  himself  by  cutting  loose  his  hand. 

In  the  High  Peak,  which  seems  now  to  be  the  latest 

*  A  small  windlass,  also  several  pieces  of  wood  placed  together  to  indicate 
possession  of  the  mine. 


€te]i.xxxnL]  MTSIKG   AXT^    TTKyEIJ.jyt^,  ^n 

prospecting  grouiid  of  railway  engineers,  the  country  is 
honeycombed  bv  lead  mining: ;  and  at  Oastloton,  one  of 
the  quaint-est  and  mc»st  delightful  viliagi^s  in  the 
Midlands,  there  is  a  prc»of  in  the  Speedwell  Mine  of  the 
lead-getter's  temerity.  Years  ago,  it  is  Ix^lieved  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  he  drove  a  p;iss;igt^  under* 
ground,  through  the  rock,  for  more  than  a  thous;ind 
vards  beneath  hill  and  craij,  findinir  a  i^\it  oavern,  a 
subterranean  canal,  and  a  deep  abyss  down  which  a 
torrent  roared.  Xo  fewer  than  40,(H>0  tons  of  nx^k 
duff  out  of  the  tunnel  was  flunij  into  the  chasm  ;  but 
this  mass  of  stone,  if  it  reached  the  be<l  of  the  gulf, 
made  no  impression,  and  the  place  to  this  day  is  known 
as  ''  The  Bottomless  Pit." 

Eailway  tunnelling,  compared  to  the  haziirdous  work 
of  the  lead-miner  or  the  pitman,  does  not  seem  perilous, 
still  it  is  not  free  from  danger,  as  has  been  incidentally 
shown  in  an  earlier  chapter.  There  have  been  many 
lives  lost  and  many  narrow  esciipes  from  death  in 
tunnel-making,  chiefly  owdng  to  sudden  falls  of  roof 
and  startling  inrushes  of  water.  Notwithstanding  the 
peril,  however,  the  w^ork  goes  on.  The  trade,  social, 
and  recreative  needs  of  the  nation  demand  incn^ased 
facilities  of  communication,  and  the  navvy's  pick  and 
the  driller's  form  are  seen  in  what  half  a  century  ago 
would  have  been  considered  most  inaccessible  places. 
Engineers  are  prepared  to  tunnel  anywhere,  beneath 
houses  and  churches,  under  canals,  rivers,  and  seas,  and 
to  dive  through  the  loftiest  mountains.  The  St.  (Jot- 
hard  tunnel  is  a  remarkable  example  of  their  skill  and 


316  OUR    liAJLWAYS,  [Chap,  xxxvii. 

persistence.  The  line,  which  links  together  the  rail- 
way system  ending  at  Lucerne  with  that  which  runs  to 
the  Italian  Lakes  from  Milan,  is  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  and  traverses,  by  steep  gradient  and 
sharp  curve,  rugged  pass  and  chasm,  where  in  winter 
the  snow  falls  thickly  and  drifts  fiercely,  and  the 
avalanche,  libemted  from  the  lofty  breast  of  the  moun- 
tain, crashes,  making  strange  noises  in  its  fall,  into 
the  deep  valley.  In  certain. parts  of  the  line  there  are 
sheltering  galleries  to  protect  the  track  from  the  storm's 
rage ;  but  the  tunnel  is  the  most  effective  shelter,  for  it 
is  nine  miles  and  a-quarter  in  length,  and  dives  through 
the  heart  of  the  mountain  range.  The  Mont  Cenis 
tunnel,  opened  in  1871,  though  considered  a  railway 
marvel  at  the  time,  did  not  cause  so  much  comment 
as  the  St.  Gothard,  completed  later,  for  the  great 
tunnel  that  opens  its  mouth  in  response  to  the  humble 
excavator's  toil  at  Goschenen  had  both  political  and 
commercial  significance. 

Neither  of  these  tunnels,  both  important  in  their 
way,  has  created  the  hubbub  that  has  been  aroused  by 
the  bolder  scheme  originated  by  Sir  Edward  Watkin — 
the  tunnelling  of  the  English  Channel,  to  which  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  refer.  So  determined 
has  been  the  opposition  to  the  project  that  it  would 
seem  we  are  rapidly  losing  faith  in  the  old  maxim 
that  "  One  Englishman  is  equal  to  ten  Frenchmen." 
There  appears  to  be  a  very  decided  fear,  wholesome  or 
unwholesome,  of  foreign  invasion.  Vivid  pictures  of 
stealthy  surprises  have  been  conjured  up — of  thousands 


Chip  xxxm.] 


A  jfjBB-.'irj.Yi;  Fion-RJT- 


S17 


of  Frenoh  soKiiers  maivliing.  iu  uotT*elo*s  lxK>ts.  in  the 
gileooe  of  night,  through  the  Ohauool  tunnel,  niassing 
on  our  shore  while  the  sentinels  werv  asltvp  ami  the 


cuuntiy  shi-oudt.'d  iu  I'oj^,  and  then,  at  the  word  of 
command,  conquorinj,'  Kngland.  Sir  Kdwiird  Wiilkin 
pointed  out  that  the  niakinj^  oT  tho  tunni'l  had  bcH'U 
lianctioucd  by  u  Tory  CJovcrniuunt,  under  Jiurd  Derby, 


318 


QUE   RAILWAYS. 


(Chap.  XXXVII. 


and  by  a  Liberal  Government,  under  Mr.  Gladstone ; 
but,  though  he  maintained  that  there  was  little  danger 
of  the  tunnel  being  seized  by  a  foreign  Toe,  and  showed 
how  beneficial  the  railway  under  the  sea  would  be,  not 
only  to  trade,  but  in  the  provision  of  a  second  line 
of  supply,  military  men  looked  askance  at  his.  submarine 
way  to  France. 

The  following  are  the  chief  tunnels  with  a  length  of 
over  1,000  yards  : — 


Severn 
Totley 

Stanedge     ... 
Woodhead  ... 

Cowbum     ... 

Bramhoi»e   ... 

Medway 

Festiniog    ... 

Scvenoaks  ... 

Morley 

Box  ...  ... 

Littleborough 

Sapperton  ... 

Polehill       

Mersey 
Bleamoor    ... 
Queensbury 
Kilsby 
Dove  Holes 
Shepherd's  Well     ... 
v/xteci  ...  . . , 

East  Junction 
Wapping  (Liverpool)     North- Western  ... 


Great  Western  ... 

Midland 

North- Western  ... 

Manchester,  Sheffield  [ 

and  Lincolnshire  J  " 
Midland 

North-Eastern  ... 
South-Eastern  ... 
North- Western  ... 
South-Eastern  ... 
North- Western  ... 
Great  Western  ... 
Lancashire  and  York-  ) 

shire  j  " 

Great  Western  ... 
South-Eastern    ... 
Mersey    ... 
Midland  ... 
Great  Northern 
North -Western  ...  * 
Midland   .. 
Chatham  and  Dover 


Brighton  and  South- 


}■■ 


Clayton 


••• 


Brighton  and  South  [ 
Coast  J  '* 


Yards. 

7,664 
6,226 
5,342 

5,297 

3,727 
3,745 
3,740 
3,726 
3,600 
3,350 
3,227 

2,869 

2,800 
2,759 
2,700 
2,600 
2,502 
2,423 
2,420 
2,376 

2,266 

2,250 

2,200 


Chap.  XZZVII.] 

TH 

E    SEVERN    TUNN 

EL, 

Yards. 

Sydenham  ... 

Chatham  and  Dover 

2,190 

Drewton 

Hull  and  Bariislcy 

2,116 

Dronfield     ... 

Midland 

2,024 

Lough 

Tiaucashire  and  York- 
shire 

}■■■ 

2,018 

Abbot's  Cliff 

South- Eastern    ... 

2,000 

Honiton 

South-Western  ... 

1,881 

Merstham   . . . 

Brighton  and  South 
Coast 

\ 

1,830 

Clay  Cross  . . . 

Midland... 

1,826 

Milford 

South-Western  ... 

1,813 

Belsize 

Midland... 

1,800 

Harecastle  ... 

North  Stafford   ... 

1,763 

319 


The  Severn  Tunnel,  the  greatest  of  the  hite  Sir  John 
Havvkshaw's  engineering  feats,  is  the  longest  tunnel  in 
England.  Its  total  length  is  7,664  yards,  or  4 J  miles, 
and  for  2^  miles  of  this  distance  the  tunnel  dives 
beneath  the  river.  The  first  stroke  of  the  pick  was 
made  in  it  in  March,  1873,  and  the  tunnel  took 
fourteen  years  to  excavate  and  build.  The  work  was 
not  only  laborious,  but  perilous,  and  the  men  had 
occasionally  to  run  for  their  lives,  owing  to  the  inrush 
of  water.  There  were,  indeed,  many  exciting  scenes  in 
the  tunnel  way;  and  this  underwater  and  underground 
road,  dug,  driven,  and  blasted  through  the  hard  rock 
and  new  red  sandstone  with  the  help  of  the  electric 
light,  is  associated  with  the  daring  and  self-sacrifice 
of  many  a  rough  toiler.  In  1879,  when  five  shafts 
had  been  sunk  and  three  miles  bored,  a  land  spring 
on  the  Welsh  side  of  the  river  suddenly  Hooded  the 
workings ;  and  the  same  spring  burst  in  again  in 
1883,  surging  into  the  tunnel  at  the  rate  of  27,000 


/ 


S20  OUB   RAILWAYS.  (Ohap.xxxvn. 

gallons  per  minute.  But  the  water  was  pumped  out, 
and  the  spring  practically  built  up ;  while  outside,  in 
order  to  protect  the  tunnel  approaches,  which  are  dug 
in  low-lying  marsh  lands,  great  sea  banks  were  placed 
to  keep  back  the  high  tides. 

In  January,  1886,  the  first  mineral  train,  loaded 
with  steam  coal,  ran  through  the  tunnel  in  nineteen 
minutes  on  its  way  from  Aberdare  to  Southampton  ; 
and  in  December  of  the  same  year  the  tunnel,  thoroughly 
finished  at  a  cost  of  over  two  millions  sterling,  was 
opened  for  passenger  traffic,  rendering  obsolete  the 
cumbersome  method  of  transit,  that  had  obtained  so 
many  years,  of  shifting  travellers  and  merchandise  from 
train  to  steam  ferry,  saving  no  less  than  one  hour  and  a 
half  in  the  journey  between  Bristol  and  Cardiff,  giving 
a  gratifying  and  well-deserved  impetus  to  the  Great 
Western  traffic,  and  not  only  developing  trade  on  the 
Gloucestershire  and  Monmouthshire  banks  of  the  estuary, 
but  having  a  commercial  influence  in  town  and  in  some 
of  the  northern  cities. 

The  great  work  was  carried  out  under  the  chairman- 
ship, and  with  the  staunch  encouragement,  of  Sir  Daniel 
Gooch,  who  prided  himself  on  two  things  in  his  long 
and  useful  life — that  he  could  look  back  on  fifty  years' 
worthy  service  with  the  Great  Western  Kailway  Com- 
pany, and  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  Great  Eastern,  the 
leviathian  steamship,  now  broken  up  and  almost  for- 
gotten, he  laid  the  first  effective  cable  across  the 
Atlantic.  His  diaries  are  full  of  interesting  reminis- 
cences of    his    railway  career,  and  no  one  can  peruse 


Chap,  xxxvii.i  SIR   DANIEL   GOOCH.  821 

them  without  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  this  sturdy 
Englishman  was  an  engineer  of  repute,  a  slirewd  rail- 
way administrator,  and  a  man  of  sterling  integrity. 
He  believed  in  action  rather  than  in  words,  and  main- 
tained that  silence  was  golden,  even  in  Parliament, 
candidly  confessing  that  during  the  twenty  years  he 
was  the  representative  for  Swindon,  he  had  not  taken 
part  in  any  of  the  debates,  and  asserting  that  it  would 
be  an  enormous  advantage  to  business  if  a  greater 
number  of  people  followed  his  example.  Early  railway 
travelling,  according  to  his  description,  had  a  flavour  of 
daring  and  romance  about  it.  "  When  I  look  back  upon 
that  time,"  he  wrote,  "  it  is  a  marv^el  to  me  that  wo 
escaped  serious  accidents.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing 
to  take  an  engine  out  on  the  line  to  look  for  a  late  train 
that  was  expected,  and  many  times  have  I  seen  the 
train  coming,  and  reversed  the  engine,  and  ran  back 
out  of  its  way  as  quickly  as  I  could.'' 

The  secret  of  Sir  Daniel  Gooch's  success  in  life  was 
the  steadfastness  and  thoroughness  of  his  work.  He 
thought  everything  was  worth  doing  well,  and  if  he  did 
not  actually  do  it  himself,  he  took  care  that  others  did 
not  shirk  it.  He  kept  a  sharp  eye  on  the  progress  of 
every  undertaking,  and  made  many  visits  to  the  Severn 
Tunnel.  One  of  the  latest  of  these,  on  October  27th, 
1884,  he  records,  saying : 

"  I  went  this  morning  to  the  Severn  Tunnel.  Lord  Bessborough 
met  me  there,  and  we  inspected  the  surface  work,  and  after  lunch 
went  below.  It  fortunately  happened  that  the  headings  were  just 
meeting,  and,  by  the  time  we  had  finished  lunch,  the  men  had  got  a 

V 


322  OUIl    BAlTAVAYf^,  [Chap,  xxxni 

small  bole  through,  making  the  tunnel  open  throughout.  I  was  the 
first  to  creep  through,  and  Lord  Bcssborough  followed  ma  It  was  a 
very  difficult  piece  of  navigation,  but  by  a  little  pulling  in  front  and 
pushing  behind  we  managed  it,  and  the  men  gave  us  some  hearty 
cheers.  I  am  glad  I  was  the  first  to  go  through,  as  I  have  taken 
great  interest  in  this  great  work,  which  is  now  getting  fast  towards 
completion.*' 

Next  to  the  great  Severn  Tunnel,  the  Totley 
Tunnel,  on  the  new  line  of  the  Midland,  from  SheflBeld 
to  Manchester,  is  one  of  the  most  important  in 
English  railway  enterprise.  It  has  been  dug  under 
nearly  four  miles  of  bluff  moorland  that  rises  1,300 
feet  above  the  sea-level ;  persevered  with  in  the  face 
of  extraordinary  difficulty,  for  the  contractors,  though 
willing  to  pay  high  wages,  did  not  find  it  easy 
to  get  workers,  even  old  hands  at  tunnel-making 
shying  at  toil  in  this  deep  underground  way,  in 
which  there  has  been  continual  bother  with  inrushes 
of  water,  and  into  which,  as  the  tunnel  slowly  made 
its  way  into  the  heart  of  the  moorland,  fresh  air 
had  to  be  pumped  by  machinery,  the  depth  from 
the  surface  being  too  great  for  shafting. 

I  heard  so  much  about  the  hazard  of  constructing 
the  tunnel  and  of  the  exciting  incidents  met  with 
by  the  men,  that  I  determined  to  explore  the  sub- 
terranean road  myself,  and  through  the  kindness  of  the 
general  manager  of  the  Midland,  and  of  Messrs.  Parry, 
the  engineers,  was  enabled  to  penetrate  to  the  heading 
from  the  Totlev  ♦Mid.  What  I  siiw  is  indicated  in  the 
following  sketch,  written  for  the  MoMcies/tr  Guardian  : — 

*"I  shall   be  glad,'  wrote  Mr.  Parry  to    those    in 


Chap,  xxxvii.j  A    WILD   DAY,  323 

charge  of  the  new  line,  ''if  you  will  allow  the 
bearer  to  go  through  the  tunnel,  and  ride  upon  the 
engines.  He,  of  course,  takes  upon  himself  all  lia- 
bility for  accidents/  With  this  suggestive  note  of 
introduction  I  reach  Dore  Station,  on  the  Midland 
Railway,  and  am  cordially  welcomed  by  Mr.  Percy 
Rickard,  the  resident  en«rineer. 

**  *  You  have  chosen  a  wild  day  to  go  over  the  new 
line,'  he  saj^s  sympathetically,  as  he  clutches  th(»  rim 
of  his  hat  with  one  hand  and  wipes  the  rain  off  his 
face  with  a  handkerchief  in  the  other. 

"  It  certainly  is  a  wild  day.  The  rain  does  not  come 
down  in  torrents.  It  is  driven  against  you  horizontally 
by  the  fierce  gusts  of  wind  that  sweep  across  the 
country  from  the  moors,  so  you  soon  have  a  wet- 
through,  bedraggled  look.  The  riot  of  wind  and 
rain  is  such  that  even  Ariel  might  find  it  difficult 
to  direct  the  storm.  But  we  are  well  equipped  to 
brave  the  weather,  with  thick  watertight  boots, 
leggings,  and  mackintoshes,  and  soon  strike  the  Dore 
end  of  the  new  railway  that  is  to  give  a  more  direct 
Midland  route  from  Sheffield  to  Manchester,  striding 
resolutely  westward  along  the  track,  through  pools 
and  over  slippery  sleepers,  by  the  screen  bank  that 
hides  Abbeydale  Park  from  the  line,  by  the  upper 
length  of  the  river  Sheaf,  and  on  to  Totley 
Rise.  The  Totley  Tunnel,  which  is  the  most 
important  work  on  the  new  line,  opens  its  mouth 
in  a  deep  cutting  just  below  the  Rise.  The  bank 
is  very  high  at  the  entrance  to  the  underground 
v2 


324  OUR   RAILWAYS.  (Chap,  xxxvn. 

way,  and  has  yielded  so  much  owing  to  the  rain  that 
men  are  busy  planking  it  up.  On  the  line  there 
is  the  shriek  of  engine,  the  rattle  and  jolt  of 
waggons,  and  the  shouts  of  workers. 

"'Is  he  going  in,  sir?'  asks  one  of   the  officials. 

'*  *  Oh,  yes,'  replies  the  engineer,  in  a  brisk,  en- 
couraging tone  ;  *  he's  come  many  miles  to  go 
through  the  tunnel.' 

"  *  I'll  get  the  lamps,  then,'  says  the  man,  moving 
away  ;  and  a  grimy  Hercules,  sludged  to  the  thighs, 
and  with  his  face  claj'-splashed  like  an  American 
Indian's,  advises  me  in  a  whisper  that  reminds  me  of 
the  voice  of  the  oboe,  to  *tak'  that  fancy  thing  off,' 
meaning  my  waterproof.  I  am,  with  considerate  kind- 
ness, provided  with  another  overcoat,  thick  and  stiff 
as  buckram,  and  with  a  railway  lamp  in  my  hand  am 
speedily  slipping,  sliding.  Jumping,  stumbling,  splashing 
along  the  rude  road  into  the  darkness. 

**  The  way  is  not  unlike  the  main  road  from  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft  to  the  far  workings  in  a  coal- 
pit. Here  it  is  bricked  ;  there  it  is  propped  with 
great  timbers.  Now  we  are  in  the  deepest  gloom  ; 
then,  through  a  thick,  almost  choking  vapour  that 
makes  your  lamplight  feeble,  we  can  just  discern 
the  shadowy  forms  of  men  who  look  like  gigantic 
phantoms  fighting  as  they  strike,  not  at  each  other, 
but  at  the  rock.  One  is  startled  by  a  hoarse  cry 
that  sounds  something  like  *  Howd  up  ! '  and  dragged 
into  a  refuge-hole,  dug,  like  a  watchman's  box,  in 
the  tunnel  side,  while  a  train  of  laden  waggons  clatters 


0iitp.xxxviL)    A   DIFFICULT  PIECE  OF  WORK  325 

by  to  the  tunnel  mouth.  The  last  flicker  of  day- 
light from  the  fourth  shaft,  on  the  fringe  of  the 
moorland,  has  been  passed,  and  we  are  in  the  depths 
of  the  tunnel.  The  shafts  are  all  within  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  of  the  Totley  end  ;  and  though 
air  is  continuously  pumped  into  the  subterranean 
road,  the  atmosphere  as  we  get  further  away  from 
the  last  shaft  becomes  dense  and  oppressive.  The 
brick-lined  arched  part  of  the  tunnel  is  now  behind 
us.  There  the  way  is  27ft.  wide  and  22ft.  Gin.  in 
height.  Here  it  is  at  present  narrow,  rough-hewn, 
and  low-roofed.  The  road,  only  just  wide  enough 
to  enable  the  waggons  to  come  down,  is  being  dug 
and  cut  through  the  coal  measures.  The  black 
shale  is  easy  to  deal  with  ;  but  the  intersecting 
rock  requires  more  patient  working.  Watching  the 
drillers  and  strikers  at  their  toil,  one  is  inclined  to 
think  that  to  delve  3^  miles  of  track  beneath  the 
moorland  from  Totley  Rise  to  the  Derwent  Valley 
is  almost  a  hopeless  task.  Yet  considerable  progress 
has  been  made  with  the  work.  There  is  still  a 
mile  of  heading  to  pierce  ;  but  men  are  driving 
from  both  ends  of  the  tunnel,  and  are  looking  for- 
ward with  pleasure  to  shaking  hands  with  each  other 
in  the  underground  junction. 

"A  useful  friend  in  tunnel-making  is  found  in 
gelignite,  an  explosive,  which  blasts  away  the  most 
obstinate  bulk  of  rock  with  scant  ceremony;  but  the 
men  have  an  annoying  enemy  in  water.  In  the  earlier 
lengths  of  the   tunnel    they    were    much    embarrassed 


326  OUR   RAILWAYS.  rchap.  xxxvil 

b^  it.  Every  man  seemed  to  be  possessed  of  the 
miraculous  power  of  Moses.  Whenever  he  struck  a 
rock  water  sprang  out  of  it.  The  rills  and  brooklets 
playing  hide-and-seek  on  the  rugged  land  high  above 
the  railway  level  leaped  downward  and  bubbled  and 
splashed  into  the  tunnel.  Water  dripped  from  the 
roof  and  flowed  from  the  rock  and  sprang  from  the 
tunnel  floor.  The  flow  became  so  constant  that  the 
men  had  to  work  in  mackintosh  suits,  and  looked 
like  divers  wading  through  deep  pools  and  torrents. 
At  the  faults  particularly  tlie  inrush  of  water  was 
considerable — at  one  time  not  less  than  1,200  gallons 
per  minute.  The  men  were  never  in  danger  ;  but 
the  flow  was  too  great  for  their  liking,  and  for 
the  reasonable  progress  of  the  undertaking.  A  head 
wall  of  bricks  and  cement,  4ft.  Gin.  in  thickness, 
was  at  last  run  up  not  far  from  the  fourth  shaft 
to  keep  the  water  back.  Behind  this  wall  the  water 
rose  and  dashed  ominously  ,  but  the  gangs  in  the 
meantime  made  a  drain  in  the  tunnel  bed,  and  ulti- 
mately through  this  drain  and  along  the  culvert 
by  the  railway  side  the  flood- water  was  carried  into 
the  river  Sheaf  The  water  in  the  Totley  length 
has  been  successfully  coped  with  by  the  diversion 
of  the  underground  stream  that  now  flows  beneath 
the  line ;  but  the  irruption  in  the  Padley  heading 
was  recently  gauged  at  5,000  gallons  per  minute. 
The  flow  wius  so  great  that  the  men  had  to  go  to 
work  on  a  raft.  Then  the  water  rose  so  high  that 
they  could    not    get    in    at    all    without    fighting    a 


Ch.p.  xxxvir.j        A    SINGULAR    TUNNEL   ROOF,  327 

subterranean    flood   that    almost    rivalled    the    under- 
ground torrent  Jules  Verne  evolved  from  his  fancy. 

"  I  learn  all  this  piecemeal  and  haphazard  as  I 
stumble  along  in  the  uncertain  lamplight  at  the 
heels  of  my  friend.  Now  we  pause  to  watch  the 
men — by  the  light  of  candles  stuck  in  their  caps 
or  in  the  interstices  of  the  rock — toiling  and  drilling, 
or  penetrating  by  means  of  ladders  into  the  breakups ; 
then  we  climb  over  waggons  that  obstruct  our  progress. 
By-and-by  we  reach  the  heading,  the  most  distant 
point  excavated  from  the  Totley  end.  The  rock  and 
shale  is  as  dry  as  tinder.  There  is  not  a  drop  of 
water  here.  The  air  is  hot  and  heav^'.  Perspiration 
bursts  from  every  pore  and  trickles  in  fantastic  courses 
down  your  face.  The  men,  great  muscular  fellows, 
perspire  too  ;  but  they  pick  and  dig  on.  The  shale 
is  steadily  shovelled  down  to  the  waggons.  At  the 
face  a  sturdy  tunnel-hewer  inserts  his  pick  in  a 
crevice  and  brings  down  a  great  mass  of  rock  that 
threatens  to  crush  him  as  it  gives  way  and  thuds 
on  the  floor ;  but  he  leaps  aside,  reels,  and  comes  on 
his  back  on  the  shale  heaj),  causing  some  diversion. 
From  the  soles  of  his  boots,  your  ejes,  with  scarcely 
perceptible  efl'ort,  have  roamed  to  the  tunnel  roof. 
It  is  alt(>geth(?r  a  surprising  roof — a  huge  flat,  smooth- 
faced slab  of  shale,  many  yards  in  length,  that 
complet<»ly  covers  in  the  tunnel-way ;  a  vast  natural 
roof  that  may  not  be  a  curiosity  in  geology,  but  is 
certainly  rare  enough  in  tunnel-making.  Since  I 
emerged  from    the  tunnel   by    the  deep    shaft,  bathed 


328  OUB   RAILWAYti,  [Ch*p.  xxxvu. 

in  perspiration  and  splashed  with  mire,  the  measure- 
ment of  the  natural  roof  has  heen  taken.  It  stretches 
121  yards  along  its  first  length,  then  after  a  hreak 
continues  for  another  ten  yards,  and  beyond  a  further 
break  it  has  been  worked  for  an  additional  forty-five 
yards,  without  its  edge  being  readied." 

My  experience  of  tunnel-making  was,  as  it  happened, 
obtained  on  an  extraordinary  day.  There  were  compara- 
tively few  men  in  the  workings.  In  the  places  furthest 
from  the  shafts  one  felt  a  weight  on  the  chest,  and 
gasped  for  breath.  The  oppressiveness  of  the  atmosphere 
was  almost  disquieting,  and  it  did  not  seem  surprising 
that  tunnel-makers  were  difficult  to  get,  if  they  were 
required  to  work  under  such  conditions.  Some  days 
after  I  had  returned  again  to  the  bustle  and  whirl  of 
city  life,  and  the  deep  shafts  and  the  tunnelled  way, 
and  the  gloom  of  the  underground  workings  had  become 
scarcely  more  than  a  picture  in  the  brain,  I  received  a 
letter  from  the  resident  engineer  on  the  Totley  Tunnel 
length  that  revived  my  interest  in  the  subterranean 
work,  for  it  said  :  "  Your  experience  of  railway  tunnel 
works  here  was  made  during  a  remarkable  depression 
of  the  barometer.  I  wondered,  as  we  went  along, 
how  it  was  there  were  so  many  empty  working-places ; 
and  I  afterwards  ascertained  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  workmen  were  laid  up,  owing  to  the  bad  air, 
and  that  this  exceptional  occurrence  accounted  for  the 
small  number  of  drillers  at  work  when  we  were  going 
through." 

The  weather  on  that  day — November  11th,  1891 — 


Gk«pL  xxxriLj  A    OALE.  339 

fras  certainly  a  meteorological  curiosity.  The  gale  rioted 
through  the  land.  Buildings  were  blown  to  the  ground, 
trees  uprooted,  and  houses  flooded,  for  the  rain  fell  in 
torrents  for  hours,  and  rivers  spread  far  beyond  their 
banks.  It  was  a  trying  day  for  the  engine-driver,  who 
had  to  face  the  fierce  wind  and  the  rain  that  struck 


THK    TOTLET 


him  as  sharply  as  though  every  drop  was  a  needle-point. 
With  his  engine  windows  all  blurred  with  rain  and  sleet, 
lie  had  to  keep  a  sharp  look-out  uncovered,  and  now  and 
then  narrowly  escaped  being  blown  off  his  footplate. 
A  singular  and  alarming  incident  occurred  near  Leather- 
head  Station.  While  a  passenger  train  was  running 
from  Horsham  to  London  a  tree  was  blown  across  the 
railway  track.     The  engine  and  driver  got  clear  of  it. 


330       .  OUR   RAILWAYS,  [Chap.  xxxvii. 

The  tree  just  missed  the  locomotive,  but  it  caught  the 
carriages,  crashing  against  the  panelling,  breaking  the 
windows,  and  tearing  off  the  handle  bars,  to  the  fear 
and  consternation  of  the  passengers,  not  one  of  whom, 
however,  was  hurt.  The  fall  in  the  barometer  was 
exceptional.  The  reading  at  noon  was  28*456  inches, 
and  the  depression  had  been  exceeded  only  five  times 
in  thirty-four  years ;  so  there  was  some  excuse  for  the 
tunnel-hewers  at  Totley,  working  a  mile  underground, 
breaking  away  from  their  toil  with  drill  and  hammer 
and  pick  in  the  stifling  air. 

The  men  working  the  Totley  Tunnel  met  on  October 
19th,  189:2,  and,  breaking  through  the  heading  with 
strong  blows  and  loud  shouts,  shook  hands.  Five  days 
afterwards  the  first  gang,  headed  by  the  engineer,  went 
through ;  and  the  tunnel,  which  took  more  than  four 
years  to  delve,  and  which  has  been  hewn  with  dogged 
perseverance  and  skill  through  difficult  strata  without 
a  shaft  to  startle  the  grouse,  or  offend  the  Duke  of 
Rutland's  love  of  the  picturesque,  gave  a  clear  track 
from  end  to  end.  Much,  however,  still  remained  to  be 
done  before  the  new  line  between  Sheffield  and  Mau- 
chester,  passing  through  some  of  the  most  delightful 
scenery  of  the  Peak,  giving  access  to  the  Vale  of  the 
Derwent,  and  the  beauty  of  the  Woodlands,  was  ready 
for  passenger  traffic,  and  it  was  not  opened  till  1894. 

The  tunnel  under  Cowburn,  at  the  north-west  end  of 
the  line,  did  not  hamper  the  excavators  like  the  J)ore 
and  (Jhinley  underground  way.  it  is  nearly  2^-  miles 
long,  and  though  the  tunnel  passes  beneath  a  part  of 


i 


Chap.  xxxviLi    COWBUliN  AND  WOuDllEAD   TUSNELS.      331 

the  Peak  watershed,  it  is  ahiiost  as  dry  as  tinder.  There 
has  practically  been  no  inrush  of  water ;  but  the  rock 
was  driven  through  with  difficulty,  and  a  vast  amount 
of  work  was  done  with  drill,  explosive,  pick,  and  trowel 
before  tlie  tunnel  could  be  opened  out  from  end  to 
end.  One  wonders  how  the  contractors  would  have 
fared  if  they  had  been  commanded  to  make  two  such 
tunnels  in  Egypt  in  Pharaoh's  time.  The  outcry 
for  straw  would  have  been  much  louder  than  that 
from  the  Israelites,  for  the  Totley  Tunnel  required 
the  enormous  number  of  30,000,000  bricks  to  line  it, 
and  Cowburn  no  fewer  than  20,000,000,  in  addition  to 
its  walling  of  stone. 

Woodhead  Tunnel,  on  the  Manchester,  Sheffield 
and  Lincolnshire  Railway,  is  one  of  the  best  known 
engineering  works  in  England.  It  runs  through  a  wild 
track  on  the  Yorkshire  and  Derbyshire  border,  is  more 
than  three  miles  long,  and  took  six  years  to  build.  No 
fewer  than  1,500  men  were  employed  in  making  it,  157 
tons  of  gunpowder  were  used  in  blasting,  and  the  fallen 
rock  had  to  be  lifted  600  feet  to  the  shaft  mouth. 
There  are  two  things  that  strike  the  traveller  as  he 
goes  through  it.  One  is  the  strength  of  its  odour, 
which  can  hardly  be  eclipsed  on  the  Metropolitan 
Railway,  and  the  other  is  the  tardiness  of  the  (jompany 
in  attempting  some  modern  method  of  ventilation. 
Why,  for  instance,  could  not  a  trial  be  made  with 
the  Guibal  fan,  which  has  proved  so  elfective  in  the 
ventilation  of  the  Mersey  Tunnel. 

A  journey  through  Woodhead  Tunnel  is  instructive 


OUR  BAILWATS. 


[Clwp.  xxzvii. 


in  many  ways,  and  particularly  for  rapid  variations  of 
the  English  climate.  You  may  ran  from  Hadfield  in  a 
blaze  oE  sunshine,  congratulating  yourself  that  summer 
haa  really  come  at  last,  hear  the  passengers  laconically 


SKUOBOEOVail  TUNKEL,  NORTH  END  (p.  tM). 


ejaculating  "  Woodhead,"  watch  them  banging  the 
windows  up,  closing  the  ventilators,  and  some  of  the 
fastidious  putting  handkerchiefs  to  their  mouths,  catch 
a  glimpse  of  a  grim  stone  archway  and  a  mass  of 
clinging  smoke,  cough,  gasp,  or  patiently  bear   your 


Ohip.  xxxviL!      THE    WEATHER  HEAR  PBNJ8T0NK 


ride  through  the  tunuel,  and  emerge  from  it  io  a 
blinding  snowstorm  or  a  torrent  of  rain,  swept  fiercely 
by  the  icy  wind  across  the  desolate  valley,  to  beat 
against  the  breasts  of  the  sombre  hills.     The  weather 


THK    FJBST 


BLETCHINOLKT 


between  Woodhead  and  Penistone  is  full  of  character, 
chiefly  bitterly  cold  and  boisterously  windy ;  and  a  few 
years  back  a  storm  rioted  there  so  persistently  that 
several  trains  were  snowed  up,  and  many  passengers 
spent  the  night,  half  frozen,  in  the  carriages  on  the  line, 
instead  of  lying  snugly  in  bed.    These  belated  travellers 


334  OUR   RAILWAYS,  (Cliap.  xxxvil. 

were  not  so  merry  as  the  venturesome  persons  who 
made  an  experimental  journey  through  the  tunnel  on 
December  22,  1845,  when,  according  to  the  pamphlet 
on  "  Manchester  Railways,'* — 

**  A  train  of  about  twenty  carriages  left  the  Sheffield  Station  at 
ten  o*clock  in  the  morning  drawn  by  two  new  engines,  accompanied 
by  the  chairman,  Mr.  J.  Parker,  M.P.  for  Sheffield,  the  other  directors, 
and  their  friends.  Precisely  at  live  minutes  past  ten  the  train  was  put 
in  motion,  and  got  under  rapid  way.  The  weather  was  extremely 
unpropitious,  in  consequence  of  a  tremendous  fall  of  snow.  The 
train  reached  Dunford  Bridge  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  where  it 
remained  twenty  minutes  for  water.  It  then  proceeded  through  the 
tunnel  at  a  steady  pace.  It  was  10 J  minutes  passing  through  this 
great  subterranean  bore ;  and  on  emerging  into  the  *  regions  of  light ' 
at  Woodhead,  the  passengers  gave  three  hearty  cheers,  making  the 
mountains  ring.  It  speedily  passed  over  the  wonderful  viaduct  at 
Dinting,*  and  arrived  at  Manchester  at  a  quarter  past  twelve 
o'clock,  the  baud  playing  *  See  the  Conquering  Hero  Comes ! ' " 

The  making  of  the  Box  Tunnel,  on  the  Great 
Western,  between  Chippenham  and  Bath,  though  not 
so  romantic  in  its  incident  as  the  construction  of  some 
other  tunnels,  was  a  difficult  task,  for  the  water  gushed 
so  freely  through  the  crevices  in  the  freestone  rock  that 
men  and  horses  had  to  be  brought  quickly  out  of  the 
underground  way,  and  it  was  found  imperative  to 
suspend  work  in  one  section  of  the  tunnel  till  adequate 
machinery  to  cope  with  the  great  inflow  of  water  had 
been  put  down.  No  fewer  than  30,000,000  bricks  were 
used  to  line  this  tunnel,  and  a  ton  of  gunpowder  was 
used  every  week  in  blasting. 

♦  A  viaduct  with  seven  stone  and  five  timber  arches,  Die  latter  being  120  feet 
high,  and  125  feet  span. 


% 


336  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ch*p.  xxxvii. 

Nor  was  the  construction  of  the  tunnel  through 
Shakespeare's  Cliff,  on  the  South-Eastern  Railway, 
devoid  of  peril.  The  workers  did  not  meet  with  such 
a  mishap  as  the  ten  men  buried  in  the  Watford 
Tunnel  by  a  huge  slip  of  chalk  and  gravel,  but  they 
were  now  and  then  in  considerable  danger  from  falls 
both  in  the  vertical  shafts  and  horizontal  galleries. 
The  tunnel  is  most  picturesquely  placed.  It  has  not 
such  a  stately  entrance  as  Shugborough  Tunnel,  with 
its  towers  and  parapet;  it  does  not  look  out  on  a 
scene  of  sylvan  beauty  like  the  High  Tor  Tunnel, 
Matlock  Bath ;  it  does  not  struggle  out  of  the  depths 
of  a  desolate  land  like  the  Blea  Moor  Tunnel ;  it  does 
not  nestle  beside  a  fir-clad  mountain  like  the  tunnel 
at  Spruce  Creek,  on  the  Pennsylvanian  Eailway;  or  peep 
out  on  rugged  path,  and  rushing  stream,  and  great 
shoulders  of  mountains,  some  snow-capped,  like  St. 
Gothard  Tunnel;  but  it  dives  beneath  the  cliffs,  and 
travellers,  just  before  they  are  whisked  through  its 
portals,  get  a  fine  picture  of  massed  rock  and  tumbling 
surf. 

There  are  practically  two  tunnels  running  parallel 
with  the  sea,  and  to  facilitate  the  making  of  these 
underground  ways,  a  road  was  dug  along  the  breast  of 
the  cliff ;  and  the  tunnels  were  made  by  means  not  only 
of  vertical  shafts,  but  of  horizontal  galleries,  the  material 
dug  out  being  taken  along  the  level  roads  and  tipped 
into  the  water.  Sightseers  were  admitted  during  the 
progress  of  the  work,  and  much  surprise  was  ex- 
pressed at  the  ingenuity  of  construction;  and  some  of 


838  OUE   RAILWAYS.  icimp.  xxxvii 

the  labyrinths,  into  which  only  a  mystic  light  pene- 
trated from  the  lofty  shafts,  looked  very  weird  and 
tmcanny.  The  curious  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
a  strange  sight  during  the  making  of  this  line.  The 
course  of  the  track  was  impeded  by  a  gigantic  rock, 
three  hundred  feet  in  height  and  seventy  feet  thick, 
known  as  the  "  Round  Down  Cliff,"  which  it  was  in- 
expedient to  tunnel  and  too  costly  to  dig  away;  but 
19,000  lbs.  of  powder,  exploded  by  galvanism,  soon 
moved  the  hnge  mass,  which  collapsed  seaward,  almost 
without  a  sound,  and  now  lies  a  lichened  heap  lapped 
by  the  waves. 

The  navvy  is  busy  still  on  many  a  new  line,  notably 
on  the  railway  from  the  east  to  the  west  coast;  but 
the  most  difficult  piece  of  work  in  which  modem 
engineering  is  striving  is  the  tunnel  now  being  made 
under  the  Thames.  The  great  river,  rich  in  history, 
tradition,  trade,  and,  some  say,  in  odour,  has  always 
had  a  fascination  for  the  engineer.  He  does  not  seem 
eager  to  go  upon  it;  but  he  is  always  filled  with  zeal 
to  bridge  it  or  tunnel  it.  The  first  attempt  to  get 
beneath  the  waterway  was  disheartening.  When  nine 
hundred  feet  of  the  tunnel  between  Eotherhithe  and 
Wapping  had  been  bored,  the  engineer  met  with 
quicksands,  and  abandoned  his  task;  but  the  elder 
Brunei  overcame  the  difficulty,  and  in  1843,  at  a  cost 
of  nearly  £470,000,  the  Thames  Tunnel  was  finished. 

For  many  years  it  was  rather  an  object  of  curiosity 
than  a  financial  success,  but  now  the  East  London  line 
runs  through  it,  and  the  track  has  become  an  important 


Ctop.  XXXViL}  TBE    THAMES    TUNNEL.  339 

railway  link  in  London's  endless  chain  of  traffic. 
During  the  making  of  the  tunnel  there  was  much 
exciting  incident  and  many  a  narrow  escape.  The 
under-river  way  suddenly  flooded  in  the  autumn  of 
1837,  and  an  assistant  of  Brunei's  got  out  only  just  in 


d^ 

\ia 

j* 

l«"i? 

^^^--^ 

m 

2 

M 

^S 

1 

'1^^ 

m/f 

f^ 

time.  "  Seeing  a  quantity  of  loose  sand  falling  near 
the  gallery,"  he  wrote  in  bis  account  of  the  mishap, 
"  I  gave  the  signal  to  be  hauled  into  the  shaft.  I  bad 
scarcely  done  so  when  I  observed  the  ground  give 
way,  and  the  water  descending  in  a  thousand  streams, 
tike  a  cascade." 

The  engineer  has  given  us  many  ways  across  the 


340  OUR    RAILWAYS.  [Cimp.  xxxvii. 

Thames,  some  on  bridges  of  great  dignity  and  beauty ; 
but  the  latest  thoroughfares,  through  Blackwall  Tunnel 
and  along  the  Tower  Bridge,  are  undoubtedly  the 
most  surprising  low-way  and  high-way  of  which  the 
river  can  boast.  Of  this  latest  addition  to  the  bridges 
tf  the  metropolis,  however,  we  must  speak  in  the 
next  chapter. 


EKTBAKOI  TO  TBE  THAIUS  TDSKU.  IN   ISA 


CHAPTER     XXXVIII. 


VIADUCTS    AND    BRIDGES. 

Som«  Noted  Bridgei— A  Hough  Day  on  tie  Conway — The  Drowning  ot  tba 
Irish  Mail— The  Square-Box  Bridge— In  Menai  Straito— "  The  Bnild- 
ing  of  the  Bridge" — The  Chain  Bridge  and  the  Foolhardy  Cobbler 
-Brunei's  Faraoua  Coniish  Bridge— A  Wild  Night  on  the  T»y— 
The  Tom  Bridge  and  the  Train's  Doom— The  New  Road  AoroM  tbe 
River— The  Great  Forth  Bridge— Ita  Shape  and  Strength— Th* 
Opening  Ceremonj— Orouing  in  a  Storm— A  Costly  Undertaking 
and  its  Trade  Value— London  and  Other  Bridges- Happj-gO-Lookj 
Bridge  Baildere. 

The  bridges  on  English  lines  are  legion.  There  are 
bridges  in  remote  moorland  that  hold  ancient  rights 
of  way  sacred,  archways  for  the  access  of  live  stock 
from  field  to  field,  bridges  over  country  lanes,  canals, 
and  rivers,  bridges  over  arms  of  the  sea,  and  across 
great  thoroughfares  in  crowded  cities.  Over  the 
Arun,  on  the  South  Coast  Kailway,  a  telescope  bridge 
(a  view  of  which  will  be  found  on  p.  488,  Vol.  I.) 
moves  in  and  out  as  the  exigencies  of  railway  or 
shipping  traffic  require.  The  New  Holland  Ferry  across 
the  Humber,  extending  fifteen  hundred  feet  into  the 


842  OUB  RAILWAYS.  ichap.  xxxviil 

river,  and  taking  the  trains  down  to  the  boats,  is 
an  old-fashioned  but  striking  evidence  of  diflBculty 
overcome;  and  the  High  Level  Bridge  over  the  river 
at  Newcastle ;  the  Royal  Border  Bridge  over  the 
Tweed  at  Berwick;  the  Runcorn  Bridge,  with  its 
thirty-three  arches,  over  the  Mersey ;  the  Dee,  Duddon 
Sands,  and  Congleton  Viaducts,  with  dozens  of  others, 
are  proofs  that  the  railway  engineer  is  not  easily 
daunted,  and  with  a  free  hand  and  unlimited  means 
is  prepared  to  span  anything. 

People  taking  their  holiday  at  Llandudno,  when 
tired  of  promenading  and  music,  often  go  by  train 
to  Deganwy  and  by  boat  up  the  river.  If  you  are 
rowing  across  the  water  to  the  modest  landing  at 
Conway,  where  river  current  and  tide  meet,  or,  worse 
still,  rowing  back  again  to  Deganwy  in  the  teeth 
of  the  wind,  your  experience  is  rough  and  exciting. 
A  few  years  ago  the  author  tried  it,  and  was  bound 
to  say  he  would  rather  round  Longships  Lighthouse,  in 
what  the  British  sailor  whimsically  calls  half  a  gale, 
than  row  across  this  river  in  a  storm,  for  you  are 
sure  to  be  completely  drenched  with  spray,  even  if 
you  are  not  flung  into  the  water.  The  swell  and 
the  wind  combined  have  such  power  that  the  stem 
of  the  boat  is  lifted  high  out  of  the  water,  and 
you  might  imagine  a  hippopotamus  or  a  whale  was 
gambolling  beneath  the  keel. 

The  frolicking  of  water  here  has  been  respons- 
ible for  many  a  sad  accident;  and  it  is  recorded  in 
the  Annual  Register  that  "  On  Christmas  Day,  1806, 


844  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  zxxtiii. 

owing  to  a  heavy  swell  on  the  river  Conway,  the 
boat  conveying  the  Irish  Mail,  with  eight  passengers, 
the  coachman,  the  guard,  and  a  youth,  in  all  fifteen 
in  number,  including  the  boatmen,  was  upset,  and  only 
two  persons  saved." 

It  is  unnecessary  now  to  ferry  travellers  across 
the  river.  You  run  by  the  London  and  North- 
Western  Railway,  along  the  embankment,  through 
the  tubular  bridge,  and  beneath  the  ivy-clad  walls 
of  the  lofty  ruined  castle.  The  bridge,  which  is 
really  a  square,  box-shaped  tunnel,  made  of  cast-iron, 
weighs  over  one  thousand  tons.  The  Chester  end  of 
the  bridge  is  free,  so  that  it  may  expand  and  contract 
by  heat  and  cold,  while  the  Conway  end  is  fixed  on 
the  pier. 

Robert  Stephenson  had  to  solve  a  difficult  problem 
before  he  stretched  the  gigantic  tubular  bridge  across 
Menai  Straits.  How  was  he  to  carry  a  railway  over  a 
turbulent  arm  of  the  sea  P  He  settled  the  question  to 
the  satisfaction  of  himself  and  thousands  of  passengers 
who  go  through  the  tunnel  every  year,  in  a  hurry, 
with  a  rattle  and  a  roar,  to  catch  the  Dublin  boat  at 
Holyhead.  Going  down  the  Straits  from  Beaumaris, 
on  your  way  to  the  quaint  old  town  of  Carnarvon,  by 
the  little  steamer  Columbus^  you  are  not  at  first  im- 
pressed with  the  proportions  of  the  bridge.  The  ripple 
of  the  water  about  the  chocolate-coloured  rocks,  a 
yacht  lying  high  and  dry  on  a  sandbank,  the  swift- 
flowing  current  in  which  the  helmsman  carefully 
keeps    the    boat,    the    richly-wooded   slopes,    and  the 


I 


346  OTJB  RAILWAYS.  [ca»»p  xxxviii. 

picturesque  scene  beyond  the  steamer's  stem,  rather 
divert  your  attention  from  the  bridge ;  or  if  you 
look  at  it,  the  most  prominent  thought  in  your 
mind  is  that  it  lies  very  low  towards  the  water, 
and  that  the  boat  will  surely  rake  the  bridge  with 
her  masthead. 

But  by-and-by  the  bridge  seems  to  grow  higher 
and  higher,  and  the  boat  to  shrink  as  fast  as  Mr. 
Bider  Haggard's  heroine  "She."  Passing  beneath 
the  great  structure,  everything  on  board  becomes 
dwarfed,  and  nearly  every  stranger  among  the  passen- 
gers expresses  admiration  at  the  massive  piers  and 
the  great  tunnel  that  rests  upon  them  a^s  it  spans 
the  Straits.  The  bridge,  small  compared  with  that 
colossal  work  the  Forth  Bridge,  is  nevertheless  a 
striking  evidence  of  engineering  daring  and  skill;  and 
it  seems  a  pity,  in  these  days  of  technical  education  and 
science  teaching,  that  the  original  intention  of  placing 
a  gigantic  figure  of  Science  at  the  summit  of  the 
Britannia  tower,  or  central  pier,  that  rises  from  the 
rock  in  the  middle  of  the  Straits,  should  have  been 
abandoned.  Britain's  power  is  represented  on  the  land 
abutments  by  two  lions  couchant;  but  there  is  no 
figure  to  remind  one  of  the  genius  that  conceived  and 
the  toil  that  fashioned  the  great  structure. 

The  building  of  the  bridge,  like  the  Building  of  the 
Ship  in  Longfellow's  poem,  created  a  great  commotion. 
Workshops  clustered  by  the  waterside.  There  was  the 
clang  of  labour  on  the  great  platform  crowded  with 
artisans  fitting  the  boiler  plates;  the  ring  of  the  striker's 


I 


Otap.  XXXTUL]        OPENINO  OF  BRITANNIA  BRIDGE.  347 

hammer  in  the  foi^;  the  echoing  ding-dong  of  the 
riveter  in  the  great  tube;  the  rumble  of  lony  and 
wa^on ;  the  noise  of  unloading  timber,  iron,  and  stone 
brought  by  water.  In  the  erection  of  the  central  tower, 
which  is  230  feet  high,  no  fewer  than  150,000  cnbic 
feet  of  Angleaea  marble,  160,000  feet  of  sandstone,  and 
400  tons  of  cast-iron  beams  and  girders  were  used.     By 


BTATrOS   IN   tsts. 


means  of  powerful  tackle,  and  the  help  of  an  army  of 
workmen  and  sailors,  the  tube  was  floated  and  slung 
to  the  foot  of  the  piers,  and  then  adroitly  hoisted  to  the 
summit  by  a  Bramah  press.  The  bridge,  which  is  1,841 
feet  in  length,  was  opened  on  March  5th,  1850,  when 
three  heavy  engines,  gay  with  flags,  went  out  of 
Bangor  Station  and  disappeared  within  the  tube. 

The   disaster    at    Tay   Bridge   had  not  happened 
then,    and    there    was    no    record   in  English   railway 


OUR    SAILWAYS. 


history  o£  a 
train  plunging 
from  a  col- 
lapsed   bridge 


S50  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  xxxviii. 

in  no  antics,  its  greatest  deflection  not  transgressing 
the  inelastic  ethics  of  engineering.  In  fact,  it  next 
carried  a  coal-laden  train  weighing  300  tons,  and  a 
further  testing  train  of  three  locomotives,  waggons 
containing  200  tons  of  coal,  and  carriages  containing 
nearly  seven  hundred  passengers,  without  flinching; 
and  even  the  most  timid  traveller  soon  came  to  have 
faith  in  the  bridge.* 

Menai  Bridge,  swinging  its  graceful  length  across 
the  Straits,  is  within  sight.  It  has  no  relation  to  rail- 
ways, except  as  a  link  between  the  travel  of  the  past 
and  the  present ;  but  this  great  chain  bridge,  fashioned 
by  Telford  to  connect  the  London  and  Holyhead  roads, 
is  a  remarkable  example  of  fearless  engineering,  as 
the  passengers  must  have  thought  on  January  30th, 
1826,  when  '*  this  stupendous,  pre-eminent,  and 
singularly  unique  structure  was  opened  to  the  public 
at  thirty-five  minutes  after  one  o'clock  a.m.  by  the 
Boyal  London  and  Holyhead  mail-coach,  conveying 
the  London  mail-bag  for  Dublin."  During  the  con- 
struction of  the  bridge  the  men  engaged  upon  it 
occasionally  indulged  in  foolhardy  feats.  When  the 
first  chain,  having  a  suspension  of  nearly  600  feet,  was 
stretched  across  the  Straits,  three  workers  traversed, 
or  rather  swung  themselves  along  it ;  and  later,  one  of 

*  The  bridge  has  four  spans,  and  the  tube,  altogether  1,613  feet  in  length, 
rests  on  three  piers — the  Carnarvon,  the  Britannia,  and  Anglesea  Towers.  No 
fewer  than  186,000  pieces  of  iron  and  2,000,000  rivets  were  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  tube,  which  forms  an  ing^ous  tunnel,  varying  from  23  feet 
to  30  feet  in  height.  The  bridge,  which  was  built  in  less  than  five  years, 
oost  over  £600,000. 


352  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxxviiL 

the  men,  sitting  down  "  quietly  on  the  centre  of  the 
curved  part  of  the  upper  suspension  chain,  with  his 
feet  resting  on  the  one  below  it,"  and  maintaining 
his  perilous  position  there  for  two  hours,  coolly  made 
a  pair  of  shoes !  * 

Another  notable  bridge  is  that  over  the  Tamar,  with 
its  nineteen  noble  spans  and  its  length  of  nearly  half 
a  mile  (2,240  feet).  It  may  well  elicit  the  admiration 
of  the  crowds  who  pass  beneath  it  in  taking  the 
delightful  trip  up  the  river  from  Plymouth. 

It  was  on  December  28th,  1879,  that  the  country 
was  astounded  and  thrilled  by  the  news  of  the  Tay 
Bridge  disaster.  The  structure,  which  spanned  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  had  often  withstood  the  fury  of 
storm,  though  not  without  vibration  and  tremble.  One 
of  the  railway  men  had  made  no  secret  of  his  fear  that 
the  bridge  was  unstable,  and  had  anxiously  watched  the 
train,  many  a  night,  start  along  the  slender  *  track  over 
the  tumbled  waters  into  the  darkness.  It  seemed  to  the 
cautious  Scotchman  a  foolish  exploit.  He  prophesied 
that  the  train  would  go  once  too  often.  He  saw  it 
start  on  its  last  journey.  AU  through  this  Sabbath 
day  the  wind  had  blown  a  gale.  Off  the  coast  the  sea 
was  high,  and  many  a  ship  had  run  for  shelter.  The 
night  closed  in  wild  and  dark,  chaotic  almost  in  its 
gloom,  except  at  rare  moments,  when  the  storm, 
impatient  of  its  own  sombreness,  tore  the  clouds  from 
the  moon's  face,  and  there  was  a  fitful  glitter  on  the 

*  This  bridge,  which  has  a  siupension  of   679  feet  from   pier  to  pier, 
contains  2,000  tons  of  chain  work,  and  cost  £120,000. 


Chip.  zzxviiLl  AT  ST.    GEORGE.  353 

foam-flecked  waters.  People  drew  their  chairs  nearer 
to  the  fireside  as  the  wind  smacked  the  house  wall  and 
shrieked  in  the  chimney,  and  the  devout  prayed  for 
the  safety  of  travellers  by  land  and  sea. 

When  the    train,  which  was  running   from  Edin- 


(FroiM  a  i'ADlivmpJI  ^  Hudim.) 


burgh  to  Dundee  and  carried  about  seventy  passengers, 
reached  St.  rinnrgn,  the  nearest  station  to  the  bridge 
on  the  south  side,  it  was  a  little  behind  time.  The 
wind    blew   so   fiercely  that  there   was   difficulty  in 


854  OUB   EAILWAY8.  [Chap,  xxxviii. 

collecting  tickets  ;  and  Thomas  Barclay,  the  signalman, 
after  giving  the  permit  baton  to  the  fireman,  had 
almost  to  crawl  to  his  cabin,  so  tremendous  were  the 
gusts.  The  wind  howled  about  the  cabin,  threatening 
to  lift  it  from  its  base,  and  Watt,  the  surfaceman, 
who  was  sheltering  in  it,  told  Barclay,  as  he  struggled 
in  breathless,  that  he  did  not  think  the  bridge  would 
hold  up  through  the  night.  The  two  men  had  a 
presentiment  of  coming  evil,  and  they  watched  the 
train  with  suspense  as  it  travelled  slowly  in  the  wind's 
teeth  above  the  storm-tossed  river  and  beneath  fantastic 
cloud-drift  along  the  bridge.  It  seemed  to  go  cautiously 
enough.  Its  tail  light  gleamed  red  in  the  darkness,  and 
then  almost  golden  in  the  moon's  cold  light.  The  train, 
clattering  and  swaying  with  the  buflTeting  of  the  hurri- 
cane, travelled  at  the  rate  of  three  miles  an  hour, 
without  mishap,  till  it  reached  the  high  girders.  The 
track  was  level  with  the  girder-tops  until  the  central 
spans  were  reached,  but  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  to 
make  navigation  easier,  the  rails  were  placed  on  a  level 
with  the  bottom  of  the  girders.  When  the  train  reached 
this  point,  and  was  making  its  way  through  the  central 
spans,  the  storm  suddenly  concentrated  all  its  fury  on 
the  bridge.  On  shore  it  made  wayfarers  cling  to  rail 
and  wall  and  gable  for  support,  and  toyed  grimly  with 
life  and  property ;  along  the  river  it  swept  with  howl, 
and  shriek,  and  roar,  and  struck  the  bridge  with  savage 
might,  tearing  four  hundred  yards  of  it  away. 

What  happened  at  that  supreme  moment  on  board 
the    train,     "  no    man     knoweth."      The    passengers 


_ '     \ 

Hi* 

I^HI'i 

t''»a*i*   .if"'  ■  \ 

«Si 

nB^i 

i:  .'^t  f  1     -^                , 

.     I>?  '■•      -   '      .    It. 

Hi 


1^ 


356  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ch»p.  xxxvici. 

dozing,  or  reading  Christinas  story,  or  chatting,  or 
thinking  of  home  and  those  they  loved,  or  listening 
to  the  storm's  anger  and  wondering  whether  they 
would  get  through,  had  their  career  rudely  interrupted 
by  fate.  The  startled  look  on  the  engine-driver's 
face,  the  guard's  instinctive  grasp  of  the  brake,  the 
desperate  momentary  struggle  of  the  passengers  to 
escape  their  doom,  are  known  only  to  Heaven.  Some 
say  there  were  piteous  voices  in  the  wind's  wail ; 
others  that  they  heard  a  voice  as  of  thunder,  and  saw 
a  flash  of  sparks  as  the  iron  fractured  and  the  girders 
fell  asunder.  Whether  the  train  was  flung  off*  the  rails 
by  the  hurricane  and  broke  through  the  girders,  or  the 
bridge  was  blown  down  by  the  gale  and  the  train 
hurled  into  the  gap,  has  never  been  conclusively  ascer- 
tained. Meteorological  investigation  and  railway  science 
lean  towards  the  latter  theory.  Anyhow,  the  ill-fated 
train,  the  rails,  and  the  girders  plunged,  a  tangled  mass, 
into  the  black  foam-crested  waters  of  the  Tay.  There 
was,  no  doubt,  many  a  piteous  shriek  and  half-stifled 
cry ;  the  headlong  descent  of  the  locomotive,  seething 
with  fire  and  steam ;  the  crash  of  breaking  carriages ; 
the  ring  and  clang  of  iron ;  a  great  splash  and  bubble 
as  the  train  disappeared  beneath  the  river's  surface; 
and  then  the  grim  silence  of  death.  Not  a  soul 
escaped ! 

Before  most  people  had  recovered  from  the  shock 
of  the  calamity,  skilful  and  daring  efforts  were  made 
to  get  at  the  wreckage.  By  hard  work,  patience,  and 
courage  many  bodies  were  recovered ;  but  that  of  David 


Chap.  xxxvuLj  THE  NEW   TAY  BBIDQB.  357 

Mitchell,  the  driver,  was  found  nowhere  near  the  train — 
it  had  been  drifted  by  ebb  and  flow  of  water  four  miles 
below  the  bridge.  Some  bodies  were  never  discovered, 
and  the  accident  gave  one  or  two  unscrupulous  men  the 
opportunity  of  effacing  themselves.  It  was  given  out 
that  they  had  gone  down  in  the  Tay  Bridge  disaster, 
whereas  they  had  disappeared  in  another  fashion  alto- 
gether. One  embezzled  the  money  of  his  firm,  and 
roamed  in  a  foreign  land.  Another  tired  of  his  wife, 
and  did  not,  like  the  great  Napoleon,  trouble  to  get  a 
divorce.  These  men  did  not  fall  into  the  waters  of  the 
Tay.  They  broke  through  the  girders  of  honesty  and 
virtue,  and  fell  into  the  abyss  of  fraud  and  licentious- 
ness. Meantime  a  searching  inquiry  was  made  into 
the  disaster,  and  it  was  found  that  the  bridge  had  been 
badly  designed,  constructed,  and  maintained — that, 
practically,  it  had  never  been  secure. 

Sentiment  is  soon  hustled  out  of  hard  work  and 
business;  and,  though  the  shadow  of  the  Tay  Bridge 
disaster  darkened  many  a  home,  trade  could  not  stand 
idly  by  while  people  grieved,  and  the  rebuilding  of  the 
bridge  was  not  only  speedily  projected,  but  actually 
begun  not  long  after  the  accident.  The  new  bridge, 
which  has  85  piers,  and  is  two  miles  long,  is  erected 
60  feet  higher  up  the  river  than  the  old  structure.  It 
is  built  with  double  lines  on  a  steel  floor,  and  its  height 
above  highwater-mark  is  77  feet  under  four  of  the 
spans  in  the  navigable  channel.  The  bridge,  which 
finds  connection,  by  seven  piers  on  land,  with  the  North 
British  system  running  into  Dundee,  was  opened  for 


358  OUB  BAILWAY8.  [Chap,  xxxvm. 

traffic  in  the  summer  of  1887;  and  the  company 
obtained  the  leave  of  Parliament  to  let  the  piers  of  the 
old  bridge  remain  in  the  river,  practically  as  bulwarks 
to  the  four  spans  of  the  new  viaduct,  on  condition  that 
they  were  built  up  to  the  water-mark  and  lighted ;  so 
the  passengers  who  pass  in  the  hundred  trains  daily 
across  the  new  bridge  have  a  vivid  reminder  of  the  fate 
that  befell  the  travellers  on  the  wild  night  when  the 
old  bridge  plunged  into  the  seething  waters. 

Dr.  Siemens'  prophecy  that  the  Firth  of  Forth 
would  be  "  spanned  by  a  bridge  exceeding  in  grandeur 
anything  yet  attempted  by  engineers  "  has  come  true ; 
and  the  Midland  Eailway  Company  were  enabled  to 
place  on  the  title-page  of  their  time-table  in  the  summer 
of  18^0  the  modest  announcement :  "  Opening  of  the 
direct  route  to  and  from  Dundee,  Aberdeen,  Perth,  and 
the  North  of  Scotland,  June  2nd,"  and  further  to  in- 
form passengers  that  as  travel  by  the  bridge  materially 
shortened  the  distance  between  London  and  the  land  of 
Highland  chieftains,  glens,  lochs,  and  salmon,  they 
intended  considerably  to  improve  the  train  service. 
Some  of  the  shareholders  scarcely  relished  the  tax  for 
the  use  of  the  bridge.  The  company  had  been  rash, 
they  considered,  in  promising  to  assist  in  making  up 
any  possible  deficiency  in  receipts ;  but  everybody  in 
the  pursuit  of  business,  and  many  in  the  pursuit  of 
pleasure,  were  delighted  when  the  bridge  was  ready 
for  use,  and  so  transient  is  the  depressing  influence  of 
a  great  calamity  that  the  first  travellers  across  the 
gigantic  structure  were  not  disturbed  by  the  memory  of 


360  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Clu.p. Mxviii. 

the  Tay  Bridge  disaster.  Even  the  traditional  old 
woman,  stout,  and  doubtful  as  to  the  stability  of  the 
bridge,  sitting  as  ligbtlj  as  she  could  in  the  comer  of 
the  carriage,  and  holding  her  breath  and  her  tongue  so 
resolutely,  that  the  train  passed  by  pillar,  girder,  and 
through  the  lattice  with  safety,  was  thoroughly  con- 
vinced, when  she  got  to  the  other  side  of  the  Firth, 
that  the  bridge  was  "  as  safe  as  a  rock." 

One  writer  on  the  look-out  for  a  comparison  saj's 
that  "  gigantic  as  the  tallest  guardsman  is  to  a  newly- 
born  infant,  so  is  the  Forth  Bridge  to  other  bridges." 
Its  piers  are  nearly  as  high  as  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
its  big  spans  are  a  third  of  a  mile  long,  and  its  strength 
is  such  that  it  will  carry  two  trains,  a  rolHng  load  of 
140  tons,  and  bear  a  wind-pressure  on  its  main  spans  of 
nearly  8,000  tons.  The  structure  is  built  on  the  canti- 
lever principle.  The  unlearned  in  engineering  and  in 
the  fixing  of  brackets  for  house  decoration  may  ask. 


IBB    OLD   TAT    BBIDQK. 


Chap.  xxxyni.j  TRE  FORTH  BRIDGE.  861 

without  any  tannt  of  ignorance,   "What  is  a  canti- 
lever?"   The  reply  is  that — 

'*  A  cantilever  is  simply  a  bracket,  and  the  principle  of  the  bridge 
is  merely  that  three  huge  towers  have  brackets,  over  an  eighth  of  a 
mile  in  length,  projecting  out  from  them  on  either  side.  The 
brackets  are  pairs  of  steel  tubes — long  enough  for  a  coach  and 
horses  to  drive  through — rising  from  the  base  of  the  piers,  meeting 
at  their  further  end  the  horizontal  girders  along  which  the  railway 
runs,  and  supported  at  the  same  point  by  equally  huge  steel  bands 
stretching  downwards  from  the  tops  of  the  piers.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Baker  has  given  a  graphic  illustration  of  the  design  of  the  bridge  by 
photographing  a  living  model,  in  which  the  piers  are  men  seated  on 
chairs,  and  stretching  out  their  arms  to  grasp  with  either  hand  one 
end  of  a  stick  which  is  attached  at  the  other  end  to  the  seat  of 
the  chair."* 

Mr.  F.  E.  Cooper,  who  was  the  resident  engineer, 
has  been  good  enough  to  supply  the  author  with  a 
terse  description  of  the  structure.  "  The  Forth  Bridge," 
he  says,  **  is  the  most  important  link  in  the  direct 
communication  which  the  North  British  Railway  and 
their  allies,  the  Midland  and  the  East  Coast  Companies, 
have  completed  between  Edinburgh  on  the  one  hand, 
and  Perth  and  Dundee  on  the  other,  to  enable  them 
to  compete  with  the  West  Coast  Companies  for  the 
North  of  Scotland  traffic.  The  total  length  of  the 
viaduct  is  8,296  feet,  or  nearly  If  miles,  and  there 
are  two  spans  of  1,710  feet,  two  of  680  feet,  fifteen 
of  168  feet  girders,  four  of  57  feet,  and  three  of  25 
feet.  The  clear  headway  for  navigation  measures 
150  feet  in  the  centre  of  the  1,710  feet  spans.  The 
main  piers,  which  are   three  in  number,  consist  each 

•  '<  The  Banwayi  of  Scotland,'*  by  W.  Acwoiih. 


362  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Ohap.xxxvra. 

of  a  group  of  four  masonry  columns,  faced  with 
granite,  49  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top,  and  36  feet 
high,  resting  either  on  the  solid  rock  or  on  concrete. 
The  superstructure  of  the  main  spans  is  made  up  of 
three  enormous  double  cantilevers  resting  on  the  three 
piers.  Those  on  the  Queensferry  and  Fife  shore  side 
are  1,505  feet,  and  that  on  Inch  Garvie — an  island 
which  divides  the  deep-water  space  into  two  channels 
of  nearly  equal  width — 1,620  feet  in  length.  The 
centre  portions  of  the  two  1,710  feet  spans  on  each 
side  of  Inch  Garvie  are  formed  by  two  lattice  girders 
350  feet  in  length  and  50  feet  deep  in  the  centre.  No 
fewer  than  140,000  cubic  yards  of  masonry  and  con- 
crete have  been  used  in  the  foundations  and  piers,  and 
there  are  35,000  tons  of  steel  in  the  superstructure." 

The  great  Forth  Bridge  is  a  triumph  of  modern 
engineering ;  and  when  Mr.  Gladstone  strode  along  the 
steel  track,  on  one  of  his  Midlothian  tours,  he  was 
earnest  in  his  admiration  of  the  work,  which  indicates 
in  a  colossal  fashion  how  rapid  has  been  the  progress 
of  science,  manufacture,  and  engineering  since  he,  to 
quote  his  own  words,  "  crossed  the  Forth,  in  a  little  bit 
of  an  open  boat  tumbling  about,  as  far  back  as  1820." 
The  bridge  was  formally  opened  on  March  4th,  1890, 
with  considerable  ceremony.  The  Prince  of  Wales, 
standing  in  the  middle  of  the  north  connecting  girder, 
attended  by  Sir  W.  Arrol,  the  contractor,  and  by 
Lord  Eosebery,  Sir  Benjamin  Baker,  the  Marquis  of 
Tweeddale,  and  others,*  drove  in  the  last  rivet,  a  gilded 

*  See  the  frontiBpieoe  to  this  volume. 


k 


36i  OUB  BAILWAYa.  [Chap,  xxxvra. 

one;  and,  amid  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain,  declared 
the  bridge  open.  At  a  banquet  the  same  night  in 
Edinburgh  the  Prince  proposed  "  Success  to  the  Forth 
Bridge/'  and  announced  that  the  Queen  had  made 
Sir  Matthew  Thompson,  the  chairman  of  the  Forth 
Bridge  Company,  a  baronet;  that  she  had  conferred 
a  similar  honour  on  Sir  John  Fowler,  the  chief 
engineer;  that  Mr.  Benjamin  Baker  had  received  the 
distinction  of  Knight  Commander  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Michael  and  St.  George,  and  that  Mr.  Arrol,  the 
contractor,  had  been  knighted. 

A  railway  journey  across  the  bridge  on  a  boisterous 
night  has  a  spice  of  romance.  The  gale  was  fierce 
on  January  29th,  1892,  and  how  the  great  struc- 
ture comported  itself  in  the  blustering  wind  was 
vividly  described  by  a  passenger : 

*'  To  one  who  has  not  travelled  on  such  a  night  it  is  difficult  to 
afford  an  adequate  idea  of  the  unnerving  influence  which  a  hurricane 
shrieking  amongst  the  lattice  work  of  the  bridge,  and  positively 
making  the  caniage  dance  upon  the  rails,  has  on  the  mind.  As 
we  came  up  to  the  signal-box  at  the  north  end  of  the  bridge  the 
train  was  brought  to  a  standstill,  the  line  not  being  clear,  and 
there  we  stood  five  minutes  in  the-  full  fury  of  the  storm  as  it 
swept  down  the  Forth  unchecked  by  any  obstacle,  waiting  till  the 
pointsman  permitted  us  to  cross.  I  do  not  know  what  scientific 
observations  may  have  revealed  the  velocity  of  the  wind  at  the 
time  to  be,  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that^  though  I  have 
travelled  a  good  deal  in  my  time,  I  never  before  have  been  in  a 
train  so  severely  shaken  by  the  wind.  Though  stationary,  the  train 
seemed  to  be  dancing  about  on  the  rails  as  if  stetuning  over  a  rough 
road  at  express  speed,  and  the  noise  of  the  roaring  wind  was  by  no 
means  pleasant  music  to  those  who  were  about  to  cross  the  bridge. 
A  gust  more  powerful  than  any  we  had  yet  experienced  had  just  set 


^ 


ciup.  xxxviii.j  THE   FORTH  BRIDGE.  365 

the  train  shivering  from  end  to  end  when  our  driver  got  the  signal 
*  All  clear.'  Slowly  and  stubbornly,  as  if  the  elements  were  holding 
us  back,  we  crept  on  to  the  bridge,  and  in  a  few  seconds  we  were 
on  the  first  cantilever.  The  bridge  itself  was  no  more  affected  by 
the  storm  than,  according  to  the  engineer's  calculations,  it  ought 
to  have  been  in  a  wind  of  such  velocity.  The  Forth  Bridge  stands 
fast  in  the  face  of  the  wildest  storm.  It  rears  itself  majestically 
amid  the  waters,  and  presents  an  invulnerable  front  to  the  elements. 
To  cross  it  on  such  a  night  is  to  repose  implicit  confidence  in  it 
hereafter,  for  though  at  the  time  I  was  not  sorry  to  find  myself  on 
land  again,  I  could  not  help  but  feel  that  any  misgivings  I  had 
previously  cherished  respecting  the  stability  of  the  structure  were 
swept  away  for  ever." 

Discussing    the    commercial    aspect   of  the  costly 
undertaking,  the  Railway  News  says: 

''The  capital  authorised  in  the  original  Act  of  1873  was 
£1,250,000.  The  fall  of  the  Tay  Bridge  gave  the  death-blow  to  the 
first  scheme,  that  of  Sir  Thomas  Bouch^  which  gave  place  to  the 
designs  for  the  more  costly  and  more  substantial  structure,  prepared 
by  Sir  John  Fowler  and  Sir  Benjamin  Baker.  The  ultimate  cost 
was  £3,367,610.  The  total  length  of  the  Forth  Bridge  (including 
the  lines  of  approach)  from  Dalmeny  to  In verkei thing,  is  4  miles 
16  chains.  The  cost,  therefore,  averages  £800,000  per  mile,  and  it 
is  unquestionably  the  most  expensive  piece  of  line  in  the  world. 
The  receipts  in  the  last  half  of  1890  were  £40,953,  the  interest  on 
debentures,  loans,  and  dividends  £61,931,  and  the  deficiency 
£11,977.  In  the  first  half  of  1891  the  receipts  were  £47,460, 
the  interest  £61,449,  and  the  deficiency  £13,998.  The  deficiency 
has  been  made  up  from  a  trust  fund ;  but,  trust  fund  or  no  trust 
fund,  the  shareholders  have  nothing  to  fear.  Their  interest  is 
strongly  guaranteed.  The  four  companies  using  the  bridge — the 
Midland,  North  British,  North-Eastem,  and  Great  Northern — are 
under  an  obligation  to  make  up  any  deficiency  in  receipts  required 
to  pay  interest  at  the  rate  of  4  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  nominal 
called-up  capital  of  the  company.  The  Midland,  Great  Northern 
and  North-Eastem  Companies  are  protected  to  the  extent  that  the 


366  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [CJutp.  xxxvin. 

North  British  are  required  to  guarantee  a  minimum  earning  of 
£40,000  per  annum,  and  further  that  if  the  North  British  pay 
5  per  cent,  continuously  for  four  years  on  their  ordinary  stock, 
the  remaining  companies  are  to  be  relieved  of  half  the  guarantee 
in  perpetuity.  The  bridge  is  on  North  British  territory,  the  traffic 
over  it  is  worked  by  the  North  British  at  50  per  cent,  of  the  receipts 
on  actual  mileage,  and  as  they  are  the  greatest  gainers,  they  are 
necessarily  the  most  heavily  handicapped  with  the  guarantee." 

The  bridges  across  the  Thames  indicate  by  pier, 
parapet,  and  lattice  the  engineering  progress  of  Eng- 
land. There  is  a  world  of  romance  associated  with 
these  water-lapped  fabrics.  Westminster  Bridge  spans 
the  river  with  stately  grace,  in  the  neighbourly 
light  of  the  Clock  Tower,  and  every  inch  of  ground 
near  it  prompts  thought  of  the  great  in  religion,  in 
art,  in  literature,  and  in  government.  London 
Bridge  suggests  the  ceaseless  striving  and  struggling 
of  modern  life,  and  now  and  then  its  failure,  bitter 
misery,  and  profound  despair.  Higher  up  the  Thames 
there  are  bridges  that  look  down  upon  the  out- 
rigger, balanced  in  the  current  by  strong-armed, 
brown-legged  youth,  on  foliaged  banks,  on  lichened 
boat-house,  on  garden,  orchard,  and  woodland ;  but 
the  railway  bridge,  even  though  it  is  built  amid 
such  a  tempting  scene  of  restfulness,  has  its  work  to 
do.  There  are  no  fewer  than  eleven  railway  bridges  over 
the  Thames.  They  stretch  across  the  river  at  Kingston, 
Richmond,  Kew,  Barnes,  Putney,  Battersea,  Victoria, 
Charing  Cross,  Blackfriars,  St.  Paul's,  and  Cannon 
Street,  and  these  structures,  some  of  them  magnificent 
in  span    and  gigantic  in  proportions,  have  cost  nearly 


OUS    RAILWAYS. 


(Chip.  XZXVIIL 


K 

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'ill 

1 

six  millions  sterling. 
Bat  none  of  them  is 
qnite  so  sarprising  as 
the  latest  addition  to 
the  hridges  of  the 
Thames.  The  new 
Tower  Bridge,  with  its 
huge  towers  of  steel 
and  masonry,  its  three 
great  spans,  its  lofty 
girder-way  for  foot 
passengers  when  the 
doable  drawbridge  is 
raised  for  the  passage 
of  vessels,  is  indeed  a 
remarkable  outcome  of 
engineering  thought 
and  work ;  and  the 
fifteen  thonsand  tons 
of  iron  and  steel  used 
in  its  construction 
have  been  put  to  better 
purpose  than  the  iron 
and  steel  in  the 
weather-beaten,  historic 
Tower  close  by,  where 
there  are  many  indica- 
tions of  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  country, 
&8hioned  in  a  merciless 


370  OUB   RAILWAYS,  [Chap,  xxxviii. 

period  of  the  nation's  history  into  axes  and  instru- 
ments of  torture  that  were  not  always  applied  to 
the  heads  and  bodies  of  traitors. 

The  attention  of  the  railway  companies  was  sharply 
drawn  to  the  condition  of  their  roads  by  a  disquieting 
accident  that  happened  on  the  London,  Brighton  and 
South  Coast  Eailway  on  May  1st,  1891.  The  8.45 
morning  express  train  from  Brighton  for  London 
Bridge  Station  was  travelling  rapidly  over  Portland 
Eoad  Bridge,  near  Norwood  Junction,  when  it  left 
the  rails,  part  of  the  bridge  having  given  way  through 
the  collapse  of  a  girder.  The  accident  aroused  a  good 
deal  of  misgiving  among  passengers  not  only  on  this, 
but  on  other  lines,  and  the  feeling  of  insecurity  was 
accentuated  by  Major-General  Hutchinson's  report  to 
the  Board  of  Trade.  "  The  cast-iron  girder  which  failed 
on  this  occasion  had,'*  he  said,  "  been  in  its  place  for 
about  thirty-one  years,  and  during  the  whole  of  this 
time  had  had  concealed  in  the  interior  of  the  web  and 
in  the  outer  part  of  the  lower  flange  a  very  serious 
flaw,  abstracting  at  least  one-fourth  from  the  strength 
of  the  girder.  This  flaw  was  invisible  to  even  careful 
inspection  after  the  girder  had  been  placed  in  position  ; 
nor  was  it  visible  when  the  girder  was  cast,  owing  to 
the  practice  of  using  sheet  iron  in  the  foundry  opera- 
tions at  special  parts  of  the  castings,  such  as  gussets. 
Independent,  however,  of  the  flaw  in  this  girder,  it  did 
not  possess  a  sufficient  theoretical  margin  of  safety  for 
the  passage  of  the  engines  now  in  use  on  the  line." 
The  company,  he  said,  were  deserving  of  much  blame 


ciiap.  XXXVIII.1     LOSDON  ASD   BRIGHTON  BRIDGES.         371 

for  not  substituting  stronger  girders,  and  he  urged 
that  throughout  the  system  cast-iron  girders  should 
be  replaced  by  wrought-iron  ones. 

The  frank  and  breezy  opinion  of  the  Government 
inspector  caused  a  rustle  among  the  directors.  Sir 
John  Fowler,  the  consulting  engineer  of  the  company, 
was  instructed  to  examine  and  report  on  the  condition 
of  all  the  bridges  and  viaducts  on  the  line,  and  he 
presented  his  report  on  June  17th  of  the  same  year, 
as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Banister  has  suj)plied  me  with  full  information  respecting 
the  cast-iron  bridges  on  the  Brighton  Railway  and  its   branches. 
The  total  number  is  171,  of  very  varied  size  and  character.     I  have 
personally  inspected  the  Victoria  Bridge  over  the  Thames,  the  Ouse 
Viaduct,  the  Shoreham  Viaduct,  and  several  typical  bridges.     The 
Victoria   Bridge   is   a   strong   and    good   bridge   in   every   respect, 
and  will  be  so  for  very  many  years.     The  timber  of  the  permanent 
way  now  requires  renewal,  and  this  is  being  done.     Being  an  arch 
bridge,    passing  trains   cause   a   movement  which   may  be   termed 
*  vibration  '  as  distinguished  from  the  movement  or  deflection  of  an 
ordinaiy  girder  bridge,  which  has  less  vibration,  although  probably 
more  movement.    No  anxiety  whatever  need  be  felt  about  the  Victoria 
Bridge.     I  walked  over  the  ground  of  the  site  of  the  Ouse  Viaduct 
and  examined  every  pier  and  arch.     I  found   this  fine   structure, 
which  is  exceptionally  strong,  in  excellent  condition.    The  Shoreham 
Viaduct  consists  of  36  spans  of  30  feet  each,  with  cast-iron  girders 
resting  on  timber  piers.     The  time  has  anrived  when  this  viaduct 
would  require  renewal  in  a  few  yeai*s  by  substituting  iron  cylinders 
for  timber  piers  and  wrought-iron  girders  for  cast-iron.     I  recom- 
mend, however,  that  this  renewal  be  carried  out  as  soon  as  arrange- 
ments can  be  made,  and  whilst  the  viaduct  is  in  a  perfectly  safe 
state.      Besides   the   Shoreham  Viaduct,   there   are   about    twenty 
bridges  which,  in  my  opinion,  should  bo  reconstructed  by  the  sub- 
stitution of  wrought-iron  (or  preferably  steel)  for  cast-iron  during 
the  next  twelve  months,  or  sooner  if  possible,  and  about  sixty  others 

y2 


OUR    ItAILWAYS 


ahonld  then  be  reconstructed  The  advice  given  in  thia  report  for 
the  gradual  reconstruction  of  the  bridges  is  based  upon  conBiderations 
affecting  the  vast  majority  of  railways  in  the  kingdom — namely,  the 
great  increase  in  the  weight  of  modem  locomotives  and  the  superior 
endurance  of  wrought-iron  or  steel  as  compared  to  cast-iroa  when 
high  speeds,  heavier  engines,  and  consequently  a  greater  vibratory 
action,  have  to  be  provided  for.  Tlie  result  of  my  investigation  does 
not  indicate  any  unusual  weakness  iii  the  Brighton  bridges,  which 
are  neither  better  nor  worse  in  that  respect  than  those  on  simihu' 
lines  of  raOway  at  home  or  abroad." 

The  great  companies  took  heed  of  the  report.  They 
set  about  strengthening  and  improving  their  bridges, 
and  did  all  they  could  to  re-assure  passengers.  Lord 
Stalbridge,  on  behalf  of  the  London  and  North- Western, 
said  neither  the  shareholders  nor  the  public  need  be 
perturbed  as  to  the  state  of  the  permanent  way,  for  the 
engineers  would  see  to  it  that  the  line  was  kept,  with 
regard  to  bridges  and  everything  else,  up  to  the  re- 
quirements ot  the  present  day.  Mr.  Paget,  the  chairman 
of  the  Midland,  said,  with  regard  to  their  bridges, 
there  was  a  large  margin  of  safety.  The  company  had 
993  wrought-iron  and  181  cast-iron  bridges,  and  they 


oh.^MXVIII.l  A    COSTLY  AC0IDE2fT.  S73 

now  asked  the  shareholders  to  allow  them  to  reconstruct 
the  181  cast-iron  bridges,  for  which  purpose  they 
proposed  to  spend  £85,000.  The  failure  of  the  Tay 
Bridge  had,  he  said,  made  the  directors  so  anxious  for 
the  stability  of  the  bridges  on  the  Midland  system, 
that  during  the  past  ten  years  they  had  spent  at  least 
£1,000  per  week  on  the  maintenance  and  renewal  of 
these  important  parts  of  the  permanent  way.  Mr. 
Dent  Dent,  the  then  chairman  of  the  North-Eastern, 
pointed  out  that  there  need  be  no  alarm  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  bridges  on  their  system,  for  the  most 
important  bridges  over  the  Yorkshire  rivers,  such  as 
the  Wharfe  and  the  Swale,  had  already  been  replaced. 
Other  chairmen,  at  the  half-yearly  meetings,  spoke  in 
a  similar  strain  ;  and  bridge  rebuilding  and  repair  were 
carried  on  with  zeal  on  many  an  English  railway — 
"  with  one  accord  "  directors  sought  to  make  their  lines 
secure.  The  giving  way  of  the  girder  proved  a  costly 
mishap  to  the  London,  Brighton  and  South  Coast 
Railway  Company.  Ko  passenger's  life  was  lost.  The 
cases  of  serious  injury  were  few.     Nevertheless,  chiefly 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


owiog  to  the  class  of 
persons  injured,  the 
company  had  to  pay 
heavy  compensation ; 
and  the  broken  girder 
practically  cost  them 
£20,000. 

The  collapse  of  a 
railway  bridge  was  not 
regarded  as  so  serious 
a  matter  some  years 
ago  as  it  is  now.  A 
humorous  conversation 
on  this  subject  took 
place  in  the  early  days 
of  railway  construction. 
"The  letters  A  B  C," 
says  the  writer  who 
recorded  it,  "  must 
suffice  to  stand  for 
the  names  of  three 
engineers  of  the 
greatest  repute  in 
those  times,  some  fifty 
years  ago.  Mr.  A 
related  that,  on  reach- 
ing his  London  offices 
one  day,  he  received  a 
report  that  another 
bridge  had  fallen.    The 


diip.  XXXVIII.1        LIUHT-HEAUTRD    SURVEYORS. 


sub-engineers  in 
the  department, 
hearing  of  this, 
held  a  conference, 
and  began  to  bet 
'  on  whose  bridge 
it  was.'  Heavy 
odds  were  laid  on 
its  being  one  by 
Mr.  X,  who  had 
earned  a  grim  no- 
toriety in  this  re- 
spect. But  Mr.  X 
confidently  denied 
it,  and  declared  he 
would  accept  odds 
to  any  amount ; 
and  as  this  cooled 
the  ardour  of  his 
brother  engineers, 
he  quietly  ex- 
plained :  ' I  knew 
right  well  it  could 
not  be  mine,  ns 
my  last  fell  in  a 
couple  of  days 
ago.'  Mr.  A  then 
acknowledged  that 
ten  of  bis  bridges 
on     aa     important 


376  OUR    RAILWAYS.  [ciup.  xxsviii. 

line  had  failed;  Mr.  B  owned  to  fifteen;  and  Mr. 
C  said :  '  I  really  cannot  undertake  to  say  how  many 
bridges  of  mine  have  fallen  down,  but  one  has  certainly 
&iled  «ut  times.'" 


uu:iulilIo.s  vuiJUOT 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

8NOW,    FLOOD,    FOG    AND    FIRE. 

Sdow— A.  Oostly  Foe— Lines  Blocked  irith  Drifts— Snowed  Up  in  the  Wert 
Country — Strange  Adventures— Loea  thronfrh  Storms — Floods  fn 
the  MicUtind:!  and  the  North— Broken  ViaducU— The  Station-Muter'* 
Refuge — Fog — Accident  and  Inoident— Firea  »t  Wolverton,  Leed*, 
and  Sal  ford. 

The  most  costly  foe  to  the  railway  is  the  snow- 
etorm.  NotwithstaDding  the  utmost  vigilance  in  the 
way  of  line-firea  and  snow-ploughs,  it  is  by  no 
means  difficult  for  a  train  to  get  snowed  up,  and 
this  not  only  means  a  complete  block  of  the  line, 
and  a  serious  interruption  of  passenger  and  goods 
traffic,  but  a  matted  depreciation  of  the  rolliug-stock 
embedded.  There  were,  before  the  invention  of  the 
snow-plough  and  the  better  organisation  of  digging- 
out  gangs,  many  whimsical  experiences  of  passengers 
in  snowed-up  trains ;  but  we  have  not,  even  yet, 
learned  thoroughly  how  to  cope  with  Nature's  winter 


OUB    RAILWAYS. 


frolic  on  the  line.  The  Great  North  of  Scotland 
Railway  was,  on  December  26th,  1880,  blocked  on 
several  lengths  by  a  heavy  snowstorm,  and  between 
Forfar    and    Aberdeen    five    trains    were   snowed    up. 


Throughout  the  north-west  of  England  in  the  follow- 
ing year  the  snowfall  was  as  heavy  as  any  that  led  to 
mishap  and  delay  in  the  coaching  days.  The  storm 
was  severe  in  Scotland  too.  On  the  Highland  Eail- 
way  the  snow-block  was  four  miles  long.  Three  trains 
were  buried  beneath  a  huge  drift,  and  a  relief  train 
sent  to  their  rescue  was  also  lost  for  some  time.  Dava 
Station,  snow  and  ice-bound,  looked  like  an  explorer's 
hut  in  the  Arctic  regions ;  but  there  was  a  busy  scene 
near  it,  gangs  of  men  digging  day  and  night  to  release 
the  trains,  in  one  of  which  many  cattle  had  been 
smothered  by  the  snow. 


A    SNOWSTORM. 


The  cliairraan  of  tlie  Great  Western  Railway 
Company  made  this  dismal  statement  to  the  share- 
holders, after  the  snowstorm  of  1881 : — "  We  had 
every    reason,     up    to    the    middle    of    January,    to 


anticipate  that  we  might  have  been  able  to  offer  the 
shareholders  a  dividend  in  excess  of  what  they  had 
previously  received,  hut  you  all  know  that  in  the 
middle  of  that  month  a  snowstorm  occurred,  the 
Brst  we  have  had  in  the  history  of  this  ra.ilway 
to  interfere  with  our  traffic,  and  wiped  off 
something  like  £56,000  of  the  amount  available  for 
dividend.  There  is  no  doubt  the  storm  was  much 
more  severe  on  our  line  than  on  any  other.  Its 
great  weight  fell    on    the    counties   of    Berks,    Wilts, 


880  OUB  BAILWAY8.  (Chip,  xxxix. 

and  down  towards  Weymouth.  We  had  to  excavate 
111  miles  of  snow,  varying  according  to  the  drift 
from  three  feet  down  to  ten  feet  in  depth.  We  had, 
unfortunately,  fifty-one  passenger  trains  and  thirteen 
goods  trains  huried  in  the  snow,  making  a  total  of 
sixty-four,  and  we  had  hlocks  on  141  different  parts 
of  the  system." 

A  fierce  storm  swept  over  the  west  country  on 
March  9th  and  10th,  1891,  and  many  trains  were 
snowed  up,  the  lines  in  some  places  being  blocked 
by  huge  drifts  against  which  no  snow-plough  could 
prevail.  The  evening  mail  from  Princetown  to  Yel- 
verton,  on  the  Great  Western,  was  snowed  up  "  in 
one  of  the  wildest  parts  of  Dartmoor,"  from  Monday 
night  till  Wednesday  morning.  The  snow,  driven 
by  the  boisterous  wind,  beat  through  the  tiniest 
crevices  into  the  compartments,  and  the  passengers — 
four  men  and  two  women — had  a  wretched  experience, 
for  they  were  not  liberated  until  thirty-six  hours 
had  elapsed,  when  they  were  nearly  dead  Mrith  hunger 
and  cold. 

One  of  the  imprisoned  travellers,  describing  the 
efforts  to  dig  the  train  out  of  the  snow,  and  the 
way  they  passed  the  time  when  they  found  that 
further  progress  was  impossible,  says:  "The  driver, 
fireman,  and  guard  went  to  the  front  of  the  train 
with  shovels  to  try  and  dig  a  way  for  her,  but  it 
was  no  good.  The  place  where  we  stopped  is  on  a 
bit  of  decline,  but  the  engine  was  choked  with  snow. 
The    guards    having   told  us    that   we  could  not  get 


382  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap,  xxxix. 

on  without  assistance,  proceeded  in  the  direction  of 
Dousland  to  get  help.  He  had  been  gone  about  an 
hour,  when  he  returned  with  the  intelligence  that 
he  had  lost  his  way,  and  that  it  was  no  use  for 
him  to  attempt  to  reach  Dousland,  as  the  snow 
blinded  him.  We  decided  to  make  ourselves  as 
comfortable  as  we  possibly  could  under  the  painful 
conditions  to  which  we  were  subjected — six  men  and 
two  ladies  huddled  together  in  one  compartment — 
the  cold  being  most  bitter,  and  none  of  us  having 
anything  to  eat  or  drink.  We  lived  the  night  through, 
but  in  what  way  I  can  hardly  tell.  In  the  morning 
the  wind  was  blowing  as  strong  as  ever,  and  the 
snow  as  it  fell  melted  on  the  window-panes,  and 
the  lamp — our  only  light — was  extinguished  at  7 
a.m.  Just  at  this  time  the  guard  and  fireman  left 
us,  saying  that  they  were  going  to  try  and  reach 
Dousland  with  the  'staff.' 

"Some  little  time  afterwards  the  driver,  who  had, 
I  believe,  been  seriously  ill,  announced  his  intention 
of  going  to  Dousland.  We  then  felt  in  a  particularly 
sad  condition,  feeling  our  only  hope  was  gone  now  that 
the  driver  had  abandoned  us.  The  storm  was  raging 
as  fiercely  as  on  the  previous  night,  but  at  3  p.m.  we 
were  agreeably  surprised  to  find  three  packers,  who 
had  tramped  up  from  Dousland  with  refreshments  for 
us,  knock  at  our  door.  We  were  heartily  glad  to 
receive  the  refreshments,  although  they  only  consisted 
of  cocoa,  bread  and  butter,  and  cake,  with  a  bottle 
of   well-watered  brandy  to  follow.      We   found   there 


CtapLSXXix.1  SNOWED    UP.  383 

was  eoough  For  us  to  have  one  piece  of  bread  and 
butter  and  one  piece  of  cake  each.  This  was  not 
a  very  substantial  bill  of  fare  for  people  who  had 
had  nothing  to  eat  for  over  twenty  hours,  but  we 
were    thankful    for   small  mercies.      We  then  awaited 


the  result  of  events.  The  wind  was  fearful,  and  we 
were  all  bitterly  cold.  We  were  nearly  dead  in  the 
afternoon,  and  drank  all  the  brandy  by  eight  o'clock. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  that,  some  of  us  would  have 
given  way.  The  weather  was  milder  after  midnight. 
About  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning,  one  of  us, 
looking  out  of  the  window,  saw  Mr.  Hilson,  of 
Horsford,  farmer,  whose  farm  is  only  about  350  yards 


384  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Ch«p.  xxxix. 

from  where  our  train  was  lying,  picking  sheep  out 
of  the  snow,  and  he  assisted  in  effecting  our  rescue. 
The  engine  of  the  train  when  we  left  was  completely 
covered  with  snow,  and  the  snow  had  drifted  as  high 
as  the  carriage,  with  a  blank  space  between  the 
body  and  the  wheels.  All  the  compartments  into 
which  I  looked — although  the  windows  and  venti- 
lators were  closed  and  doors  locked — were  full  of 
snow  above  the  hat-racks.  It  was  the  most  horrible 
experience  of  my  life/* 

In  the  same  storm  the  driver  of  the  mail  train 
from  Launceston  found  the  line  strewn  with  trees, 
hurled  across  the  track  by  the  wind.  One  he  man- 
aged to  push  along  for  some  distance  ;  but  another 
became  wedged  beneath  the  engine,  and  the  great 
piece  of  timber  was  with  diflGiculty  removed.  Finding 
it  impossible  to  get  the  train  through,  the  driver 
took  the  passengers  on  his  engine,  and  in  two 
journeys  got  them  safely  to  Horrabridge,  though 
the  running  was  very  perilous,  owing  to  the  blind- 
ing snow  and  the  obstructions  on  the  line.  No 
fewer  than  ten  trees  were  found  lying  across  the 
rails,  and  they  had  to  be  sawn  or  crowbarred  out 
of  the  locomotive's  path  before  it  could  make  any 
headway.  The  officials  who  went  out  to  the  rescue 
of  the  disabled  train  found  life  at  first  exciting  and 
then  made  up  of  endurance  and  patience.  Some, 
after  a  gallant  fight  with  drifts  and  with  the  hurri- 
cane, which  actually  rocked  the  carriages,  passed  the 
night  as    best   they    could   in    the    relief    train,    the 


386  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Cbap.xxxix. 

engine  of  which  had  finally  to  be  dug  out ;  and 
others   took   refuge  for  the  night  in  a  waiting-room. 

At  Kingsbridge  the  roads  were  impassable,  and 
several  men,  determined  at  all  hazards  to  get  to  their 
homes  at  Iv}' bridge,  "wriggled  along  on  their  stomachs, 
Indian  fashion,"  over  the  snow,  which  had  fallen  so 
deeply  that  highways  and  hedges  were  alike  obliterated. 
When  they  reached  Ivybridge  their  faces  and  forms 
were  covered  with  frozen  snow.  This  curious  exploit, 
during  which  they  had  to  pass  under  many  natural 
archways  of  snow  built  by  the  storm's  whim,  was 
very  exhausting,  and  one  of  the  crawlers  confessed: 
"For  thirty  years  have  I  been  a  teetotaller;  but 
several  times  during  the  journey  I  had  to  take  a 
nip."  Some  of  the  snowdrifts  were  two  hundred 
yards  long  and  twelve  feet  deep ;  and  several  of  the 
passengers  in  a  snowed-up  train  at  St.  Austell  made 
a  bridge  of  foot-warmers  across  one  great  drift, 
managed  to  reach  the  turnpike,  and  struggled  on  to 
warmth  and  shelter. 

The  storm  figured  in  the  company's  balance-sheet, 
and  Mr.  Saunders,  the  then  chairman,  announced  at  the 
August  meeting  in  1891  that  in  consequence  of  the 
bad  weather  in  the  early  part  of  the  half-year,  in- 
cluding a  snowstorm  such  as  had  never  been  known 
before,  which  absolutely  closed  the  line  for  some  days, 
and  owing  in  part  also  to  an  unfortunate  slip  in  the 
Marlay  Tunnel,  traffic  and  receipts  had  been  somewhat 
diminished,  while  the  cost  of  working  and  of  the 
maintenance  of  the  lines  had  been  seriously  increased. 


Chap.  XXXIX.]  FLOOD,  2J87 

The  snowstorm  caused  a  serious  increase  in  the 
expenses,  and  although  their  earnings  had  increased 
£131,000,  their  expenses  were  nearly  £150,000  more. 

Great  havoc  was  made  among  the  telegraph  wires 
on  the  line-side  by  the  snowstorm  of  1892;  in  the 
previous  year  there  was  anxiety  as  to  the  safety  of  the 
cross-Channel  steamer,  Victoria,  on  her  voyage  over  the 
rough,  snow-swept  sea,  between  Dover  and  Calais ;  and 
in  March  1889,  a  severer  storm  rioted  at  Bristol,  Taun- 
ton, and  Creech.  Eailways  and  streets  were  flooded, 
and  on  the  Bristol  and  Exeter  track  one  train,  drawn 
by  three  engines  through  the  rising  waters,  tossed  the 
spray  almost  as  if  it  were  flung  from  a  steamer's  bows. 

The  damage  done  to  the  permanent  way  by  flood 
is  never  repaired  without  great  outlay.  The  year  1852 
was  notable  for  its  heavy  rainfall.  On  and  about  the 
Midland  there  were  many  serious  floods  which  caused 
great  damage  to  embankments  and  cuttings,  and 
undermined  even  the  strongest  railway  fabrics.  The 
waters  surged  fiercely  about  the  piers  of  the  Crow 
Mills  Viaduct,  at  Leicester,  and  a  miller  who  lived 
near  had  scarcely  given  warning  of  the  insecurity  of 
the  structure  when  it  collapsed  with  a  crash  into  the 
river,  and  made  a  huge  gap  in  the  line  that  would, 
if  undiscovered,  have  led  to  grievous  disaster.  In  the 
first  week  of  October,  while  a  brilliant  meteor  flashed 
in  the  night  sky,  a  flood  surged  through  the  North 
of  England,  doing  enormous  damage  at  Darlington  and 
elsewhere.  There  had  been  heavy  rains  for  days; 
many  fields    along   the   G-reat   Northern   route    were 

z2 


388  OVB    BAILWAYS.  (Chip,  zxxix. 

submei^ed;  scarcely  any  landnmrk,  except  the  tops 
of  the  hedgerovre,  conid  be  seen,  and  the  water  was 
so  deep  about  the  line  at  FenyhiU  that  one  train  had 
to  put  back  to  I^ewcastle. 

The  Apperley  Viaduct  across  the  river  Aire  is  asso- 


CKOW   HILLS  VUDUCT  IH  ISO. 


ciated  with  a  dramatic  incident.  On  November  16th. 
1866,  the  river,  swollen  by  floods,  overflowed  its  banks 
to  a  breadth  of  half-a-mile.  Returning  from  his  work 
over  the  viaduct,  a  platelayer  chanced  to  notice  a 
break  in  the  masonry  in  the  arch,  and  ran  to  Apperley 
Station  with  the  news.  The  down  trains  were  stopped, 
and  the  stationmaster  hastened  ap  the  line  to  stop 
a  goods  train  that  was  almost  due.  But  before  he  got 
to  the  viaduct,  he  saw  the  train  emerging  from  the 


Cb«p.xxxix.i  THE    FLOOD    OF   1872  389 

tunnel  on  the  other  side.  He  waved  his  red  light,  and 
the  driver  and  fireman,  having  shut  off  steam  and  put 
on  the  hreaks,  but  without  waiting  to  reverse  the 
engine,  jumped  off  and  escaped  without  serious  injury, 
while  the  train  went  on,  and  broke  through  the  viaduct. 


•I  DABLINOTOH  A.SD  rERUI  BILL  BTATIONS  IS  IBSS. 


A  severe  storm  swept  over  the  country  on  June 
19th,  1872,  and  the  water,  percolating  through  the 
highlands,  caused  a  serious  slip  at  the  north  end  of 
Dove  Holes  Tunnel  on  the  Peak  line,  stopping  the 
traffic  for  nearly  six  weeks,  and  costing  the  Company 
£10,000  in  repain. 


890  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xxxix. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  hindrances  to  traffic  in 
recent  years  occurred  in  London  on  April  18th,  1892. 
The  city  was  swept  by  a  rain-storm  of  such  violence 
that  the  main  sewer  burst  under  the  down  line  of  the 
London  and  North -Western  Eailway  at  Hampstead 
Heath,  and  the  brickwork  was  hurled  across  both  lines, 
which  were  deeply  flooded. 

In  his  book  on  railway  management,  Sir  George 
Findlay  wrote: 

"  A  notable  illustration  of  what  can  be  done  in  an  emergency 
by  a  company  like  the  London  and  North- Western,  possessing 
great  resources,  occurred  when,  in  the  great  storm  of  Sunday,  August 
17th,  1879,  the  Llandulas  Viaduct,  on  the  main  line  of  the  Chester 
and  Holyhead  Railway,  was  undermined  by  flood  and  washed 
completely  away,  interrupting,  for  the  time  being,  the  traffic  between 
England  and  Ireland.  For  two  days,  until  the  flood  subsided,  nothing 
could  be  done,  but  within  the  space  of  five  days  aftei-wards  the  rail- 
way was  deviated  for  about  half  a  mile,  so  as  to  strike  the  river  at 
the  narrowest  point,  and  a  temporary  trestle  bridge  was  erected,  over 
which  the  first  train  passed  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  on 
August  24th,  exactly  seven  days  after  the  mishap  occun-ed.  .  .  . 
The  new  pei-mancnt  viaduct  was,  meanwhile,  rapidly  constructed, 
and  was  actually  completed  and  opened  for  traffic  on  September  14tli, 
less  than  one  month  after  the  mishap ;  a  very  quick  piece  of  work 
when  it  is  considered  that  the  viaduct  is  224  feet  in  length,  50  feet 
in  height,  and  has  seven  spans." 

At  Scorton,  in  Lancashire,  in  1891,  the  line  was 
seriously  flooded,  many  acres  of  land  being  under  water. 
The  stationmaster's  house  was  inundated,  and  he  had 
to  seek  refuge,  with  his  family,  in  the  booking-office. 

Fog  on  the  railway,  again,  means  greater  ex- 
penditure and  diminished  receipts.  The  grey -yellow- 
orange  chocolate  mystery,  that  chokes  people  in  town 


Chap,  xxxfx.)  FUG.  391 

and  exasperates  travellers  in  northern  cities,  is  more 
costly  than  most  people  understand.  The  bang,  bang, 
on  the  line  throughout  day  and  night,  that  tells  you 
the  fog-signalman  is  steadily  at  work  warning  the 
drivers  of  trains,  proves  an  expensive  pastime  when  the 
accounts  are  made  up,  for  at  one  station  alone  as  many 
as  forty  gross  of  these  penny-shaped  signals,  made  of 
gun-caps  and  powder,  have  been  placed  on  the  rails 
during  a  fog  that  was  rather  tardy  in  lifting. 

The  strike  of  London  gas-stokers  on  December 
3rd,  1872,  gave  passengers  on  the  Underground  Rail- 
way a  novel  experience.  For  some  hours  there  were 
no  lights  at  many  of  the  stations  ;  and  at  Ludgate 
Hill  the  trains  had  to  feel  their  way  to  the  platform 
through  chaos,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  some 
nervous  travellers,  who  thought  the  sudden  and 
dense  darkness  portended  the  break-up  of  the  universe. 
London  was  shrouded  in  a  fog  of  even  more  than 
characteristic  density  on  February  10th,  1886,  and 
while  the  great  city  was  in  a  tantalising  condition 
of  murkiness  and  resultant  confusion,  no  fewer  than 
thirty  persons  were  injured  in  an  accident  at  Finsbury 
Park  Station,  on  the  Great  Northern  Railway. 

One  of  the  densest  fogs  experienced  in  this  country 
enveloped  Birmingham  in  the  middle  of  January, 
1888,  and  greatly  delayed  railway  traflGic.  A  modern 
prophet  had  predicted  that  about  this  time  *'the 
world  would  come  to  an  end,"  and  the  murky  at- 
mosphere inclined  the  timid  to  think  that  the  dread 
performance  was  about  to  begin ;   but  no  more  harm 


392  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Cha^xxxIX. 

came  of  the  temporary  chaos  than  from  the  magic 
almanac  and  the  darkening  of  the  moon  in  ''King 
Solomon's  Mines ;  **  and  there  is  enough  bustle  of 
travel  at  New  Street  Station  to-day  to  knock  the 
conceit  and  folly  out  of  a  large  staff  of  prophets. 
There  was  also  a  great  deal  of  fog  during  November 
and  December,  1891,  when  Nature  (and  house-fire  smoke) 
took  a  leaf  out  of  "  Bleak  House,*'  and  there  was 
**Fog  everywhere.  Fog  up  the  river,  where  it  flows 
among  green  aits  and  meadows;  fog  down  the  river, 
where  it  rolls  defiled  among  the  tiers  of  shipping,  and 
the  waterside  pollutions  of  a  great  and  dirty  city.  Fog 
in  the  Essex  marshes.  Fog  on  the  Kentish  heights.*' 
The  railways  were  greatly  bothered  by  this  dense 
ogre  of  fog,  that  seems,  in  its  sluggish  might,  like 
an  unwieldy  giant,  incapable  of  thought  and  action, 
after  it  has  nestled  down  in  the  city.  In  the  two 
months  during  which  the  fog  managed  once  or  twice 
to  turn  over,  but  had  not  the  will  to  leave  us,  the 
South-Eastern  Eailway  used  72,000  fog  signals,  carry- 
ing on  the  traffic  without  mishap,  except  one  at  the 
Borough  Market,  although  no  fewer  than  800  trains 
per  day  passed  in  and  out  of  Cannon  Street.  Nor 
was  it  much  better  in  the  country,  for  the  fog 
wrapped  itself  about  Manchester,  Leeds,  and  Shef- 
field ;  and  the  Great  Northern  Railway  Company,  apart 
from  the  cost  of  fog  signals,  were  put  to  an  extra 
expenditure  of  £1,500  for  gas  and  electricity,  so  that 
their  drivers  might  see  and  their  passengers  grope 
their  way. 


THE    FOa    OF  18»1. 


Sir  George  Findlay,  in  his  evidence,  given  in  March, 
1893,  before  the  Select  Committee  inqaiiing  into  the 
hours  worked  by  railway  servants,  described,  with  some 
touches  of  humour,  the  inconvenience  caused  on  the 
London  and  North- Western  by  the  fog  in  December  of 
the  previoos  year. 
For  the  four  days 
preceding  Christ- 
mas Day,  at  the 
time  when  every 
part  of  the  line 
was  congested 
with  traffic,  the 
fog  was  so  dense 
that  the  fog- 
signalmen  stand- 
ing at  the  foot  of 
the  signal  posts, 
which  were  18  feet 
or  20  feet  high, 
were  unable  to  see 
the  signals,  and 
the  whole  business 
of  the  railway  had 
to  be  carried  on  by 
fog-signalling,  by  sound,  and  not  by  sight  at  all. 
There  were  serious  delays  in  the  marshalling  of  trains, 
and  many  of  the  trains  ran  two  hours  behind  time. 
One  distinguished  member  of  Her  Majesty's  Govem- 
ment.  Lord  Halsbary,  who  resided  some  ten  miles  out 


L  roa-BiQiiAuuv. 


3»4  OVU   RAILWJ  YS.  ichtp.  xxxix. 

of  London,  was,  on  one  of  those  days,  two  hours 
travelling  that  distance,  and  liis  lordship  testified  that 
in  all  his  knowledge  of  London  fogs  he  had  never 
known  one  so  bad.  Not  only  was  there  the  fog,  but 
there  was  frost  at  the  same  time,  and  the  difficulty  of 


getting  tlirough  the  streets  of  London  was  such  that 
the  Post  Office  vans  arrived  too  late  for  the  mail  trains, 
and  the  mails  had  to  be  despatched  by  subsequent 
trains.  As  to  the  goods  trains,  they  were  several  hours 
behind  time,  many  as  much  as  twelve  or  fifteen  hours, 
and  some  never  reached  their  destination  at  all — for 
they  were  broken  up  and  their  constituent  parts  sent 
on  by  other  trains. 

The    management  of  a  great  railway.  Sir  George 
Findlay  continued,  was  all  right  so  long  as  things  went 


TBAIK    DN    FIRE    AT    CLAPHAM    JUNCTION, 


396  OUB  RAILWAYS.  (Cbtpc  xzxcL 

smoothly^  but  when  such  a  fog  came  the  whole  system 
was  disorganised.  During  those  four  days  he  was 
perfectly  helpless,  except  to  give  advice;  but  it  was 
impossible,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  to  attempt  to 
set  things  right  as  if  by  a  magician's  wand.  The  Com- 
mittee concurred  in  his  opinion,  that  "it  is  a  marvel 
that  the  whole  of  the  business  did  not  come  to  a 
standstill,  and  that  the  greatest  credit  is  due  to  the 
men  who  have  been  willing  to  work  these  long  hours 
in  order  to  get  the  traffic  through." 

Fire  has  wrought  much  destruction  on  railways. 
Carriages,  goods  trains,  warehouses,  stations  have  been 
in  flames,  and  sometimes  the  lines  and  rolling-stock 
have  been  damaged  by  fires  that  have  broken  out 
independently  of  railway  working  or  neglect.  But 
conflagrations  are  very  much  alike,  unless  they  occur  at 
sea,  or  in  a  twelve-storey  American  hotel ;  and  with 
faithful  watchmen,  trained  brigades,  and  steam  fire- 
engines  it  is  unlikely  that  we  shall  have  another  "  Great 
Fire  of  London."  There  have  been,  nevertheless,  two 
or  three  notable  railway  fires  within  the  past  few  years. 
In  August,  1872,  a  fire  creeping  out  of  the  arches  in 
Prince  of  Wales  £oad,  Kentish  Town,  suddenly 
wrapped  the  district  station  of  the  North- Western  in 
flames,  and  utterly  destroyed  it,  leaving  nothing  but 
wreck  of  platform,  booking-office,  and  waiting-room. 
In  1882  the  London  and  North -Western  carriage- 
building  shop  at  Wolverton  was  gutted,  flfteen  hundred 
men  were  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  damage 
was  done  to  the  extent  of  £100,000.     Ten  years  later 


Ch*p.xxxix.i  OBEAT   RAILWAY  FIRES.  397 

there  was  the  disquieting  spectacle  of  a  train  on  fire 
at  Clapham  Junction. 

One  of  the  most  destructive  fires  that  have  occurred 
on  English  railway  property  broke  out  in  Leeds  on 
January  13th,  1892.  It  originated  in  the  Dark  Arches, 
beneath  the  Midland  and  the  joint  London  and  North- 
western and  North-Eastern  stations,  a  gruesome- 
looking  place  of  tunnelled  roadways  and  dingy  ware- 
houses, and  murky  water  of  canal  and  river.  In  the 
ten  acres  of  darkness,  in  arch  after  arch,  were  stored 
wines  and  spirits,  resin,  tallow,  and  oil.  The  fire 
sprang  into  life  in  a  great  vaulted  chamber  by  the 
canal-side,  and  spread  till  the  joint  station  above  was 
threatened  with  destruction,  the  flames  sweeping  over 
the  fifteen  sets  of  metals,  and  playing  about  the  main 
lines  of  the  Midland.  The  damage  to  railway  property 
amounted  to  a  quarter  of  a  million. 

A  fire  that  caused  considerable  loss  broke  out  at 
the  Irwell  goods  yard,  Salford,  in  one  of  the  arches  be- 
neath the  London  and  North -Western  and  Lancashire 
and  Yorkshire  main  lines,  soon  after  midnight  on 
September  3rd,  in  the  same  year,  and  the  fire,  though 
twenty  jets  were  played  upon  it,  spread  to  three 
arches,  all  stored  with  lubricating  oil.  The  heat 
was  so  intense  that  railway  servants  were  obliged 
continually  to  drench  the  firemen  with  water  to  enable 
them  to  keep  at  their  posts ;  and  from  the  fear  that 
the  heat  might  undermine  the  railway  no  train  was 
permitted  on  the  line  for  seven  hours. 


398 


CHAPTER    XL. 

RAILWAY      DISASTERS. 

1840—1870. 

Tho  Breakdown  Train— Humorous  Events— A  Novel  Cure — "The  Coo's" 
Revenge — How  Railway  Accidents  are  Caused — ^Malioe  and  Misohief — 
Jumping  Waggons — The  Whims  of  the  Light  Engine— The  Phantom 
Hand  on  the  Guard's  Brake— Railway  Aooidents,  1840-1870. 

On  every  railway  of  any  note  one  train  is  always  kept 
in  readiness  for  speedy  use,  and  yet  it  carries  neither 
passengers  nor  goods,  and  its  journeys,  always  made 
against  time,  are  fortunately  comparatively  rare.  The 
breakdown  train  is  a  curious-looking  object  beside  the 
express  that  it  may  have  to  run  after  some  day  to 
succour.  It  is  built  for  the  roughest  and  most  urgent 
work  on  the  line,  and  is  never  heard  of  except  in 
emergency  and  accident.  Then  is  its  opportunity ;  and 
the  great  chimsy  train,  with  its  powerful  engine,  tool 
vans,  huge  breakdown  crane,  its  load  of  bars,  shovels, 
screw-couplings,  sets  for  severing  shackles  and  bolts,  its 
waggon  filled  with  planks  or  packing,  its  riding-van 
crowded  with  workmen,  and  containing  in  its  capacious 
cupboard  a  large  assortment  of  fog  signals,  train  lamps, 
and  danger  flags,  becomes  interesting  as  it  dashes 
through  station  after  station  on  its  mission  of  help. 
There  is  a  flutter  all  down  the  line  when  the  news  has 
flashed  by  that  there  has  been  an  accident — ^that  the 
night   mail  from   Southampton  has  run  into  a  goods 


amp.  XL.]     THE  HUMOURS  OF  RAILWAY  ACCIDENTS.       399 

engine,  that  the  midday  express  north  has  plunged 
down  an  embankment,  that  there  has  been  a  big  smash 
owing  to  a  faulty  tire  at  Penistone,  or  that  two  trains 
have  been  crushed  up  at  Doncaster. 

A  few  railway  accidents  have  had  their  humorous 
side.  There  is,  for  instance,  plenty  of  humour  in  the 
remark  of  the  collier  who,  walking  along  the  line 
during  the  prosperous  coal- trade  time  in  1874,  was 
tossed  down  the  embankment  by  a  passing  locomotive, 
and  said,  on  being  picked  up,  "If  arVe  damaged 
t'  engine  a'rm  ready  to  pay  for't ! "  And  there  was 
something  grotesque  in  the  sentiments  of  the  lady 
who,  travelling  between  Brookfield  and  Stamford  on 
her  first  journey  by  rail,  was  pitched  down  an  embank- 
ment, and,  crawling  from  beneath  the  wreckage,  asked 
a  passenger,  "Is  this  Stamford?"  "No,  madam," 
replied  the  man,  who  was  pinned  down  by  a  piece  of 
timber.  "  This  is  not  Stamford :  it  is  a  catastrophe ! " 
"Oh!"  cried  the  lady;  "then  I  hadn't  oughter  got 
off  here ! " 

There  are  passengers  who  go  through  life  so 
philosophically,  or  are  of  such  sardonic  vein,  that  they 
are  indifferent  to,  or  actually  derive  physical  and  mental 
benefit  from,  railway  disaster.  In  one  of  Ouida's  novels 
a  railway  smash  is  dramatically  described ;  but  the 
hero,  who  coolly  continues  playing  whist  amid  the  noise 
and  wreckage,  is  simply  annoyed  at  the  accident  because 
the  trumps  have  been  disturbed.  In  November,  1869, 
a  gentleman  wrote  to  the  Times  stating  that  while  in 
Manchester  "  he  was  threatened  with  rheumatic  fever, 


I 


4 


400  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  XL. 

and  resolved  to  make  a  bold  sortie,  well  wrapped  up,  for 
his  home  in  town."  He  started,  full  of  pain  and 
misery,  by  the  Midland  afternoon  train.  It  got  into 
collision,  and  gave  him  such  a  shaking  that  his  bodily 
vigour  and  elasticity  returned  to  him,  and  he  had  not 
had  ache,  or  sweat,  or  tremor  since. 

The  irony  of  fate  has  oft^i  been  illustrated  by  the 
erratic  conduct  of  the  cow  on  the  railway.  George 
Stephenson's  prophecy,  that  in  the  event  of  a  collision 
"it  would  be  4he  worse  for  the  coo,"  has  not  always 
been  fulfilled.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  often  the  worse 
for  the  railway.  The  cow,  during  half  a  century  of 
locomotive  ruthlessness,  has  managed  to  get  a  fair  pro- 
portion of  revenge,  one  of  the  most  notable  instances 
of  its  malice  being  afforded  on  the  South -Western 
Bailway  on  September  9th,  1873,  when  a  bullock, 
charging  down  the  line  near  Guildford,  wrecked  the 
train,  no  fewer  than  three  passengers  being  killed,  and 
twelve  injured. 

The  gang  in  the  breakdown  train  do  not,  as  a 
rule,  come  across  many  humorous  incidents.  It  is 
a  serious  work  they  go  to ;  and  they  see  much  that 
is  painful  and  pitiful,  though  the  sad  and  grim 
picture  is  often  brightened  by  brave  deed,  by  patient 
endurance,  by  devotion  and  self-sacrifice.  The  causes 
of  railway  accidents  are  legion.  A  cracked  axle,  a 
broken  tire,  a  snapped  coupling,  an  open  point,  a 
signalman's  mistake,  a  waggon,  a  sleeper,  or  a  bullock 
on  the  track,  a  fall  of  rock,  a  weak  bridge,  a  give- 
way  in  tunnel,  a   flooded  line,  will   cause    disastei 


ACaWENXa  AND    THEIR   UAUSES. 


perhaps  death ;  aod  oc- 
casionally serious  accident 
is  produced  by  a  spirit  of 
mischief,  or  worse  still,  by 
diabolical  malice.  A  group 
of  lads,  mad  with  frolic, 
climb  the  embankment, 
thrust  the  points  aside, 
the  express  dashes  along 
the  branch  to  some  dead- 
head, and  is  wrecked.  An 
old  railway  servant,  dis- 
charged from  the  service  of 
the  company,  nurses  spite, 
walks  along  the  line  at 
night,  "swarms  "  the  signal- 
post,  removes  the  lamp, 
and    pitches    it    upon    the    i 


On  the  Hull  and 
Withernsea  Railway  a 
man  dra^  a  heavy  chain 
across  the  line,  and  ties 
each  end  of  the  chain  to 
a  post,  in  the  foolish 
belief  that  the  barrier  will 
stop  the  train.  Near 
Basildon  Bridge,  on  the 
Great  Western  Railway, 
three  pieces  of  metal  and 
a  a 


402  OUR   BAILWAX8,  (OhAp.XL. 

three  sleepers  are  placed  on  the  line  just  before 
the  London  express  and  the  ordinary  train  from  Ply- 
mouth are  timed  to  pass.  The  obstructions  are 
thrown  down  at  a  point  at  which  there  is  a 
steep  embankment,  and  below  the  river  Thames  is 
in  flood.  To  the  malicious  mind  no  better  place 
could  be  chosen  for  a  railway  smash  ;  but  for- 
tunately the  heavy,  broad-gauge  trains  that  by-and- 
by  come  tearing  along  are  not  displaced.  They  dash 
over,  or  rather  cut  through,  the  loose  rails  and  sleepers, 
and  continue  their  journey  in  safety.  The  passengers, 
however,  have  been  made  decidedly  uneasy  by  the 
ugly  jerk,  and  wonder  when  the  law  will  take  a 
graver  view  of  these  offences,  and  become  severe 
enough  absolutely  to  stop  such  wholesale  attempts  at 
murder. 

One  of  the  most  bewildenng  and  unexpected  causes 
of  accident  is  the  jumping  of  waggons.  At  Oxen- 
holme,  near  Kendal,  not  long  ago,  the  waggon  of  a 
luggage  train  jumped  the  rails  and  fouled  the  track 
of  the  express.  The  driver  applied  the  brake,  but 
a  collision  was  inevitable,  and  the  passengers,  though 
they  were  unhurt,  were  considerably  alarmed  by  the 
train's  contact  with  the  broken  waggons,  which  ripped 
off  footboards  and  handles,  ai.d  crashed  against  the 
carriages  ominously. 

The  light  engine  is  another  cause  of  accident.  It  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  railway  working ;  but  it  is  a  sort 
of  Uhlan  of  the  line,  and  the  secret  dread  of  the  engine- 
driver,  for  he  is  never  quite  certain  at  what  nasty  curve 


k 


Chap.  XL.]  THE  LIGHT  ENGINE.  403 

or  awkward  point  it  will  turn  up.  Whether  it  is 
smoothly  running  or  demurely  standing  he  mistrusts  it, 
for  its  movements,  like  those  of  a  kicking  donkey,  are 
not  to  be  foreseen.  The  light  engine  has  a  partiality 
for  inclines,  and  pu£Es  up  them  and  gallops  down 
them  unweai'iedly.  On  Christmas  Eve,  1890,  the 
Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  express,  running  into  Leeds 
from  Manchester,  was  surprised  by  one  of  these 
engines  at  Copley  Hill  Junction.  The  engine  was 
on  a  steep  incline.  The  express  locomotive  struck 
it,  and  away  went  the  light  engine  at  the  rate  of 
thirty  miles  an  hour,  ran  into  the  Central  Station 
at  Leeds,  dashed  against  the  buffer  stops,  and  bounded 
upon  the  arrival  platform,  filling  the  people  who 
were  waiting  for  friends  travelling  by  the  incoming 
express  with  dismay.  Nor  did  the  accident  result 
merely  in  alarm.  The  tender  of  the  light  engine, 
which  was  running  first,  toppled  over,  fell  upon  a 
woman,  and  killed  her  instantaneously. 

It  is  apparently  hopeless  to  expect  the  light 
engine  to  abandon  its  reckless  pastime  of  tilting 
against  more  dignified  and  respectable  engines  ;  still 
it  does  not  always  succeed  in  making  great  havoc. 
Its  playful  designs  have  been  frustrated  on  the 
line  by  a  mystic  power,  though  whether  by  hypnotic 
touch  or  phantom  hand  it  is  impossible  to  declare. 
In  a  comparatively  recent  accident  at  Waterloo  Sta- 
tion, in  London,  a  passenger  train  was  run  into  by 
a  light  engine,  and  considerable  damage  was  done 
to  the  rolling  stock  and  the  permanent  way;  but 
a  a  2 


40i  OUB  RAILWAYS.  {ChAp.xu 

the  accident  would  have  heen  much  more  serious 
except  for  a  remarkable  incident  that  stands  con- 
spicuously alone  even  in  the  varied  romance  of  the 
line.  The  ghost  perhaps  of  some  old  engine-driver, 
familiar  with  the  vices  of  that  particular  light  engine, 
applied  the  break  to  the  passenger  train,  and  reduced 
the  collision  force  almost  to  a  minimum.  The  story 
sounds  ludicrous,  but  it  is  vouched  for  by  Major 
Marindin,  who  says : 

"  The  passenger  train  pulled  up  very  sharply  by  the  application 
of  the  automatic  vacuum  brake  but,  curious  to  say,  no  one  can  tell 
how  this  brake  was  applied.  Neither  the  driver  nor  the  guards  did 
80,  and  no  brake  pipe  was  severed,  so  that  it  was  not  automatically 
applied ;  but  the  valve  in  the  rear  guard's  van  flew  open  and  the 
brake  went  on  the  gauges  on  the  engine  and  in  the  vans,  showing 
a  reduction  of  the  vacuum  to  12  in.  in  the  one  case  and  to  zero  in 
the  other.  There  were  two  brake  carriages  in  the  centre  of  the 
train  without  guards  in  the  brake  compartments,  and  it  is  possible 
that  some  passenger  had  got  into  one  of  these  compartments 
and  that  he  applied  the  brake,  but  it  is  not  known  that  such 
was  the  case.  It  may  be  that  the  valve  on  the  guard's  van  was 
jerked  open  by  the  shock  of  the  collision  and  that  the  brake  was 
thus  applied,  but  I  have  never  before  heard  of  such  a  thing 
happening." 

At  Kibworth,  near  Leicester,  a  curious  incident 
occurred  on  October  9th,  1880.  The  driver  of  the 
Scotch  express,  thinking  his  engine  ran  in  a  peculiar 
fashion,  stopped  her,  made  a  careful  examination  of 
the  gear,  and  found  she  was  all  right.  On  re- 
starting he  somehow  reversed  the  engine.  Neither 
himself  nor  the  fireman  noticed  that  the  train  was 
backing  instead  of  going  forward,  till  it  crashed  into 


Ghap.  XL.1  A   NARROW  E80APE.  405 

a  mineral  train.  Two  Pullman  cars  were  shattered 
and  five  passengers  injured. 

The  accident  to  the  late  Czar's  train  in  October, 
1888,  caused  a  flutter  in  the  Imperial  Court,  and  sad- 
ness in  many  a  home.  When  the  train  wa«  approaching 
Borki  Station,  it  ran,  owing  to  the  bad  state  of  the  line, 
down  an  incline,  and  was  completely  wrecked,  one  of 
the  engines,  decorated  with  foliage  and  flowers,  making 
a  bright  but  odd  picture  of  colour  amid  the  mass  of 
broken  woodwork.  The  Czar,  Czarina,  and  children 
escaped ;  but  several  of  the  Emperor's  attendants,  six 
soldiers,  and  five  railway  servants  were  killed. 

A  locomotive,  like  fire,  is  "  a  good  servant,  but 
a  bad  master."  In  one  respect  it  resembles  Mazeppa's 
steed.  It  is  a  very  awkward  thing  to  ride  uncontrolled. 
Now  and  then,  like  some  men,  it  wearies  of  the  straight 
road,  and  runs  down  an  embankment,  or  leaps  a  bridge, 
or  plunges  into  a  river  to  wreck  and  ruin.  But  there 
are  comparatively  few  instances  of  a  locomotive  be- 
coming so  utterly  abandoned  as  the  engine  on  the 
Fumess  Eailway,  which,  on  September  22nd,  1892,  dis- 
appeared altogether.  Between  Lindal  and  Ulverston 
part  of  an  embankment  subsided.  The  driver  of  a 
goods  train  noticed  the  ballast  slipping  away  from 
the  rails  and  the  ground  yielding,  and  quickly  jumped 
off  the  footplate.  Almost  immediately  the  engine 
broke  through  the  rails,  and  plunged  funnel  down- 
ward into  a  big  gap.  The  tender,  which  was  only 
slightly  embedded,  was  rescued ;  and  a  vigorous  effort 
was  made  to  drag  the  locomotive  out  of  its  awkward 


«6  UUB    RAILWAYS.  [Chip,  tl. 

position,  but  in  vain.  It  was  determined,  apparently  at 
any  sacrifice,  to  escape  further  toil,  and  sank  lower  and 
lower,  finally  crashing  into  the  depths  of  an  ironstone 
mine,  where  it  will  probably  remain  till  it  is  raked  up 
by  the  geologist  or  archasologist  of  some  future  age. 
There   have    been    about    three    hundred    serious 


ACCIDBNT  ON  A  SOUTH  EABTEHN  BBIDOG  IS  1M6.     (_Pa}e  408.) 


accidents  on  "Our  Kailways  "  since  Mr.  W.  EaskisBon, 
M.P.,  was  killed  at  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  Bailway,  and  among  tbem  the  following 
are  memorable ; — 

1840. 
HowDEN,  Aufpiat  7. 
At  Howden  Station,  on  the  Hull  and  Selby  Railway, 
five  passengers  were  killed  by  a  large  iron  casting  that 
fell  from  one  of  the  trucks.  The  jury  gave  a  verdict  of 
accidental  death,  "but  laid  a  deodaud  of  £500  on  the 
engine  and  carriages." 


Ou(K  XU)  ACCIDENTS.  407 

ISil. 
SoNNiKfliiiLL,  December  24. 
On  this  day  an  engine  was  thrown  off  the  line  by 
a  fall  of  eartli  in  Sonninghill  Cutting,  near  Reading. 


COLbAPSI!  OF 


(.Pofff  403.) 


Eight  persons  were  killed,  and  seventeen  injured, 
chiefly  workmen  employed  in  the  erection  of  the  new 
Houses  of  Parliament. 


1845. 

Mabborodou,  October  20. 


The  mail  train  broke  down  during  a  fog  on  the 
Midland  Railway  at  Masborough,  and  while  it  was  dis- 
abled a  special  engine  ran  into  it,  killing  two  persona 
and  injuring  others. 


i08  OUB   RAILWAYS.  [OhapcXU 

1846. 
Mbdwat  Tributary,  January  20. 

An  extraordinary  accident  occurred  on  the  South- 
Eastem  Railway  on  the  above  date.  A  bridge, 
spanning  a  tributary  of  the  river  Medway,  between 
Tunbridge  and  Penshurst  stations,  collapsed  soon  after 
midnight,  through  press  of  flood- water;  and  the  engine, 
tender,  and  several  waggons  of  the  up  goods  train 
crashed  through  the  broken  woodwork  into  the  river. 
The  driver  was  dreadfully  injured,  and  died  soon  after 
reaching  the  bank,  to  which  he  was  dragged  by  the 
stoker,  who  had  bravely  brought  him  through  the 
torrent. 

1847. 

Deb  Bridge,  May  24. 

An  accident  happened  to  a  train  crossing  Dee 
Bridge,  on  the  Chester  and  Shrewsbury  Railway.  The 
iron  girders  of  the  third  arch  suddenly  collapsed.  The 
engine  and  tender  safely  cleared  the  gap,  but  the 
carriages  fell  into  the  river.  Five  persons  lost  their 
lives,  and  the  rest  of  the  passengers  were  injured,  with 
the  exception  of  one  man,  who,  full  of  resource  and 
daring,  sprang  from  a  carriage  window  and  coolly  swam 
ashore. 

WoLVERTON,  June  5. 

A  collision  occurred  at  Wolverton,  on  the  London 
and  North -Western  line,  killing  seven  passengers  and 
injuring  many  others.  The  Liverpool  mail  was  sig- 
nalled into  the  station,  but  veered  off  into  a  siding 


Ohap.  XL.J  A00IDENT8.  409 

and  ran  into  a  luggage  train.  The  accident  was  caused 
by  the  pointsman's  forgetfulness,  and  he  was  sentenced 
to  two  years'  imprisonment. 

1848. 

Bhrivbnham,  May  10. 

At  Shrivenham,  on  the  Great  Western  Railway,  a 
cattle-truck  fouled  the  track  of  the  Exeter  express,  and 
seven  persons  were  killed. 

1850. 

COWLAIBS,    August   1. 

An  excursion  train,  taking  holiday  folks  from  Perth 
to  an  agricultural  show  at  Glasgow,  was  divided  at 
Cowlairs.  While  the  first  part  was  standing  in  a 
tunnel  the  latter  portion  dashed  into  it,  demolishing 
two  passenger  "trucks,"  and  killing  five  people. 

1851. 

Frodsham,  April  30. 

A  train  broke  down  in  Frodsham  Tunnel,  on  the 
Chester  and  Warrington  Junction  Railway,  causing 
three  collisions,  by  which  six  passengers  were  killed. 

BiCESTEB,  September  6, 

At  Bicester  Station,  on  the  Buckinghamshire  line, 
an  engine  ran  off  the  rails.  Three  carriages  were  over- 
turned, and  six  persons  killed. 

1852. 

BuBNLBT,  July  12. 

An  excursion  train  of  Sunday-school  children  was 


410  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Cbip.  xu 

driven,  through  a  pointsman's  mistake,  on  the  wrong 

track  into  the  station,  and  dashed  against  the  buffers 

in   the   bridge   wall,   one   teacher  and   three    scholars 

being  killed. 

1853. 

Oxford,  January  3. 

A  singular  accident  occurred  outside  Oxford  Station. 
Owing  to  the  partial  collapse  of  Wolvercote  Tunnel, 
only  the  up-line  could  be  used  for  traffic.  The  signal- 
man showed  a  wrong  light  to  the  driver  of  a  passenger 
train,  which  dashed  into  a  coal  train  that  was  cominjr 
down  the  same  line.  The  effect  of  the  collision  was 
remarkable.  The  passenger  engine  was  turned  com- 
pletely round,  and  pitched  into  a  ditch.  The  first 
engine  of  the  coal  train  mounted  it,  and  the  second 
mineral  engine  also  plunged  into  the  dyke.  Two 
carriages  were  shattered,  two  engine-drivers,  three 
stokers,  and  two  passengers  killed,  and  many  persons 
injured. 

DiXENFOLD,  March  4. 

The  driving-wheel  of  an  express  engine,  running 
at  the  rate  of  forty-five  miles  an  hour,  broke  near 
Dixenfold,  on  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway. 
The  locomotive  was  hurled  across  the  line,  three  car- 
riages were  wrecked,  and  five  passengers  and  the  driver 
were  killed. 

Straffan,  October  5. 

The  express  from  Cork  broke  down  at  Straffan,  on 
the  Great  Southern  and  Western  Railway  of  Ireland. 
The  driver  and  stoker  ran  back  waving  danger  signals. 


Chap.  XL.1  A00IDENT8.  411 

but  a  goods  train,  the  driver  of  which  did  not  see  or 
ignored  the  warning,  crashed  into  the  standing  express. 
Thirteen  passengers  were  killed,  and  many  injured, 
three  so  seriously  that  they  died  soon  afterwards. 

1856. 

DuNKiTT,  November  19. 

At  Dunkitt,  on  the  Waterford  and  Kilkenny  line,  a 

mail  train  from  Dublin  ran  into  several  ballast  waggons, 

the  siding-points  having  been  thoughtlessly  left  open. 

The    workmen,    seeing    the    mail's    approach,    strove 

desperately  to  climb  a  steep  embankment,  but  fell  on 

the  line  in  the  train's  track,  and  seven  were  cut  to 

pieces.      Many   of  the   passengers   in  the   mail  were 

seriously  injured. 

1857. 

Lbwisham,  June  28. 

A  train  at  Lewisham  Station,  on  the  North  Kent 
Railway,  drawn  up  in  obedience  to  a  danger  signal, 
was  run  into  by  another  train.  The  guard's  van  and 
a  carriage  of  the  standing  train  were  smashed,  and 
eleven  persons  killed.  The  shareholders  were  heavily 
hit,  after  this  accident,  by  successful  actions  for  com- 
pensation. 

Newark,  September  24. 

The  express  from  Manchester  to  London,  on  the 
Great  Northern  line,  left  the  rails  when  crossing  the 
viaduct  over  the  Newark  and  Tuxford  highway,  and 
five  passengers  were  killed. 


412 


QUli    RAILWAYS. 


1858. 

RoDMD  Oak,  August  23. 

An   excursion    train,    crowded   with    Sttnday-scbool 

children,  was  sent,  in  two  sections  for  safety,  along  the 

Worcester  and  Wolverhampton  line.     At  Boimd  Oak 


AT  OBANTON. 


BtatioQ  one  of  the  couplings  in  the  first  section  of  the 
train  broke.  A  number  of  carriages  moved  quickly 
backward  down  an  incline,  and  smashed  in  the  front 
portion  of  the  second  section  of  the  train.  Fourteen 
persons  were  killed,  and  some  of  the  bodies  wore 
dreadfully  mangled  amid  the  wreckage. 

18G0. 

Tottenham,  February  20. 

Ad  engine-wheel  broke  at  Tottenham  Station,  on 

the  Eastern  Counties  Railway,  and  the  train  ran  off 

the  line.     Altogether  seven  deaths  resulted  from  th» 


ACOWBNTS. 


accideot,  among  the  killed  being  the  driver  and  stoker. 
"The  deceased,"  the  coroner's  jury  recorded,  "  met  with 
their  deaths  from  the  breaking  of  the  tire  of  one  of  the 
leading  wheels   of  the  engine,  in  consequence  of  the 


defective  weld;  and  had  proper  caution  and  vigilance 
been  used,  the  same  might  have  been  detected." 
Okahton,  July  8. 
On  July  8,  1860,  a  singular  accident  occurred  on  the 
Edinburgh,  Perth  and  Dundee  Railway  near  Granton. 
An  engine,  after  doing  duty,  was  returning  to  the  loco- 
motive station  at  Edinburgh,  when  it  dashed  over  the 
embankment  at  Wardie  Cottages  into  the  sea.  The 
engine  driver,  his  son,  brother-in-law,  and  pointsman 
were  killed ;  but  a  porter,  who  was  also  riding  on  the 
engine,  escaped  death,  though  be  wa«  severely  scalded. 


414  OUR   RAILWAYS.  {(M^TU 

Hrlmshore,  September  4. 

Two  excarsion  trains  were  in  collision  at  Helmshore, 
on  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway,  and  eleven 
passengers  were  killed,  and  many  injured. 

Athebstonb,  November  16. 

The  mail  train  and  a  cattle  train  were  in  collision 
on  the  London  and  North -Western  at  Atherstone,  ten 
persons  being  killed,  including  the  mail  fireman. 

1861. 
Olatton  Tunnel,  August  25. 
A  collision  took  place  in  Clayton  Tunnel,  on  the 
London  and  Brighton  Bailway,  when  twenty-three 
persons  were  killed,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
injured.  The  driver  of  an  excursion  train,  seeing  a 
hand  danger-signal,  backed  his  train.  The  signalman 
then  passed  the  words  "  line  clear  '^  to  a  parliamentary 
train,  which  crashed  into  the  rear  of  the  excursion 
train.  The  sufferings  of  the  injured  were  intensified 
by  the  steam  that  escaped  from  the  boiler. 

Ebntish  Town,  September  2. 

A  collision  occurred  at  Kentish  Town,  on  the 
Hampstead  Jimction  line,  between  a  railway  servants' 
excursion  train  and  some  ballast  waggons,  sixteen 
persons  being  killed  and  twenty  seriously  injured. 

1862. 

WiNOHBUBO,  October  18. 

A  pointsman  at  Winchburg,  on  the  Edinburgh  and 
Glasgow  Railway,  sent  a  train  from  the  west  along  a 
single  line  in  use  during  the  repair  of  the  track.     The 


Ohap.XL.]  AOOIDENTS.  415 

fast  train  from  Edinburgh  met  it,  and  the  collision  was 
fearful  in  its  results.  Both  engines  were  shattered, 
two  carriages  were  smashed  to  bits,  and  other  carriages 
were  piled  high  above  the  wreckage.  The  accident  took 
place  at  night,  in  a  deep  stone  cutting,  and  the  dark- 
ness, and  the  diflBculty  of  extrication  in  this  ravine-like 
part  of  the  line,  added  to  the  terrors  of  the  disaster. 
No  fewer  than  fifteen  passengers  were  killed,  and  one 

hundred  injured. 

1863. 

Stbbatham,  May  30. 
At  Streatham,  on  the  London  and  Brighton  Rail- 
way, a  locomotive  boiler  exploded,  the  driver  subjecting 
it  to  very  high  pressure.  The  greater  part  of  the  train 
was  dragged  down  an  embankment,  four  persons 
were  killed  and  thirty  injured,  the  latter  being  chiefly 
Grenadier  Guards  returning  from  drill. 

Lynn,  August  3. 

Part  of  a  train  overturned  near  Lynn,  on  the 
Lynn  and  Hunstanton  Bailway,  owing  to  a  bullock 
getting  on  the  track.  Five  people  were  killed,  one  of 
the  passengers  being  so  dreadfully  crushed  that  it 
was  difficult  to  identify  him. 

1864. 

Eqham,  June  7. 

A  collision  occurred  at  Egham,  on  the  South- 
western Railway.  Four  persons  were  killed  and 
twenty-five  injured.  They  were  chiefly  excursionists 
to  Ascot  races. 


CtoiLXL-i  THE  STAPLEHURST  AOOIDEST.  417 

train  ran  into  a  gap  made  for  the  purpose  of  repair- 
ing the  line.  Through  the  opening  eight  carriages 
fell  into  the  river's  bed,  and  were  crushed  into  one  mass 
of  shattered  woodwork.  Ten  passengers  were  killed 
or  drowned,  and  many  others  were    fearfully  injured. 


THE  ACGIDBHT  AT  SWANSEA.     (Pd^e  41S.) 

Charles  Dickens  was  a  passenger  by  this  train,  but 
fortunately  occupied  one  of  the  carriages  that  kept 
the  rails.  In  the  second  volume  of  "  The  Lite  of 
Charles  Dickens,"  by  Mr.  John  Forster,  there  is  this 
reference  to  the  accident  -.  "  Saturday,  June  10,  1865. 
I  was  in  the  terrific  Staplehurst  accident  yesterday, 
and  worked  for  hours  among  the  dying  and  the 
dead.  I  was  in  the  carriage  that  did  not  go  over, 
but  went  off  the  line,  and  hung  over  the  bridge  in 
an   inexplicable  manner.    No  words  can  describe  the 


418  OUn   RAILWAYS.  fphap.xh. 

scene."  In  his  postscript  to  "Our  Mutual  Friend," 
the  novelist  makes  humorous  allusion  to  the  narrow 
escape  of  his  MSS.  in  the  disaster,  saying,  "Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Boffin  (in  their  manuscript  dress  of  receiving 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lammle  at  breakfast)  were  on  the 
South-Eastern  Railway  with  me  in  a  terribly  de- 
structive accident.  When  I  had  done  what  I  could  to 
helj)  otluTs,  I  climbed  back  into  my  carriage — nearly 
turned  over  the  viaduct,  and  caught  aslant  upon  the 
turn  —  to  extricate  the  worthy  couple.  They  were 
much  soiled,  but  otherwise  unhurt.  The  same  happy 
result  attended  Miss  Bella  Wilfer  on  her  wedding  day, 
and  Mr.  Uiderhood  inspecting  Bradley  Headstone's 
red  handkerchief  as  he  lay  asleep.  I  remember  with 
devout  thankfulness  that  I  can  never  be  much  nearer 
parting  company  with  my  readers  than  I  was  then." 

Swansea,  November  29. 

The  section  of  a  telescope  bridge  near  the  Swansea 
terminus  of  the  Vale  of  Neath  Railway  had  not  been 
closed  after  the  ])assage  of  a  vessel ;  but  the  signalman, 
in  forgetfuhiess,  sent  message  *'  line  clear."  A  coal 
train  came  on,  plunged  into  the  lock  of  the  North 
Dock,  and  the  driver  and  stoker  were  killed. 

18(57. 
Walton  Junction,  June  29. 

A  passenu^er   train,    through   a    pointsman's   error, 

collided    with   a  coal    train  at  Walton  Junction,   near 

Warrington,  on  the  London  and  North -Western,  and 

seven    persons   were    killed.      The    passenger    engine 

plunged  inside  the  guard's   van  and  stuck   fast  in  it. 


H3 


420  OUB  RAILWAYS,  aokap^Xh. 

Abingdon  (Calrdonian)  October  14. 

A  goods  train,  laden  ydth  inflammable  material, 
got  on  fire  as  it  was  running  between  Elvanfoot  and 
Abingdon  on  the  Caledonian  Railway.  The  mail  ex- 
press from  Stirling  dashed  into  it;  but  the  driver, 
seeing  the  peril  ahead,  had  applied  the  brake,  and  the 
collision  was  more  alarming  than  disastrous,  the  eng^ines 
only  being  thrown  off  the  rails.  A  shift  of  the  wind, 
however,  would  have  set  the  express  on  fire ;  and  even 
the  most  courageous  passengers  deemed  it  advisable  to 
climb  the  embankments,  which  presented  a  strange  scene 
of  hurrying  figures  in  the  fierce  light  and  deep  shadow. 

1868. 

The  Abergele  Disaster,  August  20. 

The  disaster  at  Abergele  stands  out  conspicuously 
in  English  railway  history,  not  only  because  of  its 
extent,  but  because  of  the  piteous  helplessness  of  its 
victims.  The  accident  bore  some  resemblance  to  the 
one  at  Versailles.  The  Irish  limited  mail  started  from 
Euston  at  a  quarter  past  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
as  it  had  done  with  almost  invariable  punctuality  for 
eight  years.  The  run  to  Chester  was  safely  accom- 
plished, and  the  train,  after  attaching  some  local 
carriages,  started  out  on  the  North  Wales  track  on 
its  eighty-five  mile  run  to  Holyhead.  Near  Abergele 
the  mail  had  got  into  full  swing,  and  was  making 
high  speed  on  what  the  driver  believed  was  a  clear 
track,  when  it  crashed  into  some  trucks.  A  man 
sitting  on  a  rail  by  the  line  side,  and  smoking  his 
pipe    reflectively,   saw   the   waggons   come   down    the 


422  OUB   RAILWAYS.  iOm^lLL. 

incline.  They  were  oil-laden,  and  should  have  been 
shunted  at  Llandulas,  but  the  siding  would  not  take 
the  entire  goods  train.  The  driver  and  brakesmen 
knew  the  time  the  mail  was  due,  and,  aware  that 
they  had  not  the  regulation  ten  minutes  for  making 
up  the  train  aright,  in  the  hurry  of  the  operation 
they  gave  too  much  speed  to  the  kick-off  trucks,  and 
these,  knocking  against  the  paraffin-laden  waggons, 
impelled  them  on  to  the  main  line.  Arthur  Thomp- 
son, the  driver  of  the  mail,  did  not  notice  the 
obstruction  till  his  train  was  almost  on  it.  He  had 
just  time  to  give  a  warning  signal,  shout  to  his  mate, 
and  leap  off  the  footplate,  when  the  crash  came.  A 
hiss  of  steam,  a  cloud  of  smoke,  and  a  loud  noise 
heralded  the  disaster.  The  mail  engine,  dashing  into 
the  trucks,  broke  many  of  the  oil  barrels  in  pieces, 
and  drove  on  through  the  wreckage  till  it  was  dis- 
abled, and  three  carriages  were  thrown  across  the  line. 
Seventeen  hundred  gallons  of  paraffin  were  liberated 
by  the  force  of  the  collision,  and  the  fore  part  of  the 
train,  as  by  a  lightning  flash,  was  wrapped  in  flame. 

The  train  consisted  of  thirteen  carriages.  Next  to 
the  front  guard's  van  was  a  composite  carriage,  then 
two  first-class  carriages,  a  second-class  carriage,  the 
travelling  post  office,  the  mail  tender,  a  parcel  van, 
a  first-class  carriage,  three  composite  carriages,  and  a 
guard's  van  in  the  rear.  The  guard's  van  next  the 
engine  and  all  the  carriages  down  to  the  post 
office  were  consumed.  So  quick  and  intense  was  the 
heat  that  scarcely   a   cry  was   heard,    or    a    sti*uggle 


Chap.XL.1  THE   ABERGELE   DISASTER.  423 

noticed,  in  the  doomed  carriages,  about  which  the 
fire  leapt.  No  fewer  than  thirty-three  persons  lost 
their  lives;  and  of  these,  twenty-eight  were  burned 
to  death,  some  of  the  remains  being  so  thoroughly 
charred  that  it  was  impossible  to  identify  them. 
Lord  and  Lady  Farnham  were  among  the  victims; 
but  the  Duchess  of  Abercorn,  who,  with  her  family, 
occupied  a  carriage  near  the  end  of  the  train,  escaped 
injury. 

One  passenger,  who  crept  out  of  the  carriage 
window  after  the  collision,  said  he  saw  a  sight  never 
to  be  forgotten.  With  the  violence  of  the  concussion 
some  of  the  petroleum  barrels  had  been  thrown  on  the 
embankment,  and  others  rolled  under  the  carriages, 
but  all  exploded  together.  The  engine,  the  coaches, 
aud  the  luggage  van  were  enveloped  in  fire.  When 
a  portion  of  the  train  had  been  pushed  away  from 
the  burning  mass,  there  were  among  the  broken 
timbers  and  the  hot  ironwork  smoking  skeletons,  all 
that  was  left  of  men,  and  women,  and  children,  and 
they  moved  horribly  along  with  the  wreck. 

A  curious  story  was  told  by  Catherine  Dickens,  a 
platelayer's  wife.  When  the  accident  occurred  she  ran 
on  the  line  from  her  cottage,  and,  going  to  one  of 
the  carriages  towards  which  the  fire  was  leaping, 
urged  a  lady  to  throw  her  child  out,  and  she  held 
up  her  frock  to  catch  the  little  one  ;  but  the  mother 
to  whom  she  pleaded  seemed  indiflferent,  and  declined 
her  help.  The  story  was  discredited,  though  the  plate- 
layer's wife  adhered  to  her  tale,  and  said  the  carriage 


424  OUR   RAILWAYS.  fCk»LXL. 


handle  was  so  hot  when  she  first  sought  the  child's 
safety  that  she  instantly  relinquished  her  grasp. 

The  heat  around  the  train  was  unhearable,  the 
vapour  from  the  unconsumed  oil  sufiocating,  and 
the  flame  of  the  paraffin  terrible  in  its  devastation. 
An  expert  said  the  awful  stillness  which  character- 
ised the  occupants  of  the  leading  carriages  was  due 
to  the  shock  caused  by  the  sudden  exposure  of  the 
entire  body  to  fire.  No  one,  at  all  events  in  the  fore 
part  of  the  train,  seems  to  have  made  any  very  de- 
termined attempt  to  escape.  The  passengers,  as  they 
sat  at  ease,  perhaps  admiring  the  landscape,  or  look- 
ing out  across  the  pebbly  beach  to  the  sea,  or 
reading,  or  sewing,  or  anticipating,  in  thought  and 
chat,  a  pleasant  voyage  across  the  Irish  Channel,  gave 
one  startled  cry,  and  then,  by  anaesthesia  or  asphyxia, 
were  deprived  of  sensation.  The  salvage  taken  from 
the  wreckage  was  remarkable.  In  the  heap  of  human 
dust,  diamonds,  rubies,  opals,  and  emeralds  were  found. 
The  furnace  fire  had  robbed  them  of  their  settings, 
of  their  gold  and  filigree;  but  they  sparkled,  and 
glittered,  and  gleamed  impervious  to  the  heat  amid 
their  ghastly  surroundings.  Twenty-four  watches  were 
picked  out  of  the  ashes ;  and  strewn  about  the  line  were 
the  remnants  of  bracelets,  brooches,  rings,  smelling- 
bottles,  scissors,  and  many  half-calcined  ornaments. 

The  inquiry  concerning  the  disaster  lasted  many 
days.  The  jury  found  that  most  of  the  victims  died 
from  suffocation  before  the  fire  touched  them  ;  they 
suggested  a  drastic   reform    in    shunting    operations; 


Chap.XL.1        REGULATIONS  MADE  TO  BE  BROKEN.  425 

tbey  censured  the  Llandulas  stationmaster,  and  found 
the  brakesmen  in  charge  of  the  goods  waggons  guilty 
of  manslaughter — ^but  at  the  assizes  these  men  were 
acquitted.  Colonel  Rich,  in  his  report  of  the  disaster, 
pointed  out  the  unwisdom  of  locking  the  carriage  doors, 
strongly  condemned  passengers  for  their  thoughtless- 
ness in  treating  railway  officials,  and,  making  sarcastic 
reference  to  the  management  of  the  line,  said: 

"  I  fear  that  it  is  only  too  true  that  the  rules  printed  and  issued 
by  railway  companies  to  their  servants,  and  which  are  generally 
very  good,  are  made  principally  with  the  object  of  being  produced 
when  accidents  happen  from  the  breach  of  them,  and  that  the 
companies  allow  many  of  them  to  be  broken  daily,  without  taking 
the  slightest  notice  of  the  disobedience." 

The  accident  caused  a  profound  sensation  througli- 
out  the  country,  and  comment  upon  it  was  continually 
revived,  particularly  when  the  mail  engine-driver  died 
from  his  injuries,  and  when  the  brakesmen  were  put 
on  their  trial.  The  railway  company  revised  their 
instructions,  and  set  about  making  better  siding 
accommodation ;  but  the  travelling  public  were  not 
easily  pacified.  The  taunt  was  thrown  out  that  the 
directors  ought  to  make  a  siding  aU  the  way  from 
Chester  to  Bangor,  and  there  was  an  emphatic  demand 
that  passenger  and  goods  trains  should  run  on  dif- 
ferent sets  of  metals,  ''that  the  two  services  should 
be  separate,  and  conducted  on  lines  of  their  own.'' 

The  passenger,  quitting  the  bustle  and  noise  of 
the  enlarged  station  at  Chester,  on  his  leisurely 
way   by  the  sand-banked  Dee,  and   quaint  Flint,  and 


OUB  RAILWAYS. 


thriving  Ehyl,  to  some  more  remote  Welsh  watering- 
place,  seldom  thinks  as  he  goes  along  the  line  that 
nurses  the  shore,  looking  out  of  the  carriage  window 
at  the  pastoral  and  wooded  beauty  of  Abergele,  that 
beyond    the   shadowed  roadway,  in  the  graveyard,  by 


{Page  4a».) 


the  village.  He  the  remains  of  those  who  on  this 
memorable  day  had  their  life's  journey  so  abruptly 
checked.  In  the  summer  of  1893  the  author,  visiting 
Abergele,  found  that  the  railway  accident  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago  was  the  talk  of  the  village  still. 
The  disaster  is  the  great  historic  event  of  the  locality. 
It  is  a  grim  calendar  in  the  records  of  the  place. 
This  villager  died  about  a  year  before  the  railway 
smash ;  that  woman  was  married  three  years  after 
it.     Nearly  everything  is  reckoned  from  the  day  the 


dup.  XL.1     VICTIMS  OF  THE  ABERGELE  AGOIDENT.       427 

Irish  mail  was  wrecked  and  partially  destroyed  by 
fire.  "  Would  you  like  to  see  the  grave,  sir  ? "  said 
the  old  verger,  who  was  full  of  reminiscences  of  the 
dread  time.  It  was  on  the  far  side  of  the  church- 
yard, near  the  toipb  of  the  men  who  were  cast  ashore 
after  the  burning  of  the  emigrant  ship  Ocean  Monarch 
in  the  bay  in  1848.  A  large  granite  monument  marks 
the  spot  where  the  victims  of  the  railway  disaster 
are  buried,  and  it  bears  an  inscription  *'  sacred  to  the 
memory  "  of  the  thirty-three  persons  who  perished ; — 

Tlie   Right  Hon.  Henry  Lord  E.  Lovell  FarrelL 

Farnham.  Joseph  Holmes. 

The  Lady  Farnham.  Jane  Ingram. 

The  Rev.  Sir  Nicholas  Chinnery,  Mary  Ann  Kellett. 

Bart.  Caroline  Simcox  Lea. 

The  Lady  Chinnery.  Augustus  Simcox  Lea. 

Judge  Berwick.  William  Townseud  Lund. 

Elizabeth  Mary  Berwick.  W.  Henry  Owen. 

John  Harrison  Aylmer.  Edward  Suten. 

Kosanna  Louisa  Aylmer.  W.  Bradley  Parkinson. 

Arthur  Fitzgerald  H.  Aylmer.  Christopher  Slater  Parkinson. 

Rosalie  Franks.  Mary  Annie  Roe. 

Kate  Sophia  Askin.  Whitmore  Scovell, 

Fanny      Soi)hia      Tliornburgh  Kathleen  Scovell. 

Askin.  William  Smith. 

Charles  Cripps.  Caroline  Stearn. 

Capt.  J.  Priestly  Edwarda  Elizabeth  Strafford. 

Priestly  Augustus  Edwards.  Louisa  Symes. 

1869. 

Long  Eaton,  October  9. 

A  collision  occurred  on  the  Midland  Railway,  at 
Long  Eaton  Junction,  between  the  mail  and  two 
excursion  trains  on  their  way  from  Nottingham  Goose 


i28  OUR  RAILWAYS.  {Obm^XL, 

Fair,  "  a  great  holiday -time  in  the  lacemaking  town/* 
The  express  dashed  into  one  set  of  carriages,  ''  there 
to  be  run  into  because  the  driver  was  afraid  he 
would  otherwise  run  down  another  excursion  train  in 
front,  detained  on  its  journey  because  it  had  already 
run  down  a  luggage  train."  In  this  remarkable 
jumble  of  rolling-stock  nine  passengers  were  killed, 
and  eleven  seriously  injured. 

1870. 

Newark,  June  20. 

This  was  an  unusually  disastrous  collision.  Soon 
after  midnight  an  axle  in  the  Manchester  goods 
train  broke,  and  several  waggons  were  flung  off  the 
line.  An  excursion  train  from  London  dashed  into  the 
obstruction,  and  eighteen  passengers  were  killed. 

Carlisle,  July  10. 

At  the  Citadel  Station,  Carlisle,  a  collision  occurred 
between  a  goods  train  and  the  London  mail  at  the 
point  at  which  the  North-Eastern  crossed  the  Lan- 
caster and  Carlisle  track.  The  signals  at  the  crossing 
needed  careful  watching;  but  the  regular  driver  of 
the  goods  train  was  temporarily  absent,  and  the  fire- 
man, who  was  characterised  at  the  inquest  as  "reckless 
and  incompetent,"  took  little  heed  of  the  instruction 
that  he  must  keep  his  mind  entirely  fixed  on  his  duty. 
He  ran  his  train  into  the  mail,  killing  five  passengers 
and  injuring  twenty. 

Tamworth,  September  14. 

At    four   o'clock  in  the    morning,   at  Tamworth, 


dutp.  XL.1  AOOIDENTS.  i29 

on  the  London  and  North -Western,  the  Irish  mail, 
arriving  late,  was  sent  into  a  siding,  owing  to  a 
pointsman's  mistake,  and,  smashing  through  a  buttress, 
dashed  into  the  river  Anker.  Three  persons,  including 
the  driver,  were  killed. 

Harrow,  Noyember  26. 

The  Liverpool  and  Manchester  express  ran  into 
some  coal  waggons  on  the  London  and  North -Western 
Railway  at  Harrow,  and  seven  persons,  including  the 
driver,  were  killed. 

Brockley  Whins,  December  6. 

A  collision  occurred  between  the  Sunderland  ex- 
press and  a  coal  train  at  Brockley  Whins,  on  the 
North-Eastem  Railway,  through  a  pointsman's  error, 
resulting  in  the  death  of  four  passengers  and  a  guard. 

Barnslbt,  December  12. 

A  collision  was   caused    by  a    number    of   goods 

waggons   breaking  away  on  the   Sheffield   Company's 

line,  and  crashing  into  a  passenger  train  at  Stairfoot 

Station.     Fourteen    persons   were   killed   and   a  large 

number  injured. 

Hatfield,  December  26. 

The  tire  of  a  wheel  broke  on  a  train  at  Bell 
Bar,  near  Hatfield,  on  the  Q-reat  Northern  Eailway. 
The  guard's  brake  and  several  carriages  were  over- 
turned, eight  persons  being  killed,  including  two 
women  who  happened  to  be  crossing  the  line.  The 
tire  was  reported  by  experts  to  be  sound;  but  the 
severe  weather  had  made  the  material  brittle. 


-tao 


CflAPTEH  XLI. 
RAILWAY    DISASTERS    {continued). 

1872—1895. 

The  Risk  of   Travol — Comforting  the   Passenger — Recent  Diiatten — Sleep 

and  Signala^Memorable  Aooidents,  1872 — 1895. 

The  railway  traveller  is  occasionally  comforted  by  the 
statement  that  "  nearly  as  many  people  are  killed  in 
the  streets  of  London  every  fortnight  as  there  are 
passengers  killed  on  all  the  railways  in  Great  Britain  in 
a  year  from  causes  beyond  their  own  control."  It  is  a 
comparison  that  reminds  one  of  Mr.  Labouchere's  in  his 
"  Diary  of  the  Besieged  Resident,"  in  which  he  says 
that  there  was  less  danger  in  the  streets  of  Paris  during 
the  bombardment  by  the  German  army  than  in  crossing 
the  crowded  Strand.  Sir  Edward  Watkin,  always  em- 
phatic in  his  championship  of  railways,  once  remarked  : 
**  I  have  proved  that  railway  travelling  is  safer  than 
walking,  riding,  driving,  than  going  up  and  dov/n  stairs, 
than  watching  agricultural  machinery,  and  even  safer 
than  eating,  because  it  is  a  fact  that  more  people  choke 
themselves  in  England  than  are  killed  on  all  the  rail- 
ways of  the  United  Kingdom."  Discussion  on  the 
question  whether  it  is  safer  to  ride  by  rail  or  on  horse- 
back, or  whether  it  is  more  desirable  to  be  killed  by  a 
six-course  dinner  or  the  shock  of  collision,  would  be 
improfitable,    inasmuch  as  there  is  a  great  vai'iety  of 


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Cha^XLI.)  PREVENTABLE   ACC [BENTS.  431 

taste  in  the  English  character.     But  it  must  be  asserted 
that  railway  accidents  are  too  frequent. 

It  is  hardly  necessary,  as  was  the  case  in  1873,  for 
the  Board  of  Trade  to  issue  a  circular  to  the  railway 
companies,  pointing  out  that  "the  great  proportion  of 
accidents  during  the  year  had  arisen  through  causes 
entirely  within  their  own  conti'ol;  "  still,  the  record  of 
mishap  during  the  past  few  years  is  not  quite  so  enter- 
taining as  Sir  Edward  Watkin  would  make  it,  including, 
as  it  does,  the  big  Penistone  accident,  the  disaster  at 
Doncaster,  and  the  collision  at  Thirsk.  In  1887  the 
railway  traveller  was  congratulated  on  the  fact  that, 
with  the  exception  of  the  lives  lost  by  the  collision  at 
Hexthorpe  on  the  St.  Leger  day,  not  a  single  passenger 
was  killed  by  accident  to  rolling-stock;  but  in  1892, 
in  addition  to  the  crash  at  Manor  House  Cabin,  it  was 
necessary  to  chronicle  the  collision  at  Bishopsgate,  the 
singular  accident  on  the  railway  approach  to  Birming- 
ham, and  the  wreck  of  a  train  at  Esholt.  "  Sleep  and 
signals"  were  chiefly  responsible  for  these  casualties, 
in  which  twenty-one  passengers  were  killed.  Those 
who  travel  by  rail  may  derive  some  consolation  from 
the  fact  that  all  the  railway  companies,  zealous  of 
their  reputation,  are,  by  a  better  system  of  relief, 
guarding  against  the  slumber  of  men  on  duty,  and 
by  improvements  in  signalling  apparatus,  working, 
and  regulation,  endeavouring  to  lessen  the  peril  of 
journeying.  The  following  are  the  most  notable 
accidents  that  have  occurred  within  the  past  twenty- 
four  years: — 


i32  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Oha^XLL 

1872. 
Cmfton,  August   3. 

At  Clifton  Junction,  on  the  Lancashire  and  York- 
shire Railway,  a  collision  occurred  between  an  express 
and  a  goods  trsiin,  and  five  persons  were  killed  and 
some  others  injured. 

KiRTLRBRIDOE,    Octobor   2. 

A  disastrous  collision  occurred  at  Kirtlebridge»  on 

the    Caledonian    Railway.     The    Scotch    express    for 

London    ran    into   a    number   of   shunting   waggons. 

Three    carriages    were    broken    into     fragments,    and 

eleven    pa.ssengers    killed.      Captain    Tyler    said    the 

driver,  fireman,  and  guard  of  the  passenger  train  had 

done  their   duty.      The   accident  was  caused   by   the 

moving  of  c(»rtain  points  not  interlocked  with  signab ; 

it  was  duo   in   the    first   place  to  the  stationmaster's 

forgetfulness.      The  stationmaster  and  the  pointsman 

were  arrested,   and  tried   for  manslaughter;    bnt   the 

jury  took   a  merciful  view  of  the  case,  and  the  men 

were  acquitted. 

1873. 

WiGAN,  August  2. 

The  tourist  train  from  Euston  to  Scotland,  fiUed 
chiefly  with  sportsmen  and  their  friends  going  north, 
met  with  a  fearful  disaster  at  Wigan.  On  nearing  the 
station  at  a  speed  of  nearly  forty  miles  an  hour,  seven 
carriages,  fouling  at  the  facing  points,  broke  from  the 
rest  of  the  train,  and  dashed  into  a  siding.  Three 
carriages   mounted   the   platform   and   overturned,  one 


434  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Cb»p.  xu. 

being  flung  actually  upside  down ;  and  a  fourth 
carriage  travelled  over  a  wall  into  a  foundry  yard, 
taking  a  lady  passenger  with  it  in  its  strange  journey. 
Several  carriages  were  smashed  to  pieces,  ten  persons 
killed  and  thirty  injured. 

1874. 

Manuel  Junction,  January  27. 

A  dreadful  accident  occurred  on  this  day  near 
Manuel  Junction,  on  the  North  British  Railway.  The 
London  express,  running  at  high  speed,  crashed  into 
a  shunting  mineral  train.  The  two  trains  were  forced 
into  a  rugged  mass  of  hroken  wood  and  twisted  iron. 
The  havoc  was  piteous.  Fourteen  passengers  and  two 
firemen  were  killed.  Many  of  the  travellers  were 
severely  injured ;  but  some,  though  completely  buried 
beneath  the  wreckage,  and  held  for  a  long  time  in 
bondage  by  displaced  tires  and  timber,  were  rescued 
unscathed. 

The  Thorpe  Collision,  September  10. 

The  Thorpe  accident,  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
in  railway  history,  occurred  on  this  night.  The  Great 
Yarmouth  mail,  joined  at  Beedham  by  a  train  from 
Lowestoft,  ran  to  Brundall.  Beyond  this  point  the 
line  was  only  a  single  one,  and  the  united  train  should 
have  waited  for  the  Norwich  express  to  pass.  But 
the  Great  Yarmouth  train  was  permitted  to  go  on  the 
single  line  before  the  express  had  cleared.  The  two 
trains  met  with  a  terrific  crash  on  a  curve  at  Thorpe, 
and   a  pyramid    was   formed  of   the   locomotives    and 


Chap.  XLI.J    THE    THORPE   AND  8UIPT0N  AGCIDENTS.    435 

shattered  carriages,  among  which  lay  the  wounded, 
dead,  or  dying  passengers.  No  fewer  than  twenty- 
five  persons,  including  drivers  and  firemen,  were  killed, 
and  fifty  injured.  The  accident  was  due  to  an  error 
in  telegraphing,  an  error  that  was  discovered  before 
the  trains  actually  met ;  but  the  ominous  reply  was 
**  Mail  train  gone !  "  and  at  Norwich  there  was  dismay, 
and  then  hurried  preparation  made  to  help  and  succour 
the  passengers  in  the  inevitable  disaster. 

Shipton,  December  24. 

Festivity  does  not  always  reign  supreme  at  Christ- 
mas. Calamity,  fierce  and  relentless,  now  and  then 
dashes  it  in  pieces.  A  grievous  example  of  the 
pitilessness  of  fate  was  seen  on  the  Great  Western 
Railway  at  Shipton -on -Cher  well,  near  Oxford,  on 
Christmas  Eve,  1874.  When  the  express  from  Pad- 
dington,  which  was  crowded  with  people  on  their 
way  to  join  country  house-parties,  or  to  indulge  in 
Christmas  pleasure  in  a  humbler  fashion  in  crowded 
town  or  by  cottage  fireside,  reached  this  village,  the 
tire  of  one  of  the  carriage  wheels  broke.  The  carriage 
lurched,  and  the  coupling-chain  snapped.  The  train 
was  running  at  a  speed  of  forty  miles  an  hour,  and  the 
coaches  at  the  rear  of  the  fractured  coupling,  set 
suddenly  free,  swayed  for  a  moment  on  the  line,  and 
then  toppled  some  down  one  side  and  some  down 
the  other  side  of  a  steep  embankment.  One  vehicle, 
knocking  away  the  stone  parapet  of  the  canal  bridge, 
plunged  a  wreck  into  the  water ;  and  two  others,  tamed 
cc2 


496  OUB  RAILWAYS.  iGbmp,  XLL 

completely  upside  down,  were  crushed  into  splinters  on 
the  slope.  No  fewer  than  thirty-four  persons  were 
killed  and  seventy  injured. 

1875. 

KiLDWioK,  August  27. 

The  Scotch  express,  on  the  Midland  Railway,  ran 

into   an   excursion    train    at  Kildwick,  near    Skipton. 

Seven  passengers  were  killed  and  forty  injured.      The 

excursion  train  had  been  detained  for  the  lighting  of 

the  tail  lamps. 

1876. 

Abbots  Ripton,  January  21. 

In  the  well-remembered  disaster  on  the  Great 
Northern,  at  Abbots  Eipton,  six  miles  north  of  Hunt- 
ingdon, the  Scotch  express  ran  into  a  shunting  mineral 
train,  and  the  Leeds  express  from  London,  seeing  no 
danger  signal  on  running  through  Huntingdon,  dashed 
into  the  wreckage.  The  accidents  occurred  during  a 
snowstorm ;  and  the  havoc  was  fearful,  fourteen  persons 
being  killed  and  many  injured. 

Radstock,  Angast  7. 

At  midnight  a  terrible  collision  occurred  on  a  single 
line  of  the  Somerset  and  Dorset  Eailway,  near  Badstock, 
between  an  excursion  train  and  a  special  train  which 
was  returning  from  a  regatta  at  Bath.  Fifteen  persons 
were  killed  and  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  injured. 

Ablesby,  December  23. 

A  goods  train  was  delayed  at  Arlesey  siding,  near 
Hitchin,  on  the  Great  Northern  Railway,  owing  to 
a  breakdo¥m.     The  signals  were   at  danger,  but   the 


caiap.xu.|  ACCIDENTS  AT  ARLESEY,  ETC.  4S1 

driver  of  tlie  Manchester  express  did  not  notice  them, 
and  dashed  into  the  luggage  train,  cutting  his  way 
through  it,  but  at  fearful  sacrifice.  Five  persons  were 
killed,  including  three  ladies,  and  thirty  passengers 
were    injured.      The   driver   lost   his   life  through  his 

own  carelessness. 

1877. 

Abbotts  Cliff  Tunnel,  January  15. 

This  accident  may  be  noticed  as  an  exjimple  of  the 
dangers  to  which  the  toilers  on  the  line  are  exposed. 
On  the  12th  of  January  a  huge  mass  of  chalk  and  rock 
fell  in  the  tunnel  on  the  main  South  Eastern  line  near 
Dover,  and  on  the  15th,  while  the  obstruction  was  being 
removed,  there  was  another  extensive  landslip.  Some 
five  hundred  men  were  at  work  in  the  tunnel  at  the 
time,  but  fortunately  only  two  of  them  were  buried. 
Seeing  the  danger,  the  poor  fellows  ran  for  their  lives, 
but  were  unable  to  escape. 

Morpehh,  March  25. 

The  night  express  running  on  the  North-Eastem 
Railway  from  Edinburgh  to  London  got  off  the  rails  at 
Morpeth,  and  tore  up  the  permanent  way  for  a  consider- 
able distance.  The  vehicles  were  crushed  back  on  each 
other,  and  five  passengers  were  killed,  including  Mr. 
James  Donald,  the  editor  of  Chambers's  Etynwlogical 

Dictionary. 

1878. 

SiTTINOBOURNE,  AugOSt  31. 

An  excursion  train  from  Bamsgate,  travelling  at  the 
rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour,  crashed  into  a  number  of 


438  OUR   nAILWAYS.  fOhap.  ZLL 

waggons   that   bad   been  slipped  on  to  the  main  line 

at  Sittingbonrne  Station,  on  the  London,  Chatham  and 

Dover  Railway,  and  six  persons  were  killed  and  forty 

injured. 

Pontypridd,  Ootolier  19. 

A  collision  took  place  near  Pontypridd  Junction,  on 
the  Taff  Vale  Kiiilway,  through  a  mistake  in  signalling. 
Two  passeng(T  trains  cra.shed  into  each  other  at  the 
bend,  and  thirteen  persons  were  killed  and  forty  injured. 

1880. 

BuRSCOUcsii,  January  14. 

Through  a  signalman's  error  a  collision  occurred  on 
Brickfield  siding,  near  Burscough  Junction,  on  the 
Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway,  and  seven  persons 
were  killed  and  thirty  injured. 

Wknnington,  August  IL 

A  Midland  train  went  off  the  rails  while  rounding  a 
curve  at  Wennington  Junction,  near  Skipton,  and  seven 
passengers  were  killed  and  twenty  injured.  On  the 
previous  day  the  "  Flying  Scotsman  "  ran  oflF  the  rails 
in  a  similar  fashion  at  Marshall's  Meadows,  near  Berwick, 
and  the  driver,  stoker,  and  one  passenger  were  killed. 

Paislky  and  Nine  Elms,  September  8  and  11. 

September,  1880,  was  a  month  particularly  crowded 
with  railway  accident  and  incident.  On  the  8th  a  fast 
train  from  Glasgow  to  Greenock  ran  into  a  mineral  train 
near  Paisley  on  the  joint  line,  and  five  passengers  and 
the  guard  were  killed.   The  signalman  had  been  on  duty 


440  OUR  RAILWAYS,  cC3h*p.xu. 

ten  hours,  and,  forgetful  or  weary,  placed  the  mineral 
train  on  the  wrong  track.  On  the  llth,  at  Nine  Elms 
Station,  on  the  London  and  South-Western  Railway, 
while  a  locomotive  was  standing  on  the  main  down  line, 
the  night  train  from  Waterloo  to  Hampton  Court  was 
signalled  forward,  and  dashed  into  the  motionless 
engine.  Both  engines  were  flung  off  the  track,  one 
or  two  carriages  demolished,  three  passengers  and  the 
fireman  killed,  and  thirty  persons  injured. 

1881. 

Blackburn,  August  8. 

At  Blackburn,  on  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 
Eailway,  a  collision  occurred  between  two  expresses,  one 
from  Manchester,  and  the  other  from  Liverpool,  five 
persons  being  killed  and  forty  injured. 

Canonbury,  December  10. 

At  Canonbury  Junction,  on  the  North  London 
Railway,  an  astounding  series  of  collisions  occurred 
on  the  above  date.  Two  trains  pitched  into  each  other 
in  the  tunnel.  They  were  run  into  by  a  third  train, 
and  a  fourth  train  dashed  into  the  disabled  mass. 
Five  persons  were  killed  and  many  injured. 

1882. 

Fairfield  Road  Bridge,  January  28. 

By  the  collision  of  a  passenger  train  with  some 
broken-down  coal  trucks  on  the  North  London  Rail- 
way, near  Fairfield  Road  Bridge,  five  passengers  were 
killed. 


COLLAPSE    OF  A    BlilDGS. 


Adcberless,  November  27. 


A  mixed  passenger  and  goods  train  was  wrecked  by 
the  fall  of  a  bridge  over  the  Tariff  turnpike  road,  near 


Aucherless,  on  the  Macduff  section  of  the  Great  North 
of  Scotland  Railway,  and  five  persons  were  killed. 

1883. 

I/OCKERDtE,  May  14. 

The  Scotch  express  was  wrecked  in  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances at  Lockerbie  Junction,  on  the  Caledonian 
Railway.  While  the  Stranraer  train  and  some  trucks 
were  in  coUision  the  express  dashed  into  the  confused 


442  OUR  RAILWAYS.  (Ci«p.XLL 

mass  at  a  speed  of  nearly  sixty  miles  an  hour.  The 
pilot  engine,  though  the  driver  promptly  reversed 
it  and  applied  the  brake,  shattered  one  of  the  goods 
waggons,  and  then  leapt  the  platform.  The  rest  of  the 
train  swayed  forward,  the  trucks  that  had  foaled  the 
line  ripping  out  the  sides  of  the  carriages  and  completely 
wrecking  one  vehicle.  Seven  persons  were  killed,  but 
it  was  feared  that  the  loss  of  life  would  be  much 
greater,  for  the  train  was  unusually  crowded,  containing 
a  large  number  of  passengers  who  were  returning  south 
after  the  Whitsuntide  holidays. 

1884. 
Breamork,  June  8. 

The  coupling  of  a  passenger  train  broke  near  Brea- 
more,  on  the  South -Western  Railway.  The  carriages 
fell  over  an  embankment,  and  five  persons  were  killed 
and  forty  injured. 

Thb  First  Penistone  Disaster,  July  16. 
The  disaster  on  the  Manchester,  SheflBeld  and 
Lincolnshire  Railway  at  the  BuUhouse  curve,  near 
Penistone,  on  July  16,  almost  rivalled  the  Abergele 
catastrophe  in  the  number  killed  and  the  damage  done 
to  rolling  stock ;  but  the  accident  fortunately  had 
not  the  dread  accompaniment  of  fire.  Sam  Cawood, 
who  had  driven  the  newspaper  train  for  years,  got  on 
the  footplate  of  his  engine  at  London  Road  Station, 
Manchester,  for  the  return  journey  to  town,  and  went 
out  with  the  express,  which  was  crowded  with  pas- 
sengers, at  half-past  twelve  o'clock  at  noon.      He  ran 


ciuip.XLi.1     THE   FIRST  PENISTONE  AOCIDENT.  443 

without  mishap,  at  the  rate  of  nearly  fifty  miles  an 
hour,  till  he  had  passed  Hazlehead,  and  then  the 
crank  axle  of  the  leading  wheels  of  the  four-wheeled 
bogie  engine  broke.  The  driver  applied  the  brake 
with  all  his  might,  but  the  impetus  of  the  train 
forced  the  carriages  off  the  line.  With  the  exception 
of  the  engine,  tender,  and  a  horsebox,  all  the  vehicles 
were  flung  from  the  permanent  way.  The  first  and 
second  carriages  were  hurled  down  the  steep  embank- 
ment into  a  field,  and  the  next  two  coaches  were 
pitched  into  the  country  lane  and  smashed,  their 
occupants  beitig  killed  or  fearfully  injured.  The  other 
five  vehicles  were  overturned,  with  their  wheels  in  the 
air,  and  the  guards  in  the  brake  van  had  remarkable 
escapes  from  death. 

The  broken  carriages  were  heaped  in  almost  in- 
extricable tangle ;  and  out  of  the  wreckage  on  the 
embankment  and  near  the  bridge  nineteen  bodies — 
ten  women,  six  men,  and  three  children — were  taken. 
A  passenger  cut  his  way  out  of  a  shattered  compart- 
ment, but  many  others  were  so  grievously  injured 
that  they  could  do  nothing  to  help  themselves,  and 
their  cries  and  moans  were  heartrending.  There  was 
some  element  of  romance  and  superstition  in  the 
accident.  One  traveller  was  delayed  on  his  way  to 
a  wedding  party,  and  the  silence  that  reigned  for 
a  moment  after  the  disaster  was  disturbed  by  the 
crowing  of  a  cock  that  had  escaped  from  the  dark- 
ness of  a  hamper  in  the  van,  and  thought  it  was 
morn.     No  fewer  than  twenty-four  persons  were  killed 


4M  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Oh*p.XLL 

instantaneously  or  died  from  the  effects  of  the  acci- 
dent, and  the  number  of  injured  was  never  accurately 
known.  The  Queen  expressed  her  deep  sympathy 
with  the  relatives  of  the  killed  and  with  the  injured ; 
and  in  every  part  of  the  country  the  wreck  of  the 
express  was  the  chief  topic  of  conversation  for  msmy 
days. 

There  was  much  inquiry,  and  from  the  mass  of 
evidence  two  simple  stories  stand  out  clearly.  The 
signalman  said  the  express  passed  his  box  at  twenty 
minutes  past  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  three 
minutes  afterwards  the  train  was  a  wreck.  He  had 
only  just  time  to  readjust  his  signals,  when  he  heard 
a  crash;  and  looking  out  of  the  window,  he  saw  the 
engine,  tender,  and  horsebox  staggering  along  the  line 
— the  rest  of  the  train  was  down  the  embankment 
and  over  the  bridge.  The  driver's  account  was  even 
more  dramatic.  At  Manchester  he  went  beneath  his 
engine,  examined  the  crank  axle,  and  was  confident 
it  was  thoroughly  sound.  At  Bullhouse  he  noticed 
something  wrong  with  the  motion  of  the  wheels, 
heard  a  crack,  and  felt  the  locomotive  lurch.  He 
put  on  the  brake,  but  the  engine  scrambled  somehow 
beyond  the  bridge.  Then,  looking  back,  he  exclaimed : 
"Oh,  dear  me!  wherever  is  the  train?" 

The  outside  web  of  the  right-hand  crank  of  the 
driving  axle  had  broken,  causing  the  engine  par- 
tially to  leave  the  rails.  The  draw  hook  at  the  end 
of  the  horsebox  had  snapped,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  train  had  fallen  pell-mell  down  the  bank,  making 


Ot»p.XLLi     AN  INVISIBLE  FLAW  IN  AN  AXLS.  M5 

havoc  and  death,  The  crank  axle  that  cansed  the 
mischief  had  only  run  fifty  thousand  miles,  one-sixth 
tibe  ordinary  life  of  an  axle,  and  was  made  of  solid 
steel ;  but  inside  the  web  was  "  an  invisible  flaw, 
which   had  matured,    by  continual    vibration,  into  an 


absolute  fracture."  Major  Marindin  said  the  accident 
to  the  crank  was  not  one  that  could  have  been 
foreseen  or  prevented,  though  a  powerful  continuous 
brake  ought  to  have  so  reduced  the  speed  that  the 
consequences  would  have  been  far  less  fatal.  He 
held  that  not  the  smallest  fault  could  be  found  with 
the  servants  of  the  company  for  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  performed  their  duty ;  and  the  jury  retamed 
a  verdict  of  accidental  death,  recommending,  however, 
that  some  more  searching  mode  of  testing  axles  should 
be  adopted. 


446  OUR   RAILWAYS.  (Cbap  ill 

1885. 

The  Second  Penistonb  Accident,  January  1. 

On  nearly  the  same  section  of  the  Manchester, 
Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire  Bailway  another  calamitous 
accident  occurred  on  this  date,  and  perturbed  pas- 
sengers to  such  an  extent  that  they  began  to  look 
upon  Penistone  as  an  ill-fated  place.  Even  commercial 
travellers,  who  seem  to  thrive  on  banging  about, 
shied  at  the  track,  longed  for  another  and  safer  route 
to  Manchester,  and  were  thankful  when  they  had 
traversed  curve  and  viaduct,  and  safely  reached  Guide 
Bridge.  The  second  disaster  occurred  between  Barnsley 
Junction  and  Penistone,  not  very  far  from  Bullhouse, 
the  scene  of  the  previous  wreck.  In  the  morning  an 
empty  goods  train  left  Ardwick  for  Kivetor  Park, 
and  on  getting  within  a  mile  of  Penistone  Station, 
ran  into  an  excursion  which  was  on  its  way  from 
Eotherham  and  Sheffield  to  Liverpool  and  Southport. 
Just  as  the  two  trains  were  crossing  on  opposite  lines 
the  axle  of  a  private  waggon  in  the  goods  train  broke 
— was  clean  fractured,  either  owing  to  the  frost  or  the 
hardness  of  the  road.  The  truck  jumped  the  metals, 
struck  the  engine  of  the  excursion  train,  and  re- 
bounded; but,  suddenly  heeling  over,  fell  with  great 
force  against  the  fourth  carriage,  crashing  it  in  pieces, 
and  then  dragged  along  the  coaches  behind  it,  wreck- 
ing them  also.  The  progress  of  the  passenger  train, 
which  at  the  time  of  the  mishap  was  running  at  the 
rate   of    nearly   thirty   miles   an   hour,   was   abruptly 


nh4p.XLi.i   THE   SECOND   PENI8T0NE   ACCIDENT.  447 

checked,  and  the  vehicles  in  the  middle  and  end  of 
the  train  piled  high  in  a  heap  of  ruin.  The  wood- 
work had  to  be  sawn  away  before  some  of  the  injured 
persons  could  be  liberated,  and  the  rescuers  were  almost 
unmanned  by  the  stream  of  blood  that  poured  upon 
the  rails  beneath  the  wreckage  of  the  fifth  and  sixth 
carriages. 

Four  persons  were  killed  and  forty-seven  injured, 
but  there  was  one  marvellous  escape.  An  old  gentle- 
man sitting  in  the  Liverpool  portion  of  the  train  fell 
through  the  floor  when  the  carriage  collapsed,  and 
was  crushed  among  the  broken  timber;  but  his  wife, 
who  had  been  by  his  side,  quietly  kept  her  seat,  and 
was  uninjured.  The  rapidity  of  the  accident  was 
vividly  described  by  one  of  the  witnesses,  who  said: 
"The  carriages  seemed  to  fly  asunder,  nothing  being 
left  but  the  floor.  The  passengers  in  the  compart- 
ment were  flung  violently  together,  and  my  son 
dropped  through  to  the  line,  dying  instantly.  The 
whole  thing  was  like  a  hideous  dream,  and  came 
and  went  as  quickly  as  a  flash  of  lightning."  The 
Sheffield  Company  in  this,  as  in  the  BuUhouse 
disaster,  escaped  the  payment  of  compensation,  Major 
Marindin  reporting  that  the  breakdown  of  the  goods 
train  was  an  accident  beyond  the  power  of  any  rail- 
way servant  to  avert.  He  urged,  however,  that  more 
careful  attention  should  be  given  to  the  condition  of 
rolling  stock,  and  that  there  should  be  systematic 
periodical  examination  of  all  goods  waggons,  whether 
of  private  owners  or  of  railway  companies. 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


The  Wreck  of  the  "  Rack  Train  "  at  HExrnoRPK,  September  16. 

Doncaster,  with  its  racing  memories,  can  tell  many 
stories  of  accident  and  incident — how  ray  lord,  driving 
home  from  the  course  with  his  coach  and  six,  came  to 
grief  in  ditch  ;  how  a  jockey, 
coming  up  the  straight  like 
the  wind  amid '  a  Gutter  of 
gay  silk  and  the  flash  of 
lioofs,  was  ground  at  the 
rail  and  carried  off  the  turf 
hruised  and  helpless.  There 
has  been  blood  spilled,  too, 
in  fight  and  crush  at  the 
station  after  the  winning 
numbers  have  gone  up  and 
the  huge  crowd  has  began 
to  surge  homewards  again. 
But  the  disaster  which  took  place  at  Hexthorpe, 
on  "The  Cup  Day,"  Friday,  September  16,  1887, 
stands  out  with  lamentable  conspicuousness  in  contrast 
to  these  somewhat  trifling  mishaps.  A  Midland  excur- 
sion train  from  Sheffield,  filled  with  people  eager  to 
reach  the  Town  Moor  to  picnic,  to  bet  systematic- 
ally with  the  recognised  bookmaker,  to  hazard  their 
pocket-money  with  the  welsher,  to  watch  the  race,  and 
to  shout  as  the  winner  went  by,  stood  at  a  little-used 
ticket  platform,  when  an  express  from  Manchester  to 
Hull,  ignoring  the  signal  against  it,  dashed  into  the 


MB.    p.    PKNNT. 


450  OUB  RAILWAYS.  iamp.ZLi. 

excursion  train  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  miles  an  hour. 
The  passengers  in  the  fast  train  escaped  with  a  severe 
shaking,  but  the  havoc  in  the  special  was  very  great. 

Most  of  the  carriages  were  shattered,  driven  back 
BO  powerfully  on  each  other  that  they  were  ground 
and  crushed  to  bits.  The  excursion  engine  was  forced 
upon  the  wreckage  of  its  own  creating,  and  partially 
mounted  a  mass  of  broken  woodwork,  beneath  which 
eight  passengers  lay  lifeless.  Many  of  the  injured 
suffered  the  most  frightful  torture,  not  only  because 
of  their  wounds,  but  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  rescue, 
several  persons  being  jammed  so  inextricably  in  the 
carriage  frames  that  the  timber  had  to  be  hacked 
away.  The  effect  of  the  accident  upon  one  passenger 
was  singular.  He  was  apparently  unhurt,  sprang  out 
of  a  compartment,  ran  swiftly  across  the  line,  and  then 
fell  to  the  ground,  sobbing  and  laughing  like  a  woman 
with  hysteria. 

Twenty-five  persons  were  killed  and  sixty  injured 
in  the  disaster.  Many  of  the  latter  found  a  true 
friend  in  Mr.  F.  Penny,  the  house-surgeon  at  the 
Doncaster  Infirmary,  who  distinguished  himself  in 
succouring  the  wounded.  The  accident  led  to  a  re- 
markable offer  from  the  servants  of  the  Manchester, 
Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire  Company,  to  whom  the 
express  belonged.  The  men  of  all  ranks  on  the  line 
decided  to  give  up  one  day's  wage  each  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  disaster.  A  deputation,  on  behalf  of 
the  servants,  proffered  this  thoughtful  help  to  the 
directors    at   Manchester;     but   Sir  Edward    Watkin, 


Giuip.XLL]  A    GENEB0U8   OFFER,  451 

pointing  out  that  the  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  their 
workers  would  mean  a  handsome  gift  to  the  company 
of  £13,000,  said  the  Board  had  concluded  not  to  accept 
it,  thinking  that  it  would  not  be  consistent  with  their 
duty  to  tax  to  such  an  extent  those  who  lived  by  "  the 
sweat  of  their  brow."  At  the  same  time,  the  directors 
were  deeply  touched  by  the  sympathy  of  the  workmen, 
and  tendered  to  them,  by  resolution,  their  heartiest 
thanks. 

In  the  meantime  the  inquest  relative  to  the  passen- 
gers killed  was  held,  and  the  jury,  finding  that'  the 
accident  was  due  to  the  negligence  of  Samuel  Taylor, 
the  driver  of  the  express,  and  Robert  Davis,  his  fire- 
man, returned  a  verdict  of  manslaughter  against  them ; 
but  at  the  assizes  the  men  were  acquitted.  Major 
Marindin,  in  his  report,  urged  that  when  block- 
working  was  suspended,  every  train  should  be  stopped, 
not  merely  brought  up  or  checked,  at  the  block-signal 
cabin,  and  the  driver  verbally  informed  of  the  state 
of  affairs. 

The  company  had  to  pay  heavily  for  the  fault  of 
their  driver,  who  said  he  was  looking  ahead,  and  did 
not  notice  the  red  flags  on  the  line. 

Mr.  Tom  Vernon,  a  Sheffield  cork  merchant,  one  of 
the  injured  passengers,  was  awarded  damages  that  ran 
into  four  figures,  partly  on  the  novel  ground  that  he  was 
a  handsome  man  who  had  a  keen  sense  of  enjoyment 
and  had  been  passionately  fond  of  dancing,  a  recreation 
in  which  he  could  no  longer  indulge,  seeing  that  he  was 
doomed  henceforth  to  limp  about  with  a  cork  leg. 
dd2 


452  OUR    RAILWAYS.  iCkap.TU, 

Life  moves  so  rapidly  in  the  present  centuij 
that  disister  and  merry-making  quickly  become  mere 
shadows  of  the  past,  aTid  the  Hexthorpe  accident  was 
soon  nearly  forjjotten.  But  out  of  it  sprang  a  most 
romantic  incident  that  is  talked  about  yet  by  the 
mothers  of  Doncaster  and  Sheffield.  A  child  that  had 
lost  its  parents  was  found  unhurt  among  the  wreckage, 
and  a  titled  lady  offered  to  adopt  it  on  condition  that 
its  humble  relatives  would  recognise  it  no  more ;  but 
the  humble  relatives  preferred  to  keep  the  little  one  in 
their  fold. 

1888. 

Hampton  Wick,  August  8. 

At  Hampton  Wick  an  engine  ran  into  a  passenger 
train,  five  persous  being  killed  and  many  injured;  but 
the  London  and  South -Western  Company,  on  whose 
line  the  oolHsIun  occurred,  were  held  blameless,  the 
coroner's  jury  returning  a  verdict  of  "  misadventure,'* 

1889. 

Warren  Point,  June  12. 

The  worst  disaster  that  has  happened  on  an  Irish 
railway  occurred  at  Warren  Point,  near  Armagh.  An 
excursion  train  had  considerable  difficulty  in  getting 
up  the  incline.  The  engine,  in  fact,  was  not  powerful 
enough  to  pull  the  load  behind  it.  The  thoughtless 
driver  got  off  his  footplate  and  divided  the  train  into 
two  parts  by  uncoupling  it  in  the  centre,  intending  to 
take  the  first  portion  of  the  train  up  the  slope,  and 
then  return   for  the  rear  part  of  the   train.     But   to 


j 

7i  ■-'   - 

i%L: 

k^ 

^^ 

0m 

^^hUHI^^ 

.^.:-;^r  •* 

^H^^^^^I^^^^H 

THE    COLLISION    AT    THIRSK   (p.  IMI), 


f»  I 


ct.^I;.lj  THE    IVARRUX    FolXT   P:<:A>rEB.  *:vi 

his  disniav  he  discovered,  imnietliatoly  he  reloasi'd  the 
coupling,  that  the  rear  part  of  the  train,  whioh  was 
crowded  with  school  clnhlren  and  toachers  on  a  holiday 


H   TAITNTOH.      (/Vlji'  454.) 
lo  If  A.  a.  IVttrrki,  rmindiiL) 


began  to  move  backward.  Efforts  to  checit  its  pn>{jn'Hs 
were  in  vain.  Faster  and  faster  it  sped,  amid  tlie 
terrified  cries  of  the  passengers,  to  the  bottom  of 
the  incline,  where  it  dashed  into  another  train.  The 
excursion  train  was  wrecked,  and  from  tlie  snuished 
carriages,  and  out  of  the  great  lieap  of  twisted  iron 
and  shattered  wood,  many  bodies  were  taken.  No 
fewer  than  eighty  persons  were  killed  by  tliis  disaster, 


454  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [0»iip.XLL 

which  filled  many  a  home  with  grief  and  called  forth 
many  messages  of  sympathy,  including  one  from  the 
Queen.  At  the  inquest  a  verdict  of  culpahle  negli- 
gence was  returned  against  three  of  the  company's 
servants,  and  one  was  tried  for  manslaughter,  but 
acquitted.  Such  primitive  notions  of  railway  working 
obtained  on  this  section  of  the  line  before  the  accident 
that  stones  were  placed  on  the  rail  to  prevent  the 
rear  part  of  the  tmin  backing  down  the  incline,  just 
as  a  carrier's  cart  is  "  scotched  "  on  a  hill  side.  Now 
engines  of  greater  power,  fitted  with  more  effective 
brakes,  pull  heavy  trains  up  the  steep. 

1890. 

Norton  Fitzwarren,  November  11. 

The  railway  accident  near  Taunton,  on  the  Great 
Western  Railway,  on  this  night,  sent  a  thrill  through 
the  South  of  England.  A  special  train  running  to 
London  with  passengers  who  had  reached  Plymouth 
by  the  mail  boat  Norham  Castle  from  the  Cape,  and 
were  full  of  thoughts  of  home  and  friends,  crashed 
into  a  goods  train.  The  disaster  was  a  terrible  one. 
It  occurred  at  Norton  Fitzwarren,  where  George  Rice, 
the  signalman,  had,  through  lapse  of  memory,  left 
the  luggage  train  on  the  up  line.  When  he  received 
the  message  asking  if  the  road  was  open  for  the 
special  mail,  he  signalled  "All  clear."  The  train  of 
three  coaches,  containing  about  fifty  passengers,  was 
sent  out,  and  came  flying  towards  the  junction  at  the 
rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour.     The  goods  train  did  not 


k 


cittp.XLLi      THE  NORTON  FITZWAKBEN  00LLT8I0N        455 

even  show  a  red  light,  and  the  special  dashed  against 
it  without  the  slightest  warning.  The  goods  driver 
and  stoker  sprang  off  the  footplate  on  hearing  the 
roar  of  the  coming  train,  and  saved  their  lives.  Then 
came  a  crash  that  made  the  permanent  way  tremhle, 
a  shock  the  vibration  of  which  was  felt  in  the  village 
of  Norton.  The  two  locomotives  were  wrecked.  The 
driver  and  the  fireman  of  the  mail  were  flung,  by 
the  resistless  power  of  the  impact,  on  the  carriage 
roofs,  and  miraculously  escaped.  But  the  fate  of  the 
passengers  was  dreadful.  Ten  of  them  were  killed 
and  many  fearfully  injured.  The  first  carriage  was 
not  only  broken  up,  but  got  on  fire;  and  the  blaze 
in  the  darkness,  and  the  cries  and  moans  of  the 
injured,  made  a  scene  more  vivid  than  any  that 
ever  leapt  out  of  Dante's  imagination.  Help  was 
speedily  at  hand,  and  the  fire  quenched,  otherwise 
the  disaster  would  have  been  even  more  appalling; 
for  the  three  carriages  were  piled  in  a  heap,  and  the 
injured  were  so  tightly  imprisoned  in  the  wreckage 
that  they  had  to  be  liberated  with  axes.  Some  of 
the  incidents  were  pathetic;  others  ghastly  and  revolt- 
ing. Several  of  the  passengers,  miners,  were  coining 
home  with  wealth  from  the  diamond  fields  to  spend 
their  days  in  peace  and  plenty.  One  traveller,  crushed 
hopelessly  beneath  the  splintered  carriages,  cried  in 
vain  for  release;  then,  realising  that  death  was  near, 
murmured,  "Thank  God;  I  can  die  happy,"  and 
expired.  Another  passenger  had  his  head  forced 
through  the  jagged  glass  of  a  carriage  window,  and 


456  01 R    RAILWAYS.  ici-p.iLF 

his  face  was  as  cruelly  cut  as  though  he  had  been 
subjected  to  torture  by  the  Spanish  Inquisition. 
Tht»  fate  of  Titus  Baylis,  a  negro,  was  even  more 
startling.  After  the  fashion  of  his  tribe,  he  was  good- 
huinuured,  light-Iuarted,  making  and  laughing  at  jest; 
but  his  merriment  was  suddenly  checked  by  death, 
his  head  being  completely  cut  off.  An  entire  card- 
])aity  in  one  compartment  were  killed  ;  and  the 
cards,  blood-stained,  were  eagerly  sought  for  on  the 
lino,  when  daylight  came,  by  morbid  people  who  gloat 
over  tragedy.  The  signalman,  aged  sixty-four,  was 
arrested  and  tried  for  manslaughter,  but  acquitted. 
The  coroner's  jury  had  brought  in  a  verdict  that  the 
accident  was  entirely  due  to  his  negligence,  but  at  the 
assizes  justice  did  not  rigidly  demand  its  pound  of  flesh. 
A  merciful  view  was  taken  of  the  old  man's  lapse  of 
memory  ;  but  it  was  emphatically  held  that  no  man  of 
the  prisoner's  age  ought  to  have  been  left  alone  in  a 
signal  box  at  night,  and  the  grand  jury  asked  that 
the  attention  of  the  Government  should  be  called  to 
the  great  danger  involved  in  allowing  trains  to  stand 
shunted  on  main  lines. 

1891. 
Norwood  Junction,  May  1. 

The  iron  bridge  over  Portland  Koad  collapsed  as 
the  express  from  Brighton  to  London  was  passing 
over  it.  The  accident  was  caused  by  a  latent  flaw 
in  one  of  the  girders.  The  train  ran  off  the  rails, 
and  the   guard's   van,   after   hanging   in   mid-air,  fell 


Ota|.  XL1.I     AVOIDBNTS  AT  NORWOOD  AND  BABNBY.      457 

upon  the  roadway.  The  accident  was  curious  rather 
tlian  disastrous,  there  being  no  loss  of  life,  though 
several  passengers  were  injured. 

Babnby  Junction,  December  24. 
At   this  junction    on    the   Great  Eastern    Railway 


the  rails  are  so  laid  that  passenger  trains  may  pass 
each  other,  the  line  forward  to  Lowestoft  being 
single,  and  worked  on  the  staff  system.  While  the 
Beccles  train  was  waiting  here  on  December  24th, 
the  driver  of  a  train  from  Lowestoft,  unable  to  see 
the  signals  owing  to  the  fog,  dashed  into  it.  Both 
engines  were  wrecked,  one  carriage  was  completely 
telescoped,  three  passengers  were  killed,  aud  nearly 
thirty  injured. 


458  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Oittp.xii. 

1892. 
Birmingham  (Lawlbt  Street),  May  27. 

The  down   express  left   Euston   in   the    afternoon 
of  May  27th,  divided  at  Eughy,  and  the  latter  part 
of    the  train   ran  on    towards    Birmingham.      When 
it  approached  the  junction  at  Lawley  Street,  a  quarter 
of  a   mile   from   the   tunnel   entrance   to  New  Street 
Station,  the  driver   noticed  that  the  Midland  express 
from    York   was   coming.      The  fireman  said  to  him, 
"  That   Midland   man's    going    a   bit    too    far ; "   and 
had   scarcely    spoken    when    the    Midland    train     ran 
across  their  track.     The  North  -  Western  driver  applied 
the  brake  ;    but   his  engine  crashed    into    a  Midland 
horsebox,    and   went,  with  the   tender   and   first    van, 
over   the   viaduct  into  a  goods  yard.      The  horsebox 
was  smashed  in  pieces,  and  the   groom,    and   a  horse 
and  foal,  crushed  to  death.     Eobert  Sexton,  the  guard 
of  the  North -Western  tratn,  was  killed,  and  several  pas- 
sengers were  seriously  injured.     Fear,  the  driver  of  the 
Midland  train,  said  that  all  the  signals  were  off  into 
New  Street,  and  that   he  saw  no  indication  of  danger 
till  the   signalman  at  Perley  Junction   hurriedly  held 
up  his  hand  from   the  window.      George   Brotherton, 
a  commercial   traveller    of   Wolverhampton,  who    was 
permanently  maimed     in     this     accident,    obtained    a 
verdict,    with   £1,150   damages,  against  the    Midland 
Company. 

EsHOLT,  June  9. 

At  Esholt   Junction,  near  Quiseley,  in  Yorkshire, 


c&Ep.  XLI.1    A00IDENT8  AT  E8H0LT  j-  BI8H0P8GATE.      459 

two  Midland  trains,  one  from  Leeds  and  the  other 
from  Bradford,  came  into  collision.  The  engine 
of  the  Leeds  train  struck  one  of  the  carriages  in 
the  Bradford  train  at  an  acute  angle,  and  completely 
wrecked  the  coach.  The  impact  was  such  that  the 
locomotive  was  flung  on  its  side  on  the  line,  where 
it  made  much  havoc.  No  fewer  than  five  persons 
were  killed  and  twenty  injured.  Major-General  Hutch- 
inson, in  his  report  on  the  accident,  said:  "The 
occurrence  of  this  collision  and  of  the  other  recent 
one  near  Birmingham  under  somewhat  similar  cir- 
cumstances, directs  special  attention  to  the  practice 
of  the  Midland  and  other  companies  of  allowing 
trains — which  cannot  be  prevented  by  facing  points 
from  coming  into  collision — to  approach  junctions 
simultaneously.  It  is  certainly  high  time  that  no 
junction  should  be  allowed  to  be  approached  simul- 
taneously by  trains  which  can  come  into  collision 
by  junction  signals  being  overrun." 

BisiiopsGATB  Station,  June  14. 

A  disastrous  collision  occurred  at  the  under- 
ground platform  at  Bishopsgate  Street  Station,  on  the 
above  date.  An  Enfield  train  dashed  into  one  from 
Walthamstow,  wrecking  many  carriages.  The  place 
for  some  minutes  was  shrouded  in  smoke,  dust,  and 
steam,  and  there  wa&  great  panic  among  the  passen- 
gers, many  of  whom  were  artisans  or  work-girls  on 
their  way  to  business.  "  For  God's  sake,  mates,  jump 
out  quick  I "  shouted  a  workman  who  saw  the  Enfield 


460  OUB   RAILWAYS.  ich»p.  xu. 

train  approach ;  but  the  warning  was  too  late,  and 
so  great  was  the  crash  that  four  persons  were  killed 
and  forty  injured. 

The  Thirsk  Disaster,  November  2. 

One  of  the  most  disastrous  and  pathetic  accidents 
that  have  ever  happened  on  an  English  railway  was 
this  at  Thirsk,  on  the  North-Eastem  line.  The 
second  part  of  the  Great  Northern  East  Coast  route 
expr(\ss  left  Edinburgh  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the  night 
of  November  1st,  on  its  long  run  to  town.  Early 
the  next  morning,  when  going  at  the  speed  of 
nearly  sixty  miles  an  hour  between  Otterington  and 
Thirsk,  in  Yorkshire,  it  dashed  into  the  goods  train 
that  had  just  started  from  the  signal  station  at 
Manor  House  Junction.  Ten  passengers  were  killed 
and  as  many  as  thirt3'^-nine  seriously  injured.  The 
leading  third-class  carriage  of  the  express  was  broken 
in  pieces,  six  other  carriages  were  wrecked  ;  and  the 
brake  van  of  the  goods  train  and  eight  trucks  were 
destroyed  by  a  fire  which  broke  out  near  the  engine 
soon  after  the  accident.  It  was  thought  that  the 
train  had  been  fired  by  the  compressed  gas  with 
which  the  vehicles  were  lighted ;  but  investigation 
proved  that  the  outbreak  was  caused  by  the  wreckage 
igniting  at  the  engine  fire. 

Anyhow,  the  havoc  was  piteous.  The  express  loco- 
motive, when  it  struck  the  goods  train,  rebounded  at  a 
right  angle  across  the  line,  and  then  pitched  on  its 
side.     Pell-mell  over  it    and   against   it    crashed    the 


Ohap.XLi.)  A    REMARKABLE   ESCAPE.  461 

carriages,  and  about  the  great  heap  of  dedris  the 
fire,  which  was  so  small  at  first  that  it  could  easily 
have  been  beaten  out  with  a  shovel,  crept  stealthily 
until  it  got  thorough  hold,  and  blazed  away  like 
a  huge  bonfire,  with  the  rolling-stock  for  its  prey. 
The  rescuers  made  some  sad  discoveries.  The  calcined 
remains  of  two  passengers  were  dug  out  of  the  heap 
of  embers  and  dust  left  by  the  fire ;  and  a  little  girl 
was  so  fearfully  scorched  by  the  flames  that  she  died 
before  she  could  be  liberated  from  the  charred  network 
of  timber,  out  of  which  the  headless  body  of  her  doll 
was  afterwards  taken. 

The  driver  of  the  express,  Rowland  Ewart,  was 
seriously  injured,  but  had  a  remarkable  escape  from 
death,  being  flung  from  the  footplate  of  his  engine 
into  a  pasture.  The  line  was  thick  with  fog  after 
he  passed  Northallerton ;  but  he  could  discern  that 
the  Otterington  signal  and  the  Manor  House  up 
distant  signal  were  *'oflF.*'  While  he  was  on  the 
look-out  for  the  home  signal  at  Manor  he  caught 
sight  of  three  red  lights  on  the  line  ahead  of  his 
engine,  about  thirty  yards  away.  He  had  not  time 
to  shut  off  steam,  or  even  to  get  to  his  brake  handle. 
He  was  dashed  by  the  impact  against  the  tender, 
but  did  not  remember  how  he  was  thrown  from  the 
engine.  When  he  regained  consciousness  he  was  lying 
in  a  field  outside'  the  fence  of  the  line.  He  did  not 
know  where  the  engine  was,  or  where  he  was  lying; 
but  he  could  hear  the  steam  escaping,  and  he  saw  the 
fire  break  out  amongst  the  wreckage;  it  was  only  like 


402  OUR   RAILWAYS.  lObMt  xu. 

the  flicker  of  a  candle,  and  lie  could  have  put  it 
out  quite  easily  if  he  had  been  able  to  crawl  to  it. 
And  he  also  saw  another  remarkable  thing.  As  he 
was  lying  *  maimed  on  the  ground  he  glanced  at  the 
Manor  House  home  signal,  and  noticed  that  it  was 
still  "  off ;  '*  but  he  had  scarcely  caught  sight  of  it 
when  the  signal  suddenly  went  to  "  danger." 

James  Holmes,  on  duty  in  the  cabin,  had  put 
the  signal  to  "danger,"  but  he  had  moved  his  lever 
too  tardily,  and  was  responsible  for  the  accident. 
Yet  he  had  caused  it  in  circumstances  so  pathetic 
that  the  man  received  sympathy  instead  of  condem- 
nation. Unnerved  at  his  child's  death,  and  feeling 
incapable  of  doing  his  work  properly,  he  had  asked 
to  be  relieved  from  duty  for  the  night ;  but  there 
was  no  relief  signalman  at  hand,  and  his  plea  was 
in  vain.  "  Can  you  send  relief  to  Manor  House 
cabin  to-night?  Holmes's  child  is  dead,"  was  the 
telegram  sent  to  traffic-inspector  Pick,  and  the 
reply,  from  a  deputy,  came,  "No  relief  can  be  sent." 
Holmes  had  had  only  four  hours'  broken  rest  after 
twelve  hours  on  duty.  He  had  been  running  about 
all  day  in  domestic  stress.  With  his  body  weary, 
with  his  heart  filled  with  grief  at  his  child's  death, 
and  his  mind  in  a  "bother  about  his  wife,"  he  went 
j,  into   the  cabin  to  guide   the  express   through  the  in- 

tricate points  and  to  see  her  tail  lights  swing  safely 
away  in  the  darkness.  He  so  distrusted  his  own 
power  of  endurance  that  he  candidly  said  he  was 
unfit  for  duty. 


(a».p.XLLi  AN   UNFORTUNATE   SIGNALMAN,  463 

Still  he  had  to  go  to  his  hox.  He  worked 
absolute  block  system  in  both  directions  under 
ordinary  rules.  At  3.35  he  got  the  *'Be  ready" 
signal  for  the  Scotch  express  from  Otterington,  and 
accepted  it.  The  train  passed  at  3.37,  and  at  3.38 
he  signalled  "  Line  clear."  The  express  passed,  and 
he  saw  thafc  it  had  a  double  tail-light,  indicating 
that  the  second  portion  was  coming.  Then  he  got 
the  signal  "Be  ready"  for  tlie  goods  train,  and 
accepted  it ;  and,  overcome  with  fatigue,  he  fell 
asleep.  Meanwhile  the  second  part  of  the'  Scotch 
express  was  dashing  southward.  The  signalman  was 
startled  out  of  his  slumber  by  the  "  Be  ready " 
signal  from  Otterington.  He  sent  back  *'  Line  clear," 
and  the  goods  train,  after  its  patient  stand,  acted  on 
the  signal  meant  for  the  express,  and  started  on  its 
way.  He  suddenly  realised,  with  sickening  dread, 
what  was  going  to  happen.  He  seemed  powerless, 
for  a  moment,  to  do  anything.  Then  in  desperation 
he  threw  his  signals  to  danger;  but  it  was  too 
late.  The  second  portion  of  the  express  had  dashed 
into  the  goods  train,  and  the  mischief  was  done. 

Holmes  was  tried  at  York  Assizes  for  the  man- 
slaughter of  George  Fetch,  the  guard  of  the  goods 
train,  and  was  found  guilty,  with  a  recommendation 
to  mercy.  The  man,  utterly  broken  down  by  sorrow 
and  remorse,  wept  bitterly.  Mr.  Justice  Charles 
thought  he  had  been  punished  enough  by  the 
fact,  seared  on  his  mind  for  life,  that  his  negligence 
had  caused  the  disaster;  and  when  the  judge  merely 


464  OUR   RAILWAYS.  ICh.p.  XLi. 

ordered  him  to  come  up  for  judgment  if  called 
upon,  the  old  court-house  rang  with  cheering,  which  his 
lordship  officially  thought  was  most  impmper,  though 
there  may  be  hidden  away  among  Sir  Frank  Lock- 
wood's  whimsical  sketches  a  caricature  of  the  judge 
pulling  ofiF  his  wig  and  cheering  too. 

To  the  students  of  ZadkieFs  almanack,  to  the  super- 
stitious, to  the  believers  in  fate,  the  experience  of  two 
passengers  in  the  train  afforded  some  comment.  Captain 
Duncan  McLeod,  of  the  1st  Eoyal  Highlanders,  after 
going  safely  through  the  Soudan  War,  was  killed, 
and  his  medals  found  scorched  by  the  line-side.  The 
Marquis  of  Tweeddale,  chairman  of  the  North  British 
Railway  Company,  who  is  apparently  becoming  accus- 
tomed to  railway  accidents,  was  only  rudely  shaken. 
His  lordship  travels  a  good  deal,  and  not  without 
adventure.  In  1886  he  was  a  passenger  in  the  express 
that  was  snowed  up  at  Morpeth ;  a  little  later  he  ran 
into  Gateshead  in  a  carriage  that  left  the  rails  and  made 
havoc  all  along  the  track.  At  Thirsk  he  was  in  his 
berth  in  the  Pullman  car  when  the  crash  came.  The 
''■  forward  end  of  the  car  was  knocked  off,  but  the  strong 

framework  withstood  the  shock,  and  all  the  Pullman 
passengers  escaped  injury.  Lord  Tweeddale  probably 
owes  his  escapes  not  to  supernatural  agencies  or  to 
mere  luck,  but  to  the  fact  that  he  invariably  travels 
in  a  Pullman  car,  which  is  at  once  a  place  of  safety 
and  a  vehicle  of   peril. 

If  you  happen  to  be  a  passenger  in  it  at  the  time 
of  accident,  you  are  tolerably  secure.     But  if  you  are 


{' 


4 

f. 


i: 


Oh.p.  XLI.1  MAJOR   MABINDIirS   REPORT.  465 

unfortunate  enough  to  occupy  an  ordinary  carriage, 
sandwiched  between  two  heavy  bodies,  the  Pullman 
car  and  the  engine,  the  chances  are  that  you  will  be 
crushed  up.  The  only  method  of  equalising  the  security 
is  to  run  expresses  composed  of  Pullman  cars,  or  if 
these  cars  must  be  used  on  composite  trains,  to  make 
the  frames  of  the  ordinary  carriages  as  strong  as  those 
of  their  American  brethren. 

The  Thirsk  accident  resulted  in  a  great  outcry  with 
regard  to  signalling,  and  the  concern  was  accentuated 
by  the  evidence  given  at  the  coroner's  inquiry  by  the 
signalman  at  Otterington,  who  admitted  that  he  should 
not  like  to  say  he  had  never  fallen  asleep  in  his 
cabin,  although  he  had  never  been  found  asleep. 
The  company  were,  so  to  speak,  quite  knee-deep  in 
suggestions  as  to  train-lighting,  signalling,  and  t/ie 
employment  of  their  men.  Henceforth  there  must  be 
two  signalmen  on  duty  in  every  box;  the  signalmen 
demanded  a  ten-hour  day,  and  some  actually  looked 
upon  the  disaster  as  a  godsend  in  their  attempt  to 
obtain  it.  Major  Marindin,  in  his  report,  said  it  was 
the  duty  of  all  railway  companies  to  adopt  some  com- 
bination of  mechanical  and  electrical  appliance  which 
would  make  such  an  accident  impossible,  unless  the 
driver  deliberately  ran  past  fixed  signals,  and  he  also 
urged  the  engagement  of  relief  signalmen,  and  the 
importance  of  the  men  being  housed  near  their 
work. 

The  directors  put  aside  £25,000  to  meet  the  claims 
for  compensation  made  by  injured  passengers  j  and  at 

*  ec 


466  01712   RAILWAYS.  cci»pl  ill 

the   next  half-yearly   meeting   Mr.    Dent    Dent,  then 
chairman  of  the  company,  announced   that    they  had 
decided  to  increase  the  nnmber  of  relief  signalmen  in 
every  district.      He  also  said  a  word  for  himself  and 
his  colleagues.     After  expressing  sympathy  with   the 
sufferers  in  the  accident,  and  thanking  the  people  in 
the  locality  for  the  kindly  aid  they  had  given  to  the 
maimed  and   helpless,  he  said  he  thought   the   press 
was   very  cruel   to   the   directors    and    servants   of  a 
company  when  a  disaster  of  this  kind  occurred.     He 
claimed  that  they  had   as   much   sentiment   as    other 
people,  that  it  was  to  them  a  matter  of  great  personal 
sorrow   and    grief;    and   he   said  that  for   some   time 
after   the  accident   the  matter   was   never   out  of  his 
mind  ;  it  was,  in  fact,  a  great  burden,  and  very  hard 
to  bear. 

The  reproach  falls  lightly  on  the  English  press. 
The  record  of  1892  shows  that  there  is  still  need 
of  reform  in  railway  working.  No  fewer  than  21 
passengers  were  killed  and  601  injured  by  accidents 
to  trains  and  rolling  stock,  and  108  passengers  were 
killed  and  747  injured  by  accidents  from  other  causes. 
Including  trespassers,  suicides,  mishaps  at  level  cross- 
ings, and  accidents  to  railway  servants  on  rolling  stock 
or  in  works,  the  total  number  killed  was  1,204,  and 
injured  10,476. 

1893. 
PouLTow  (Blackpool),  July  1. 

Two  serious  accidents  at  sharp  curves  happened 
this  year.      On   May   22nd   a  special  train,    running 


Ch»p.  XU.1  THE  POULTON  AOOIDENT.  467 

down  a  steep  gradient  to  a  viaduct  on  the  Tralee 
and  Dingle  Light  Bailway,  sprang  off  the  metals, 
and  plunged  over  the  hridge  parapet  into  a  glen, 
*  killing  three  passengers,  pig  huyers,  who  were  on 
their  journey  to  Dingle  Pair.  The  second  accident, 
which  aroused  far  more  comment,  occurred  on  July 
1st,  on  the  Preston  and  Wyre  Joint  Eailway,  which 
is  worked  by  the  London  and  North -Western  and 
the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  companies.  The  level 
crossing  and  sharp  curve  at  Poulton-le-Pylde  had  long 
been  subject  of  reproach,  and  parliamentary  powers  had 
been  obtained  to  make  a  new  station  at  Poulton  to 
obviate  the  dangerous  meeting  of  the  two  tracks,  the 
one  to  Fleetwood  and  the  other  to  Blackpool. 

Nothing  in  the  way  of  improvement  had,  however, 
been  carried  out  on  this  night,  when  an  excursion 
train  left  Talbot  Boad  Station  on  its  return  journey  to 
Wigan  and  Stockport.  It  was  in  charge  of  Cornelius 
Eidgway,  a  driver  new  to  the  road,  and  passed 
Poulton  crossing  soon  after  eleven  o'clock  at  a  higher 
speed  than  was  usual.  The  fireman,  who  had  pre- 
viously warned  the  driver  to  be  careful  at  the  bend, 
shouted  "  Steady  "  as  they  approached  it.  When  they 
got  on  the  curve,  as  the  pace  did  not  decrease,  he 
shouted  "Whoa!"  and  he  remembered  nothing  more 
till  he  found  himself  scrambling  out  of  a  hole  by  the 
line.  The  engine,  tender,  and  two  vehicles  of  the 
four  of  which  the  train  was  made  up,  had  jumped 
the  rails  at  "the  nasty  comer."  The  driver  went 
over  with  his  engine,  and  was  crushed  to  death.     Two 

ee2 


468  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [ChMj^TLL 

passengers  were   killed  and  thirty-five   injured,  nearly 
all  people  from  Wigan. 

The  jury  held  that  the  accident  was  due  to  the 
culpable  negligence  of  the  two  companies  in  allowing 
such  a  dangerous  curve  on  the  main  line,  and  in 
appointing  a  driver  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
the  track.  Major-General  Hutchinson  made  careful 
inquiry  into  the  disaster,  and  reported  that  the  high 
speed  was  the  main  cause  of  the  accident,  though 
the  irregularity  of  the  curve  and  the  worn  rails  con- 
tributed to  it.  The  driver,  with  a  powerful  engine 
and  light  train,  reached  the  curve  before  he  was  aware 
of  it,  and  neglected  to  reduce  his  speed,  though  he 
doubtless  intended  to  do  so.  Before  the  train  left 
Blackpool,  Saunderson,  the  inspector,  in  spite  of  all 
protest,  turned  some  of  the  passengers  out  of  the  fiirst 
carriage,  vigorously  adhering  to  the  rule  that  the  com- 
partments nearest  the  engine  should  run  empty;  and 
in  his  report  Major-General  Hutchinson  complimented 
this  servant,  saying  that  his  enforcement  of  the  regu- 
lation had  undoubtedly  saved  the  lives  of  some  of  the 
passengers. 

Llantbissant  Junction,  Angiist  12. 

The  most  serious  accident  of  the  year  was  that 
at  Llantrissant  Junction,  on  the  Taff  Vale  Railway, 
thirteen  passengers  losing  their  lives,  and  twelve  pas- 
sengers and  railway  servants  being  injured,  owing 
to  a  passenger  train  leaving  the  rails  and  falling  down 
an  embankment  thirty  feet  deep,  the  result  of  a  flaw 
in  one  of  the  wheels  of  the  engine. 


«   •  « 


o 


CUp.  XLL]     THE   AOOJODENT   REOOBD   OF  1894  469 

1894. 
Chelfobd,  December  22. 

The  record  for  1894  was  a  comparatively  light  one, 
the  number  of  passengers  killed  and  injured  being 
respectively  sixteen  and  847.  Of  these,  fourteen  were 
killed  and  seventy-nine  injured  in  a  single  accident, 
that  at  Chelford,  on  the  London  and  North  Western 
Railway.  The  afternoon  express  from  Manchester  to 
London,  crowded  with  holiday-makers,  and  drawn  by 
two  engines,  was  travelling  at  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles 
an  hour  when  it  ran  into  an  empty  goods  waggon  which 
was  being  shunted,  and  was  wrecked.  As  the  train 
approached  Chelford  Station,  about  fifteen  miles  north 
of  Crewe,  the  drivers  thought  they  saw  hand-lights 
waving  in  front  of  them  on  the  up-track,  and  heard 
men  shouting.  They  immediately  applied  their  brakes, 
reversed  their  levers,  and  sounded  their  whistles ;  but 
before  speed  could  be  appreciably  reduced  the  collision 
occurred.  Both  engines  were  overturned,  with  nearly 
all  the  carriages,  but  none  of  the  drivers  or  stokers 
were  killed,  and  those  of  the  second  engine  escaped 
without  serious  harm. 

1895. 

St.  Nbots,  November  10. 

In  consequence  of  the  splitting  of  a  rail,  the  Great 
Northern  midnight  express  to  Edinburgh  was  almost 
totally  wrecked.  Only  one  passenger,  however — a 
lady — was  killed  on  the  spot,  but  another  afterwards 
succumbed. 


470 


CHAPTEE    XLH. 

STORIES    OF    CLAIMS    AND    COMPENSATION THE   RAILWAY 

CLEARING   HOUSE. 

The  British  Jury — Ingenious  Litigants— A  Clever  Fraud — Genuine  Actions 
— Heavy  Damagres — A  Railway  Chairman  and  Compensation — The 
Sleepy  Passenger — Locomotive  Sparks — Singular  Action — Trivial 
Claims— Dipping  into  Railway  Earnings— The  Clearing  House — How 
it  was  Established— Its  Jubilee— Two  Notable  Letters— The  Work 
of  a  Great  Department. 

The  word  "compensation**  has  a  just  English  ring, 
and  every  substantial  railway  company  knows  that 
a  British  jury  thoroughly  understands  the  meaning 
and  scope  of  the  term.  It  is  one  that  has  often  given 
work  to  the  judges  in  the  Nisi  Prius  Court,  that  has 
filled  the  pockets  of  barristers  with  gold,  provided 
many  shrewd  travellers  with  comfortable  incomes  (that 
they  have  been  enabled  to  enjoy  for  years,  notwith- 
standing their  grievous  injuries),  and  brusquely  reduced 
the  dividends  of  shareholders.  Railway  companies  are 
liable  for  the  negligence  of  their  servants  resulting  in 
the  death  of,  or  personal  injury  to,  any  person.  In  the 
case  of  death  the  relatives  can  claim  compensation  if 
the  action  is  brought  within  a  year  ;  and  in  the  case  of 
injury  the  person  hurt  can  make  a  sort  of  wholesale 
claim,  for  he  is  entitled  to  recover  compensation  for  loss 
of  salary  or  business  profits,  the  amount  of  his  doctor's 


Chap.XLii.i  FRAUDULENT   0LAIM8.  471 

bill,  the  charge  for  nursing,  his  seaside  or  change  of  air 
expenses,  and  substantial  damages  for  pain,  suffering, 
and  permanent  injury. 

The  special  jury,  no  matter  at  what  assize,  are,  as 
a  rule,  almost  unconsciously  susceptible  to  two  classes  of 
action — those  for  personal  injury  and  those  for  breach  of 
promise.  They  are  sorry  for  the  passenger  who,  owing 
to  the  company's  negligence,  has  been  smashed  in  body. 
They  sympathise  deeply  with  the  pretty  girl,  dark  or 
fair,  who,  owing  to  her  lover's  whim,  has  been  broken 
in  heart.  In  both  cases  the  sentiment  is  creditable  to 
human  nature  ;  nevertheless,  this  sympathetic  conscience 
is,  with  regard  to  railway  actions — whatever  it  may  be 
in  blighted  love  cases — a  temptation  to  fraud  on  the 
part  of  the  unscrupulous  and  the  avaricious.  Some 
people  think  lightly  of  cheating  a  board  of  directors. 

The  purses  of  railway  companies,  ever  since  the  pass- 
ing of  Lord  Campbeirs  Act  in  1846,  have  been  dipped 
into  by  many  brazen  liars  and  cool  suave  adventurers 
who  have  successfully  foisted  their  stories  of  sham 
injuries  on  credulous  courts.  There  is  an  old  story 
about  the  eye-witness  of  a  railway  accident  running 
down  an  embankment,  creeping  into  an  overturned 
carriage,  giving  himself  a  couple  of  black  eyes,  and 
suing  the  company  for  compensation  for  personal 
injuries.  The  author  has  himself  known  a  case  in 
which  a  passenger  was  so  seriously  injured  internally 
that  he  was  completely  swathed  in  flannels  and  necker- 
chiefs, and  limped  about  with  a  stick,  till  the  assize 
jury  gave  him  substantial  damages ;  and  then  he  bought 


472  QUE  RAILWAYS.  ichap.  xui. 

fine  raiment,  and  flung  away  his  crutch  as  carelessly  as 
if  he  had  been  cured  by  the  waters  of  St.  Anne. 

At  Birmingham,  in  April,  1892,  Thomas  Nock 
recovered  £50  damages  from  the  Great  Western  Rail- 
way Company  for  the  loss  of  his  mother.  The  woman, 
while  waiting  for  an  excursion  train  at  Kidderminster 
on  September  5th  in  the  previous  year,  was  flung  by  the 
rush  of  the  crowd  between  two  carriages,  and  was  so 
seriously  injured  that  she  died.  It  was  somewhat  whim- 
sically contended  that,  considering  the  small  sum  paid 
by  excursionists,  it  would  be  unfair  to  make  the 
company  responsible  for  the  sudden  act  of  a  crowd : 
which  really  meant  that  if  passengers  insisted  upon 
travelling  cheaply,  they  must  rather  expect  to  be  killed. 
Mr.  Justice  Cave  speedily  brushed  away  this  peculiar 
sophistry,  remarking  that  the  mere  exhortation  of  the 
porters  to  the  people  to  "stand  back  "  was  as  superfluous 
as  if  it  had  been  addressed  to  the  coming  tide,  and  the 
simplest  precaution  would  have  been  to  admit  ticket- 
holders  only,  and  that  there  was  clearly  evidence  of 
negligence  to  go  to  the  jury. 

"  Insurance  ?  **  is  the  swift  laconic  question  put 
by  the  booking-clerk,  as  he  pushes  your  railway 
ticket  and  change  across  the  worn  counter  to  the 
aperture  in  the  window.  It  is  to  many  passengers  an 
unpleasant  question,  and  they  frequently  hurry  oS  in 
disdain ;  but  accidents  will  happen  on  the  best  regulated 
railways,  and  surely  it  is  wiser,  if  it  is  your  fate  to  be 
killed  in  a  collision,  to  have  an  insurance  ticket  about 
3'ou,  and  to  be  the  means,  though  lifeless,  of  bringing 


ch.p.XLU.1  AN  AUDA0I0U8  ARGUMENT.  473 

substantial  benefit  to  your  family.  It  is  a  gruesome 
way  of  making  money;  still,  after  the  ruling  of 
Mr.  Justice  Day  at  the  Leeds  assizes  in  1892,  few 
thoughtful  railway  travellers  will  enter  a  train  without 
an  insurance  ticket.  One  of  the  passengers  killed  in 
the  Esholt  accident  was  Joseph  Allen,  travelling 
inspector  and  agent  of  the  Law  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. It  is  said  that  doctors  never  take  their  own 
physic;  but  Mr.  Allen  encouraged  his  own  business,  and 
had  insured  his  life  for  £1,700.  His  wife  sued  the 
Midland  Company  for  damages  for  the  loss  of  her 
husband.  The  company  admitted  their  liability,  but 
contended  that  the  amount  for  which  the  man  was 
insured  ought  to  be  deducted  from  the  damages;  in 
fact,  it  was  plausibly  argued  that  inasmuch  as  £1,000 
of  this  amount  represented  an  accident  insurance,  his 
premature  death,  from  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  was 
really  a  gain  to  the  widow,  because  in  the  event  of  his 
natural  death,  she  would  have  received  absolutely 
nothing  on  a  policy  of  that  kind.  The  barristers 
fought  long  on  the  point,  but  his  lordship  ended  the 
argument  by  holding  that  "the  company  were  not 
entitled  to  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Allen's  prudence."  The 
jury  awarded  the  widow  and  her  child  damages  to  the 
amount  of  £8,000. 

The  havoc  wTought  by  railway  disaster  seldom 
comes  home  to  one.  When  it  does,  it  is  not  easily 
forgotten.  Though  it  was  nine  years  ago,  the  scene 
at  the  first  Penistone  accident  rises  vividly  before 
the    author    now — the    officials,    among    whom    was 


474  OUn  RAILWAYS.  cch.?.  XLn. 

&fr.  Sacr^,  his  usually  merry  face  saddened  with  the 
thought  of  the  death  and  pain  around  him,  the  tom-up 
permanent  way,  the  disabled  engine,  the  wrecked 
carriages,  the  cries  of  the  injured,  and  the  two  rows 
of  lifeless  forms  in  the  shed  near  the  inn  just  below 

®the  station.  The  disaster  was  not 
the  outcome  of  any  railway  servant's 
negligence,  and  the  Sheffield  Com- 
pany were  not  liable  for  damages ; 
but  railway  companies  seldom  escape 
so  fortunately,  and  Mr.  S.  Laing,  when 
speaking  to  his  shareholders  on  this 
point,  remarked  that  compensation  was, 
\f^'^BiT'ZZ'i'w\  '°  effect,  very  much  an  insurance, 
depending  not  so  much  on  the  gravity 
of  the  accident  as  on  the  wealtli  and  position  of  the 
persons  injured.  It  might  seem  a  hard  saying,  he 
added,  but  it  was  true,  that  an  accident  which  killed 
lialf  a  dozen  third-class  passengers  might  cost  the 
company  less  than  a  slight  collision  which  gave  a 
shock  to  a  rich  merchant  or  a  stockbroker. 

Sometimes  the  railway  companies  are  a  little  too 
fastidious,  as  was  the  case  in  1888  on  the  London 
and  Chatham  line.  A  passenger,  peacefully  asleep  in 
a  compartment,  was  taken  beyond  the  station  at  which 
he  had  intended  to  alight.  The  company  aroused 
him,  and  demanded  the  extra  fare ;  but  the  traveller, 
now  wide  awake,  refused  to  pay  it,  and  was  summoned 
before  a  magistrate ;  but  his  worship,  who  evidently 
thought  it  a  pity   that  a  man  should  be  disturbed 


Cb.p.xLii.)  DAMAGE    TO   SCENERY.  475 

when  "  fast  lock'd  up  in  slumber,"  found  that  the 
defendant  was  not  liable  to  pay  the  extra  fare. 

An  infinite  variety  of  actions  and  claims  have  arisen 
out  of  railway  travel  and  transit.  The  locomotive  has  an 
appetite  that  is  costly  to  appease,  and  indulges  also  in 
two  expensive  recreations — the  emission  of  sparks  and 
the  flinging  out  of  black  smoke.  The  former  habit  is 
grievously  destructive,  and  in  consequence  of  it  railway 
companies  have  been  obliged  to  pay  compensation  for 
the  loss  of  a  woman's  eyesight,  for  the  burning  of  a 
horse  and  cart,  and  for  damage  to  crops. 

A  singular  claim  was  brought  against  the  Manchester 
and  Yorkshire  Eailway  Company  in  December,  1891. 
The  scenery  used  in  Messrs.  Pettitt  &  Sims'  drama 
Master  and  Man  was  damaged  during  its  conveyance 
from  Wakefield  to  Preston.  The  scenic  artist  tried  to  hide 
the  cracks  with  ivy  and  other  foliage,  but  the  damage 
was  beyond  complete  obliteration,  and  the  business 
director  of  the  dramatic  company  felt  bound,  in  honour, 
to  alter  the  theatre  bill,  simply  contenting  himself  with 
the  tame  description  "  special  scenery,"  instead  of 
"new  and  beautiful  scenery,"  which  he  was  honestly 
entitled  to  say  before  the  pastoral  and  idyllic  scenes 
had  been  knocked  about  on  the  line.  The  railway 
company  sought  to  prove  that  the  scenery  was  old  and 
had  been  patched  before  the  latest  mishap;  neverthe- 
less, they  were  obliged  to  pay  £25  damages. 

Our  railway  companies  have  daily,  almost,  to  fight  or 
satisfy  claims  for  the  merest  trifles,  and  to  compensate 
people  sometimes  for  boxes  that  have  never  been  lost, 


476  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Oii*p.XLlL 

and  for  goods  that  have  never  been  consigned.  But 
so  far  they  have  not  encountered  a  litigant  like  Eva 
Frear,  who  in  1892  claimed  from  the  New  York 
Central  Railway  Company  £10,000  damages  for  the 
loss  of  her  lover  ! 

Earnings  are  dipped  into  for  a  variety  of  purposes 
never  contemplated  by  George  Stephenson.  But  as  a 
rule  the  shareholder,  realising  the  necessity  of  railway 
enterprise  and  even  the  claims  of  philanthropy,  seldom 
grumbles  at  the  shrinkage  of  these  earnings  if  the 
money  is  applied  usefully  to  develop  his  own  property 
or  to  improve  the  condition  of  his  servants.  There 
is  one  outgo  of  revenue,  however,  that  he  detests,  and 
that  is  the  ever-increasing  sum  at  which  the  railway 
is  rated.  The  drain  is  so  serious  that  the  companies 
are  becoming  restive  about  it ;  and  Mr.  Saunders, 
the  ex-chairman  of  the  Great  Western,  said  on  one  oc- 
casion, with  a  tinge  of  sarcasm,  that  they  had  been 
obliged  to  pay  no  less  than  £8,000  in  higher  rates, 
and  that  if  the  public  had  to  feed  and  educate 
all  the  children  in  the  country,  which  seemed  to  be 
the  fashion  just  now,  the  sum  might  swell  to  any 
amount. 

"The  Railway  Clearing  House  exists,"  as  one  writer 
has  said,  "for  the  purpose  of  being,  as  a  neutral  concern, 
able  to  reconcile  the  conflicting  interests  of  the  various 
railway  companies  throughout  England  and  Scotland, 
in  their  dealings  with  each  other."  The  great  advantage 
of  this  is  that  all  railways,  as  far  as  the  public  are 
concerned,  are  almost  like  a  single  system.     A  person 


Obap.XLn.1  THE  RAILWAY  CLEARING  HOUSE.  477 

may  travel,  or  goods  may  be  conveyed,  from  Land's 
End  to  John  o'  Groats,  say,  without  necessitating  more 
than  one  booking.    But  for  the  Bailway  Clearing  House 
this  would    be    impracticable,  if   not    impossible,  and 
instead  of  one  booking  at  the  beginning  of  a  journey 
travellers  would  have  to  re-book  with  every  company 
whose  rails  they  passed  over.     It  should  be  understood 
that   railways  settle    their    own  local  traffic — that  is, 
traffic  in  which  only  one  company  is  concerned,  for  the 
Railway  Clearing  House  only  deals  with  "  foreign,"  as 
the  traffic  is  called  in  which  more  than  one  company  is 
interested.     It  might  at  first  seem  strange,  and  even 
unbusinesslike,   to   learn   that   intermediate  companies 
keep  no  record  of  goods  or  passengers  passing  over  their 
lines,  and  that  they  are  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
forwarding  and  receiving  stations  for  their  share  of  any 
money  earned  in  through  transactions.     However,  the 
friendly  offices  of  the  Railway  Clearing  House  obviate 
all  concern  on  this  score.     In  the  case  of  a  passenger, 
his  ticket  is  forwarded  to  Seymour  Street,  in  Euston 
Square,  with  all  its  punchings,  by  the  company  that 
collects  it  at  the  journey's  end.     In  proportioning  the 
amount  due  to   the  several  companies  concerned  in  a 
transaction,  the  fare  is  divided  among  them  in  the  ratio 
of  the  distance  that  each  company  carried  the  passen- 
ger.    For  convenience  there  is  a  separate  department 
to  deal  with  each  kind  of  traffic  in  the  Railway  Clear- 
ing House.     Although,  roughly  speaking,  all  receipts 
are  divided  according  to  mileage,  there  are  so  many 
special  agreements  and  exceptions  to  general  rules  in 


OUB  RAILWAYS. 


force,  that  the  work  could  only  he  accomplished  by 
persons  familiar  with  it  through  length  of  service.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  goods  traffic.  For  every  coasign- 
meot  of  goods  the  forwarding  and  receiving  stations 
send  each  an  abstract  to  the  Railway  Clearing  House 
on  a  printed  form,  setting 
forth  their  nature,  whether 
carted  or  not  cfuied,  paid 
or  to  pay.  These  abstracts 
are  compared,  and  should 
they  differ  in  the  slightest 
particular,  the  mistake  must 
be  found  out  and  rectiBed 
before  anything  further  can 
be  done.  If  the  abstracts 
agree,  after  deducting  cer- 
tain fixed  charges  from  the 
sum  received,  according  to 
the  class  of  goods,  what 
remains  is  divided,  the  fixed  charges,  called  terminals, 
going  to  the  terminal  companies  as  extras  for  their 
trouble  in  collecting  and  delivering  the  goods.  The 
division  is  the  diiBculty,  as  perhaps  one  company  claims 
a  toll  of  so  much,  another  something  additional  for  this, 
another  for  that ;  and  to  do  right,  let  alone  pleasing 
them  all,  our  Eailway  Clearing  House  clerks  require  to 
be  very  sure  of  their  ground. 

For  half  a  century  this  work  has  gone  on  at  the 
llailway  Clearing  House,  expanding  year  by  year  with 
the  opening   of  new  lines  and   the   growth  of  trafSc. 


Ob*p.XLii.)   OBIQm  OF   THE   CLEARINQ  HOUSE.  479 

The  system  was  established  in  the  year  1842,  with  Mr. 
George  Carr  Glyn  (afterwards  the  first  Lord  Wolverton), 
Mr.  Eobert  Stephenson,  and  Mr.  Kenneth  Morison  as 
its  supporters.  A  statement  that  it  originated  with 
Sir  James  Allport,  who  found  the  old  plan  of  booking 
passengers  on  the  Birmingham  and  Derby  Eailway 
cumbersome,  and  so  was  led  to  work  out  the  idea  of 
a  clearing  system,  provoked  an  interesting  correspond- 
ence in  1892. 

One  of  those  who  took  part  in  it  was  Sir  Edward 
Watkin,  M.P.,  who  bore  the  following  testimony: 

**  Those  who  lived  in  those  days  knew  very  well  that  the  sug 
gestor  of  a  railway  clearing  house  to  promote  settlements  between 
railway  companies  as  regards  division  of  traffic — very  much  like 
tlie  clearing  house  in  operation  with  the  bankers — was  Mr.  George 
Carr  Glyn  (afterwards  Lord  Wolverton),  chairman  of  the  London 
and  Birmingham  Railway,  and  he  employed  that  distinguished 
man,  Mr.  Kenneth  Morison — who  had  been  .an  Indian  Civil 
servant,  and  was  an  eminent  mathematician,  and  who  seemed  to 
have  a  genius  for  figures — ^to  work  out  the  idea,  which  he  did. 
Nearly  fifty  years  ago  I  remember,  as  the  employes  of  the  Clearing 
House,  Mr.  Zachary  Macaulay,  Mr.  H.  Oliver  (still  in  the  service, 
and  to  whom,  on  the  completion  of  his  fiftieth  year  of  service,  a 
testimonial  is  about  to  be  given),  Mr.  Philip  W.  Dawson,  Mr. 
Brown,  and  Mr.  Gilbert.  At  the  time  my  recollection  commences, 
the  business  was  transacted  in  a  small  house  in  Druramond  Street, 
adjoining  the  Eiiston  Hotel  (west  wing),  and  was  worked  by  a  small 
number  of  clerks.     From  the  outset  Mr.  Glyn  was  the  chairman." 

Feeling  disinclined  to  let  Mr.  Carr  Glyn  have  the 
honour  without  comment.  Sir  James  Allport  wrote  a 
letter  of  uncommon  interest  to  explain  the  part  he  him- 
self took  in  the  establishment  of  the  Clearing  House : 


480  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Ohap.  xlil 

<'  I  entered  the  service  of  the  Birmingham  and  Derby  Railway 
Company  in  the  year  1839,  and  subsequently  I  was  intrusted  with 
the  traffic  arrangements  of  that  company.  The  communication  estab- 
lished between  the  various  railway  companies  for  the  interchange 
of  traffic,  necessarily  brought  me  into  conference  with  other 
companies,  as  to  the  mode  of  dividing  and  adjusting  the  receipts  from 
the  traffic.  The  process  of  settlement  at  that  time  was  tedious  and 
difficult,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  this  work  would  be  very  much 
better  done  by  an  independent  tribunal,  which  should  act  under  the 
written  instructions  of  the  companies  concerned.  The  difficulties  led 
to  frequent  discussions,  and  many  suggestions  were  made,  and  ulti- 
mately one  by  myself,  that  we  should  adopt  a  system  similar  to  that 
which  existed  in  London,  and  known  as  the  Bankers'  Clearing  House. 
Mr.  Robert  Stephenson  was  then  the  engineer  of  the  London  and 
Birmingham,  the  Birmingham  and  Derby,  and  the  North  Midland 
Railways.  These  three  companies  had  through  bookings  and  settle- 
ments with  each  other  such  as  I  have  indicated.  Mr.  Stephenson  was 
not  only  an  engineer,  but  a  man  possessing  broad  and  accurate  views 
upon  commercial  questions,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  Birmingham  and 
Derby  directors,  at  which,  to-  the  best  of  my  recollection,  Mr.  Stephen- 
son and  Mr.  Samuel  Carter  were  present,  the  subject  was  discussed. 
Mr.  Samuel  Carter  was  the  solicitor  of  the  London  and  Birmingham 
and  Birmingham  and  Derby  Companies.  Mr.  Stephenson  undoubtedly 
discussed  the  subject  with  Mr.  George  Carr  Glyn,  the  chairman  of  the 
London  and  Birmingham  Railway  Company,  and  both  concurred  in 
the  desirability  of  establishing  a  railway  clearing  house.  Mr.  Glyn 
selected  Mr.  Kenneth  Morison,  formerly  in  the  service  for  a  short 
time  of  Messrs.  Macaulay  and  Babington,  East  India  merchants, 
Calcutta,  and  afterwards,  on  his  return  to  England,  in  that  of  *the 
London  and  Birmingham  Railway  Company,  in  their  audit  office, 
than  whom  no  better  man  could  have  been  found  for  the  purpose  of 
organising  the  system. 

**The  result  of  these  various  discussions  was  the  establishment 
of  the  Railway  Clearing  House,  and  its  operations  commenced 
in  1842.  I  have  now  before  me  the  minutes  passed  at  the  first 
meeting  of  the  delegates  on  the  26th  of  April,  1842,  which 
was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Glyn.  At  that  meeting  Mr.  Moriaon 
reported  *  that  all  the  arrangements  having  been  completed,  on 
January  2nd  last,  the  clearing  system  came  into  operation  on  nine 


k 


ai.p.xui.1     8IR  JAMES   ALLP0RT8    TEaTIMOHT.  481 

raUwayR,'  of  which  the  Birmingham  and  Derby  was  one.  Mr.  Glyn 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  of  delegates  until  his  death  in  1873, 
and  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Benson,  deputy-chairman  of  the  London 
and  North-Weatem  Railway  Company,  who  died  in  1875,  After  the 
death  of  Mr.  Benson,  I  became  the  sole  survivor  of  those  who  took 


TBK    hOSa   OFFICE   AT  TH8    RAILWAY  CLBABINt)   ROnSl. 

part  in  the  establishment  of  the  Clearing  Hoose,  and,  at  the  first 
meeting  of  the  committee  after  his  decease,  Colonel  Salkeld,  who 
presided,  alhided  to  this  fact. 

"There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  early  adoption  of  the  system 
was  due  to  the  great  infiuence  and  advocacy  of  Mr.  Stephenson, 
but  it  ia  equally  certain  that  the  extensioD  of  railways  and 
rapid  development  of  the  traffic  of  the  country  would  have 
sooner  or  later  forced  upon  the  companies  its  adoption.  The 
above  shortly  describes  the  origin  and  estAblishment  of  the  Railway 
Clearing  House," 

The  little  Cleariog  House  had  a  modest  beginning, 
dealing  with  the  business  of  nine  railway  companies, 
in  the  small  house  in  Brummond  Street,  London, 
and  now  and  then  the  sta£f  of  clerks,  not  more  than 

// 


482  OUB  RAILWAYS.  nn.XLiL 


six  in  number,  found  time  hang  rather  heavily  on 
their  hands.  But  before  long  the  work  increased. 
By-and-by  nearly  every  railviray  company  in  the 
kingdom  found  it  absolutely  necessary  to  adopt  the 
clearing  system,  the  old  house  at  last  became  too 
small,  and  a  move  had  to  be  made  to  the  great 
dingy  ])uilding8  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Euston 
station. 

When  the  jubilee  of  the  Clearing  House  was 
celebrated  in  1892,  some  interesting  figures  were 
given  as  to  the  growth  of  the  labour  in  it.  The 
capital  of  the  English  railways  had  increased  from 
£50,000,000  to  £900,000,000.  The  miles  of  track 
had  extended  from  1,C00  to  20,000.  The  number 
of  passengers  carried  yearly  had  increased  from  a 
mere  handful  to  850,000,000,  exclusive  of  season- 
ticket  holders ;  and  the  miles  run  by  our  trains  had 
reached  the  total  of  300,000,000  per  year.  The 
receipts  of  the  railway  companies  cleared  the  first 
year  amounted  to  only  £195,000.  Now  the  receipts 
cleared  every  year  exceed  £22,000,000;  and  during 
the  half  century  the  receipts  dealt  with  have  swollen 
to  the  enormous  sum  of  £500,000,000.  The  days  of 
demurrage  charged  on  waggons  **  numbered  18,000,000, 
or  nearly  50,000  years,  a  period  which  is  eight  times 
greater  than  that  which  has  elapsed  since  the  Creation, 
according  to  the  Biblical  chronology ;  while  the  miles 
run  by  such  stock  accumulated  to  a  total  of 
18,020,931,374 — figures  which  may  perhaps  best  be 
left  to  the  astronomical  mind  to  digest." 


oiuip.  XUL]    GROWTH  OF  THE  OLEAEING  H0U8B.  483 

The  six  clerks  soon  found  their  office  leisure 
cropped.  Now  they  were  struggling  with  moun- 
tains of  work.  The  more  they  did,  the  greater  the 
heaps  of  papers  and  the  huge  layers  of  tickets  became. 
The  staff  was  increased  again  and  again,  and  it  is 
increasing  yet.  The  Clearing  House  now  employs  no 
fewer  than  2,100  clerks — 1,650  doing  duty  in  Seymour 
Street,  "  and  450  being  employed  at  railway  junctions 
in  the  country,  where  night  and  day  throughout  the 
year  they  are  engaged  in  recording  the  number, 
name  of  the  owner,  and  intended  destination  of 
every  railway  company's  waggon,  passenger  carriage, 
van,  and  tarpaulin,  which  passes  from  one  company 
into  the  hands  of  another  company ;  the  same  process 
being  gone  through  when  the  vehicle  or  sheet  is 
returned." 

What  patient  research  and  quiet  industry  there 
has  been  in  these  plain,  almost  grim-looking  build- 
ings since  George  Hudson,  the  "  Eailway  King," 
reigned,  and  was  dethroned ;  what  examining  of 
ticket-punchings,  and  goods  abstracts  ;  what  calculating, 
thinking,  and  writing;  what  delicate  negotiation,  and 
what  adroit  settlement  of  disputes  by  the  busy  brains 
and  hands  that  here  control  the  nation  s  traffic  !  The 
Clearing  House  has  given  several  illustrations  of  the 
fact  that  steady  honest  work  kills  slowly.  Mr.  Philip 
Henry  Dawson,  who  was  one  of  the  six  clerks  first 
engaged  in  this  calculating  hive,  toiled  for  half  a  century 
at  the  desk,  first  as  penman  and  then  as  secretary, 
dying  in  1890,  while  still  on  duty.  Even  a  longer, 
//2 


OUR  RAILWAYS. 


if  not  more  notable  career,  has  been  that  of  Mr. 
H.  Oliver,  the  head  of  the  mileage  department.  He 
entered  the  bouse  when  its 
doors  were  first  opened  to 
this  kind  of  work,  and  for 
more  than  half  a  century 
has  kept  account  of  the 
strides  of  tbe  English 
railway  system — a  system 
that  on  the  face  of  it 
looks  severely  practical, 
and  hideously  dry  as  a 
study,  with  its  statements 
about  capital  authorised 
and  capital  created ;  about 
revenue  and  working  ex- 
penditure, with  its  end- 
less tables  of  traffic  and  mileage  and  its  eternal 
reckoning'Up ;  and  yet  has  a  good  deal  of  romance 
weaving   around   its  steel  track. 


435 


CHAPTER  XLnr. 

THE    STORM    AMONG    THE    TRADERS. 

• 

A  Clergyman's  Hobby — The  "Differential  Calculus" — ^An  Intercstinjr  Treatise 
— Trade  Driven  to  the  CoaiiBt — Revising  the  Rates — Disappointment  of 
the  Traders — Indignation  and  Agitation — Sending  Goods  by  Canal 
and  Highway — Lord  Winchelsea's  Threat — Ruined  M.P.'s — Lord 
Whamcliffe*s  Speech  and  Opinion — Modifying  the  Rates — Cheap 
Transit  Imperative — "  Bringing  the  Railway  Companies  to  thc'r 
Senses" — Annoyed  Directors — ^Mr.  Mundella's  "Rude  Assertion "-- 
A  Committee  of  Inquiry — ^Their  Report — Legislation. 

The  mind  has  many  strange  leanings,  and  is  able  to 
get  interest  out  of  the  most  abstruse  studies  and  the 
driest  facts.  The  author,  in  his  youth,  knew  a  clergy- 
man who,  after  a  distinguished  career  at  the  University, 
wasted  the  best  years  of  his  life  and  sapped  all  the 
vitality  out  of  his  system  in  working  out  a  re- 
markable book  on  a  branch  of  higher  mathematics. 
When  he  died,  and  people  began  to  ask  what  he 
had  done,  his  great  work  on  "  DiflTerential  Calculus  *' 
was  sought,  and  found  on  the  shelf  of  a  Philosophic 
Society's  library,  covered  with  dust,  and  with  the  leaves 
uncut. 

A  treatise  on  railway  rates  would  be  almost 
equally  interesting,  especially  as  there  are  one  thousand 
Acts  of  Parliament  giving  to  railways  certain  maximum 
charges  and  classifications,  and  as  the  new  rates 
make  a  library  themselves,  filling  nearly  forty  volumes. 
It  is  sufficient  here  to  say  that  for  years  the  railway 


486  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Ohap.  xlui. 

rates  have  been  a  hardship  and  a  grievance  to  manu- 
facturer and  trader.  Dronfield,  a  little  Derbyshire  town, 
was  practically  ruined  by  the  removal  of  the  steel  rail 
trade  to  the  Cumberland  coast,  and  the  migration  of 
the  workmen  consequent  upon  the  charges  for  railway 
conveyance.  At  one  time  it  was  gravely  stated  that  you 
could  buy  a  couple  of  houses  there  for  a  five-pound 
note;  and  certainly  when  the  author  walked  through 
the  place  it  had  a  desolate  look,  for  many  of  the 
cottages  were  tenantless,  with  windows  boarded  up 
or  broken,  and  the  large  works,  that  formerly  echoed 
with  the  thud  and  ring  of  labour,  and  were  bright 
with  the  glare  and  gleam  of  furnace  fires,  were  dis- 
mantled and  silent.  One  could  almost  have  imagined 
that  Cromwell,  who  had  a  particular  fancy  for  knock- 
ing things  over  in  Derbyshire,  had  been  round  there 
again  with  his  "  great  guns,"  and  iron  drakes,  and 
pikes  and  halberts. 

The  grumble  against  railway  rates  has  been  grow- 
ing louder  since  the  trade  decline  that  followed  the 
prosperous  period  in  1874.  The  exodus  of  firms  to 
the  sea-coast,  to  avoid  the  cost  of  carriage,  and  the 
reviving  interest  in  canal  construction,  encouraged  it ; 
but  it  was  the  incessant  cry  of  agricultural  depression 
that  forced  the  subject  on  the  attention  of  Parliament. 
By  the  Eailway  and  Canal  Traffic  Act  of  1888,  the 
companies  were  compelled  to  prepare  new  schedules. 
The  Board  of  Trade  did  not  consider  these  satisfactory, 
and  ''the  whole  question  of  rates,"  as  the  Times 
wrote,  "was   referred  to    Lord    Balfour  of    Burleigh 


i 


RAILWAY  RATES. 


and  Sir  Courtenay  Boyle,  who,  after  an  inquiry 
lasting  for  three-quarters  of  a  year,  reported  in  the 
summer  of  1890.  The  recommendations  ot  this  tri- 
bunal, incorporated  in  thirty-five  provisional  orders, 
were  submitted  to  Parliament  in  the  Sessions  of 
1891  and  1892,  and.  after 
a  further  investigation  be- 
fore an  influential  Joint 
Committee  of  both  Houses, 
under  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond as  chairman,  obtained 
statutory  sanction.  Thus 
thirty-five  separate  Acts  of 
Parliament,  one  for  each 
company  or  group  of  com- 
panies, now  regulate  the 
power  of  fixing  rates  and 
the  classification  of  goods. 
The  system  is  the  same  in 
principle  for  all.  All  goods  are  divided  into  eight 
classes,  and  the  Board  of  Trade,  while  catting  off 
certain  rates  above  a  fixed  level,  declined  to  inter- 
fere with  the  responsibility  of  the  companies  in 
settling  what  the  rates  shall  he  that  fall  below 
that  level." 

The  system  seemed  fair  enough.  Some  of  the 
railway  companies  expressed  themselves  satisfied,  and 
the  traders  looked  hopefully  forward  to  the  beginning 
of  1893,  for  easier  rates  of  carriage  and  a  steady 
development  of  their    trade.      In   the  offices   of  the 


BIB    COURTENAT    BOTLE,    KXl.B. 
(JTm  a  PlulograiA  bv  A.  1.  IffUaUk, 

ta.  rwi  Hall,  8.W.) 


488  OUB  RAILWAYS.  [Oiup.XLni. 

railway  companies  there  was,  day  and  night,  the 
arduous  work  of  preparation.  Thousands  of  new  rate 
books  had  to  be  got  out.  On  the  London  and  North- 
western Bailway  no  fewer  than  twenty  millions  of 
separate  rates  had  to  be  overhauled.  On  the  Midland 
Bailway  as  many  as  fourteen  millions  of  rates  had 
to  be  revised.  At  last  the  work  was  accomplished. 
The  books  were  ready  for  the  instruction  of  the 
trader  in  the  new  rates  and  charges,  in  the  new 
classification  of  minerals,  stock,  and  merchandise,  in 
the  graduated  scale  of  maximum  rates,  and  the  mys- 
teries of  terminal  charges;  and  the  trader  soon 
showed  his  abhorrence  of  the  lesson.  The  informa- 
tion he  derived  from  these  instruction  books  filled 
him  with  distrust  and  disgust.  So  far  as  he  could 
gather  from  the  maze  of  figures,  the  railways  had 
won  the  wrestling  match  before  the  Joint  Committee. 
The  new  rates  seemed,  on  the  face  of  them,  as 
difficult  to  solve  as  a  problem  of  Euclid;  but  the 
trader  soon  discovered  two  unpleasant  facts — that  the 
carriage  rates  on  most  kinds  of  merchandise  had  been 
increased,  and  that  the  terminal  charges  were  in  some 
cases  manifestly  excessive. 

New  Year's  Day,  instead  of  a  day  of  good  wishes, 
was  a  day  of  consternation  and  protest.  The  coal- 
owner  found  to  his  dismay  that  he  would  no  longer 
be  able  to  run  twenty-one  hundredweight  for  a  ton ; 
the  milk  dealer  discovered  that  the  cost  of  carriage 
per  chum  had  gone  up ;  and  the  trader  was  Avell  nigh 
in   despair   because    the   old    method   of   charging   so 


Ohap.ZLni.]  IN0EEA8EB  RATES.  489 

much  per  ton  per  mile  had  been  superseded  by  a 
graduated  scale  of  so  much  per  ton  for  the  first  ten 
miles,  so  much  for  the  next  ten  miles,  and  so  on, 
till  in  a  long  distance  transit^  the  goods,  as  it  were, 
swallowed  their  own  profit. 

The  increased  rates  were  more  than  the  farmers, 
manufacturers,  and  traders  could  bear.  They  meant 
the  ruin  of  the  agriculturist,  and  the  arrest  of  trade. 
Merchants,  colliery  proprietors,  chambers  of  commerce, 
and  city  councils  met,  and  adopted  resolutions 
protesting  against  the  increased  cost  of  carriage. 
There  was,  in  some  breasts,  secret  satisfaction  that 
the  new  rates  would  make  the  German  merchant 
hesitate  before  exporting  his  goods  to  the  English 
market ;  nevertheless,  on  every  side,  there  were  threats 
to  boycott  the  railways.  The  friction  became  so 
acute  in  some  quarters  that  the  farmers  not  only 
distrusted  the  railway  companies,  but  the  traders 
too :  one  agriculturist  remarking,  "  The  cunning  trades- 
man says  to  the  simple  farmer,  'You  come  and 
help  us  to  pull  the  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire.*  The 
simple  farmer  does  so,  and  gets  his  fingers  burnt. 
The  cunning  tradesman  gets  his  rates  reduced  in 
many  cases,  and  the  simple  farmer  can  now  clothe 
himself  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  and  curse  his 
own  folly." 

The  agriculturists  of  the  eastern  counties  de- 
termined to  send  their  stock  by  road.  In  some 
districts  the  waggon  and  carrier's  cart  were  again 
brought  into  requisition  for   the   carriage    of    goods. 


4f>0  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Ch«p.XLiiL 

Canal  and  sea  were  utilised  in  opposition  to  the 
railways,  and  traders  chartered  their  own  boats  and 
sent  cargoes  from  quay  to  quay,  to  the  annoy^ance 
of  the  railway  manager.  Barges  and  hoys,  congested 
with  the  produce  of  the  field,  plied  between  the 
southern  ports  and  town ;  but  they  could  not  cope 
with  the  demand,  and  the  London  poor  were  threatened 
with  a  vegetable  famine,  while  the  gardener  and 
agriculturist  of  Kent,  in  a  land  of  plenty,  said  they 
were  on  the  verge  of  ruin  because  they  could  not  get 
their  produce  to  market  at  a  profit. 

The  country  for  a  few  weeks  was  in  a  sort  of 
commercial  civil  war.  In  the  midst  of  it.  Lord  Win- 
chelsea  (perhaps  better  known  as  the  energetic  and 
versatile  Mr.  Finch-Hatton)  went  about  the  land  in 
the  dual  character  of  Dictator  and  Peacemaker.  With 
one  breath  he  said  he  had  made  the  railway  companies 
climb  down  from  their  high  rates,  and  cried  Va 
Victis,  for  he  meant  to  make  every  railway  shareholder 
in  the  country  tremble.  With  the  next  he  spoke 
with  kindliness  and  persuasiveness  to  the  farmers,  and 
asked  them  to  join  his  Agricultural  Union.  He 
dofied  the  character  of  Giant  Blunderbore  in  the 
nursery  rhyme,  and  assumed  that  rather  of  William 
Penn,  the  Quaker.  If  you  joined  his  Agricultural 
Union  it  would  bring  you  happiness  as  surely  as  the 
sowing  of  hempseed  on  All  Hallows'  Eve  would 
bring  the  maiden  a  lover.  Not  only  were  the  lion 
and  the  lamb  to  lie  down  together  and  eat  grass,  but 
a  much  stranger  thing  was  to  happen — the  landlord, 


i 


Ohiip.XLiiL]  AQBI0ULTX7BAL  DEPRESSION.  481 

the  farmer,  and  the  agricultural  labourer  were  to  sit 
at  the  same  table  and  divide  the  profits  derived 
from  their  investments  and  toil.  It  was  a  delightful 
picture;  but  the  agriculturist,  like  the  "Northern 
Farmer'*  in  Tennyson's  poem,  has  still  the  fear, 
especially  if  he  does  not  live  thriftily,  and  avail  himstlf 
of  the  best  methods  of  cultivating  the  soil,  that 

",  .  .  Summon  'ull  come  ater  mea,  mahap  wi'  'is  kittle  o'  steam, 
Huzzin'  and  maazin'  the  blessed  feiilds  wi'  the  DiviFs  o'an  team ;" 

and  the  labourer  has  still  to  work  in  the  field  and  in 
crowded  city  at  the  market  price  without  much  profit- 
sharing.  In  fact,  according  to  Major  Easch,  M.P., 
the  depression  has  been  singularly  acute.  In  seconding 
the  motion  early  in  the  session  of  1893  for  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  House  over  '^  Derby  Day,"  the  honourable 
member  said,  that  what  with  bad  seasons,  swine  fever, 
and  wheat  at  twent3^-three  shillings  a  quarter,  it  would 
be  an  act  of  charity  to  allow  honourable  members 
representing  agricultural  constituencies  to  go  down 
to  the  Derby,  possibly  for  the  last  time.  He  felt 
morally  certain  that  before  long,  many  of  them  would 
be  so  poor  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  pay  for 
their  own  tickets  1 

Lord  Wharnclifie  was  the  first  railway  chairman 
who  touched  the  vexed  subject  of  rates  in  the  presence 
of  shareholders.  Sir  Edward  Watkin  was  ill ;  and  his 
deputy,  who  has  since  succeeded  him  as  Chairman, 
had  to  step  into  the  breach,  as  he  has  often  done  in 
his  adventurous  life,  in  time  of  danger.  Lord  Wharn- 
cliffe,  if  not  a  model  speaker,  is  a  man  of  common 


OWB  RAILWAYS. 


sense  and  business  capacity.  It  was,  he  said — speak- 
ing to  the  proprietors  of  the  Manchester,  Sheffield  and 
Lincolnshire  Railway — a  great  error  to  suppose  that 
railway  companies  had  any  interest  in  crippling  trade. 
On  the  contrary,  it  was  to  their  interest  to  promote 
trade.  The  companies  now 
knew  how  much  they  could 
charge,  but  they  were 
careful  not  to  charge  the 
maximum  amount  in  all 
cases.  Tlieir  main  duty  was 
to  get  a  dividend  for  their 
ehareholders,  but  if  in  doing 
that  they  proceeded  to  kill 
the  goose  with  the  golden 
egg — that  was,  the  trader 
— there  would  he  nothing 
left  for  dividend.  It  was 
therefore  very  much  to  the 
interest  of  railway  managers 
to  agree  with  the  traders.  He  counselled  the  traders 
to  let  the  officials  of  the  company  know  where  the  shoe 
pinched,  in  order  to  see  if  the  pressure  could  not  be 
reheved.  It  was  to  the  interest  of  both  parties  to  be  as 
conciliatory  as  possible,  and  he  was  glad  to  know  there 
was,  on  the  part  of  the  company,  a  disposition  to  do 
what  they  could  to  meet  the  legitimate  wishes  of  the 
traders. 

Meantime,  every  available  mode  of  pressure  was  used 
to  make  the  railway  companies  ease  the  rates.   Counsel's 


flh»p.XLiiLi         SIB   HENRY   OAKLETS   BEFLT.  493 

opinion  was  taken,  petitions  rolled  in  against  railway- 
managers,  and  traders  besought  the  help  of  Parliament 
in  their  stress.  Sir  Henry  Oakley,  the  general  manager 
of  the  Great  Northern  Eailway,  was  called  upon  by  the 
Board  of  Trade  to  state  what  action  the  railway  com- 
panies were  taking  with  respect  to  the  objections ;  and 
he  wrote  on  January  24th,  stating  that  a  committee  of 
goods  managers  had  been  sitting  to  consider  specific 
complaints  of  the  adverse  operation  of  new  rates,  and 
that  many  modifications  had  been  adopted.  The  railway 
companies  adhered  to  the  view  that  this  process,  steadily 
continued,  would  remove  all  just  causes  of  dissatisfaction. 
"They  are  not,"  he  added,  "prepared  to  regard  the 
revision  of  rates  under  the  recent  Act  as  one  solely  of 
reduction,  without  such  fair  and  moderate  alterations  in 
an  upward  direction  as  will  recoup  their  stockholders  a 
portion  of  the  loss  sustained  ;  but  they  are  prepared  to 
give  the  Board  of  Trade,  and,  through  them,  the  trading 
community,  the  assurance  that  it  is  neither  their  interest 
nor  their  intention  to  maintain  any  rates  which  will 
prejudicially  affect  the  trade  of  the  country." 

Notwithstanding  this  dignified  reply,  made  practic- 
ally on  behalf  of  the  companies,  there  was  a  general 
feeling  in  the  industrial  and  trading  sections  of  the 
community  that  the  railways  had  made  a  mistake. 
Their  policy  with  regard  to  passenger  traffic  had  been 
to  give  travellers  as  much  as  they  could  for  the  money, 
and  third-class  receipts  had  increased  enormously, 
becoming  on  some  lines  the  most  gratifying  source  of 
revenue.    Their  new  policy  with  regard  to  goods  was  on 


4M  QUE  RAILWAYS.  fOtepuXUiL 

entirely  different  lines.  It  was  a  niggardly  and  close- 
fisted  policy,  and  it  was,  moreover,  economically  unsound. 
The  Times,  in  defending  the  attitude  of  the  companies, 
said  :  ''  Railway  companies,  after  all,  are  traders  selling 
transport,  and  many  of  their  members  are  very  small 
traders,  who  can  ill  afford  any  reduction  of  their  trading 
income.  They  get,  on  the  average,  not  more  than  three 
and  a-half  per  cent,  for  their  money — a  rate  which, 
according  to  common  report  and  belief,  no  tradesman 
would  condescend  to  look  at."  Quite  so.  The  trades- 
man getting  only  three  and  a-half  per  cent,  on  his 
capital  would  find  it  difficult  to  keep  his  shop  door 
open,  and  his  gas-lights  flaring  on  the  announcements 
that  his  tea  is  the  best  in  the  world,  and  that  he  is 
seUing  everything  at  an  immense  reduction.  But  his 
percentage  of  gain  would  certainly  shrink  if  he  com- 
mitted the  folly,  in  an  age  when  everyone  goes  to  the 
cheapest  market,  of  suddenly  increasing  the  price  of 
nearly  everything  he  sold.  It  is  not  by  increasing  the 
cost  of  transit,  but  by  lowering  it,  that  the  railways 
can  make  better  dividends.  It  should  be  the  policy  of 
the  railway  companies  not  to  contract,  but  to  expand 
trade ;  and  undoubtedly  the  railway  property  that  is  the 
most  prosperous  in  the  future  will  be  the  one  that  aims 
to  carry  an  enormous  bulk  of  traffic  at  a  cheap  and  easy 
rate  ;  that,  to  quote  Mr.  Mundella's  words  to  the  agri- 
culturists and  traders  of  the  kingdom,  "  encourages 
efforts  of  the  home  producer  to  place  his  goods  as 
cheaply  as  possible  within  the  reach  of  the  consumer." 
The  railway  companies,  in  the  force  of  circumstances. 


OtonxmLi  TBE   OOMFANIEB   QWINQ    WAY.  «6 

and  amid  the  storm  of  indignation  raised  by  their 
ciistomers,  were  obliged  to  look  at  the  question  in  that 
light.  It  was  an  irksome  lesson ;  but  they  had  to  learn 
it.  In  a  month  many  of  the  new  rates  were  revoked. 
The  London  and  Korth -Western,  the  Midland,  the 
Great  Nortliem,  and  the 
Great  Western  went  hack, 
in  numerous  instances,  to 
the  scale  of  rates  in  force 
prior  to  the  revision,  and 
to  some  customers,  notably 
the  milk  dealers,  gave  re- 
bates calculated  from  the 
beginning  of  the  year. 
On  February  7th,  1893, 
Mr.  Mundella,  rising  in 
his  place  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  read  a  letter  thb  bt.  ho».  a.  j.  mundella,  m.p. 
irom  Sir  Henry  Oakley,  m  ojiib™isi™i.  r.) 

which    it    was    stated    that 

the  companies  were  busy  readjusting  the  rates,  with 
generally  satisfactory  results  to  the  traders;  and  the 
then  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  expressed  the  hope 
that  no  time  would  be  lost  in  bringing  the  rates  within 
reasonable  limits,  and  that  the  result  of  the  further 
revision  would  render  parliamentary  interference  unneces* 
sary,  adding,  with  a  touch  o£  sly  humour  somewhat  rare 
in  ministerial  answer,  that  there  were  a  vast  number 
of  lower  rates,  and  concerning  these  his  department 
had  received  no  complaint.    The  traders,  nevertheless 


»• 

i 


"   I 


/ 


/ 


• 


'* 


i 
t 


496  OUR  RAILWAYS.  ichap-xuii. 

held  that  they  had  very  substantial  grievances.  They 
derived  little  solace  even  from  Punch,  who  sought  to 
introduce  humour  into  the  dry  land  of  arithmetic 
and  argument  by  remarking :  "  Whatever  question  there 
may  be  on  this  subject,  there  can  be  none  as  to  the 
rates  at  which  the  *  Bournemouth  Express/  the  '  Gran- 
ville, L.  C.  and  D.,'  and  the  '  Flying  Dutchman ' 
severally  travel.     Such  rates  are  first  rate." 

The  traders  maintained  that  the  railway  companies 
begrudged  what  they  were  obliged  to  concede,  and 
that  they  were  by  no  means  conceding  enough.  The 
agitation  was  continued  with  vigour  by  meeting, 
deputation,  and  question  in  Parliament.  Mr.  Mun- 
della  was  frankness  itself  in  his  attitude  towards  the 
offending  companies.  He  told  them  that  they  had 
promised  not  to  raise  their  actual  rates,  that  they 
had  broken  faith,  that  he  would  give  them  till  Easter 
to  complete  their  revision  and  to  go  back  to  the  old 
rates,  and  practically  said  that  if  their  repentance 
and  restitution  were  not  thorough  and  sincere,  he 
should  introduce  a  Bill  that  would  bring  them  to 
their  senses.  There  were  fierce  glances  at  the  limes, 
and  ejaculations  at  many  a  railway  board,  when  Mr. 
Mundella  rode  along  the  line  and  threw  down  the 
gauntlet  against  "  the  Black  Knight,  Monopoly.'*  His 
language  was  not  the  language  of  diplomacy.  It  was  a 
new,  surprising,  and  unpleasant  departure  from  the 
traditional  language  of  officialism.  It  was  altogether 
too  blunt,  too  abrupt,  "too  impertinent."  The  railway 
captains  of  England  are  men  of  vast  wealth  and  power. 


MR.  MUNDELT.A'S  PLAIN  SPEAKINO. 


and  they  have  a  lofty  pridr 
of  position  ;  and  tliey  could 
ill  tolerate  what  they  con- 
sidered downright  insolence 
from  this  "  browbeating 
fH)Iitician." 

But  they  were  too  dis- 
creet to  express  their  opinion 
of  the  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  in  public.  It  is 
true  that  Mr.  Bickersteth, 
upholding  the  dignity  of 
the  London  and  North- 
Westem       Company,      felt 

bound    to   say  that    Mr.   Mnndelia's    statement    "  was 
a  very  improper  one ; "  while  Mr,  G.  E.  Paget,  for  the 
Midland,  said  the  strength  of  tlie  right  hon.  gentle- 
~"       man's     language     did     not 
frighten  him  in  the  least; 
but,  as  a  body,  they  kept 
their  chagrin  to  themselves, 
and  on  the  night  of    Feb- 
ruary   2l8t    the    President 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  wan 
enabled  to  inform  the  House 
that  the  railway  companies 
were  anxious  to  arrive  at  a 
settlement,  and    that    they 
were     doing    all    that    was 
'^  ■  "^Tt^rT""''         possible  to  meet  the  wishes 


.}  498  OUR   RAILWAYS.  [Chap.  xun. 

of  the  traders.  Mr.  Saunders,  as  chairman  of  the  Great 
Western,  was  quite  as  frank  as  Mr.  Mundella,  but  in 
another  direction.  He  said  there  had  been  senseless 
criticism  by  gentlemen  who  seemed  to  live  and  thrive 
chiefly  upon  agitation.  The  Q-reat  Western  represented 
about  one-tenth  of  the  whole  railway  system  of  the 
j  country,    and    the    commercial    interests    affected    by 

I  the  ramifications  of  the  2,500  miles  of  line  of  which 

I  their   undertaking   consisted   were  quite   one-tenth    of 

the  commercial  industry  of  England.  It  was,  in  these 
circumstances,  absurd  to  suggest  that  they  would 
do  anything  to  check  the  trade  of  the  country, 
upon  which  their  prosperity  depended.  No  injustice 
would  be  knowingly  done  to  any  of  the  company's 
customers ;  and  if  they  would  only  bring  theii 
j  grievances  to  the  responsible  officers,  instead  of  taking 

j  them    to   Chambers   of   Commerce,    and    Members    oi 

1  Parliament    whose   object  it   was   to   secure   votes,  it 

i  would  be  to  their  benefit. 

'j  The   dissatisfaction   among   the   traders  continued. 

At  one  sitting  of  Parliament  in  March  no  fewer  than 
sixty  Railway  Bills  stood  for  second  reading;  but  sc 
acute  was  the  feeling  against  the  companies  with 
regard  to  the  rates  that  two  hon.  members  gave 
notice  to  move  the  rejection  of  all  these  BiUs.  The 
railway  companies  were  given  parliamentary  grace 
till  Easter.  They  made  both  promises  and  concessions, 
but  failed  to  pacifiy  their  customers  ;  and  finally, 
another  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
was  appointed  to   inquire   into  the   manner  in  which 


Ch«p.XLin.i         ANOTHER   SELECT  COMMITTEE.  499 

the  railway  companies  had  dealt  with  the  traders 
under  the  revised  rates,  and,  if  necessary,  to  suggest 
further  legislation  for  the  settlement  of  the  dispute 
which  had  caused  so  much  friction  and  seriously 
checked  trade. 

The  Committee  held  a  long  and  patient  inquiry. 
They  had  abundant  evidence  that  the  managers  of 
the  great  railway  companies  had,  by  mutual  agree- 
ment, raised  many  of  the  rates  to  the  maximum,  in 
order  to  recoup  themselves  for  the  losses  they  expected 
to  sustain  from  the  lowering  of  other  rates.  On  the 
Great  Western,  for  instance,  the  delicate  process  was 
carried  out  with  genius.  The  company  anticipated 
that  they  would  lose  £93,000  a  year  by  the  reduction 
of  the  old  actual  rates  to  the  new  maxima.  Con- 
sequently they  raised  the  rates  of  all  classes  of  goods 
to  the  maximum.  It  was  soon  discovered,  however, 
that  this  course  would  recoup  them  too  handsomely, 
so  they  simply  increased  by  five  per  cent,  the  rates 
which  were  below  the  maxima.  Now  they  stood  to 
lose  £80,000  by  reduced  rates;  but  the  increased  rates 
were  so  numerous,  on  the  other  hand,  that  they  had 
the  prospect  of  wiping  out  the  loss,  and  of  handling 
an  extra  £50,000  still  in  pocket  after  their  adroit 
commercial  transaction.  The  traders  began  to  feel  like 
bewildered  victims  of  hocus-pocus  in  the  village  fair; 
they  were  very  angry,  and  insisted  on  further  reduc- 
tions. Even  then,  under  the  rates  revised  for  the 
benefit  of  the  traders,  the  traffic  profits  of  the  com- 
pany showed  a  prospective  gain   of  £14,000.     What 


u. 


500  OVH    RAILWAYS.  [{9Bp.XLnL 

had  happened  was  this  ■ —  the  company,  to  guan 
themnelveR  against  the  loss  of  £80,000  on  one  clas 
of  traders,  were  about  to  make  a  profit  of  £94,00( 
on  another. 

Crowning  the  mass  of  evidence  taken  at  the  inquir; 
on  behalf  of  the  companieB  and  the  traders  was  thii 
fact,  that  the  railway  managers,  in  their  natnral  aii( 
earnest  desire  to  do  the  very  best  for  the  shareholders 
had  utterly  checkmated  the  rates  revision.  They  ha< 
not  only  shielded  their  profit-making  traffic  fron 
attack,  but  had  actually  gained  advantage  in  th. 
fight ;  nor  were  they  particularly  submissive,  thougl 
they  received  many  hard  knocks  from  the  traders 
Sir  Henry  Oakley  made  perhaps  the  most  signifi 
cant  statement.  He  said  the  only  restriction  thi 
railway  companies  recognised  was  that  there  shouh 
be  no  undue  preference.  The  proposal  for  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  tribunal  to  intervene  between  tin 
companies  and  the  traders  really  meant  that  somebod' 
should  be  appointed  to  fix  rates  without  regard  fc 
any  Act  of  Parliament;  and  the  eifect  of  that  wouh 
be  to  interfere  with  the  basis  on  which  the  companie 
had  expended  their  money,  and  seriously  to  damag 
their  eredit.  There  could,  he  firmly  declared,  be  d< 
half  way  between  damage  to  the  credit  of  th 
companies  and  the  acquisition  of  the  railways  by  th 
country. 

The  Committee  presented  their  report  to  Parlia 
ment  in  December,  1893.  They  came  to  the  conclusioi 
that    the    course    the    companies    took    in    chargini 


Oh»i).XLiii.i  THE   OOMMITTEE'8  FINDING.  501 

the  maximum  rates  was  unsatisfactory  and  unjustifi- 
able, leading  to  the  dislocation  of  trade  and  the 
alarm  of  many  commercial  interests.  It  was  never 
the  intention  of  Parliament  that  they  should  raise 
their  non-competitive  actual  rates  by  five  per  cent, 
all  round  for  the  purpose  of  recouping  themselves  for 
the  reductions  of  the  other  rates  which  Parliament  had 
pronounced  to  be  unreasonable.  The  Committee  were 
not  surprised  that  there  should  be  strong  feeling  on 
the  piirt  of  large  bodies  of  traders  whose  rates  had 
been  raised,  and  also  a  sense  of  insecurity,  a  fear  lest 
rates  might  again  be  raised  to  the  maximum  authorised 
by  the  recent  Acts,  or  that  a  demand  should  have 
arisen  for  the  intervention  either  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
or  of  a  tribunal,  such  as  the  Eailway  Commission,  to 
fix  rates  in  future.  But,  after  serious  consideration,  it 
did  not  seem  advisable  to  the  Committee  to  give  the 
Board  of  Trade  power  to  enforce  its  decisions  in  cases  of 
dispute  between  the  companies  and  traders,  nor  to  give 
to  an  administrative  department  of  the  Government, 
responsible  to  Parliament,  the  power  of  deciding  in 
any  or  every  case  what  should  be  the  rates  for  the 
conveyance  of  goods  or  other  matters  in  dispute. 

Nevertheless  the  Committee  thought  that  matters 
cannot  be  left  as  they  now  are ;  that  some  further  step 
must  be  taken  to  protect  traders  from  unreasonable  rais- 
ing of  rates,  even  within  the  maximum  charges  defined 
by  Parliament.  They  held  that  where  a  trader  complains 
that  the  increase  is  excessive,  and  the  conciliation 
clause  fails  to  result  in  an   amicable  settlement,   the 


602  OtTB  RAILWAYS.  (Oh.p.  XLrn. 

petitioner  should  be  able  to  go  before  tlie  Railway 
Commission,  and  that  that  body  should  have  power 
to  decide  whether  tlie  increase  is  just  and  reafiooable 
or  not. 

So  far  the  decision  of  the  Committee  has  brought 
"cold  comfort"  to  the  trader.  He  regards  an  appeal  to 
the  Kuilway  Cuiiiinis.sion  with  less  hope  than  Miss 
Flight,  the  "  little  mad  old  woman,  with  reticule  filled 
with  documents,"  waited  for  the  decision  in  a  famous 
friendly  suit  in  the  Chancery  Court.  The  Railway 
Commission  has  drifted  into  a  coveted  sinecure.  In 
the  days  of  Mr.  Price,  who  was  formerly  chairman  ot 
the  Midland  Company,  and  one  of  the  most  experienced 
men  of  his  time  in  railway  adiiiinistmtion,  it  did  sonic 
practical  work;  but  it  has  always  been  a  costly  court  of 
appeal,  and  its  members,  two  of  whom  get  salaries  of 
£3,000  a  year,  now  meet  seldom  and  do  little.  The 
remarkable  statement  was  made  not  long  ago  that  the 
Railway  Commission  bad  only  sat  on  an  average 
twenty-tiiree  days  a  year,  and  that  there  was  no 
member  on  it  who  had  had  any  experience  in  com- 
mercial affairs,  or  who  was  specially  acquainted  with 
the  requirements  of  traders. 

Very  properly  the  Committee  said  they  could  no! 
recommend  the  continuance  of  the  body  in  its  presenl 
form.  They  thought  one  of  the  members  should  ht 
experienced  in  trade  to  balance  the  experience  in  rail- 
ways of  the  other  niemhera,  and  that  the  appointmeni 
of  lay  commissioners  should  not  be  permanent,  oi 
necessarily  carry  the  right  to  pensions.     Tliey  insisted 


Gh*p.xuiLi  A   8UG0E8TI0N.  608 

too,  lest  the  costly  nature  of  the  Railway  Cora  mission 
should  still  deter  traders  from  applying  to  it,  that 
the  Commission  should  not  have  power  to  award 
costs,  unless  either  the  claim  or  the  defence  has  been 
frivolous  and  vexatious.  But  why  did  they  not  suggest 
the  abolition  of  the  Railway  Commission  altogether, 
and  the  appointment  of  a  Railway  Board  of  Concilia- 
tion, composed  of  railway  managers  and  representative 
traders,  with  an  independent  chairman,  by  whom  the 
settlement  of  disputes  would  be  easy  and  cheap  ? 

As  a  result  of  the  Committee's  report,  a  new  Rail- 
way and  Canal  Traffic  Act  was  passed  in  lS9t.  This 
Act,  which  is  noteworthy  as  the  first  measure  under 
which  Parliament  has  ventured  to  interfere  with  the 
maximum  charging  powers  of  the  companies,  so  far  as 
goods  traffic  is  concerned,  makes  it  incumbent  upon  the 
companies  to  prove  the  reasonableness  of  any  increase 
of  rate,  either  direct  or  indirect,  made  since  the  end  of 
1892.  It  prescribes  that  complaint  be  made  first  to 
the  Board  of  Trade,  and  afterwards,  if  necessary,  to  the 
Railway  Commission.  As  soon  as  the  Act  came  into 
operation,  the  Board  of  Trade  found  itself  flooded  with 
complaints,  which  continued  to  come  in  at  such  a  rate 
that  the  period  allowed  for  their  reception  had  to  be 
extended  by  three  months.  Whether  the  traders  will 
find  reason  to  take  a  different  view  of  the  Commission 
from  that  indicated  above  remains  to  be  seen. 


504 


CHAPTER   XLIV. 

THE    LAST    CHAT. 

The  Wonderful  Development  of  Railways — Their  Extent— The  Money 
Invested  in  Them — The  Employment  They  Give— A  Worthy  Insti- 
tution— The  Prince  of  Wales's  Carriage — Railway  Men  and  Courteny 
— A  Gratifying  Subscription — The  Railroad  to  Distinction — Cele- 
brating the  Birth  of  Railways — Professor  Tyndall— New  Railway 
Projects — The  Railway  Congress — ^A  Word  from  the  Prince  of  Wales 
— Science  and  Travel — ^A  Faithful  Servant — ^What  the  Locomotive 
has  Made  Possible. 

The  world  has  marched  quickly  in  this  century.  It 
has  flung  the  strength  and  resource  of  its  most 
vigorous  life  into  scientific  experiment,  engineering 
achievement,  into  earnest,  methodic,  skilful  industry, 
and  into  adventurous  trade  projects  that  have  swiftly 
followed  the  explorer's  tread.  But  we  only  realise 
how  fast  the  world  has  moved  when  we  compare 
its  modern  speed  and  high  pressure  with  the  lives 
of  those  who  are  in  it,  and  yet  not  of  it — with  the 
old-world,  uneventful,  placid  existence,  for  instance, 
of  the  gardener's  wife  near  Northwich,  who,  in  tlie 
spring  of  1892,  on  her  husband's  death,  travelled 
to  live  with  her  son,  and  on  the  journey  rode  ia  a 
cab  for  the  first  time,  saw  a  railway  for  the  first 
time,  and  first  looked  upon  a  gas  light.  There  are 
people  still  alive  who  remember  George  Stephenson's 
tall  figure,  and  kindly  face,  and  north-country  talk. 
Half  a  century  ago,  with  the  satisfaction  of  many  a 


oup,  XLi  V. :  STA  TISTIOAIm  505 

railway  made  and  much  difficult  work  accomplished, 
he  was  strollinjj  about  his  garden  at  Tapton  House, 
delighting  in  the  simple  pleasures  of  a  country  life, 
yet  fond  of  looking  back  into  the  past,  and  of 
j)rophesying  a  great  career  for  the  locomotive  in 
the  future. 

Yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  imagined  the  wonder- 
ful development  of  railways  that  the  next  half-century 
was  destined  to  see.  The  surveyor,  the  engineer,  the 
navvy,  the  platelayer,  the  engine-driver,  have  pene- 
trated to  nearly  every  land.  At  the  beginning  of 
1891  there  were  no  fewer  than  385,803  miles  of 
railway  open  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  Of 
these,  according  to  a  table  presented  in  that  year 
at  the  International  Railway  Congress  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, 167,755  are  in  the  United  States,  14,082  miles 
in  Canada,  and  5,025  miles  in  Mexico  and  the  Argentine 
Kepublic.  In  Europe,  the  German  Empire  comes 
first  with  26,790  miles;  France  second,  with  24,310 
miles ;  Great  Britain  and  Irehuid  third,  with  22,685 
miles;  and  Kussia  fourth,  with  19,345  miles.  There 
are  110,000  locomotives  running  on  the  world's 
railways,  and  of  these  63,000  are  at  work  in  Europe, 
40,000  in  America,  3,300  in  Asia,  2,000  in  Australia, 
and  700  in  Africa,  Great  Britain  alone  possessing 
17,000. 

There  are  more  than  11,000  miles  of  double  line 
open  in  this  country;  and  of  these,  10,700  miles  are 
worked  on  the  absolute  block  system,  a  great  im- 
provement on    the    state    of  things  in    1875,    when 


506  OUU  RAILWAYS.  [Gii«p.XLiT. 

there  were  8,776  miles  of  double  line  open,  and 
only  5,582  miles  worked  on  the  absolute  block  system. 
Various  safeguards,  including  the  absolute  block, 
permissive  block,  and  train  staff  with  tickets,  are 
employed  in  the  working  of  single  lines ;  and  on 
these  safeguards  the  Great  Eastern  Railway  Company 
alone  have  spent  one  and  a  half  million  of  money. 
Figures  are  not  always  eloquent ;  but  they  become 
striking  when  they  show  how  vast  and  intricate  is 
the  network  of  English  railways — "  that  there  are 
6,032  cases  in  which  a  passenger  line  is  crossed  on 
a  level  by  another  passenger  line,  and  2,074  cases 
of  such  lines  crossed  by  goods  lines,  23,672  crossed 
by  sidings,  and  9,079  by  over-cross  roads." 

The  capital  invested  in  the  railways  of  this  king- 
dom amounts  to  nine  hundred  and  eighty-five  millions 
of  money ;  nine  hundred  and  eleven  millions  of 
passengers  travel  by  rail  every  year;  three  hundred 
and  twenty-five  millions  of  tons  of  merchandise  and 
minerals  are  conveyed ;  and  the  receipts  reach  the 
enormous  sum  of  eighty-four  millions.  The  lines 
give  employment  to  four  hundred  thousand  railway 
servants ;  and  that  directors  and  shareholders  are  not 
altogether  indifferent  to  the  home  life  of  these  men 
and  their  children  is  shown  by  the  establishment  of 
various  institutions  and  funds  for  their  benefit. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  is  the  Kail- 
way  Benevolent  Institution,  whose  Orphanage,  estab- 
lished for  children  of  railway  men  who  have  lost  their 
lives  on  the  line,  is  at  Derby.     Speaking  on  its  behalf. 


Cfc.p.XMV.I      RAILWAY  BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTION.       607 

in  1873,  the  Prince  of  Wales  said:  "Nobody  advo- 
cates its  claims  more  ardently  than  I,  and  nobody 
will  continue  to  take  a  greater  interest  in  everything 
connected    with  our  railways.      To    show    yoa  that  1 


INSTITUTION    AT   DEBBV. 


am  not  using  mere  stereotyped  phrases,  I  may  tell 
you  that  no  week  elapses  without  my  travelling  once 
or  twice  at  least  by  train.  I  have,  therefore,  the 
opportunity  of  seeing,  as  well  as  anybody  can  see, 
how  admirably  our  railway  system  is  worked ;  not 
only  the  managers  and  directors,  but  the  officers  and 
servants,  have  my  warmest  admiration  for  doing 
their  utmost  in  the  execution  of  their  duty,  and 
also  for  their  unvarying  courtesy  and  attention." 

On    no    hne   is   this   consideration    more   apparent 
than  on  the  Great  Northern,  where  a  Boyal  saloon  is 


508  OUR  RAILWAYS.  [Oha^XLlT. 

kept  for  the  Prince's  use.  Mr.  Brickwell,  describing  this 
vehicle  in  a  recent  book  entitled  **  Round  the  Works 
of  Our  Great  Kailways,"  writes :  **  There  are  six 
compartments  and  a  corridor.  The  first  compartment 
is  the  Princess's  sleeping  apartment,  trimmed  in  sage 
green,  and  decorated  with  white  enamel,  and  hand- 
painted  ceiling.  The  saloon  and  dining  apartment 
is  lined  with  rosewood,  and  painted  ceiling,  trimmed 
with  peacock  blue.  It  contains  two  tables  and  six 
easy  chairs.  One  of  the  tables  is  telescopic,  and 
although  it  appears  similar  to  a  very  light  card 
table,  it  will  assume  a  length  enough  for  six  people 
to  dine  at.  The  smoking  apartment  (which  is  oak 
lined)  immediately  adjoins;  it  contains  three  chairs^ 
and  is  hung  with  amber.  Next  in  order  comes  the 
Prince's  sleeping  apartment,  lined  with  cedar,  and 
fitted  with  a  couch  and  bed,  exquisitely  upholstered." 
A  question  in  Parliament  in  September,  1893, 
with  regard  to  the  Queen's  messenger  special  train  in 
Scotland,  which  is  paid  for  by  the  Treasury,  reminded 
many  people  that  the  railway  hiis  something  to  do 
with  the  government  of  the  country.  At  all  events, 
it  makes  daily  communication  between  the  Ministry 
and  the  (^ueen  possibh*,  and  whenever  her  Majesty 
stays  at  her  Scutch  huust*,  messengers  go  to  and  fro 
between  London  and  Balmoral  at  her  command,  and 
sometimes  they  carry  despatches  of  grave  import. 
Like  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Queen  now  and  then 
makes  the  express  her  home.  She  eats,  sleeps,  reads, 
and  writes  in  it.     On  her  long  journey  from  Balmoral 


a  •  ' 


1 


CIUP.XLIV.)  RAILWAY  MEN.  609 

she  has  pondered  on  many  a  political  move  and  Court 
intrigue,  and  wondered  whether  that  statesman  was 
worthy  of  his  portfolio,  or  this  courtier  should  receive 
indication  of  her  displeasure  at  his  heinous  fault. 
She  has,  in  the  railway  carriage,  given  her  assent 
to  proposals  that,  if  resisted  by  foreign  Power,  would 
mean  war.  She  has  signed  documents  heralding 
peace,  and  Bills  that,  after  running  the  gauntlet  of 
both  Houses,  have  given  greater  political  freedom  to 
the  British  people.  The  Queen,  in  fact,  has  swayed 
the  Empire  in  her  cosy  Royal  saloon,  with  its  comfort- 
able furniture,  and  thickly-carpeted  floor,  and  paddings 
of  quilted  silk  that  keep  out  the  wind's  blustering 
voice  and  deaden  the  train's  vibration,  but  fail  to 
prevent  the  urgent  affairs  of  State  from  creeping  in. 

The  humblest  passenger  does  not,  perhaps,  on 
every  line  receive  so  much  "  unvarying  courtesy  and 
attention  "  as  these  Royal  personages.  Some  men  are 
prone  to  rudeness,  or  have  a  nervous  system  easily 
irritated;  and  the  author  has,  in  a  crowded  station 
on  a  hot  day,  heard  a  porter  shout,  as  he  struggled 
with  luggage-laden  barrow  through  the  throng :  "  By 
leave,  mar'm."  "  Mind  yourself."  "  Now  then  !  look 
alive,  you  old  fool !  " 

Still,  the  railway  men  of  England,  as  a  rule, 
do  their  work  cheerfully,  courteously,  bravely,  often 
when  very  weary,  or  in  trouble,  or  in  the  midst 
of  peril;  and  any  institution  that  gives  them  relief 
in  accident  is  worthy  of  the  most  generous  support. 
That     many     shareholders     and     passengers    hold    a 


510  OUB    RAILWAYS.  iciuip.xxxf. 

similar  opinion  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the 
Eailway  Benevolent  Institution,  which  hegan  in  1859 
with  an  income  of  £2,000,  has  now  an  income 
of  £50,000,  and  affords  help  by  pension,  annuity, 
and  the  care  of  orphans,  in  no  fewer  than  four 
thousand  cases  a  year.  The  great  railways  not  only 
liberally  subscribe  to  the  funds,  but  endeavour  to 
induce  everybody  to  do  likewise.  In  1892  the 
London  and  North- Western  contributed  and  raised 
£9,500  for  its  support;  and  at  the  annual  dinner 
in  1893,  Mr.  Paget,  the  chairman  of  the  Midland, 
made  the  gratifying  statement  that  during  the  year 
his  company,  with  the  assistance  of  a  host  of  friends, 
,had  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  total  subscription  of 
£15,608. 

Tliere  is  much  hard  work  and  poor  pay  on  the 
railway,  but  it  has  many  lucrative  positions  in  its 
numerous  departments,  and  is  occasionally  the  road  to 
wealth  ;  for  Sir  James  Allport,  who  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Birmingham  and  Derby  Eailway  in  1839, 
as  chief  clerk,  at  a  by  no  means  princely  salary,  died 
worth  £193,000.  The  railway  track  is  also  steadily 
leading  to  distinction.  Formerly  the  devious  paths 
of  politics,  the  secret  ways  of  diplomacy,  and  the 
rugged  roads  across  the  battlefield,  heaped  with  human 
ruin,  alone  led  to  dignities  and  honours.  Now  art, 
philanthropy,  and  earnest  work  are  recognised.  The 
painter,  and  even  the  actor,  as  well  as  the  Mayor 
who  entertains  her  Majesty,  are  knighted.  The  man 
who  gives   of   his  riches  to  the  poor;    who  strives  to 


ch*p.XLiv.)  A   RAILWAY  JUBILEE.  511 

brighten  their  lot  by  better  housing,  or  by  founding 
institutions  to  meet  their  physical  and  mental  need, 
is  called  to  Windsor,  to  bend  the  knee  before  the 
Queen.  Giants  of  industry  are  made  baronets  and 
peers;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  general  manager  on 
a  prominent  railway  who  has  not  been  knighted— 
"Dan"  Gooch,  on  the  Great  Western,  became  Sir 
Daniel  Gooch ;  Myles  Fenton,  of  the  South  Eastern, 
Sir  Myles  Fenton ;  James  AUport,  on  the  Midland,  Sir 
James  AUport;  George  Findlay,  on  the  London  and 
North- Western,  Sir  George  Findlay ;  Henry  Oakley, 
on  the  Great  Northern,  Sir  Henry  Oakley ;  Charles 
Scotter,  on  the  South  Western,  Sir  Charles  Scotter; 
Allen  Sarle,  on  the  London,  Brighton  and  South  Coast, 
Sir  Allen  Sarle.  It  is  possible  that  the  railway  servant 
is,  after  all,  more  fortunate  than  the  French  soldier  who 
carries  the  marshal's  baton  in  his  knapsack;  for  some 
day,  the  water-splashed  carriage-cleaner,  the  lad  who 
black-oils  the  wheels  of  the  express,  or  the  dirt- 
begrimed  youth  who  stands  in  the  sidings  blowing 
his  shunting  horn,  may  be  the  chairman  of  a  great 
railway  company,  and  have  **a  handle  to  his  name." 
The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  opening  of  the 
Stockton  and  Darlington  Eailway  was,  on  September 
27th,  1875,  celebrated  at  the  latter  place  with  great 
rejoicing,  in  which  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  and  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  York  took  part.  A  statue  was  unveiled 
by  the  Duke  of  Cleveland  to  the  memory  of  Joseph 
Pease,  and  a  banquet  was  given,  at  which  reference  was 
made  to  railway  and  national  progress. 


OTTR    RATLWATS. 


The  centenary  of  George  Stephenson's  birth  was 
conimeniorateil  both  at  Newcastle  and  at  Chesterfield 
on  the  9th  of  June,  1R81.  At  the  banquet  in  the 
latter  town,  Mr.  Frederick  Swanwicfe,  one  of  George 
Ste]>heuBOD's  pupils,  was 
a  guest,  and  said  he  went 
through  all  the  work  on 
the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  The 
duty  of  the  engineer 
at  that  time  was  not 
simply  to  lay  out  the  line, 
to  make  drawings  and 
specifications.  George 
Stephenson  had  to  design 
the  waggons  to  move  the 
earth,  and  the  cranks  tc 
lift  the  stone,  and  the 
instruments  to  make  the 
permanent  way.  Almosl 
(fr.,m  <.  ii.ofc.(n.pft  h„  tm»k  If.  (!",«■,       thc  last  tiTcte  he  saw  hi* 

Darlinglim.) 

old  master  he  was  in  tht 
society  of  Emerson ;  and,  singular  to  relate,  he  wai 
propounding  to  the  American  thinker  the  theory  thai 
magnetism  and  electricity  would  become  great  powen 
in  the  world.  Lord  Edward  Cavendish,  who  preaidefl 
at  the  Chesterfield  festivity,  spoke  of  the  ma{^niBcenl 
results  of  the  great  engineer's  perseverance,  and  tele- 
graphed to  the  Mayor  of  Newcastle:  "  Thirty  thousand 
people    hare   assembled   in   Chesterfield   to-day  to    dc 


614  OUB  RAILWAYS.  tCh«p.XLiv. 

honour  to  the  memory  of  George  Stephenson.  We 
join  hands  with  you,  and  wish  you  all  success ;  ** 
and  his  worship  replied  r  "  We  reciprocate  your  kindly 
feeling.  At  least,  100,000  men  assembled  here  to-day 
to  do  honour  to  the  memory  of  Stephenson,  and  all 
has  passed  off  well." 

The  north  of  England  will  never  possess  a  more 
striking  reminder  of  honesty,  genius,  and  earnestness 
of  purpose  than  the  lowly  cottage,  clay-floored  and 
bare-raftered,  at  Wylam,  in  which  George  Stephenson 
was  born ;  nor  will  a  more  remarkable  demonstration 
soon  be  witnessed  anywhere  than  the  procession  of 
engines  past  his  birthplace.  This  was  by  far  the  most 
interesting  feature  of  the  centenary  celebrations. 

English  tourists  sauntering  through  the  streets 
of  Brussels,  on  August  16th,  1885,  saw  an  almost 
unique  demonstration  in  the  city,  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  introduction  of  railways  into  the  country 
being  celebrated  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony.  A 
procession,  a  mile  long,  representing  vehicles  of  travel 
in  olden  time  as  well  as  of  the  present  day»  went 
through  the  thoroughfares,  and  included  "a  faithful 
reproduction  of  the  first  train  that  ran  from  Brussels  to 
Malines  in  1835,"  on  which  journey  George  Stephenson 
was  an  observant  passenger,  no  doubt  thinking  much 
but  saying  little  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
Belgian-French,  whose  ways  were  apt  to  be  held  in 
rough  contempt  by  John  Bull  in  the  first  half  of  this 
century. 

Professor  Tyndall's    pathetic   death   on   December 


ciup.XLiv.1  PB0FE880B  TYNDALL  AND  THE  BAILWAT.    615 

4th,  1893,  not  only  drew  attention  to  the  progress 
of  scientific  discovery  in  this  century,  but  also 
recalled  the  fact  that  **  Our  Eailways  '*  havo  been 
developed  in  the  span  of  one  man's  Lfe.  The  hot 
disputant,  the  traveller  in  the  cause  of  science,  the 
climber  of  glaciers,  was  at  the  age  of  twenty-four 
a  railway  engineer;  and  in  the  railway  mania  he 
joined  the  surging  feverish  crowd  that  sought  to 
make  money  quickly  by  dabbling  in  stock,  though 
he  soon  wearied  of  the  clamour  and  fight  for  gain, 
for  he  wrote  to  a  friend  that  during  his  professional 
connection  with  railways  he  endured  three  weeks' 
misery.  It  was  not,  he  said,  defeated  ambition,  or 
a  rejected  suit,  or  hardship  endured  in  office  or 
field ;  but  the  possession  of  shares  in  one  of  the 
lines  then  afloat.  He  was  haunted  by  the  Stock 
Exchange,  and  became  at  last  so  savage  with  him- 
self that  he  went  to  his  brokers,  and  without 
loss  or  gain,  put  away  his  shares  as  an  accursed 
thing. 

History,  as  we  have  seen,  is  now  made  rapidly.  The 
Midland  Railway  Company  run  their  expresses,  with 
first-  and  third-class  dining  cars,  through  the  Lancashire 
and  Yorkshire  station  in  Manchester,  and  by  Hellifield 
and  Carlisle,  in  connection  with  fast  trains  to  Glasgow ; 
but  there  is  a  project  to  make  a  more  direct  line 
between  the  two  cities.  Other  promoters  are  busy 
with  schemes  for  the  construction  of  additional  lines 
in  Yorkshire  and  Derbyshire;  and  the  Lancashire 
and  East  Coast   Eailway  (clinging   to  its   old   name) 


SU  OUR  nA/LWAYa.  [Ctap-XUT. 

is  about  -  to  be  opened.  In  Manchester,  Sheffield 
Glasgow,  and  several  other  cities,  there  have  heet 
further  developments  of  the  steel  track,  and  of  appli- 
ances for  tbe  quick  handling  of  increasing  traffic. 

Railway  enterprise    has    penetrated    into  a   remote 
part  of   North  Cornwall,  as    far   as  Wadebridge.     H 


THU  HOUSB    WHEBK   QEOBOE    BTBPHBNSON  WAS   BOKN  (.Page  614). 

has  moved  higher  up  the  western  country,  too ;  ant 
the  Midland  and  Great  Western  Companies  have  ac 
quired  the  Severn  and  Wye  and  Severn  Bridg< 
Itailway ;  the  North  Wales  and  Liverpool  line,  con 
necting  Mr.  Gladstone's  home  with  the  city  in  whicl 
he  was  born,  is  now  completed ;  and  the  mouotaii 
railway  has  been   carried   up  Snowdon  with  draioati 


ch.^  XLiv.i      RECENT   RAILWAY   ENTERPRISE.  517 

results.  The  navvies  have  tipped  the  last  barrowload 
on  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal  and  tramped  to  new 
toil.  The  great  waterway,  which  cost  six  years  in 
time  and  fifteen  millions  of  money  to  construct,  is  now 
in  full  swing ;  and  is,  if  in  some  sense  a  rival,  already 
a  feeder  of  the  railways. 


THB    BOOM    lir   WHICH   OEOBOE   BTKPKENSOH    WAS   BORN  (,Pagt  GU), 

Two  of  the  most  novel  forms  of  railway  lighting 
and  engineering  have  been  prompted  by  the  applica- 
tion of  electricity  as  an  illuminant  and  as  a  motive 
power.  On  the  Underground  Kailway,  for  instance, 
the  passenger,  by  putting  a  penny  in  the  slot,  can 
turn  on  the  electric  light,  which  glows  from  the  disc 
for  half  an  hour,  and  enables  him  to  read  with  far 
more  comfort  than  he  was  wont   to  do  by  the  fitful 


518  OUB  RAILWAYS.  lOtap.  xuv. 

gleam  of   the  roof  light,  or  the   flicker   and   splutter 
of  the  old-fashioned  reading  lamp. 

From  the  roar  of  London  traffic  to  the  wind- 
swept summit  of  the  great  Orme's  Head,  in  North 
Wales,  is  a  long  step ;  but  the  railway  engineer  takes 
little  thought  of  distance,  and  one  of  his  latest  climbs 
with  theodolite  has  been  up  the  back  of  the  crag 
that  stands  sentinel  to  Meuai  Straits.  The  adven- 
turous think  that  he  will  yet  carry  an  electric  railway 
over  the  shoulder  of  the  Great  Orme  from  the  Llan- 
dudno side,  run  the  line  along  the  slope  behind  Church 
Walks,  up  the  ravine  to  a  point  beneath  Ty'n-y-Coed, 
reach  the  cliff  top  through  a  cutting,  and  go  by 
the  little  church  of  St,  Tudno  to  the  highest  point 
of  the  mountain. 

The  Eailway  Congress  held  in  London  in  June, 
1895,  was  a  significant  gathering.  The  exhibition, 
with  its  quaint  relics  of  engines,  carriages,  signal 
apparatus,  and  rails,  showed  how  crude  were  the  first 
efforts  at  railway  making  and  equipment.  The 
attendance  at  the  Imperial  Institute  of  delegates  from 
many  lands  denoted  that  the  system  of  locomotion,  so 
humbly  originated,  had  spread  throughout  the  world. 
The  experts  deliberated  on  railway  construction,  mo- 
tive power,  bridge  building,  and  light  railways ;  but 
the  speech  of  general  interest  was  that  given  by  the 
Prince   of  Wales.     His  Royal  Highness  said: — 

"  Nearly  seventy  years  ago  the  first  railway  that  was  constructed 
in  the  world — that  between  Stockton  and  Darlington — ^was  opened. 
Five  years  later — in  1830 — under  circumstances  of  the  most  tragio 


Chap.XLiv.i  THE   FUTURE.  619 

kind,  the  first  railway  constructed  under  Parliamentary  powers,  and 
by  money  publicly  subscribed,  was  inaugurated  for  passenger  traffic 
between  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  and  a  ceremony  of  gre^t  interest 
and  of  greater  promise  was  marred  by  the  lamentable  accident  which 
led  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Huskisson.  In  the  sixty  years  which  have 
since  elapsed  the  development  of  railways  has  progressed  throughout 
the  world,  and  we  have  fitly  met  here  to  show  our  interest  in  tliat 
celebrated  industry  which,  probably  more  than  any  other,  has 
enhanced  the  wealth  and  fostered  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and 
has  tended  to  promote  international  friendship  and  universal  good- 
will. The  Railway  Congress  had  its  origin  in  1885,  when  a  number 
of  leading  railway  men  met  in  Brussels  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of 
the  Belgian  railways.  Congresses  have  since  been  held  in  Milan  in 
1887,  and  in  Paris  in  1889,  and  the  last  congress,  which  assembled 
in  St.  Petersburg,  in  1892,  was  mside  memorable  by  the  splendid 
hospitality  and  great  encouragement  given  to  it  by  the  late  lamented 
Emperor  of  Russia.  I  fear  that  we  cannot  promise  you  the  beauty 
of  Italy,  the  gaiety  of  Paris,  or  the  magnificent  reception  which  was 
accorded  to  you  on  the  last  occasion  upon  which  you  met ;  but  we 
can  show  you  in  Manchester,  Liverpool,  Cardiff,  and  Crewe,  great 
centres  of  industry,  from  which  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  derive 
useful  knowledge,  and  in  which  you  will  be  able  also  to  see  examples 
of  the  most  beneficial  work.  I  venture  to  say  this  even  to  our 
friends  from  the  United  States  (a  country  which  owns  nearly  half 
the  railway  mileage  of  the  world)  as  well  as  to  the  representatives 
of  India  and  our  Colonies,  who  have  helped  forward  the  work 
of  railway  development  with  a  speed  and  a  success  which  I  think 
deserve  the  utmost  commendation." 

What  development  of  travel  may  take  place  in  the 
next  half -century,  no  man  can  tell.  Science  has  done 
much  in  the  past  fifty  years,  but  it  is  only  in  its  early 
manhood,  full  of  strength  and  resource,  and  restless  to 
achieve.  In  the  words  of  M.  Zola,  it  is  impossible  to 
imagine  what  "  it  will  wrest  from  the  unknown.'*  It 
may  perfect  the  mechanical  appliances  to  hand,  so  that 
the  engine,  with  electric  headlight,  will  run  at  greatly 

h  h  .6 


JBO  OUn  RAILWAYS.  tcb-p.  iLiv. 

accelerated  speed ;  that  the  passengers  will  he  able  to 
enter  and  alight  from  the  rushing  express,  like  post-bags 
from  the  night  mail,  but  with  less  concussion ;  and  that 
work  on  the  line  will  be  so  safe  that  railway  disaster 
will  occur  no  more,  and  become  merely  a  fable.  It 
is  even  possible  that  science  may  discover  a  new 
motive  power  that  wiU  eclipse  steam  and  electricity, 
and  make  our  progress  through  the  world  not  less 
graceful  and  easy,  and  even  swifter,  than  the  swallow's 
flight. 

In  the  meantime,  we  have  not  much  to  grumble  at. 
It  is  the  fashion  to  talk  of  the  greatness  of  the  past, 
particularly  of  the  industrial  skill,  the  art,  and  the 
culture  of  ancient  Egypt.  The  people  were  clever  in 
painting,  in  pottery,  in  making  flower-garlands,  and  in 
tlie  melancholy  work  of  building  tombs ;  but,  though 
they  had  a  knowledge  of  the  expansive  force  of  steam, 
they  failed  to  apply  it.  The  great  of  the  past  had  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  lurch  and  jolt  of  the  camel.  Notwith- 
standing the  glamour  that  spreads  right  away  from  the 
Twelfth  Dynasty  down  to  the  "  good  old  times,"  one 
feels  that,  taking  eveiything  into  consideration,  it  is 
better  to  be  alive  now  !  Certainly,  we  have  the  advan- 
tage in  the  matter  of  travelling.  Professor  Thurston 
says  the  steam  engine  is  the  source  and  foundation,  to 
a  great  extent,  of  our  material,  intellectual,  and  moral 
wealth ;  that  it  stands  or  runs,  "  a  mist-giant,  a  genius 
of  more  than  Aladdin-like  power,  the  maker  and 
guardian  of  modem  life." 

It  is  also  a  quick  and  faithful  servant,  driven  by 


Chap  XLIV.)  FINIS.  521 

industrial  heroes,  and  guarded  on  its  danger-crossed  path 
by  watchful  men,  who,  amid  the  incessant  roar  of 
passing  train  on  city  track,  or  in  lonely  vigil  in  country 
cabin,  have  to  find  their  chief  satisfaction  and  solace  in 
duty  well  done.  Now  it  is  possible,  even  to  the  poorest, 
to  break  the  monotony  of  life;  to  run  on  a  half-day 
trip  from  the  stifling  air  of  the  mill  to  the  shaft  of 
sunlight  that  gleams  on  the  wild  flowers  in  the  glade, 
or  plays  about  the  old  boat  that  after  many  a  run  and 
tack  in  storm,  now  leans  at  rest  on  shore,  with  its  rusty 
keel  half  buried  in  the  sand.  To  the  rich  the  locomo- 
tive has  opened  up  an  exquisite  variety  of  existence,  of 
travel  even  in  the  remotest  land ;  and  at  home  it  pulls 
us  so  quickly  from  city  to  city,  in  such  roomy,  comfort- 
able carriages,  that  there  is  hardly  any  point  now 
in  Touchstone's  half- reproach  in  As  Yo?i  Like  It: 
"  When  I  was  at  home,  I  was  in  a  better  place ;  but 
travellers  must  be  content." 


^1^  " 


I 

■ 


i 


I 

I 


INDEX. 


Abercom,  Duchess  of,  and  the  Abergele 

accident,  ii.  423 
Aberdeen,  The  express  journey  to,  i.  65, 

530;  ii  257-258 
Aborgele  accident,  ii  420-427 
Abingdon  (Caledonian  Railway),  Acci- 
dent at,  ii.  420 
Abinger,  Lord,  on  railways,  ii.  189 
Accidents,  Railway : — 

Abbot's  Cliff,  Tunnel,  ii.  437 

Abbots  Ripton,  ii.  436 

Abergele,  ii.  420,  422-427 

Abingdon  (Caledonian),  ii.  420 

Apperley,  ii.  388,  389 

Arlesey,  ii.  436 

Athcrstono,  ii.  414 

Auchterless,  ii.  441 

Azov,  Ac<:ident  to  the  Czar's  train 
at,  ii405 

Bamby  Junction,  ii.  457 

Barnsley,i.l89;  ii  429 

Bicester,  ii.  409 

Birmingham  (Lawley  Street),  ii. 
458 

Bishopsgate  Station,  ii.  459 

Blackburn,  ii.  440 

Blackheath,  ii.  416 

Borough  Miirket,  ii.  195,  196 

Broamore,  ii.  442 

Brockley  Whins,  ii.  429 

Burnley,  ii.  409 

Burscough,  ii.  438 

Canonbury,  ii.  440 

CarUsle,  ii.  292,  428 

Clayton  Tunnel,  ii.  414 

Chelford,  ii.  469 

Clifton,  ii.  432 

Copley  HiU,  ii.  403 

Cowlairs,  ii.  409 

Dee  Bridge,  ii.  408 

Dixenfold,  ii.  410 

Dunkitt,  ii  411 

Egham,  ii.  415 

Esholt,  ii  458,  459 

Frodsham,  ii.  409 

Fumess,  ii.  405 

Qaberston,  ii.293 

OxMAton,  ii  418 


Accident,  Railway  {eoniinu^d) — 
Guildford,  ii.  400 
llampstead  Ueath,  ii.  03-97 
Hampton  Wick,  ii.  452 
Harrow,  ii.  429 
Hatfield,  ii.  429 
Helmshore,  ii.  41  Ji 
Hexthorpe,  ii.  448-452 
Howdon,  ii  406 
Kentish  Town,  ii.  414 
Kibworth,  ii  404 
KiUwick,  ii.  43t> 
Kirtlebridge,  ii.  432 
Leatherhead,  ii.  32i»,  330 
Leicester,  ii.  295 
Lewisham,  ii.  411 
Llan  Wissant  Junction,  ii.  468 
Lockerbie,  ii.  441 
Long  Eaton,  ii.  427 
Lvnn,  ii.  415 
IVfanuel  Junction,  ii.  434 
Masborough,  ii  407 
Me<lway  Bridge,  ii.  408 
Morpeth,  ii.  437 
Newark,  ii.  411;  (second)  428 
Nine  Elms,  ii.  438 
North  London,  ii.  440 
Norwood  Junction,  ii.  370,  456 
Oxenholme,  ii.  402 
Oxford,  ii  4 10 
Paisley,  ii.  438 
Park  wood  Springs,  ii.  299 
Penistone,ii  300, 442-445;  (second) 

446,  447 
Pontypridd,  ii.  438 
Poulton  (Blackpool),  ii  460-468 
Preston,  ii.  432 
Radstock,  ii.  436 
Rednal,  ii.  416 
Round  Oak,  ii.  412 
St  Neots,  ii.  469 
Shipton,  ii.  435 
Shrivenham,  ii.  409 
Sittingboume,  ii.  437 
Sonninghill,  ii.  407 
South  Wingfield,  ii.  299 
Staplehur8t,ii.  416-418 
Straffan,  ii.  410 


OUR    RAILWAYS. 


SKavisx..  ii.  41S 
Timworth,  ii.  428,  429 
Taunton,  ii.  454-4aS 
Tay  Bridge,  ii.  352-357 
Think,  i.  99,  ii.  460-4ea 
Thorpe,  ii.  4.14 
Tottenham,  ii,  412,413 
Vcrsaille*,  i.  107,  108 
Walton  Junction,  ii.  418 
Warren  Point,  ii.  452.16* 
Waterloo,  ii.  4ii;i 
Wennington,  ii,  438 
WeyhiU.ii.  271-273 
Winnhbiirgh,  ii,  414 
Wolverton,  ii,  408 
Accidents,  liailway,  iji  the  early  days 
of  railways,  i.  63  ;  the  Uuecn'eletU'r 
to     directors     on,   98,  S'j ;     ii.   \-5. 
61-63,   398-469;    humour  of,  399; 
number  ot,in  1892,467 
"  Active  "  locomotive.  The,  L  38 
Activity  of  Nature,  i.  1 
Actora  and  rail  way  B,  ii.  110 
AciTorth,  W.  M.,  his   "  Railways  of 
England  "quoted.!.  60  ;  hia  deacrip- 
tioQ  of  conducting  goods  traffic,  138, 
of  the  sulitorraneaTi  rvstem  at  St. 
I'ancnis,    230  ;     on    King's    Cross 
Station,  298  ;  hie  definition  of  canti- 
levers, ii.  361 
"Adventures  of  Philip,"  Thackeray's, 

allusion  to,  i.  206 

Advertisement   ot    the   London   and 

Edinburgh    coach,    i.   17;    of   the 

"  Experiment "  railway  coach,  37 

Advertisements,     liailway.    Cost    of, 

during  the  railway  mania,  i.  197 
Africa,  Modes  of  travelling  in,  i.  2 
Agrieota,   Julius,   his    communication 
between  London  and  Chester  com- 

Kred  by  Sir  Robert  Peel  with  the 
indon  and  North- Western  Railway, 
i,  128 


i.  179 

Alarms,  Cairingo,  ii,  200,  202 
Albert,  Prince,  and  railway  travelling, 

i.  91,92;  and  George  Hudson,  199; 

at  Orimsby  Docks,  354 
Alitrt  Vieti/r  steamboat,  i,  465 
Alderaon,   Baron,    his    views  on    the 

uneuitability   of  Chat  Moss  for   a 

Alightios'fromtrainB,ii,43,44 
AlkaU   work!  at  Widuea,    i.  71,  72: 


their  effect  on  nilway  tel^raph 
wires,  121 

Allen,  Mr,  JosefJii,  Cbiim  agaiiut 
the  Midland  Railway  Company  of 
widow  of,  ii.  473 

Allport,  Sir  James,  Death  of,  i.  169, 
ii.  163;  and  Hudson's  election  for 
Snnderland,  i.  200,  201 ;  on  the  pro- 
posed Midlnnd  hno  in  Scotland,  237; 
nnd  third-class  passengers,  ii.  I6S, 
167  :  testimonial  to,  IGti ;  aa  director, 
16B;  "the  BismanJt  of  railway 
politics,"  174  ;  and  Pullman  Cara, 
196:  in  an  accident,  296  ;  and  the 
RailwHv  Clmring  House,  4i9,  480; 
hia  fortune,  SIO 

Alma-Tadcma.  Mr,,  his  opposition  to 
the  mil  way  through  St.  John'*  Wood, 
i.  358,  365 

Amalgs  mated.  Society  ot  Bkilway 
Servants,  ii.  113,114 

Ambcrgate,  Line  to  Rowiley  from,  i- 
247 

America,  Railway  travelling  in  remoto 
parts  of,  ii,  228 ;  speed  of  trains  in. 
243;  Oiarles  Dickens  on  railways 
in,  245-248 

American  can  on  the  South-Eaatem 
Railway,  ii.  206 

American  drawing-room  car,  ii,  207 

American  aleeping-car,  Incidant  in  an, 
ii.  44 

American  Eagle  Train,  i,  443 

American  eicundon  from  Havre,  ii.  77 

Anderson,  Dr.,  Account  of  Woolwich 
Arsenal  Railway  by,  ti.  102 

Anecdote  of  the  locomotive  and  the 

Angling  otiiaak  Walton  in  tho  Dore, 

i.  166,  167 
Animals,  Carriage  of,  iL  111,  112 
"  Annals  of  our  Time,"  On  the  railway 

mania  of  1845,1.  197,  108 
Annesley,   Line  from  Slaveley  to,   L 

367 
Apperley  Viaduct,  Accident  at,  ii,  388, 


291 

Arkwrigbt,  Mrs.  William,  tuma  first 
Bod  of  the  Lancaahire,  Derbyahire 
and  East  Coast  RaUway,  i.  380,  381 

Armour-plated  trains,  i,  225 

AnnytBge,  Mr.,  Chairman  of  the  Lan- 
cashire and  Yorkshire  Railway,ii.lS4 

Arnold,  Dr.,  of  Rugby,  on  ths  Lond<al 
and  Binniogham  Railway,  i.  8S 


INDEX. 


525 


Arrol,  Sir  W.,  and  the  Forth  Bridge, 

ii.  364 
"  Arrow  "  locomotive,  The,  i.  68 
A»  You  Like  It  quoted,  ii.  521 
Ashbourne,  Railway  from,  i.  156,  158, 
note;    attractions  of,    156;    Izaak 
Walton  at,  156,  157;  Dr.  Johnson 
at,  403 
Ashford,  Incident  in  an  express  at,  ii. 

86 
Assault  on  the  railway,  ii.  22-25,  42 
Athcrstone,  Accident  at,  ii.  414 
Atlantic  Cable,  The,  i.  413,  414 
*'  Atbis  "  locomotive.  The,  ii.  227,  228 
Aylesbury,  Extension  of  Metropolitan 

Railway  to,  i.  367,  516 
Ayrshire  and  Wigtown  Railway,  i. 
554,  555 ;  transference  to  the  Glas- 
gow and  South- Western  Railway  of 
the,  555 
Azov,  Accident  to  the  Czar's  train  at, 
ii  406 


Bainbridge,  Mr.  Emerson,  Chairman 
of  the  Lancashire,  Derbyshire  and 
East  Coast  Railway,  i.  382 

Baines,  Sir  Edward,  i«  185 

Baker,  Sir  Benjamin,  and  the  proposed 
bridge  across  the  Channel,  i.  460 ; 
and  the  Forth  Bridge,  ii.  364 

Bakewell,  Railway  through,  i.  249 

Balcombe  Tunnel,  Incident  of  discon- 
nected truck  with  passenger  in  the, 
i.  60;  and  the  Lefroy  murder,  ii. 
17—22 

Balfour,  M.P.,  Mr.  A.  J.,  on  speeches 
from  railway  carriages,  ii.  30 

Balfour  of  Burleigh,  Lord,  and  rail- 
way rates,  ii.  486,  487 

Ballater,  The  Queen's  journey  to,  i. 
100-103 

Balmoral,  The  Queen's  journey  to,  i. 
100-103 

Bank  Holiday,  The  first,  ii.  82;  ex- 
cursions  on,  82-86 

Banner  Cross,  i.  299 

Barmaids,  Railway,  ii.  135,  136 

Bamby  Junction,  Accident  at,  ii.  457 

Bamsloy*  Railways  at,  i.  281,  282 

Barrow,  i.  288 

Barry  Docks,  i.  399,  402 

Barry  Railway,  Strike  of  servants  on 
the,  iL  262,  264 

Bass,  Mr.  Michael  Thomas,  i.  186 

Bass,  Ratclifie  and  Gret  ton's,  Messrs., 
excursioDa  to  Blackpool,  ii«  76|  77 


Bassett,  Sir  William,  and  the  super- 
stitions of  Buxton,  i.  156 

Bath,  Great  Western  station  at,  i.  427 

**  Battle  of  Saxby  Bridge,"  i.  214 

Bazaar  at  Chunng  Cross  for  the  Rail- 
way Temperance  Union,  i.  438,  439 

*•  Beak  "  Engine,  A,  i.  452 

Beatrice,  Princess,  opens  Saltaire  Ex- 
hibition, i.  98 ;  companion  of  the 
Queen  in  railway  travelling,  105, 106 

*'  Beatrice  "  locomotive,  i.  98 

Beavis,  ^Ir.,  on  second-  and  third-class 
traffic  on  the  London  and  North- 
western Railway,  ii.  185 

Beckett,  Sir  Edmund  [see  Grimthorpe, 
Lord) 

Beefsteak  dinner  at  which  the  Midland 
Railway  originated,  i.  171 

Boer  traffic  on  the  Midland  Railway, 
i.  228 

Belper,  The  Strutts  of,  their  opposition 
to  the  railway,  i.  179 

Boresford  Dale,  i.  157 

Berkeley,  M.P.,  Mr.,  on  railways,  L  90 

Bormondsey,  Price  of  land  in,  i.  448, 
449 

Boss  of  Hardwick,  i.  273  ;  her  char- 
acter, and  her  work  at  Hardwick 
Hall,  274 

Bessemer,  Mr.,  on  steel  mils,  i.  416 

Beasoner  aiesunhoaX,  i.  457 

Bickersteth,  Mr.,  of  the  liondon  and 
North- Western  Railway  Company, 
on  the  Forged  Transfers  Act,  i.  159  ; 
and  railway  rates,  ii.  497 

Bidder,  Q.C.,  Mr.,  and  the  opponents 
of  the  Manchester,  Sheffield  and 
Lincolnshire  Railway  extension  to 
Ijondon,  1.  365 

"  Bilberry  and  Besom  Line,  The,"  i. 
247 

Bill,  for  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
liailway,  i.  42-46 ;  for  tlio  I/ondon 
and  Birmingham  Railway,  80,  81 ; 
for  the  Sheffield  Railway,  180 ;  for  the 
London  and  York  Railway,  216,  217; 
for  new  line  of  the  Lancashire, 
Derbyshire,  and  East  Coast  Railway, 
276 ;  for  extending  the  Manchester, 
Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire  Railway 
to  London,  361,  363 ;  Cheap  trains, 
390,  394,  395  ;  Great  Northern  and 
City  Railway,  522;  Clapham  Junc- 
tion and  Paddxngton  Electrio  Riul- 
way,  623,  624 

«  Billy  "  locomotive,  i  338 

Binna,  Mr.  Charles,  secretary  to  Q^rge 
StepheMon,  i.  176 


OUB    BAILWAT3. 


Birds,  Speed  of,  compared  wiUi  nilway 
BpMd,i.64 

Bird's  nest  in  a  goods  train,  i.  !S 

Birley,  M.P„  Mr.,  i.  43 

BirminKhain,  Accident  at,  ii  46B 

Bimiingham,  Boilwa]'  from  St.  Helens 
to,  i.  72  ;  coostruction  of  railway  to 
London  from,  72-74,  78-82,  84-88 
(itf  also  London  and  BinninKham 
Bailway)  ;  line  to  Gloucester  bum, 
18»,  223;  the  Midland  traffic  at, 
239;  its  activity  and  procperity, 
239  ;  self-praise  of  tho  people  of, 
239 :  its  warehouses  and  varieties  of 
Irad^,  240;  New  Street  Stnlion, 
244,  245,  ii.  149;  last  trains  to,  ii, 
264  ;  fog  at,  391 

Birminghtim  and  Derby  Bailvay, 
mergod  into  the  Midland  Railway 
vith  the  North  Midland  and  Mid- 
land Counties  liuilways.  i.  189 

Bishops  and  the  North-Eaatera  Rail- 
May,  i.  3.'!1,  332 

Bishopsgate  warehouses,  i.  338 

UiNhopatoke,  London  and  South. 
Western  works  at,  i.  436 

"Bismarck  of  railway  politius,  Tho," 
ii.  174 

Blackburn,  Population  of,  L  164 

Bhickie,  Professor,  i.  462 

Blackpool  to  Manchester,  The  journey 
from,  i.  163  ;  number  of  vlaitaia  to, 
166;  eicunion  from  Burton  to,  ii. 
77;  population,  buildings,  pro- 
menade, ele, ,  of ,  84  ;  the  paradise 
of  eicuraionista,  83,  86 

Blackwall  tunnel,  ii.  340 

Blackwell  MiU  Junction,  i.  353 

Blea  Moor,  i.  290,  292 

Block-ayatem,  Introduction  of,  i.  8 

Block  system  of  signalling,  ii.  311 

"  Bliicher  "  engine.  The,  i.  30 ;  ii.  226 

Boodicea,  Queen,  and  her  defeat  by 
the  Eomans  near  present  site  of 
King's  Cross  Station,  i.  299 

Board  of  Trade,  and  workmen's  trains, 
i.  389,  391 ;  regulations  of,  for 
composite  traioa,  ii.  194  ;  and  tbo 
Scotch  railway -atrike,  266 ;  and 
railway  accidents,  431 ;  and  railway 
rates,  4BI>,  496,  497,  601 

Board-room,  Discipline  in  the,  i.  136 

Bogie  carriages,  ii.  194-196,  ISS 

Bogie  engines,  ii.  223 

Bolsover,  Ancient  biatory  of,  i.  272. 
273 ;  coal  trade  of,  273 ;  buckles  and 
spuraot,  273 ;  theLancasliire.Derby- 
Uaze  mod  Eut  Coast  Railway  at,  381 


Bolton,  PopidAtiDn  ot  L  IM;  axenr- 

sionists  of,  ii.  S3 
Bolton   and    Kenyon   Junction    lin^ 
Train-lighting  on  the,  iL  214 

Bolton  and  Leigh  Railway,  i.  69,  TO 

Booking-office,  Cuiioiu  notice  in  a, 
ii.  119 

BookatsUs,  Railway,  ii.  136,  137 

Bottles,  'Throwing,  out  of  carriage- 
windowa,  ii.  7 

■'  Bottomleaa  Pit,  The  "  u.  316 

Bourne,  tti.,  hit  history  of  the 
Orcat  Western  Railway  qooled,  i. 
403 

Box  Tunnel  on  the  Great  Western 
line,  ii.  334 

Boy,  The,  and  the  lamp-hole,  iL  39, 
40 

Boyle,  Sir  Couitonay,  and  railway 
rates,  ii,  487 

Braboume,  Lord,  on  third-class  passen- 
gers on  the  South-Esstem  Railway, 
1.  461  ;  on  the  proposed  amalga- 
mation of  the  South -Eastern  and 
London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Rail- 
ways, 468,  469.  470 

Bradford,  the  Midland  station  at,  L 
242,  2B4  ;  the  Great  'Northern 
Company  at,  284 ;    fast  trains  to. 


"  Biadshaw's  Railway  Manual, "quoted, 

i.  376 

Biadahaw's  Time-tables,  ii.  141-143, 
162,  164,  156 

Biaith  waite's  and  Ericsson's  "  Novelty  " 
locomotive,  trial  of,  at  Rainhill,  L 
63,  64,  66 

Brakes.  Failure  in  action  of,  ii.  52  ; 
continuous,  202 

Brandling  Junction  Railway,  i.  339 

Break-down  trains,  ii.  398 

Brassoy,  Lord,  and  the  amalgamation 
of  railway  companias.  i.  467 

Brasaey,  lliomaa,  hia  work  on  the 
Ponkricigo  Viaduct,  i.  109;  con- 
structs the  Pahs  and  Rouen  Rail- 
way, 110;  and  the  Trent  Vallev 
Line,  181 

Breach  of  privilege  by  Cambrian 
Railway  directors,  ii.  276-280 

Brickwali,  Mr.,  of  the  Great  Northern 
staff,  on  the  Manchester  express  to 
London,  i.  307,  308;  "Round  the 
Works  of  Our  Oreat  Bailwaya" 
quoted,  ii  SOB 


INDEX. 


627 


Bridge,  across  the  Dee,  i.  369,  ii.  342  ; 
across  Ludgate  HiU,  i.  406 ;  at 
Friargate,  Derby,  406 ;  the  Wicker 
Sheffield,  406  ;  Briggate,  Leeds,  406 
in  Manchester,  406;  Saltash,  410 
Maidenhead,  410;  Clifton  Suspen- 
sion, 411 ;  project  for  one  across  the 
Channel,  460 ;  of  London,  Chatham 
and  Dover  Bailway  across  the 
Thames,  462 ;  over  the  Arun,  ii. 
341 ;  Humber,  341 ;  Newcastle,  342  ; 
Royal  Border,  342;  Runcorn,  342; 
Duddon  Sands,  342 ;  Congleton, 
342  ;  Conway,  344  ;  Menai,  344-350  ; 
connectiug  the  London  and  Holy- 
head Road,  350,  352  ;  Tamar,  352  ; 
Tay,  352-358;  Forth,  i.  369,  370, 
530;  ii.  236,  358-366;  Westminster, 
366;  London,  366;  Tower,  368; 
Appork'V,  388;  Llandulas,  390; 
Crow  Mills,  387 

Bridges,  Heads  coming  in  contact 
with,  i.  63;  made  at  Crewe,  123; 
collapse  of,  ii.  374-376 

Bridgewater,  Countess  of,  her  opposi- 
tion to  the  London  and  Birmingham 
Railway,  i.  74 

Bridgewater,  Duke  of,  the  survey  of 
his  land  for  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  i.  41,  42 

Brighton,  as  a  fashionable  resort,  i. 
473;  speed  of  trains  to  and  from, 
474  ;  journey  in  the  time  of  George 
IV.  to,  474 ;  Prince  George  and  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  at,  474,  475 ;  coach 
traffic  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
between  London  and,  475 ;  railway 
traffic  to,  475 ;  incident  of  a  bad 
coal-fire  and  the  Yorkshireman  at 
an  hotel  in,  478 

Brighton  steamship.  The,  i.  484 

Bristol,  Line  from  Gloucester  to,  i. 
189  ;  express  trains  to,  ii.  254 

Bristowe,  Judge,  fired  at  by  a  disap- 
pointed suitor,  ii.  12 

Broad  Street  Station,  Goods  traffic  at, 
i.  140 

Broadstairs,  Fondness  of  Charles 
Dickons  for,  i.  446 

Brotherhood  engines.  The,  ii.  218 

Brougham,  The,  i.  6 

Brougham,  Lord,  and  the  Bill  for  the 
London  and  York  liailway,  i.  216 

Brougham,  William,  counsel  for  the 
promoters  of  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  Railway,  i.  43 

Brunei,  I.  E.,  portrait  of,  i.  408  ;  swal- 
lowing a  hidf-BOvereign,  409,  410 ; 


works  day  and  night  at  the  Thames 
Tunnel,  410  ;  appointed  engineer  to 
the  Great  Western  Railway,  411; 
builds  the  Oreat  Western^  411; 
recommends  Daniel  Gooch  to  the 
Great  Western  Railway,  413;  and 
the  Lickey  incline,  ii.  102;  his 
locomotive  "Hurricane,"  228. 

Brunei,  Marc  Isambard,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  the  Thames  Tunnel,  ii.  338 

Brussels,  Fiftieth  anniversary  of  in- 
troduction of  railways  into,  ii.  514 

Buckingham,  Duke  of.  Coach  driven 
by,  i.  5 

Buckland,  Frank,  and  his  animals,  ii. 
111,112 

Buckley,  Mr.  J.  F.,  and  the  case  of 
John  Hood,  ii.  275,  277,  278 

Bugsworth,  Landslip  at,  i.  255 

Bullock-waggon,  Travelling  in  a,  i.  3 

Burnley,  Population  of,  i.  164 ;  ex- 
cursions from,  ii.  87 

Bums,  M.P.,  Mr.  John,  and  the  Rail- 
way Servants'  Hours  of  Labour  Bill, 
ii.  283 

Burstall's  "  Persevei-nnce  "  locomotive, 
i.  63,  56 

Bury^,  Population  of,  i.  164 

Busmess,  Customs  of,  before  the  ad- 
vent of  railways,  i.  131 

Bute  Docks,  i.  399,  401 

Buxton,  Opposition  to  the  railway  to, 
i.  124  ;  brought  nearer  town  by  the 
new  line  from  Ashbourne,  156 ; 
Lord  Cromwell  and  the  superstitions 
of,  156;  the  waters  and  baths  of, 
156;  as  a  fashionable  resort,  156; 
extension  of  the  Midland  system  to, 
247 

Buxton  and  Topley  pike,  Coaches 
between,  i.  26 


Cabriolet,  or  cab.  The,  L  6 

Calais  and  Dover,  First  proposals  for  a 
tunnel  between,  i  52 

Calais- Do uvres  steamboat,  i.  455 

Caledonian  Railway,  Shape  of,  i.  539 ; 
capital  of,  539  ;  extent  and  earnings 
of,  639 ;  reduction  in  dindends  in, 
541 ;  its  fight  with  the  North  British 
Company,  546-548;  carriages  and 
signalling  apparatus  on,  648 ;  strike 
of  servants  of,  ii.  264-268,  271 ;  train 
on  fire  at  Abingdon  on,  420 

Cambrian  Railways  Company,  i.  399  ; 
case  of  John  Hood  and  (he  directors 
of,  ii.  273-280 


528 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


Camden,  Traina  worked  by  itationary 
engine  between  Euaton  and,  L  127 

Cameron,  Commander,  travelling  in  a 
hammock  in  Africa,  L  2 

Cmmpania,  The,  ii.  76  ^ 

Canal,  Leeds  and  lirerpool,  L  70; 
Manchester,  Bolton  and  Borv,  71 ; 
Sankey,  71;  Manchester  Ship,  88, 
174,  269 ;  Shropshire  Union,  123  ; 
at  Spondon,  diverted  for  the  Midland 
Counties  Railway,  174;  Bamsley, 
177 ;  Aire  and  Calder,  179  ;  Crom- 
ford,  210  ;  Grand  Junction,  400 

Canal- boat.  Transit  of  goods  by,  L  6, 
21 

Canal-boats,  m<ade  at  Crowe,  i.  123 

Canals,  C'Onstruction  of,  i.  20 

Carnarvon,  ii.  344 

Canterbury  and  Whitstable  Bailway, 
i.  69 

Cantilevers,  il  360,  361 

Capital,  Diversion  of,  to  railway  enter- 
prise, i.  69;  subscribed  for  the 
Kuncom  Railway,  69 ;  increase  in 
fifty  years  of  railway,  ii.  482,  606 

Car,  Irish,  travelling  in  an,  i.  3 

Card-sharpers,  ii.  5 

Cardiff,  Train  service  to,  i.  401,  405 

Caricatures  of  George  Hudson,  i.  203 

Carlisle,  Midland  line  to,  i.  287, 288 

Carlyle,  Name  applied  to  George 
Hudson  by.  i.  206 

Camforth,  i.  286 

Carriages  in  England  and  France  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  i  4 

Carriers*  carts.  Travelling  by,  i.  6, 7, 16 

Cartoons  ridiculing  the  Eastern 
Counties  Railway,  i.  377,  378 

*•  Cassell^s  Time  Tables  and  Through- 
Route  Guide,"  il  166 

Castalia  steamboat,  i,  467 

Castleton,  Lead-mining  at,  ii.  316 

Cavendish,  Lord  Edward,  and  the  cen- 
tenary of  George  Stephenson's  birth, 
ii.  612 

Central  London  (Electric)  Railway,  i. 
623 

Central  Pacific  Railway,  Drawing-room 
car  on,  ii.  207 

Central  Railway,  Glasgow,  i.  652 

Central  Railway  of  New  Jer8ey,Engine- 
driver  on  the,  L  648 

Central  Statipn,  Liverpool,  i.  259,  260 

Central  Station,  Manchester,!  256-258 

Chairman  of  a  railway  company, 
Duties  of,  i.  136,  137 

Chamberlain,M.P.,  Mr.  Joseph,  quoted, 
L80,81 


Channel,  Project  for  buildiii^  a  bridge 
acroos  the,  i.  460;  difficulties  d 
steering  a  ship  in  the,  461 

Channel  Tunnel,  First  proposals  for,  i. 
52;  Mr.  Gladstone  supports  Sir 
Edward  Watkin's  scheme  for,  369 : 
works  near  Folkestone  of,  467; 
romance  concerning  the,  469;  ob- 
jections to,  ii.  316,  317 

dumning,  M.P.,  Bir.  F.  A.,  and  the 
excessive  hours  of  railway  servants, 
ii.  271,  note ;  and  the  directors  of 
the  Cambrian  Railways,  278 

Charing  Cross  Hotel,  L  449 

Chariot,  of  Ericthonius,  Travelling  in 
the,  i.  8  ;  in  the  later  days  of  Athens, 
3 ;  of  Romans,  8,  4 ;  of  Uie  Ethiopian 
officer,  4 

Charles,  Prince,  his  retreat  in  Scotland, 
i.  632 

"  Qiarles  Dickens*'  locomotive,  i.  16S 

Cham  wood  Forest  Railway,  ii.  287 

Chartist  riots  at  Sheffield,  i.  345 

Chat  Moss,  The  soil  and  exposed 
position  of,  i.  46 ;  drained  by  George 
Stephenson,  47 ;  cost  of  draining,  48; 
Sir  W.  B.  Forwood*s  allusion  to, 
263 

Chatsworth,  ii.  248 

Cheap  Trains  Act,  L  390,  394 

Cheltenham,  Great  Western  station  at, 
i.  428 

Chesham,  Watercresses  of,  i.  407 

Chester,  Railway  from  Crewe  to,  i.  122; 
widening  of  line  from  Birkenhead  to, 
373,  374  ;  racecourse  at,  374 ;  Bir. 
Solly  and  the  refreshment  con- 
tractors at,  ii  131,  132 

Chester  and  Birkenhead  Railway, 
Fighting  amongst  navvies  on  the, 
i.  112 

Chester  and  Holyhead  Railway, 
acquired  by  the  London  and  Norw- 
Westem  Railway,  i.  143 

Chesterfield,  as  a  coaching  town,  i.  274; 
railway  associations  of,  276;  Mr. 
Ruskin  and,  276  ;  Midland  Railway 
at,  276 ;  the  Manchester,  Sheffield 
and  Lincolnshire  Railway  at,  276  ; 
the  Lancashire,  Derbyshire  and  East 
Coast  Railway  at,  276,  380;  com- 
memoration of  centenary  of  George 
Stephenson's  birth  at,  ii.  612 

Children,  Accidents  to,  on  railways, 
ii.  2,  3 

Chinley,  Railway  to,  L  88 

Choules,  Jamei^  goods  guard,  Oaaa  of, 
ii  271-278 


INDEX. 


529 


^Christmas  Eve,  Mail  trains  on,  i.  508- 

Church,  Bishop  of  Dakota*s  travelling, 
ii.  139 

Churchyard,  St.  Pancras,  i.  234 

CUif  of  Berlin,  i.  443 

City  and  South  London  Electric  Rail- 
way, i.  518-522 

Citi/  of  Cheater,  i.  443 

City  of  New  York,  i.  441,  443,  445 

City  of  Farit,  i.  441,445 

Civilisation  of  England  partly  effected 
by  the  railway,  i.  16,  89 

ClanHcarde,  Lord,  and  the  broker's 
clerk,  i.  191 

Clapham  Junction  and  Paddington 
Electric  Railway  Bill,  i.  523,  524 

Clarence,  Duke  of,  Death  of,  i.  103, 
104  ;  the  train  carrying  the  body  of, 
104 

Class  distinctions,  partly  removed  by 
railways,  i.  90 

Clay  Cross  Tunnel,  i.  181 

Cleethorpes,  The  growth  of,  L  352 

Clements,  William,  the  **La8t  of  the 
Whips,"  ii.  92 

Cleveland,  Duke  of,  unveils  statue  of 
Joseph  Pease,  ii.  511 

Clifton  Suspension  Bridge,  Brunei's 
design  for,  i.  411 

Club  Train,  i.  451,452 

Clubs  of  mill-hands  in  Lancashire,  ii. 
87 

Coach,  Building  of  the  first,  i.  17; 
incidents  of  travelling  by,  5,  6,  18- 
20 ;  Prince  George  driving  from 
Brighton  by,  475 

Coaches  in  England,  the  first,  i.  4-6 ; 
of  the  17th  and  18th  centuries,  17, 
18  ;  in  the  present  day,  26,  27 

Coal,  Seam  of,  at  Dover,  i.  461,  478 ; 
prices  of,  in  1873,  465  ;  at  Brighton, 
478;  when  first  used,  ii.  314 

Coal  Agreement  of  1863,  i.  315 

Coal-pits,  Tram-roads  from,  i.  21  ; 
in  Nottinghamshire  and  Derbyshire, 
172 

Coal  trade.  Impetus  given  by  Midland 
Railway  to,  i.  172;  disputes  in  the, 
339 ;  strike  of  1893  in  the,  ii.  269, 
270 

Coal  traffic.  Block  of,  during  Exhibition 
of  1851,  i.  227  ;  dispute  between 
Great  Northern  and  Midland  Rail- 
ways, i.  316-317 

Coat  of- arms  of  the  London  and  North- 
western Railway,  i.  154 

Cockshott,  Mr.   Francis,   and  the  St. 
•  • 
f  f 


Leger  traffic  on  the  Great  Northern 

Railway,  i.  309,  310 
Coffin,    Sir    Isaac,   his    opposition  in 

Parliament    to    the    Liverpool  and 

3Ianchester  Railway  Bill,  i.  46 
CoUingwood,  Robert,  and  the  North- 

Eastem  Railway,  Case  of,  ii.  275 
Colville,    Lord,   ez-chairman   of   the 

Great  Northern  Railway,  i.  313,  310 
«  Comet "  locomotive.  The,  i.  58,  172 ; 

ii.  227 
Comical  trains,  i.  34-36 
**  Commodore  "  caach.  The,  i.  18 
Communication-cord,  The,  ii.  200 
Compensation  to  landowners  for  the 

London  and  Birmingham  I^iilwuy, 

i.  81 
Compensation  claims  against  railways, 

u.  470-476 
Competition,  Locomotive,  at  Rainhill, 

i.  53-56 
Composite    trains.    Board    of    Tnulo 

R^ulations  for,  ii.  194 
Conacher,  Mr. ,  general  manag<?r  of  the 

North  British  Railway,  i.  549 ;  and 

the  ease  of  John  Hood,  iu  275 
Congleton  Viaduct,  The,  i.  252 
Continuous  brakes,  ii.  202 
Convict  carriage  trucks,  i.  115 
Conway,  Itiver,  iL  342  ;  bridge  at,  344 
Cook,  Mr.  J.  M,  on  the  excursions 

to  the  Exhibition  of  1861,  i.  222.  223 
Cook,  Thomas,  Death  of,  i.  159 ;  his 

first  excursion  train,   210,   213,  ii. 

96  ;  his  excursions  to  the  Exhibition 

of  1851,222 
Cooper,  Mr.  F.  E.,  engineer  of  Forth 

Bridge,  ii.  361 
Cork,  Blackrock,  and  Passage  Rail- 
way, The  zone  system   on  the,  il 

177,  note 
Combrook  Viaduct,  i.  259,  note 
"  Comishman  "  express,  The,  i.  404 
"  Cornwall "  locomotive.  The,  a  228 
Corpse,  Detention  of  a,  by  a  railway 

company,  ii.  55,  66 
Corridor  train.    The,   i.   16;   on   the 

Great  Western,  ii.  210;  to  Scotland, 

211,212 
Cotpatriek,  Burning  of  the,  ii.  64 
Costermonger  and  his  donkey,  and  the 

Eastern  Counties  Railway,  1.   377, 

378 
Cotton,  Charles,  and  Isaak  Walton,  i. 

167 
Cotton  trade  dispute.  Effect   on   the 

Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway 

o2,L  168 


5to 


OtJB   BAiLWAtS. 


Cotmtryman  in  London,  L  494 

County  Court  case  in  a  railway  car- 
riage, ii.  115,  116 

Goyentry,  Bailway  through,  i.  73 

Cow,  The  locomotiye  and  the,  i.  44  ;  ii. 
400 

Cowburn  Tunnel,  ii.  330 

Crampton*s  locomotive,  "Liverpool," 
ii  228 

Crest  of  the  Midland  Bailway  Com- 
pany, i.  154 

Crewe,  its  condition  before  the  advent 
of  railways,  i.  115;  as  a  centre  of 
industrial  life,  115;  the  first  train 
through,  115  ;  its  rapid  growth,  122 ; 
the  centre  of  the  London  and  North- 
Western  system,  122 ;  extent  of 
works  at,  123 ;  number  of  hands 
employed  and  locomotives  made  at, 
123 ;  the  eighteen-inch  line  at,  123  ; 
erection  of  houses  and  institutions 
for  the  workpeople  at,  125 ;  holidays 
and  travelling  concessions  to  work- 
people at,  132 

Cncket,  English  love  of,  i.  2 

Cromford,  Railway  to,  i  156 ;  canal, 
210 

Cromwell,  Lord,  and  the  superstitions 
of  Buxton,  i.  156 

Cropper,  M.P.,  Mr.,  i  43 ;  urges  ex- 
pedition on  George  Stephenson  in 
constructing  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  48 

Cross,  King's,  L  298  ;  Queen  £leanor*s, 
at  Charing  Cross,  299;  Holywell, 
299 ;  Banner,  299 

Crowded  carriages,  ii.  8 

Ciillen,  Lord,  and  the  Rushton  estate, 
i.  234 

Culloden  Moor,  Railway  on^  L  532 

Csar,  the  late.  Train  of,  i.  98;  pre- 
cautions for  his  safety  in  railway 
travelling,  106,  107;  accident  to 
train  of,  ii.  405 

i)at/y  NewSf  and  newspaper  trains,  i. 
502;  the  mail  train  described  by, 
509-513 ;  and  the  survivors  of  the 
Cospatriekf  ii.  55  ;  on  the  drawing- 
room  train  of  London  and  Brighton 
Company,  213 

Daili/  Telegraphy  and  newspaper  trains, 
i.  502  ;  on  barmaids  at  Liverpool 
Street  Station,  ii.  136 

Dakota,  Bishop  of,  and  his  travelling 
church,  ii.  139 

Dalarossie,  Armed  men  a  century  and 
a  half  ago  at,  L  532 


Dalrymple,  Marten,  and  Soottiflti  rail- 
ways,  i  542 

Darlington,  North-Eastem  eng^e 
works  at,  i.  335 

"  Dart "  locomotive.  The,  i.  58 

"  David  Grieve,"  quotation  from  Mia. 
Humphry  Ward's,  i.  257 

Dawson,  Mr.  Philip  Henry,  and  the 
Railway  Clearing  House,  ii  483 

**Day  excursion  to  London,"  i.  212 

Dead  Meat  Market,  Number  of  carcasei 
stored  at,  i  143 

Dean,  Mr.  W.,  on  the  express  service 
on  the  Great  Western  Railway,  i 
404 

Death,  Sudden,  in  railway  carnageB, 
ii  11 

Dee,  Bridge  acroes  the,  i.  369 

Defoe's  description  of  Derby,  i.  236 

Denison,  Mr.,  counsel  for  Great 
Northern  Railway  during  coal  dia- 
pute,  i  316 

Dent-Dent,  Mr.,  ex-chairman  of  North 
Eastern  Railway,  i.  325,  340 ;  and 
the  bridges  on 'the  Norih-Eastem, 
ii.  373 ;  on  the  Thirsk  disaster,  467 

Dent  Head  viaduct^  i  252, 293 

Deptford  Market,  i.  143 

Derby,  Lord,  declines  to  allow  George 
Stephenson  on  his  land  for  survey- 
ing the  ground  for  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  Railway,  i.  41 ; 
opposes  the  Bill  for  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  Itailway  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  46 ;  in  favour  of . 
the  London  and  Binningham  Rail- 
way, 73 

Derby,  (the  late)  Lord,  cuts  the  sod 
of  St.  Helen's  and  Wigan  Junction 
Railway,  i  349;  on  the  poesible 
purchase  of  railways  by  the  State, 
u.  163 

Derby,  the  centre  of  the  Midland 
system,  i.  169,  236 ;  manufacture  of 
china  at,  169 ;  opening  of  railway 
to,  174;  opening  of  railway  from 
Leeds  to,  181 ;  Midland  station  at, 
235;  Midland  workshops  at,  236, 
238 ;  Defoe's  description  of,  quoted, 
236 

Derbyshire,  Mr.  Ruskin's  description 
of,  i  250,  251 ;  milk  supplied  by, 
314 

Derbyshire,  South,  Railways  in,  L  158, 
note 

Detective,  Railway,  Ned  Farmer,  The, 
ii.  287-289 

Devonshire,   Duke   of,   sale   of    Lis 


INDEX. 


531 


Londesborough  estate  to  Hudson,  L 
199 

Devonshire,  (sixth)  Duke  of,  and  the 
proposed  railway  through  Chatsworth 
Park,  i  248 

"  Diary  of  the  Besieged  Resident,"  by 
Mr.  Labouchere,  Allusion  to,  ii.  430 

**  Diary  of  C.  Joames  De  La  Pluche, 
Esq.,"  Allusion  to  Thackeray's,  i. 
191,  192,  193 

Dickens,  Charles,  his  sketches  of 
coaching  incidents,  i.  18 ;  his  love 
for  Broadstairs,  446 ;  and  "  Bardox 
Brothers  "  at  "  Mugby  Junction," 
ii.  123,124;  on  American  Railways, 
245-248;  his  "Dick  Swivellcr," 
312 ;  in  the  Staplehurst  accident,  417 

"  Dickie,"  the  skull,  and  the  supersti- 
tion respecting  it  at  Buxton,  i.  124, 
125 

"Dickie"  locomotive,  i.  123,  124 

"Dictator  of  railway  speculation,"  The, 
i.  205 

Didcot,  Express  service  to,  1.  403 

Diligence,  Travelling  in  a,  i.  3 

Dinas  and  Rhyd-du  Railway,  ii.  106 

Dingwall  and  Skye  Railway,  i.  535 

Dining-cars,  Third-class,  i.  307,  388; 
ii.  140 

Dinting,  Manchester,  Sheffield  and 
Lincolnshire  Railway  at,  i.  346 

Dinting  Viaduct,  The,  i.  252 

Disc  signal.  The,  ii.  308 

"  Disraeli  and  His  Day,"  Sir  WiUiam 
Fraser's,  Allusion  to,  i.  201,  202 

Distant  signal.  The,  ii.  313,  noto 

Docks,  at  Southampton  purchased  by 
the  London  and  South- Western  Rail- 
way, i.  270,  433,  440,445, 472,  note; 
at  Bristol,  270 ;  Garston,  270 ;  Mersey, 
270 ;  HuU,  324-326,  11  299  ;  Tyne, 
i.  326,  327 ;  Grimsby,  352,  354, 355 ; 
Bute,  399,  401;  Barry,  399,  402; 
Empress,  444 

Doe  Lea  Branch  of  the  Midland  Rail- 
way,! 271-274 

Dogs,  Railway,  Famous,  ii.  112-114 

Donald,  Mr.  James,  killed  in  the  Mor- 
peth accident,  ii.  437 

Doncaster,  Midland  Railway  at,  i. 
281 ;  industrial  headquarters  of  the 
Great  Northern  Railway,  281,  312; 
races  at,  309-311 

Dore  and  Ghinley  line,  The,  i.  82,  83, 
207,  277,  319,  383;  tunnel  on,  ii. 
322-328 

Doric  portico  in  Eostoa  Square,  Hie, 
L127 

If  2 


Dorsey,  Mr.,  "  English  and  American 

Railroads  Compared,"   by,   quoted, 

ii.  311 
Douglas,  Rapid  development  of,  ii.  88 ; 

piist  and  present,  88-91 ;  visitors  and 

excursionists  to,  90-92 
Dove,  River,  Izaak  Walton  angling  in 

the,  i.  167 
Dovcdalc,  i  157 
Dover,   Soa-going    traffic  at,   i.   455; 

fortifications  and  harbour  of,  456 ; 

Admiralty  Pier  at,  456  ;  cost  of  now 

harbour  at,  457  ;  cail  seam  at,  461 
Dover  and  Calais,  First  proposals  for 

a  tunnel  between,  i.  52 
Doyle,  Mr.,  at  a  meeting  to  discuss 

the    amal^ramation    of    the   South* 

Eastern  and  London,  Chatham  and 

Dover  Riilways,  i.  469 
Drunkenness  alleged  to  be  caused  by  a 

jolting  train,  ii.  38 
"Duke  of  Sutherland's  Railway,"  i. 

535,  536 
"  Dukeries,   The,*'    Proposed  railway 

through,  i.  248 
"  Dunrobin  "  locomotive,  i.  636 
Durham,   The  railway    mania    at,  i. 

195 
Dutton,  Mr.  Ralph,  late  chairman  of 

the    London    and    South  -  Western 

Railway,  i.  433  ;  Mr.  Portal's  tribute 

to,  435 
Dutton  viaduct.  The,  i.  252 
Dynamite  in    a    railway-airriage,  ii. 

42 
Dyson,  Arthur,  Murder  of,  by  Charles 

Peace,  i.  61 

Earth,  Velocity  of  the,  and  a  moving 
train,  i.  415 

East  Frisia,  Diminutive  railway  in,  iu 
106 

East  London  Railway,  i.  492 

East  to  West  Railway  {»ee  Lancashire, 
Derbyshire  and  East  Coast  Rail- 
way) 

Eastern  Counties  Railway,  Goorge 
Hudson's  policy  as  chairman  of  the, 
L  199;  incorporated  with  other 
railways  into  the  Great  Eastern 
Railway,  375  ;  its  bad  n  patation  in 
its  early  davs,  376,  377;  rolling- 
stock  seized  lor  debt,  385 ;  prospects 
held  out  to  shareholders  of,  385  * 
narrow  gauge  on,  396 

Eastern  and  Midltuid  Railway,  L  279, 
noto 

Eastwood,    MeeUng    ttt»    to 


OUR  RAILWAYS. 


Eopoaed    pltui    for    nilmf  from 
nxton  to  Xeicester,  i.  173 
Edge  HiU  Tiuuel,  i.  46 ;  completion 

of,  60 
Edinburgh,  Cuaches  to,  i.  17  ;  nulwsjr 

nice   to,    133,    ii.   232-240;    Oreat 

Northern  Railway  journey  to,  30fi  ; 

railway!  in,  662 
Gdinbnrgh,  Buke  of,  Birth  of,  ii.  1 1 
Edinburgh    and    Olaagow    Bailwajr, 

Mnrdar  by  Iriah  navries  on  the,  i. 

112 

Ediaon,  Ur.,  and  electric  powar,  L 
61S 

Ediion  and  Fhelpa,  their  syatem  of 
railway  conununication,  ii.  20i 

Egyptian  campaign,  Armoul-pUted 
train  in  ths,  i.  226 

EiKht-houTB  day.  The,  ii.  360 

Eldon,  Lord,  on  railways,  i.  24  ;  advice 
given  by,  i.  160 

Electric  light.  The,  on  Uie  Midland 
RaUway,  i.  240-242  ;  ii.  216  ;  on  the 
London  and  Brighton  Railway,  217  ; 
on  the  Great  Northern,  21S ;  on  the 
Cbeahire  linee,  2IS ;  On  the  London 
and  North-Weatem,  218 

Electric  Railway,  at  Liverpool,  i.  ZS2- 
266  ;  Waterloo  and  City,  437  ;  City 
and  South  London,  61S-S22;  Qreat 
Northern  and  City,  622;  Centi&l 
London,fi23;  Claphaia  Junction  and 
Faddington,  623;  in  the  Isle  at  Man, 
626  ;  a  Oarman  engineer's  lugges- 
tion  for  an,  ii.  241,  242 

Electric  reading- Umpi  in  the  Under- 
ground Railway,  ii.  S 1 S 

Electricity,  Changes  in  England 
through  the  application  of,  i.  7 ; 
and  train  communication,  ii  203, 
204,  211 

Etephanta,  TraTelling  on,  i.  3 

Eliot,  George,  Letters  of,  i,  166 

Elizabeth's  leign.  Carriages  of,  i.  4 

Ellis,  Mr.  E.  S.,  tonner  chairman  of 
the  Midland  Railway,  i.  183 

EUia,  M.P.,  Mr.  John,  on  free  tele- 
grams of  railway  compantea,  i.  119 

Ellis,  Hr.  John,  of  Leicester,  indnces 
George  Stephenson  to  inspect  the 
ground  for  the  UidUnd  Bailway, 
i.  171, 264  ;  chairman  of  the  Midland 
Railway,  183,  186 ;  on  the  decieaae 
of  traffic  on  tome  routes  owing  to 
the  EshibiUoQ  of  1861, 223 

Emenoo,  and  George  Stephenton,  ii. 
612 

'' Hniptm  d  RoMia"  locomotive,  i.  401 


.Smprttt  steamboat,  i.  466 

Engine,  Travelling  on  footplate 
i.  3  ;  mad  driver  of  an,  ii.  48 

Engine-driver,  Arehduke  Francia 
dinand  as  an,  ii.  291 ;  on  the  No 
em  Railway  of  France,  291,  1 
Mark  Inglis,  the,  202;  perils 
escapes  of  an,  2U2,  293;  a  fi 
bitten,  293;  and  «panow-ha 
294 :  Id  an  accident  near  Leicei 
296;  traioing  of  an,  296,297;  aul 
of  an,  304 

Engine-driveia'  strike  on  tbe  Midli 
ii.  300-304 

Engiatrr,  The,  on  railway  speed 
America,  ii  243,  244 

England,  Early  modea  of  travel 
in,  i.  4  ;  "  old-toaching  days" 
6,  6 ;  changes  by  applicatioi 
steam  and  electricity  m,  7 ; 
iileas  retpecting  a  railway  train 
7  ;  the  railway  in  the  ctTilisatioi 
16;  building  of  the  first  coach  ii 

"English  and  American  Railn 
Compared,"  by  Mr.  Dorsev,  que 
ii  311 

"  English  Journalism  and  the  '. 
who  have  Made  It,"  quoted,  i.  M 

Englishman's  dread  of  lain  ii.  93 

Enthuiiaam  for  railways  after 
success  of  the  Liverpool  and  &I 
Chester  Kaitway,  i  62 

Erewash  Valley  Line,  i.  173,  214 

Ericthonius,  Travelling  in  the  cha 
or,  i.  3 

Ethiopian  ofBcei,  Chariot  of  the,  i. 

Euston  terminus.  Arrangements  ci 
127,  128 

Evanson,  Eate,  Freak  of,  ii.  43 

Ewart,  M.P.,  Mr.,  i.  13 

Excnnion, trains, i  16;  early  preju 
against,  130 ;  on  the  London 
North-Western  Rulway,  132; 
first,  210,  211;  ii.  76;  described, 
76;  Messn.  Bass,  Batcliife 
Gretton's  78,  77 ;  American,  f 
Havre,  77 

Exorcise,  physical,  Necesmty  of,  i 
Engliidi  devotion  to,  1,  2;  anc 
love  of,  1 

Exhibition  of  1861,  The  ezcnisionl 
i  222  ;  ii  76 

"  Experiment  "  locomotive,  ii.  22] 

"  Experiment "  railway  coach,  Th 
37 

Express  train,  Poetry  of  an,  i. 
eecape  of  Charles  Peace  from 
41,62;  speed  of,  04,  86 


INDEX. 


533 


Eyesight  of  cngine-driyen,    ti.    296, 
297,  note 

Faber,  lilr.  Beckett,  on  the  proposed 

amalgamation  of  the  Sonth-E^tem 

and  iiondon,  Chatham    and  Dover 

Railways,  i.  468 

Fairbaim,  Sir  Andrew,  at  the  Railway 

Congress  at  St.  Petersburg,  i  261 
Family,  A,  travelling  to  the  seaside,  i. 

146, 147 
Farmer,  Ned,  railway  detective,**  Scrap 
Book  "  of,  and  verses  by,  ii.  287-289 
Farmers,  Opposition  of,  to  the  London 

and  Birmingham  Railway,  i.  82 
Fnmham,   Lord  and  lAdy,    killed  at 

Abergele,  ii.  423 
Fenton,  Sir  Myles,  i.  462 :  ii.  511 
Fergnsson,   Sir  James,  on  the  invest- 
ments of  navvies  in  the  Post  Office 
Savings  Bank,  i.  114 
Ferry-boat  for  crossing  the  Channel, 

Proposal  for  a,  i.  457 
Feudality,  influenced  by  railways,  i.  89 
Fiction,  and  incidents  on  railways,  ii.  1 
Fighting  in  railway  carriages,  ii.  5 
Findlay,  Sir  George,  his  **  Working 
and    Management  of    an    English 
Railway,"  quoted,  i.  52,  137;  on  the 
precautions  taken  for  the  Queen's 
safety  when  travelling  on  the  London 
and  North- Western  Railway,  100- 
102;    on  the  mileage  of  telegraph 
wires  on  the  London  and  North- 
western Railway,  121 ;  on  a  case  of 
fossilised  remains,  140,   141 ;  death 
of,  169  ;  chamcteristics  of,  160, 161 ; 
honours  bestowed  upon,    162;    his 
love  of  angling,  162 ;  and  the  mails, 
506;    on  third-class  passengers,   ii. 
178,179 ;  and  the  distant  signal,  313, 
note ;  and  the  floods  on  the  Holyhead 
railway,  390  ;   on  inconveniences  to 
railways  caused  by  fog,  393 
Fire,  in  a  Pullman  car,  ii.  214,  note ; 
at  Wolvcrton  carriage  works,  396 ; 
at  Leeds,  396,  397  ;  at  Salford,  397 
First-class  passengers,  ii.  176,177 
Fish  consumed  in  London,  Amount  of, 

i.  143 
Fish  trade  of  Grimsby,  i.  353 
Fitzwilliam,  Earl,  and  the  opening  of 

the  line  to  Sheffield,  i.  178 
Fleet  sewer.  Diversion  of  the,  i.  230 
Fleetwood,  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 

station  at,  i.  168 
Floods,  Damage  on  Midland  Railway 
through,    ii«   387;    on   the    Great 


Northern,  387 ;  at  Apperley,  388 ; 
in  Dove  Holes  tunnel,  389 ;  on  the 
Hampstead  Heath  line,  390;  on 
Chester  and  Holyhead  line,  390 ; 
at  Scorton,  390 

Flowers  in  London  streets,  i.  407 

**  Flute  Line,  The,"  i.  247 

**  Flying  Childers"  engine.  The,  i.  30 

**  Flying  Coach,"  The,  i  17 

**  Fljnng  Dutchman,*'  The,  Speed  of, 
ii.  241 

Flying  machines,  i.  616 

•*  Flying  Scotsman,"  The,  i.  1 1 ;  speed 
of,  20,  335 ;  accident  at  Thirsk  to, 
99 ;  duties  of  the  guard  of,  305 ;  the 
driving  of,  335 ;  variety  of  pass<'n- 
gcrs  carried  by,  529  ;  accommodation 
in,  ii.  198 

Fog,   in    London,    1886,    ii.   391 ;   at 
Birmingham,   391;    of    1891,    392 
on  the  London  and  North- Wostem, 
393 

Folkestone,  Sea-going  traffic  at,  i. 
455 ;  works  of  Channel  Tunnel  near, 
457 

Food  supply  of  London,  i.  143 

Football,  English  love  of,  i.  1 

Footplate  of  express  engine.  Travel 
ling  on,  i.  3,  65,  66 

Forbes,  Mr.,  and  the  proposed  amalga- 
mation of  the  South-Eastem  and 
London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Rail- 
ways, i.  467 

Forbes,  Mr.  Archibald,  and  the  sur* 
vivors  of  the  Cotpatriek^  ii.  55 

Forged  Transfers  Act,  and  the  railway 
companies,  i.  158,  159 

Forth  Bridge,  Mr.  Gladstone  at,  i.  369, 
370 ;  opening  of,  530 ;  ii.  236,  358- 
366 

Forwood,  Sir  W.  B.,  at  the  opening 
of  the  Overhead  Railway,  Liverpool, 
i.  263 

Fossilised  remains,  A  case  of,  at  Broad 
Street  Station,  i.  140,141 

Foster,  M.P.,  Sir  Walter,  and  fast 
trains  running  from  London,  ii.  254 

Fowler,  Sir  J(mn,  and  the  proposed 
bridge  across  the  English  Channel, 
i.  460;  and  the  Forth  Bridge,  ii. 
364 ;  and  the  bridges  on  the  London 
and  Brighton  line,  371 

Fox,  Captain,  and  Hampstead  Heath 
Station,  ii.  96 

France,  Carriages  in  the  16th  century 
in,  i.  4 

Fnincis^  Mr.  John,  his  '*  History  of  the 
English  Railway,"  quoted,  i.  78 


534 


OUB  RAILWAYS. 


Francis    Ferdinand,    Archduke,     his 

fondness  for  railway  work,  ii.  291 
Francis    Joseph,  £inperor,    Kailway 

trainof,  i.93,94,  95 
Franking  letters,  i.  156 
Fraser,  Sir  William,   ''Disraeli  and 

his  Day/'  hy,  allusion  to,  i.  201,  202 
Frauds  on  railway  companies,  ii.  191, 

192,  286,  287,  471 
Free  railway  travelling.  Suggestion 

for,  ii.  162 
Frith's  ''Railway  Station,"  ii.  107 
Frodsham  Station,  Removal  of,  ii.  116, 

117 
Froggatt  Edge,  i.  247 
Frost-hitten  engine-driver,  ii.  293 
Funeral  train  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 

i.  104 
Fumcss  Railway  Company,  i.  286, 287 

Gamett,  M.P.,  Mr.,  i.  43 ;  his  conlri- 
hution  to  the  London  and  Birming- 
ham Railway,  73 

Gkmkirk  Railway,  i.  542 

Garston  Docks,  i.  270 

Gas,  Edge  Hill  tunnel  Ut  with,  i.  50 ; 
compressed,  in  carriages,  ii.  217 

Gateshead,  North-Eastem  locomotive 
department  at,  i.  335 

Gatty,  Rev.  Alfred,  "  Sheffield,  Past 
and  Present^"  hy,  quoted,  i.  346, 347 

Gauge,  The  hroad  and  narrow,Que8tion 
of,  on  the  Bristol  and  Birmingham 
line,i.  189 ;  the  hroad  on  the  Great 
Western  Railway,  403;  Brunei's, 
416;  on  the  Ulster  Railway,  416  ; 
costliness  of  hroad,  416  ;  discon- 
tinuance on  the  Great  Western  of 
the  hroad,  416-422 

Gelignite  in  tunnelling,  ii.  325 

General  managers  of  railways,  Duties 
of,  i.  137 

General  Post  Office,  Development  of 
the,  i.  155  ;  night- workers  at  the, 
498;  and  the  service  of  railways, 
504-513 

George  IV.,  Statue  at  King's  Cross  of, 
i.  298  ;  at  Brighton,  474,  475 

"(George  S^phenson"  locomotive, 
The,  ii.  227 

German  engineer, Method  of  travelling 
hy  electric  trains  suggested  hy  a,  ii. 
241,  242 

German  Empci'or,  Incident  during 
a  journey  on  the  Great  Western 
Rfulway  of,  i.  95 

Giant,  The  Irish,  O'Brien,  in  London, 
L142 


Giant's  Causeway,  fossilised  remains 
discovered  at,  i.  141 

Giffen,  Mr.,  his  report  on  railways,  it 
174 

Gilhert  Manufacturing  Company,  The, 
Cars  on  South-Eastern  Railway  of, 
ii.  206 

Giles,  Francis,  on  the  unsuitahility  of 
Chat  Moss  for  a  railway,  i.  45 

Giraffe,  A,  on  a  train,  ii.  112 

Girl  dressing  in  hoy's  clothes  on  the 
railway,  ii.  43 

Gladstone,  Mrs.,  presented  with  silver 
model  of  wheelbarrow  at  the  cutting 
of  the  first  sod  of  the  Wirral  Rail- 
way, i.  370, 371 ;  her  loss  of  diamond 
canings  on  the  railway,  ii.  32 

Gladstone,  M.P.,  Mr.  Robert,  i.  43 

Gladstone,^.  P.,  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.,  places 
first  cylinder  of  Dee  bridge,  i.  369 ; 
on  the  Channel  Tunnel  scheme, 
369 ;  at  the  Forth  Bridge,  369.  370 ; 
cuts  first  sod  of  the  New  Wirral 
Railway,  370 ;  allusions  to  his  early 
days  and  railways  in  Wales,  371, 
372  ;  and  his  services  on  behalf  of 
the  Sheffield  Company,  373;  hints 
at  more  tunnels  under  the  Mersey, 
374 ;  8|»eaking  from  railway  car- 
riages, iL  29,  31  ;  his  saying  on 
the  business  of  a  Government,  163 ; 
and  the  Cambrian  Railways,  278; 
his  home  and  native  city,  516 

Glasgow,  Tramroad  in  1778  in,  i.  541 ; 
docks  and  quays  in,  542  ;  Marten 
Dalrymple  and  the  railway  to  Ber- 
wick from,  542;  railway  develop- 
ment in,  642,  544 ;  Central  Railway, 
552 

Glasgow  and  South- Western  Railway, 
Route  of,  i.  553;  capital  of,  553; 
receipts  of,  553;  development  of, 
553  ;  its  service  to  Belfast,  554 ; 
strike  of  servants  on,  ii    264-268, 

271 
Gloucester,  Line  from  Birmingham  to, 

i.  189;  line  to  Bristol  from,  189  ; 

broad  and  narrow  gauge  at,  417 
Glyn,  Mr.  George  Carr   (Lord  Wol- 

vcrton),  and  the  Railway  Clearing 

House,  ii.  479-481 
Godley,    Alanchester,    Sheffield     and 

Lincolnshire    Railway   at,    i.   344, 

346 
"  Going-away  clubs "  in  Lancashire, 

ii.  87 
Goncourt  turf  frauds,  ii.  289 
Gooch,  Sir  Daniel,  takes  charge  of  the 


INDEX. 


535 


royal  train  on  the  Great  Western 
liailway,  i.  92;  rocommondod  to 
the  Great  Western  by  Brunei, 
413;  and  the  Atlantic  cable,  413, 
414;  ii.  320;  and  the  Severn  Tun- 
nel,  ii.  320,  321 

Grooch,  Mr.  J.  V.,  Engine  designed  for 
Great  Eastern  Railway  by,  i.  370 

Good  Friday  ezcurHiuiiH,  ii.  80-82 

Goods  traffic,  at  ISlanchester,  i.  138, 
139;  rapidity  in  conducting,  139; 
at  Broad  Street  Station,  140 

Goods-manager,  Duties  of,  i.  137 

Gordon,  Mr.  W.  J.,  on  the  Highland 
express  from  IVilh,  i.  35 

Gorst,  Sir  John,  and  the  Railway 
Servants'  Hours  of  Labour  Bill,  ii. 
283 

(}o8port.  The  Queen's  journey  to  Scot- 
land from,  i.  103 

Gould,  Jay,  ii.  286 

Grate,  Mr.  W.  G.,  and  the  proposed 
railway  through  lA)rd*.i  Cncket 
Ground,  i.  358,  359 

Grand  Junction  Canal,  First  passenger 
barge  on,  i.  400 

Grand  Junction  Railway,  i.  72;  open- 
ing of,  109;  the  contractor  of,  109; 
work  of  Thomas  Brassoy  in  con- 
nection with,  109 ;  amiilganrntiou  with 
the  Manchester  and  Birmingham, 
and  London  and  Birmingham  Ittil- 
ways,  114 

"Grand  Junction  Railway  Guide 
Book,"  quoted,  ii.  146,  147 

Granton,  Accident  at,  ii.  413 

Gratuities  to  railway  servants,  ii.  146 

Graves,  Henry,  and  Frith's  **  Railway 
Station,*'  ii.  107 

Great  (Eastern  liailway,  Date  of  incor- 
poration of,  i.  375  ;  extent  of,  375; 
Lord  Salisbury  as  chairman  of,  378 ; 
additional  capital  obtained  by,  378  ; 
the  works  at  Stratford  of,  379 ;  the 
"Petrolea"  locomotive  on,  379,  380; 
coal  traffic  of,  380  ;  its  subscription 
to  the  Lancashire,  Derbyshire  and 
East  Coast  Railway,  380,  384 ;  en- 
terprising spirit  of,  386,  387 ;  pre- 
sent capital  of,  387 ;  earnings  of, 
and  number  of  passengers  on,  387  ; 
live-stock  and  merchandise  traffic  on, 
387 ;  number  of  locomotives  of,  387 ; 
its  extension  to  Doncaster  and  York, 
387 ;  dining-trains  on,  388 ;  atten- 
tion to  third-class  passengers  on, 
388  ;  its  warehouses  at  Bishopsgate 
«sd   Spitalfields,    388;    Goodman's 


Yard  stores  of,  388 ;  conveyance  of 
cattle  to  Norfolk  and  to  Tufnell 
Park,  and  of  the  paper  used  by  the 
Tinu*^  388,  389;  workmen's  trains 
on,  389,  391,  395 ;  presentation  to 
retiring  chairman  of,  395,  note ;  at 
Parkeston  Quay,  396 ;  boats  of,  396 ; 
opening  of  Liverpool  Street  Station 
of,  and  its  extension,  397 ;  night- 
workers*  train  on,  497  ;  abolition  of 
second-class  passengera  on,  ii.  182 ; 
fast  trains  on,  254 ;  average  speed  on, 
255 

Great  Eattem  steamship,  i.  4 1 2 ;  bravery 
of  pilot  of,  413 

Great  North  of  Scotland  Railway,  i. 
536 ;  route,  extent,  and  capital  of, 
536 ;  number  of  passengera  carried 
by,  536  ;  its  works  at  Kittybrewster, 
538  ;  fish  traffic  on,  538 ;  treatment 
of  passengers  on,  538,  539 ;  snow- 
storm on,  ii.  378 

Great  Northern  and  City    (Electric) 
Railway,  i.  522 

Great  Northern  Railway,  R«ce  with 
the  London  and  North- Western 
to  Scotland  of  the,  i.  133,  530;  ii. 
237-239,  257-258;  biith  of  the,  L 
217  ;  its  excursions  to  the  Exhibi- 
tion of  1851,  222;  its  competition 
with  the  Midland  Company,  223 ; 
the  Midland  seizes  an  engine  of  the, 
225;  at  Doncaster,  281,  282;  at 
Leeds,  284 ;  mileage  of,  297 ;  rapid 
progress  of,  297  ;  old  roof  of  King*s 
Cross  terminus  of,  298 ;  coal  and  mer- 
chandise traffic  of,  300  ;  capital  and 
receipts  of,  301 ;  number  of  passen- 
gers, and  amount  af  goods  traffic  on, 
301;  season-ticket  holden  on,  301, 
302;  dishonest  passengera  on  the, 
303  ;  journey  from  London  to  York 
on,  304 ;  guards*  duties  on,  305 ; 
introduction  of  dining-cars,  and 
abolition  of  second-class  carriages 
between  England  and  Scotland  on, 
307 ;  exprecses  from  Manchester  of, 
307,  308 ;  expressed  to  Donoistcr  of, 
309 ;  engine-sheds  on,  31 1 ;  its  works 
at  Doncaster,  311,  312  ;  milk  traffic 
on,  313,  314 ;  competition  with  the 
Midland  coal  traffic  of,  315;  its 
opposition  to  Sir  Edward  Watkin's 
project  for  bringing  the  Sheffield 
Railway  into  London,  317,  360  ;  its 
new  arrangements  with  the  Man- 
chester, Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire 
Company,  318;  its  coming  increased 


536 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


competition  with  other  lines,  319  ; 
and  the  Lancashire,  Derbyshire  and 
K.i8t  Coast  Railway,  883  ;  its  advan- 
tage in  Scotland,  530;  abolition  of 
second-class  carriages  on,  ii.  181 ; 
corridor  trains  on,  212  ;  the  electric 
light  on,  218;  express  service  to 
Hull  on,  264 ;  average  speed  on,  255 ; 
royal  saloon  on,  507 

Great  Northern  Railway  of  Ireland, 
liifeof  a  servant  on  the,  i.  29 

"Groat  Western"  locomotive,  i.  419; 
its  last  broad-gauge  journey,  426 

GiTflt  Western  Railway,  The  Queen's 
journeys  on  the,  i.  91,  92 ;  its  eager- 
ness for  a  lino  to  Birmingham,  189  ; 
bad  times  of  the,  195;  its  conveyance 
of  passengers  to  the  Ascot  racecourse, 
311;  workmen's  trains  on,  393; 
track  of,  398  ;  opening,  from  Lon- 
don to  Bristol,  of,  401  ;  cost  of, 
401  ;  development  of,  401  ;  coal 
traffic  on,  4U1 ;  present  capital  of, 
402 ;  number  of  passengers  carried 
yearly  by,  402;  passengers  taken 
to  •'  Venice  in  London,"  402;  "  the 
fine  old  English  gentleman,"  403 ; 
Mr.  Bourne's  history  of,  403  ;  con- 
veyance of  carriage  and  horses  on, 
403;  the  broad  gauge  on,  403,  416, 
422 ;  Brunei  and  Gooch's  engines 
on,  403 ;  a  proposed  bargain  with 
an  engine-driver,  404;  winter  ser- 
vice on,  404;  express  trains  on, 
404  ;  train  service  for  Waterford 
and  Jersey  boats  on,  405;  carriage 
of  flowers  and  fruit  on,  407,  408 ; 
work  of  I.  K.  Brunei  on,  410-412, 
413;  works  at  Swindon  of,  421; 
conversion  of  carriages  from  broad 
to  narrow  gauge  on,  421 ;  work  of 
the  navvies  in  altering  the  line  from 
broad  to  narrow  gauge,  422-425  ; 
"  farewell "  to  the  broad  gauge  on, 
426  ;  the  chairman's  remarks  on  the 
broad  gauge  of,  427;  Good  Friday 
excursions  on,  ii.  80  ;  its  exemption 
from  groat  disasters,  92 ;  Mr.  Lowen- 
frld's  action  against,  126-128;  Mr. 
Woodgate's  action  against,  128, 130; 
refreshment  rooms  on,  138;  sccond- 
and  third-class  passengers  on,  182; 
corridor  train  on,  210,  211 ;  express 
service  to  Bristol  on,  254 ;  average 
speed  on,  255;  beating  the  record, 
258 ;  snowstorms  on,  378-386 

Great  West'*rn  steamship,  i.  411 

*'  Greater  Britain  "  locomotive,  The,  i. 


10,  153,  and  note  ;  ii.  250;  trial  trip 

of  and  speed  attained  by,  252,  253 
Greece,  Chariots  of,  i.  3,  4 
-Greenwich  Park,  Proposal  to  tunnel, 

i.  195 
"  Greyhounds  of  the  North,"  The,  L 

336 
Grierson,  Mr.,  of  the  Great  Western 

Railway,  i.  488 
Grimsby,  The  growth  of,  i.  352 ;  the 

fish  tnide  of,   353;   the  docks  at, 

354,  355 
Grimthorpe,  Lord,  and  Trent  Station, 

ii.  38 
Grossmith,    Mr.    George,    Miniature 

railway  of,  i.  164 
Guards  (tee  Railway  Guards) 
Guernsey,  Charles,  the  broker's  derk, 

and  his  railway  speculation,  i.  191 
Guibal  fan.  The,  for  the  ventilation 

of  tunnels,  i.  75,  267 
Guilford,  Lord,  his  visit  to  Newcastle 

in  1676,  i.  21 


>* 


Hackworth,Timothy,  the ' '  Sanspareil 
locomotive  of,  i.  63,  64,  55 

Haddon  Hall,  Railway  near,  i.  248 

Hadley,  Mr.,  at  a  shareholders*  meet- 
ing, i.  186,  186  ;  and  the  Midland 
line  to  Carlisle,  289 

Haifa  to  Damascus,  Railway  from,  ii. 
100 

Hamilton,  Lord  Claud,  chairman  of 
Great  Eastern  Railway,  i.  395,  note 

Hammock,  Travelling  in  a,  i.  2 

Hampshire,  Objections  to  the  railway 
in,  i.  194 

Hampstead  Heath,  Accident  at  railway 
station  at,  il  93-97 

Hansom,  The,  i.  6 

Harborough,  Lord,  his  objectiona  to 
railways,  i.  214 

Harcourt,  M.P.,  Sir  William,  speaking 
from  a  railway  carriage,  ii.  30  ;  and 
the  Strome  Ferry  rioters,  73 

Hardy,  Professor,  and  the  eyesight  of 
engine-drivers,  ii.  297,  note 

"  Harlequin  Train,"  Mr.  W.  J.  Goi-don 
on,  i.  35 

Harrison,  Mr.  Frederick,  general 
manager  of  the  London  and  North- 
western Railway,  i.  162,  note. 

Hartti,  Bret,  his  poem  on  "The 
Station-Master  of  Lone  Prairie," 
ii.  118 

Hard  wick.  Midland  station  at,  i.  272 

Hardwiok  Hall,  Proportions,  builder, 
and  contents  of,  i  237 


INDEX, 


537 


Harting^n,  Villago  of,  i.  167  ;  Izaitk 

Walton  at,  167  ;  tho  "  Silent  Woman" 

at.  157 
Harvestmen,  Irish,  Characteristics  of, 

and  railway  facilities  offered  to,  i. 

144-146 
Hatton,  Mr.  Joseph,  A  picture  of  old 

coaching  days  hy,  i.  19 
Havre,  American  excursion  through 

Europe  from,  ii.  77 
Hawkins,  Air.  W.  B.,  and  the  case  of 

John  Hood,  ii.  275 
Hawkshaw,  Sir  John,  Death  of,  i.  159  ; 

constructs  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 

Railway,  163 
Head,  Sir  Francis,   his  '*  Stokers  and 

Pokers,*'  quoted,  i.  82,  83  ;  incident 

on  a  railway  journey  of,  ii.  11,  12 
Hoating  carriages,  ii.  201,  205,  211 
Ileaton,  M.P.,  Mr.  Henniker,  and  the 

postal  service,  i.  154 
"  Help,"  the  railway  dog,  ii.  113, 114 
Herhert,    Sir    Henry,    on    travelling 

hy    coach  hetween  Edinburgh  and 

London,  i.  17 
"Hercules"  locomotive.  The,  ii.  227- 

228 
Hero  of  Alexandria's  idea  of  the  power 

of  steam,  i.  23 
Herscnt,  31.,   and  the  scheme  for  a 

bridge  across  the  Channel,  i.  460 
Hetton  Pits  railway,  i.  31 
Hoxthorpe  accident.  The,  ii.  448-452 
Heywood,     Mr.    Percival,    Miniature 

railway  of,  i.  164  ;  ii.  106 
Hicks- Beach,  Sir  Michael,  and  ladion* 

compartments  in  railway  carriages, 

ii.  26 ;  and  breach  of  privilege   by 

Cumbrian    Railway  Directors,  275, 

278 
High    Peak,    Lead-mining  in  the,  ii. 

.'{14,  315 
High  Peak  Railway,  Tho,  i.  158,  210, 

238  ;  ii.  103 
"  lliffh  Pique  Line,  The,"  i.  248 
Highland  express  from  Perth,  i.  35 
Highland  Railway,  Track  of,  i.  531, 

532 ;    traffic  in  sheep  on,  532  ;  ex- 
tension  of,    532,  533 :    express  en- 
gines, 533 
Highlander,  A,  in  a  French  railway 

carriage,  ii.  41 
Highlanders    fighting    with   English 

soldiers,  i.  632 
Highwaymen  and  coaches,  i.  6,  6 
Highwaymen,  The  days  of  the,  i.  303 
Hill,    Sir  Rowland,  and    the    postal 

terviofl^  I.  I6i 


**  History  of  the  English  Uuilway,"by 
Mr.  John  Francis,  quoted,  i.  72 

Holden,  Mr.,  builder  of  the  '*  Petrolea" 
locomotive,  i.  379 

Holiday-making,  New  method  of, 
created  by  excursion  trains,  i.  210 

Holmes, James,  and  the  Thirsk  disaster, 
ii.  463-465 

Holyhead,  Goods  traffic  at,  i.  142 ; 
food-supply  passing  through,  143; 
fleet  of  steamers  at,  143  ;  passenger 
riding  under  a  carriage  from,  ii.  103 

Holywell  Cross,  i.  299 

Hood,  John,  stationmaster  at  Mont- 
gomery, Case  of,  ii.  273-275 

Hop-pickers  carried  by  the  South- 
Eastern  Railway,  i.  432 

Hop  wood,  Mr.,  his  report  on  railways, 
ii.  174,  175 

Horseback,  Early  travelling  on,  i.  7 

Horwich,  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 
Railway  works  at,  i.  168 

Hot-water  tins,  ii.  201,  205 

Hotel,  St.  Pancras,  i.  232  ;  Tontine, 
Sheffield,  346  ;  Charing  Cross,  449  ; 
Viaduct,  447 

Hotels,  Railway  companies',  ii.  138 

Howdah,  Travelling  in  a,  i.  3 

Hudson,  George,  his  liking  for  respon- 
sibility, i.  190  ;  early  life  and 
characteristics  of,  198 ;  becomes  a 
pioneer  of  railways,  199  ;  his  popu- 
larity, 199 ;  Lord  Mayor  of  York 
and  Member  of  Parliament,  200 ;  and 
Bernal  Osborne,  202  ;  doubts  as  to 
his  integrity,  202  ;  his  defence,  203  ; 
attacked  and  caricatured,  203;  de- 
nounced at  York,  204  ;  his  action 
for  libel  against  a  Yorkshire  paper, 
204  ;  action  of  the  York  and  Midland 
Railway  against  him,  204  ;  retires 
into  obscurity,  205  ;  name  applied 
to  him  by  Sydney  Smith,  206  ;  his 
death,  206 ;  maxim  of,  215 ;  his 
opinion  of  the  London  and  York 
Railway,  215,  300  ;  his  opinion  of 
the  Midland  engines,  218  ;  his 
reference  to  tho  death  of  George 
Stephenson,  219  ;  his  resignation  of 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Midland 
Company,  221 

Hugessen,  Mr.  KnatchbuU  {s&e  Bni- 
boume,  Lord) 

Hull,  Fast  trains  to,  ii.  254 

Hull  and  Bamsley  Railway,  i.  324, 
325  *  ii  298 

Hull  Docks,  i.  324;  ii.  299;  and  tho 
North-Eastem  Railway,  i.  326 


538 


OUB   RAILWAYS. 


Humuur  of  railway  accidents,  ii.  399 
Hunslet,  Midland  deppt  at,  i.  242 
** Hurricane"  locomotive^  The,  ii.  228 
Huakisson,  Mr.,  fatal  accident  on  the 
Liverpool  and  Manchester  Hail  way 
to.  i.  67,  68 
Hutchinson,  Major-General,  and  cau- 
tioniug  paasengers  in  passing  through 
tunnels,  i  448 ;  on  the  accident  at 
Borough  Market  Junction,  ii.  196 ; 
on  fall    of    bridge    near   Norwood 
Junction,  370;  on  the  Esholt  acci- 
dent, 469 ;  on  the  Poulton  accident, 
469 
Hutchinson,  Mr.  W.,  former  chairman 

of  the  Midland  Railway,  i.  183 
Hutton,  Catherine,  her  description  of 
Blackpool  and   of  Lancastrians  in 
1788,  ii.  83 
Hydros,  The  Queen's  visit  to,  i.  106 

Incidents  on  the  railway,  ii.  29-60 

Inclines,  Steep,  ii.  102-106 

Indian  jungle,  Travelling  in  the,  i.  3 

Infants  in  railway  carriages,  ii.  8,  9 ; 
loft  in  trains,  41 

Inglcborough  Midland  Bailway,  at,  i. 
286 

Ingleton,  i.  291,  292 

Ininan  Line,  The,  i.  440,  446 

Inner  Circle  Railway,  i.  492 

Inns,  Old,  i.  18 

Inspectors,  District,  Duties  of,  L  137 

Inspectors,  Travelling,  Duties  of,  i.  137 

Insurance  tickets,  ii.  472,  473 

International  Navigation  Company  at 
Southampton,  i.  467 

International  Riiilway  Congress  in  St. 
Petersburg,  ii.  606;  in  London, 
618-619 

International  Sleeping  Oar  Company, 
ii.  77 

Inventions  for  utilisation  of  steam- 
power.  First,  i  22 

"  Invicta"  locomotive,  i.  338 ;  ii.  227 

Ireland,  Merchandise  and  live-produce 
shipped  to  England  from,  i.  142, 
143;  traffic  between  England  and, 
1G7  ;  Sir  Edward  Watkin's  proposal 
for  public  works  in,  366 ;  dropping 
stones  on  trains  in,  ii.  7 ;  slow 
railway  tiavelling  in  some  parts  of, 
228 

Ireland,  Great  Northern  liailway  of, 
Life  of  a  servant  on,  i.  29 

Irish  car.  Travelling  in  an,  i  3 

Irish  hurvestmcn,  Characteristics  of, 
i.  144-146  ;  fighting  of,  146 


Ironworks  of  Sussex,  i.  476 

Isle  of  Man,  Traffic  between  Ireland 

and  the,  i.  167  ;  electric  railway  in, 

626  ;  excursions   to,  ii.   78,  88-92 ; 

slow  railway  travelling  in,  228 
Isle  of  Man  Steam  Packet  Company, 

iL92 


Jackson,  Mr.  W.  L.,  i.  319 
Jaffa- Jerusalem  Bailway,  ii.  101 
James,  William,  his  inspection  of  the 
ground  for  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Bailway,  i.  41 
**  Jeanie  Deans  '*  locomotive,  i.  98 
Jersey,  Great  Western  route  to,  i.  406 
Jerusalem,  Railway  at,  ii.  101 
John  de  Laval  de  Bois- Dauphin,  Coach 

of,  i.  4 
Johnson,  Dr.,  at  Ashbourne,   i.  403 ; 

and  Scotland,  627 
Johnson,  Mr.  S,  W.,  locomotive  super- 
intendent of  the  Midland  Railway, 
ii.  224 
**  Journal  of  the  Associated  Sociotv  of 
Locomotive  Engineers  and  Firemen,** 
quoted,  ii.  227 
Journalists,  Enterprise  of,  on  railways, 

ii.  34 
Journey,  Life  compared  to  a,  i.  2 
"  Journey  to  the  Moon,  The,*'  allnsion 

to,  ii.  242 
Jubilee  express    engine.  Accident  to 

the,  ii.  61 
Jungle,  Travelling  through  the,  L  3 


Earslake,  Sir  John,  his  arbitration  on 
the  coal  dispute,  i.  316 

Katchiba,  King,  his  mode  of  travelling 
in  Africa,  i.  2 

Kemble,  Fanny,  riding  on  a  locomotive, 
i.  63,  64 

Kendal  and  Windermere  Railway, 
Wordsworth's  sonnet  on  the  pro- 
jected, ii.  64 

Killingworth  Railway,  George  Stephen- 
son's first  locomotive  on  the,  i.  23 ; 
laughable  incident  on  the,  30 

Kilsby  Tunnel,  Discovery  of  a  quick- 
sand in  the  construction  of,  i.  83 ; 
death  of  contractor  of,  84;  Robert 
Stephenson's  success  in  removing 
tho  water  from,  84-86 

•*  King  Steam,"  Ned  Farmer's,  ii.  288, 
289 


INDEX, 


639 


King's  Crofla,  Origin  of  name,  i.  298, 

299 
King's  Cross  Station,  roof  of,  i.  298 
Kingsbridge,  Fall  of  Snow  at,  ii.  386 
Kingsley,  Charles,  i.  407 

Laboachere,  M.P.,  Mr.,  '*  Diary  of  the 
Besieged  Resident,"  by,  Allusion  to, 
ii.  430 

Labour  troubles  on  the  North- Eastern 
RaUway,  i.  338-341 

Ladies'  compartments  in  trains,  ii. 
25-27 

Laing,  Mr.  S.,  rhaiinian  of  London, 
Brighton  and  South  Coast  Railway, 
on  decrease  in  passenger  traffic,  i. 
482,  484  ;  on  punctuality,  486 ;  his 
labours,  487,  488 ;  on  claims  for 
oompensiition,  ii.  474 

Lakes,  English,  Catches  at  the,  i.  26 

Lamb,  Charles,  i.  429 

Lamberhurst,  Ironworks  at,  i.  476 

Lambert,  Mr.,  geneml  nmna<;iT  of 
Great  Western  Railway,  i.  420 

I«nmp-hole,  llie  boy  and  the,  ii.  39, 
40 

lianciishire.  Feasts  and  wakes  of,  ii. 
87 

Lantiishire,  Derbyshire  and  East  Coast 
Railway,  viaduct  at  Moasal  Dale  of 
the,  i.  252;  proposed  new  lino  of, 
276;  sanction  given  by  Parliament 
to  the  new  line,  362  ;  subscription  of 
the  Great  Eastern  Railway  to,  380  ; 
cutting  the  first  sod  of,  380 ;  pro- 
spects of,  382 

Lancashire  man  in  London,  The,  L 
494 

"Lancashire  Witch,"  The,  i,  10;  ii. 
227,  228 

Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway, 
Management  and  rolling-stock  of,  i. 
162,  163;  slowness  of,  163;  early 
dividends  of,  163;  extent  of,  163; 
contractor  of ,  163;  cost  of,  163,  164  ; 
in  touch  with  populous  districts, 
164;  at  Blackpool,  165;  its  Man- 
chester terminus,  166;  its  develop- 
ment, 167 ;  its  station  at  Fleetwood, 
and  works  at  Uorwich,  168;  effect 
of  cotton  trade  dispute  on  the,  168 ; 
the  question  of  the  abolition  of 
second-class  carriages  on,  ii.  184 

Lancaster,  Midland  Kailway  at,  i.  286 

Landowners,  Compensation  to,  for  the 
construction  of  the  London  and  Bir- 
mingham Railway,  i.  81 

Landslip  at  Bngsworth,  i.  256 


Langdon,  Mr.  W.,  and  the  number  of 
telegrams  sent  on  the  Midland  Rail- 
way in  1S90,  i.  119  ;  on  the  electric 
light  on  the  Midland  Railway,  240- 
242;  ii.  219 

Langley,  J^Ir.  Batty,  Mayor  of  Shef- 
field,'and  the  coal-strike  of  1893,  ii. 
270 

laundry  at  the  Wolverton  works,  i. 
123 

Liwrena\  Mr.,  one  of  the  inspectors 
of  IVimroso  Hill  Tunnel,  i.  77 

liSw^rence,  M.l\,  Mr.,  i.  43 

Laycmk,  Siunuol,  the  liiincashii'e  p<»ot, 
and  the  "Dickie"  bkuU,  i.  124, 
125 

Le  Count,  Lieutenant,  his  description 
of  a  journey  in  a  tunni'l,  i.  77-79  ; 
his  idea  for  method  of  lomniunii-u- 
tion  between  guard  and  diiver,  ii. 
202 

Lead-mining  in  the  High  Peak,  ii.  314, 
315 

Lean,  Charles,  towinjj:  the  raft  during 
the  construction  of  Kilsby  Tunnel,  i. 
85 

Leech,  John,  his  skeUh  of  ourly  rail- 
way travelling,  i.  390  ;  and  the  Un- 
derground Railway,  514 

Leeds,  Opening  of  railway  from  Derby 
to,  i.  181 ;  population,  trade,  and 
enterprise  of,  283 ;  railway  service 
of,  284 ;  North-Eastern  at,  327  ; 
fast  trains  to,  ii.  254 ;  great  fire  at, 
396 

Leeds  and  Bradford  Railway  aciiuired 
by  the  Midland  Company,  i.  222 

lioeds  and  Liverpool  Canal,  I  70 

Leeds  Northeni  Railway,  i.  323 

Lefroy,  the  murderer,  ii.  17-22,  216 

Legend  associated  with  the  Rushton 
estate,  i.  234,  235 

Leicester,  Opening  of  line  from  Swan- 
nington  to,  i.  172;  lino  from  Pinx- 
ton  to,  173;  Thomas  Cook*s  iirft 
excursion  from,  213;  Midland  sta- 
tion at,  235 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  drinking  the  waters 
at  Buxton,  i.  156 

Leicester  and  Bedford  lino,  ac(iuirod 
by  the  31idland  Railway,  i.  218 

Leicester  and  Swannington  Railway,  i. 
207;  purchased  by  the  Midland 
Company,  214 

Leisurely  habits  of  the  people  before 
the  advent  of  railways,  i.  131 

Letters,  Franking,  i.  155 

Level   croasingt,    Guarding,   on   the 


540 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


approach  of  a  royal  traio,  i.  102; 
accidents  at,  ii.  3,  4 

Levy,  Mr.  Jonas,  \Mo  deputy-chairman 
of  the  LfOndon,  Brighton  and  South 
Coast  Ilailway,  ii.  183 

Lihcl,  Action  for,  by  Oteorge  Hudson 
agaioRt  a  Yorkshire  paper,  i.  204 

Lickey  incline,  The,  on  the  Midland 
Railway,  ii.  102, 104 

Life  compared  to  a  journey,  L  2 

Light  engines,  ii.  402,  403 

Lighting  carriages,  ii.  211,  214-220 

Lime  Street  Station,  Liverpool,  i 
269 

Lincoln,  Mr.,  Speech  on  American 
traffic  to  Southampton  by,  i.  444 

"Little  Jim,"  Ned  Farmer's,  ii.  288 

Littler,  Q  C,  Mr.,  and  the  Manchester, 
Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire  Railway, 
i.  366 

Litton  Dale,  i.  262 

Liverpool,  fossilised  remains  exhibited 
at,  i.  141 ;  goods  traffic  at,  139 ;  Lon- 
don and  North- Western  Station  at, 
164  ;  line  from  Warrington  to,  268; 
railway  stations  at,  259 ;  proposed 
bridge  across  the  Mersey  at,  261 ; 
the  project  for  a  plated  road  at, 
261  ;  the  Overhead  Railway  at,  261- 
266  ;  the  Mei-scy  Tunnel  at.  267- 
269 ;  excursionists  of,  ii.  83 ;  fust 
trains  to,  ii.  254 

**  Liverpool"  locomotive,  The,  ii.  228 

Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway,  i. 
24;  opening  of,  40;  Sunday  traffic 
on  the,  40,  41 ;  opposition  to  the, 
41 ;  George  Stephenson's  survey  of 
the  land  for  the,  41  ;  resistance  from 
land  proprietors  to  the,  41, 42  ;  oppo- 
sition in  Parliament  to  the,  42,  43, 
46 ;  Dr.  Smiles  on  the  opposition  to 
the,  42,  43 ;  prospectus  oi  the,  43 ; 
discussion  and  withdrawal  of  the  Bill 
in  Parliament  for  the,  42-46 ;  intro- 
duction and  passing  of  New  Bill  for 
the,  46 ;  survey  by  Charles  Yignolcs  of 
the  proposed,  46 ;  appointment  of 
George  and  John  Rennie  as  engineers, 
and  of  George  Stephenson  as  chief 
constructive  engineerof  the,  46 ;  cost 
of  the  Bill  in  Parliament,  and  cost 
of  draining  Chat  Moss  for  the,  48 ; 
opening  of  the,  60  ;  its  success,  51 ; 
service  of  the  "  Rocket "  on  the,  66 ; 
fatal  accident  to  Mr.  Huskisson  at 
the  opening  of  the,  67,  68  ;  pro- 
cession of  engines  at  the  opening  ot, 
58 ;  dividend  of,  194 


Liverpool  Street  Station,  Enlargement 
of,  1.  396  ;  number  of  passengers  at, 
397 

Liverpool  TimeSj  on  goods  traffic  at 
Liverpool,  L  139 

Llandudno,  Escape  from  becoming  a 
goods-traffic  centre  of,  i.  143  ;  Lon- 
don and  North-Westem  station  at, 
ii.  66-67 ;  project  for  an  electric 
railway  at,  518 

Llangollen  Viaduct,  The,  i.  252 

Locke,  Mr.,  engineer  of  the  Man- 
chester, Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire 
Railway,  i.  348 

Lockwooo,  Sir  Frank,  and  his  carica- 
tures, ii.  466 

"Locomotion  "  engine,  i.  338 ;  ii.  227 

Locomotive,  The  first,  i.  22,  4C6; 
George  Stephenson's  first,  23;  Fanny 
Eembleridingona,  63,  64 ;  Sinclair's 
single- wheel  outside  cylinder,  379; 
madman  on  a,  ii.  47,  48 

**  Locomotive  and  its  Development, 
The,"  by  Mr.  C.  Stretton,  quoted,  ii. 
232 

Locomotive  competition  at  Rainhill, 
i.  53-66 

Locomotives,  Modem  improvements 
in,  i.  10 ;  improvements  in  those 
that  followed  the  "  Rocket."  67,  68; 
express,  68  ;  their  construction  at 
Crewe,  123 :  |>ropoBals  to  propel 
thom  by  sails  and  rockets,  195 ;  on 
the  Woolwich  Arsenal  Railway,  ii. 
102  ;  the  Brotherhood,  218  ;  modem 
improvements  in,  228,  260 

Londesborough,  Hudson's  purchaBO  of, 
i.  199 

London,  First  coach-travelling  from 
Oxfoni  to,  i.  17 ;  coaches  in  the 
present  day  from,  26 ;  food  supply 
of,  143;  subterranean,  229,  230; 
passenger  traffic  in  and  out  of,  491  ; 
railways  the  arteries  of,  491 ;  popu- 
lation and  area  of,  492  ;  number  of 
railway  stations  in,  492;  its  two 
circles  of  railways,  492 ;  miles  of 
railway  track  in,  492;  the  ice  and 
the  Lancashire  man  in,  494 ;  a  coun- 
tryman's ignorance  of,  494  ;  number 
of  persons  entering  in  one  day  the 
City  of,  495 ;  number  of  railway  pas- 
sengers entering,  495  ;  season-ticket 
holders  of,  496;  night- workers  in, 
496-500 ;  markets  of,  497  ;  news- 
pa}>er  work  in,  499;  newspaper 
trains  from,  600-504;  work  at  the 
Post  Office  in,  504, 606 ;  rapid  growth 


INDEX. 


541 


of  traffic  in,  616  ;  Bills  for  electric 
railways  in,  522  ;  goods  stations  in, 
516 
London  Docks,  Strike  at,  ii.  262 
London  and  Birmingham  Bailway, 
Mixed  directorate  of,  i.  73 ;  George 
and  Robert  Stephenson  appointed 
engineers  of,  73;  opposition  to,  73, 
74 ;  Countess  of  Bridgewater's  oppo- 
sition to,  74;  trial  journey  through 
a  tunnel  of  the,  77,  78;  incidents 
during  the  survey  of  the,  79  ;  Robert 
Stephenson's  survey  of  the,  80 ;  cir- 
cular of  the  promoters  of  the,  80  ; 
discussion  in  Parliament  of  the  Bill 
for  the,  80  ;>  the  Lords  reject  the 
Bill  for  the,  81 ;  compensation  to 
landowners  for  the  construction  of 
the,  81 ;  Purliamentary  costs  of  the, 
81,  82;  opposition  of  Northampton 
to  the,  82 ;  the  construction  of  the 
Kilsby  Tunnel  for  the,  83-86  ;  cost 
of  the,  88 ;  Dr.  Arnold  on  the  open- 
ing of  the,  89 ;  its  amalgamation  with 
the  Grand  Junction  and  Manchester 
and  Birmingham  Railways  under 
the  title  of  the  London  and  North- 
Western  Railway,  114,  116;  junc- 
tion of  the  Midland  Counties  Kail- 
way  with  the,  173;  dividend  of, 
194 
London,  Brighton  and  South  Coast 
Railway,  Season-ticket  holders  to 
Brighton  on  the,  i.  475  ;  celebration 
of  jubilee  of,  475 ;  number  of  pas- 
sengers in  1890  on,  475;  develop- 
ment of  goods  traffic  on,  475,  476  ; 
coal  traffic  on,  476  ;  various  plans 
for  the  construction  of,  479  ;  formed 
by  the  amalgamation  of  the  London 
and  Croydon  and  the  London  and 
Brighton  Companies,  481  ;  capital 
of  and  miles  open  on,  481  ;  London 
termini  of,  481 ;  **  Derby  "  traffic 
on,  481 ;  Mr.  Laing  on  the  decrease 
in  receipts  on,  482,  484 ;  "  shortest 
and  cheapest"  route  to  Paris  by, 
484  ;  Channel  boats  of,  484  ;  its 
joint- ownership  of  boats  with  the 
Western  of  France  Railway  Com- 
pany, 485  ;  engine-drivers  and  their 
engines  on,  485 ;  its  endeavours  to 
maintain  punctuality,  486  ;  Mr. 
Laing's  labours  on,  487,  488  ;  direc- 
tors of,  488 ;  number  of  passengers 
carried  in  1892  on,  489  ;  workmen's 
trains  on,  490  ;  the  question  of  the 
abolition  of    second-class  carnages 


on,  ii.  183  ;  drawing-room  train  on, 
213  ;  electric  light  on,  217  ;  faU  of 
bridge  near  Norwood  Junction  on, 
370 

London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Railway, 
route  to  Paris  by  the,  i.  462  ;  date  of 
incorporation  of,  462;  first  line  of, 
462  ;  development  of,  462  ;  Viaduct 
Hotel  of,  462;  carriage  of  Continental 
mails  by,  463  ;  dividends  of,  463  ; 
price  of  its  stock  in  1886,  466  ;  its 
bold  policy,  and  its  recent  new  lines, 
466  ;  its  payment  of  a  full  dividend 
on  preference  stock,  467  ;  proposals 
for  amalgamating  with  the  South- 
Eastem  Railway,  467 ;  delays  caused 
by  running  into  Cannon  Street, 
468  ;  ^Ir.  Beckett  Faber  on  tlio 
proposed  amalgamation  scheme, 
468;  the  meeting  on  the  scheme, 
469-471  ;  the  question  of  the 
abolition  of  second-class  carriages 
on,  ii.  183 

London  County  Council  and  the 
Mancliester,  Sheffield  and  Lincoln- 
shire extension  to  London,  i.  364 ; 
and  workmen's  trains,  391 

London  and  Dublin  Mail,  i  150 

London  and  North- Western  Railway, 
journeys  of  the  Queen  on  the,  i.  100- 
103  ;  formed  by  the  amalgamation 
of  the  Grand  Junction,  the  Man- 
chester and  Birmingham,  and  the 
London  and  Birmingham  Railways, 
114,  115:  Sir  Richard  Moon  joins 
the  board  of  directors  of,  116;  the 
telegraph  on  the,  116,  121  ;  works 
at  Crewe  of  the,  115,  122,  123, 125  ; 
works  at  Wolverton,  115,  122,  123  ; 
opposition  to  the  Buxton  line  of  the, 
124  ;  its  development  and  branches, 

126  ;  its  expresses,  127  ;  trains 
worked  by  a  stationary  engine 
between  Camden  and  Euston  on  the, 

127  ;  the  Doric  portico  at  the  Euston 
terminus  of  the,  127;  opening  of 
the  Trent  Valley  line  of  the,  128  ; 
mileage  and  number  of  trains  in  1874 
on  the,  129  ;  number  of  passengers, 
amount  of  merchandise,  and  revenue 
in  1893,  129  ;  increase  In  third-class 
passengers  on  the,  130 ;  privileges  to 
work-people  of  the,  132;  the  race 
with  the  Great  Northern  of  the,  133, 
530,  ii.  232-235,  257-258  ;  the  rule 
of  Sir  Richard  Moon  on  the,  i.  134- 
136  ;  management  of  the,  136,  137  ; 
goods  traffic  of  the,  138.143 ;  Irish 


542 


OUB   RAILWAYS. 


harvestmen  on  the,  144-146  ;  guards 
of  the,  148-150  ;  engine  decoration 
on  the,  148  ;  the  London  and  Dublin 
Mail  on  the,  150  ;  modem  locomotives 
of  the,  153  ;  coat-of-arms  of  the,  154 ; 
its  development  in  Yorkshire  and 
Derbyshire,  155 ;  its  new  line  from 
AshbouiTie  to  Cromford  and  the 
High  Teak,  156  ;  and  the  Forged 
Transfers  Act,  158  ;  recent  dividend 
of  the,  159  ;  Shrewsbury  and  Here- 
ford line  purchased  by,  161 ;  newly 
appointed  general  manager  of,  162, 
note  ;  and  the  "  amalganuition 
fever,"  162  ;  its  opposition  to  the 
Midland  extension  to  Manchester, 
254 ;  workmen's  trains  on,  393 ; 
assault  by  a  madman  on  the,  ii.  45  ; 
mad  engine-driver  on  the,  48 ;  its 
exemption  from  g^eat  disasters,  93  ; 
accident  at  Hampstoad  Heath  station 
on  the,  93-97  ;  time-tables  of,  158 ; 
second-class  passengers  on,  178,  179, 
180  ;  abolition  of  second-class  on  the 
West  Coast  route  of,  187  ;  corridor 
trains  on,  212  ;  the  electric  light  on, 
218;  average  speed  on,  255,  256; 
fogs  on,  393 ;  rates  for  merchandise 
on,  495 

London  Road  Station,  Manchester, 
Goods  depOt  at,  i.  40 ;  description  of 
a  guard's  duties  at,  149,  150 ; 
enlargement  of,  350 

London  and  South -Western  Railway, 
purchase  of  docks  at  Southampton 
by,  i.  270,  467  ;  workmen's  trains 
on,  391-393  ;  suggestion  to  prevent 
sea-sickness  by  a  shareholder  of, 
432,  433 ;  loss  from  snow-storms  and 
fogs  on,  435  ;  receipts  and  develop- 
ment of,  436  ;  date  of  incorporation 
of,  436 ;  its  locomotive  shops  at  Nine 
£lms,  436  ;  its  works  at  Bishopstoke, 
436  ;  its  new  line  to  Bournemouth, 
436  ;  its  new  line  from  Poole  to 
Ham  worthy,  436  ;  constructing  an 
electric  railway  from  Waterloo  to 
the  City,  437 ;  mileage  and  pas- 
sengers on,  437  ;  merchandise  traffic 
on,  438 ;  capital  of,  438 ;  super- 
annuation to  servants  o^  438  ;  Rail- 
way Temperance  Union  in  connec- 
tion with,  438 ;  Largest  signal-box 
in  the  world  at  the  Waterloo  ter- 
minus of,  439 ;  its  enterprise  at 
Southampton,  440  ;  purchase  of  land 
for  a  new  dock  by,  440  ;  Inter- 
national  Navigation  Company  and 


the,  440-445  ;  prospects  of  growing 
American  trade  on,  443, 445 ;  second- 
class  passengers  on,  ii  183 

London  to  York,  Railway  from,  i  215  ; 
opposition  to,  216,  217 

Lord,  Thomas,  and  Lord's  Cricket 
Ground,  i.  359,  363 

Lord's  Cricket  Ground,  L  358-360 

T^oughborough,  First  excursion  train 
from  Leicester  to,  i.  213 

Louis  Dagmar  steamboat,  i  455 

Louis  Philippe,  and  railway  travelling, 
i.  107 

Lover,  Claim  against  a  Railway  Com- 
pany for  the  loss  of  a,  ii.  476 

Lowenf eld's,  Mr.,  case  ag^nst  the 
Great  Western  for  failure  of  con« 
tract,  ii.  126-128 

Lubbock,  Sir  John,  and  Bank  Holiday, 
ii.  82 

Lucas,  Mr.,  one  of  the  inspectors  of 
the  Primrose  Hill  tunnel,  i.  77 

Luggage,  packed  on  the  roof  of  rail- 
way carriages,  L  69,  63,  ii,  144; 
modem  facilities  for  the  conveyance 
of,  i.  147;  thefts  of,  ii.  10,  11; 
lost,  116 

Lynton  Mountain  Railway,  iu  105 

Macdermott,   Mr.    F.,   his   "Railway 

System  of  London,"  quoted,  i.  494 
Mackenzie,  Mr.  W.,  alighting  from  a 

train  to  shoot  a  buck,  ii.  230 
Mackintosh,   Mr.,  contractor  for  the 

Grand  Junction   Railway,  i.    109  ; 

sub-contractor     for     the    Midland 

Counties  Railway,  174 
Maclean,  Robert,  The  Queen  fired  at 

by,  ii.  12 
Madeod,  Rev.  Norman,  and  the  dog 

«Help,"ii.  113 
Maclure,  M.P.,  Mr.  J.  W.,  and    the 

case  of  John  Hood,  ii.  275,  277 
Mad  engine-drivers,  ii.  48,  49 
Madman,  in  a  signal-box,  ii.  46,  47  ; 

on   a   locomotive,    47,    48 ;  as  an 

engine-driver,  48,  49 
Madmen,  in  railway  carriages,  ii.  42, 

45 
Madwoman,  in  a  signal-box,  ii.  47 
Magistrates  of  the  West  Riding,  and 

the    delays    on    the  North-Eastem 

Railway,  i.  334 
Maidenhead,  Bridge  at,  i.  410 
Mail  train.  The,  i.  16 ;  the  London  and 

Dublin,    150 ;    on  Christmas  Eve, 

509-513  ;  on  fire,  ii.  53 
Mails,  expeditious  delivery  of,  L  109, 


INDEX. 


543 


506 ;  transatlantic,  from  Southamp- 
ton, 440 ;  and  the  railway  com- 
panies, 504-513  ;  robberies  of,  ii.  10 

Manchester,  Coadies  to,  i.  17,  19; 
description  of  the  trade  and  ware- 
houses of,  38-40 ;  its  indebtedness 
to  the  railway  system,  40 ;  goods 
traffic  at,  138,  139;  popuLition  of, 
164  ;  Victoria  Station  at,  166  ;  Mid- 
land extension  to,  253-256  ;  Central 
Station,  256-258  ;  London  Kond 
Stiition,  40,  149,  150 ;  its  reputation 
for  abundance  of  rain,  258  ;  railway 
distance  from  Sheffield  to,  277 ; 
Great  Northern  expresses  from,  307  ; 
growth  of,  361,  352  ;  bridges  in, 
406 ;  Sunday  opening  of  tho  Refer- 
ence Library  and  the  Art  Gallery  in, 
ii.  63 ;  excursionists  of,  83 ;  in 
Whit-week,  86 ;  fast  trains  to,  254 

**  Manchester  Railways,"  quoted,  ii. 
192,  201 

Manchester  and  Birmingham  Railway, 
Amalgamation  with  the Gnind  Junc- 
tion and  London  and  Birmingham 
Railways  of  the,  i.  114 

Manchester,  Bolton  and  Bury  Canal, 
and  the  construction  of  a  railway  at 
its  side,  i.  71 

Manchester  and  Bolton  Railway,  open- 
ing of,  i.  71 

Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire 
Railway,  its  agreement  with  tho 
Midland  Company,  i.  253 ;  its  sub- 
urlmn  line  at  Manchester,  256  ;  its 
line  to  Chesterfield,  276 ;  project  to 
bring  it  into  London,  317,  356  ;  the 
line  from  Manchester  to  Godley  on 
the,  344,  348;  the  line  to  Dinting, 
348;  effect  of  the  railway  mania 
on,  348  ;  quarrel  with  tho  London 
and  North- Western  Railway,  350; 
its  various  lines,  351 ;  Sir  Edwnrd 
Watkin*s  work  for,  352 ;  its  de- 
pendence on  other  railways,  353 ; 
fish  traffic  on,  353;  its  steamers, 
354 ;  the  money  spent  on  the 
Grimsby  Docks  by,  354  ;  opposition 
to  the  scheme  for  bringing  it  to 
lx)ndon,  357-3G5;  cutting  the  first 
sod,  367  ;  opening  of  Staveley  and 
Annesley  line  on,  367 ;  its  bridge 
across  the  Dee,  369 ;  the  Wirral 
line  of,  370,  373;  and  tho  Lan- 
cashire, Derbyshire  and  East  Coast 
Rjiilway,  383;  workmen's  faros  on, 
394 ;  excursions  on,  ii.  78  ;  abolition 
of  second-class  carriages  on,  181 


Manchester  Ship  Canal,  Cost  of  the, 
i.  88 ;  difficulty  in  the  construction 
of,  17^  ;  impetus  given  to  trade  by 
the,  269  ;  in  f^l  swing,  ii.  618 

Manchester,  South  Junction  and  Al- 
trincham  Railway,  and  the  slamming 
of  doors,  ii.  204,  note 

Manchester  and  Southport  Railway,  i. 
165 

Mania,  Railway,  The,  i.  190,  191,  193- 
198 

Maple,  M.P.,  Sir  J.  Blundoll,  and  tho 
Cheap  Trains  Bill,  i.  394 

Marindin,  Major,  and  the  accident  at 
Hampstead  Heath  Station,  ii.  97; 
and  his  report  on  the  accident  to 
James  Choules,  272,  273 ;  on  the 
accident  at  Waterloo  Station,  404 ; 
on  the  Penistone  accidents,  445,  447; 
on  the  Hexthorpo  acci<lent,  461 ;  on 
the  Thirsk  accident,  466 

Marion  de  Lorme,  his  visit  with  the 
Marquis  of  Worcester  to  the  Bicetro 
at  Paris,  i.  21,  22 

Markets  of  London,  Men  employed  in, 
i.  497 

Martin,  Mr.  C.  R.,  locomotive  en- 
gineer of  New  Zealand  railway,  his 
record  of  the  Gr^at  Northern  speed 
to  Edinburgh,  ii.  239 

Mart/  Beatrice  steamboat,  i.  455 

Matlock  line.  The,  i.  223 ;  cable  tram- 
way at,  ii.  105 

Matheson,  Sir  Alexander,  and  tho 
Highland  Railway,  i.  635 

Maxim,  Mr.,  and  flying  machines,  i. 
516 

May,  Princess,  Marriage  of,  i.  104,  not« 

Maynard,  Edward,  i.  380 

McLeod,  Captain  Duncan,  killed  in  the 
Thirsk  accident,  ii.  466 

Menai  bridge,  ii.  344-350 

Merchandise,  Early  modes  for  tho 
transit  of,  i.  6,  20 ;  amount  carried 
by  railways  yoiirly,  ii.  606 ;  railway 
rates  for,  485-503 

"  Mercury  "  locomotive^  The,  ii.  227 

Merewether,  Sergeant,  and  the  T^on- 
don,  Brighton  and  South  Coast 
Railway,  i.  479,  480 

Mersey  Docks,  i.  270 

Mersey  Tunnel,  The,  its  construction, 
extent,  and  ventilation,  i.  267  ; 
amount  of  traffic  through,  268 ;  its 
cost,  269  ;  prospects  of  its  acquisition 
by  the  Sheffield  or  the  Great 
Western  in  conjunction  with  tha 
North -Western,  378,  374 


544 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


Merstham  and  Wandsworth  line,  i. 
30 

Merthyr  Tydvil,  Running  of  first 
locomotive  at,  i.  22,  and  note 

"  Meteor  "  locomotive,  The,  i.  68 

^letropolitan  Railway,  its  extension  to 
Aylesbury,  i.  367  ;  workmen's  trains 
on,  393,  394 ;  difficulties  in  construc- 
tion of,  513  ;  atmosphere  in,  513 ; 
compensation  to  tenants  during  the 
construction  of,  513;  Fuiieh  and  the, 
514;  opening  of,  514;  number  of 
passengers  carried  by,  615;  connec- 
tion at  King's  Cross  with  the  Great 
Northern,  615 ;  competition  of  om- 
nibuses withy  515;  and  Hades,  ii. 
39 

Middlesbrough,  created  by  the  Stock- 
ton and  Darlington  Railway,  i.  38 

Middleton,  James,  carries  the  news  on 
an  engine  from  Birmingham  to 
Liverpool  of  the  birth  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  i.  115 

Midgeholme  Railway,  The  service  of 
the  "  Rocket "  on  the,  i.  66 

Midland  Counties  Railway,  Opening 
of,  i.  174-176 ;  merged  with  the 
North  Midland  and  the  Birmingham 
and  Derby  Railways  into  the  Mid- 
land Railway,  189  ' 

"  Midland  Counties  Railway  Com- 
panion," i.  127,  128  ;ii.  147 

Midland  Railway,  the  tunnel  between 
Dore  and  Chinley  on  the,  i.  82,  83  ; 
accident  to  navvies  in  the  construc- 
tion of,  113, 114 ;  telegraph  messages 
on  the,  119;  crest  of  the,  154;  and 
the  Forged  Transfeia  Act,  168 ;  its 
centre  at  Derby,  169 ;  its  extent, 
169 ;  its  penetration  to  London,  170 ; 
St.  Pancras  Station  of  the,  170; 
abandonment  of  second-class  car- 
riages, 170,  ii.  173 ;  authorised 
capital  of  the,  i.  170;  number  of 
passengers  carried  by  the,  170 ; 
origin  of  the,  171 ;  inspection  by 
George  Stephenson  of  proposed  route 
of  the,  171;  Robert  Stephenson 
appointed  engineer  of  the,  172 ;  a 
meeting  of  the  shareholders  de- 
scribed, 183,  184,  186;  the  North 
Midland,  the  Birmingham  and 
Derby,  and  the  Midland  Counties 
Railways  merged  into  the,  189; 
purchases  the  Leicester  and  Swan- 
nington  Railway,  214  ;  its  opposition 
to  the  London  and  York  Railway, 
216 ;  various  proposed  extensions  in 


1845  and  1846  of  the,  217;  George 
Hudson's  opinion  of  tiie  engines  of 
the,  218;  the  competition  of  the 
Great  Northern  with  the,  221 ;  it« 
junction  with  the  London  and  North- 
Western  at  Birmingham,  221 ;  con- 
nection made  with  the  Mansfield 
and  Erewash  Valley  lines,  and  the 
Oxford,  Worcester  and  Wolver- 
hampton Railway  opened  by  the» 
221,  222  ;  Leeds  and  Bradford  Rail- 
way acquired  by,  222 ;  its  excursions 
to  the  Exhibition  of  1851,  222; 
seizes  a  Great  Northern  engine,  225; 
block  during  1851  on  the,  227 ;  rais- 
ing of  capital  for  the  extension  to 
Ix)ndon  of  the,  228 ;  beer  traffic  on 
the,  230;  St.  Pancras  Station  and 
Hotel  of  the,  23 1-234 ;  route,  branches 
and  growth  of  traffic  on  the,  234, 
236 ;  Leicester  station  on  the,  235 ; 
Derby  station  on  the,  236,  236 ; 
St.  Pancras  goods  station  of  the, 
236;  shops  at  Derby  of  the,  236, 
238,  ii.  223,  224;  Birmingham 
station  of  the,  i.  239,  240,  244  ;  the 
electric  light  on  the,  240-242,  244 ; 
its  advance  into  Manchester,  253- 
256;  its  track  through  Derbyshire, 
246-253 ;  its  agreement  with  the 
Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincoln- 
shire Railway,  253  ;  Doe  Lea  branch 
of,  271-274;  at  Chesterfield,  275; 
at  Sheffield,  278-280 ;  track  through 
Yorkshire  and  Scotland  of,  284-295  ; 
coal-traffic  competition  with  the 
Great  Northern  Company,  315 ;  and 
the  Lancashire,  Derbyshire  and 
East  Coast  Railway,  383;  and  tJhe 
Scottish  railways,  556 ;  protest 
against  Sunday  trains  on,  li.  71 ; 
Lickey  incline  on,  102,  103 ;  refresh- 
ments on,  137,  138;  successful 
working  of  the,  176 ;  introduction 
of  Pullman  cars  on,  196-198 ;  heating 
carriages  on,  206 ;  corridor  trains  on, 
212 ;  the  electric  light  on,  218,  219  ; 
speed  of  express  trains  on,  241 ; 
average  speed  on,  256-257;  strike 
of  engine-drivers  on,  300-304  ; 
floods  on,  387  ;  projected  new  line 
between  Manchester  and  Glasgow, 
515 ;  rates  for  merchandise  on, 
495 

"Midland   Railway,    The,"   by    Mr. 
WUliams,  quoted,  i.  172,  note 

Mileage  of  railways.  Increase  in  fifty 
years  in,  ii.  482 


INDEX. 


545 


Milk  traffic  to  London,  i.  818 

Miller's  Dale,  i.  249 

Minen  on  railways,  ii.  8 

Monsal  Dale,  I  249 ;  viadnct  at,  252f 
382,  383 

Mont  Cenis  Railway,  iL  103 

Mont  Cenis  Tunnel,  ii.  316 

Montgomery,  Case  of  the  station- 
master  of,  iL  273-275 

Moon,  Sir  Richard,  joins  the  directorate 
of  the  London  an4  North- Western 
Railway,  i.  115;  his  character  and 
his  role  of  the  London  and  North- 
Western  Railway,  134;  his  close 
obsenration  and  industiy,  134 ;  the 
I'itnet  notice  of,  134,  135  ;  and  the 
porter  at  Tyidesley  Banks,  135  ;  his 
severity,  135,  136 ;  his  earl^  rifdng, 
and  insistence  on  punctuahty,  136  ; 
his  discipline  in  the  boara-rooin, 
136;  on  second-class  passengers,  ii. 
178 

Moors,  Travelling  over  the,  L  347 

Morecambe,  i.  286 

Morland,  Sir  Samuel,  Coach  built  by, 
i.  14 

Morley,  M.P.,  Mr.  Arnold,  on  free 
telegrams  of  railway  companies,  i. 
119,  120 

Morning  PmI,  Wordaworth*8  letter  on 
the  projected  Kendal  and  Winder- 
mere Railway  in  the,  ii.  64 

Morrison,  Mr.  Kenneth,  and  the  Rail- 
way Clearing  House,  ii.  479 

Moss,  M.P.,  Mr.,  i.  43 

"  Mugby  Junction,"  ii.  123,  124 

Miiller,  the  murderer,  i.  439 ;  ii.  13-17 

Mundella,  M.P.,  Mr.,  The  Queen's 
letter  on  the  accident  to  the  "  Flying 
Scotsman  "  to,  i.  99 ;  on  the  Cheap 
Trains  Bill,  395 ;  his  Railway  Ser- 
vants'  Hours  of  Labour  Bill,  li.  283, 
285  ;  and  railway  rates,  494-498 

Murder  by  navvies  on  the  Edinburgh 
and  Giasgow  Railway,  i.  112;  of 
Mr.  Briggs  by  MuUer,  439 ;  ii.  13- 
17 ;  of  Mr.  Gold  by  Lefroy,  17-22 

Murderer,  Charles  Peace,  the,  his 
escape  from  an  express  train,  i.  61  ; 
Miiller,  the,  439;  Tawell,  the,  ii. 
11;  Lefroy,  the,  17-22 

Murders  on  French  railways,  ii.  13 
My  Lord  "  locomotive,  The,  I  23 


Ii 


Napoleon,  G^rge  Stephenson's  retort 

about,  i.  48 
Napoleon  III. ,  his  railway  train  bought 

by  the  Czar,  i  93 

•   • 


Narcissi,  loads  of,  on  Great  Western 
Railway,  L  407 

Navvies,  Description  of,  i.  109,  110; 
Thomas  Brassey's  influence  over, 
110;  in  the  construction  of  the 
Paris  and  Rouen  Railway,  110; 
English  and  French,  working  to- 
gether, 110,  111 :  nicknames  of, 
HI;  appetite  and  thirst  of,  111; 
their  roughness  and  fighting  pro- 
pensities, 111;  their  fighting  en- 
counters on  the  Chester  and  Birken- 
head Railway,  112;  murder  com- 
mitted by,  112;  generosity  and 
bravery  of,  112;  accident  on  the 
Rouen  line  to,  112  ;  accident  in  the 
construction  of  the  Midland  line  to, 
113;  their  unthrifty  ways,  114; 
their  investments  of  late  in  the  Post 
Office  Savings  Bank,  114;  and  the 
Duke  of  Sutherland,  534,  535 

Navvy  in  a  first-class  refreshment- 
room,  A,  ii.  133,  134 

"  Ned  Farmer's  Scrap  Book,"  ii.  287- 
289 

Neele,  Mr.  G.  P.,  Presentation  from 
the  Queen  to,  i.  102,  103 

Nettloship,  Mr.  J.  H.,  on  stone-throw* 
ing  at  trains,  ii.  6 

New  Milford,  i.  405 

New  Street  Station,  Birmingham,  L 
244,  245 

New  Zealand,  Incident  of  railway 
travelling  in,  ii.  229 

Newbigg^n,  The  Midland  Railway  at, 
and  the  landowner's  oak,  i.  294 

Newcastle,  Coaches  to,  i.  17;  fast 
trains  to,  ii.  254 ;  commemoration 
of  the  centenary  of  George  Stephen- 
son's birth,  512 

Newcastle  and  Carlisle  Railway,  i.  52, 
323 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  and  the  pro- 
posed railway  through  the  Dukeriet, 

L  248;  and  the  Lancashire,  Der- 
byshire and  East  Coast  Railway, 
380 

Newnes,  M.P.,  Sir  George,  and  his 
railways  in  Wales  and  at  Lynton, 
and  his  tram-road  at  Matlock,  ii. 
105 

Newspaper  trains,  i.  499-50  ii.  78, 
80 

Newspapers,  of  London,  Workers  on, 
i.  497-503 ;  of  the  provinces,   603 ; 
Sunday  work  on,  ii.  69-71 ;  railway, 
160 
I  Nicknames  of  navvies,  i.  Ill 


546 


OUB   RAILWAYS. 


Night- workers    in    London,    i.    496^. 
504 

Nine  Elms,  London  and  South- Western 
locomotive  shops  at,  i.  436 

Nith,  Valley  of,  Coaches  in  the,  i. 
27 

"  Noah*8  Arks,"  i.  4 

Noble,  Mr.  John,  ex-general  manager 
Midland  Railway,  letter  to  author 
declining  permission  to  ride  on  the 
footplate  of  an  express  engine,  i.  67 ; 
and  the  viaduct  over  Monsal  Dale, 
383 

Norfolk,  Duke  of  ("Jockey  of  Nor- 
folk "),  at  Brighton,  i.  474 

Norfolk  Mills,  i.  389 

Normanton,  Station  at,  i.  282 

North,  Roger,  his  description  of  tram- 
roads  from  coal-pits,  i.  21 

North  British  Railway,  route  of,  L 
644 ;  capital  and  extent  of,  644  ; 
traffic  on,  -644  ;  receipts  of,  544  ;  the 
Marquis  of  Tweeddale  on,  545 ;  Par- 
liamentary expenses  of,  545;  its 
fight  with  the  Caledonian  Railway, 
545-548 ;  signal  system  on,  549 ;  bad 
times  of,  649 ;  abolition  of  second- 
class  carriages  on,  ii.  182;  strike  of 
servants  on,  264-268,  271 

North* Eastern  Railway,  i  293 ;  pur- 
chase of  tracks  by,  320 ;  mileage,  pas- 

.  senger  traffic,  goods traffic,and  capital 
of,  320 ;  route  of  main  trunk-line  of, 
822 ;  its  fight  with  small  railways, 
823 ;  a  declaration  of  a  Parlia- 
mentary committee  respecting,  324 ; 
Colonel  Smith  on  the  Bills  of,  824  ; 
its  amalgamation  with  the  Hull 
Dock  Company,  326,  and  note ;  the 
Tyne  Dock  and,  326,  327  ;  at  Leeds, 
327 ;  at  York,  327,  329,  330 ;  alleged 
delays  on,  331,  333;  Bishops  and 
the,  331,  332 ;  express  and  corridor 
trains  of,  334 ;  at  Sunderland,  335 ; 
worksat  Gateshead,  Darlington,  and 
York  of,  335  ;  Mr.  WorsdelFs  com- 
pound engines  on,  335 ;  high  speed 
reached  on,  336 ;  early  and  modem 
locomotives  on,  338 ;  labour  troubles 
on,  338-340;  hindrances  from  snow- 
storms and  fogs  on,  341,  342;  in- 
crease of  wages  on,  342;  cottages 
for  workpeople  of,  343 

'*  North-EIastem  Railway  and  its 
Engines,"  by  Mr.  Worsdell,  quoted, 
i.  320,  322,  337,  338 

North  of  France  Railway,  i.  437 ;  an 
engine-driver  on  the,  ii.  291 


North  Midland  line,  i.  178  ;  early  days 
of  the,  186  ;  abuse  of  privileges  hy 
shareholders    of,    187;    increase  oi 
revenue  in  1842,  187;  objections  to 
large  refreshment-rooms  on  the,  188 ; 
economical  measures  on  the,   188 ; 
accident  at  Bamslev  Station  on  the, 
189 ;  its  amalgamation  with  the  Bir- 
mingham and  Derby  and  Midland 
Counties  Rail  ways,  189;  construction 
of  line  from  Birmingham  to  Bristol 
on  the,  189 ;  dividend  of,  194 
"  North  Star  "  locomotive.  The,  i  68 
North  Union  Railway,  i.  165 
Northampton,    Opposition  of,  to  the 
London  and  Birmingham  Railway, 
i.  82 
Northumberland,      Earl     of.    Coach 

driven  by,  i.  5 
"Northumbrian"  engine,  The,  i  24, 

50,  67,  58  ;  ii.  227 
Norton  Bridge,   Journey  of  a  royal 

train  through,  i.  101 
Norwich,  Fast  trains  to,  ii.  254 
Norwood,  Railway  accident  at,  ii.  456 
Nottingham,   Opening  of  railway  at, 
i.  174  ;  swift  journey  to,  313  ;   fast 
trains  to,  ii.  264 
Novelists*  pictures  of  old  coaching  days, 

i.  18,  19 
'* Novelty''  locomotive,  Braithwaite*s 
and  Ericsson's^  i.  63,  54, 55 

Oakley,  Sir  Henry,  and  season-ticket 
holders  on  the  Great  Northern  Rail- 
way, t  30^  ;  and  the  new  electric 
railway,  522  ;  on  railway  rates,  ii. 
493,  495,  500 

O'Brien,  the  Lrish  giant,  in  London, 
i.  142 

O'Oannor,  M.P.,  Mr.  T.  P.,  and  the 
directors  of  the  Cambrian  Railways, 
ii.  278 

Oil-lamps  in  carriages,  ii.  214,  216 

*'  Old  coaching  days,"  Incidents  of, 
i.  5,  6  ;  first  coaches  in  the,  17,  18 ; 
novelists'  pictures  of,  18,  19  ; 
leisurely  habits  in,  20  ;  end  of  the, 
27,  28 

Oldham,  population  of,  i.  164  ;  wakes 
at,  ii.  87 

Oliver,  Mr.,  and  the  Railway  Clearing 
House,  ii.  484 

Onslow,  Mr.  Denzil,  and  the  opposition 
to  Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lin- 
colnshire extension  to  London,  i.  362 

Oregon  Short  Railway,  Mad  engine- 
driver  on  the,  ii  .48,  60 


I 


INDEX. 


547 


Osbonvd,  Bemal,  and  G^rge  Hudson, 
i.  202 

Ouidii,  Description  of  a  railway  acci- 
dent by,  ii.  399 

"Our  Iron  Roads,"  by  Frederick 
Williams,  quoted,  ii.  112,  130 

Overhead  Bailway  at  Liverpool,  its 
construction  and  stations,  i.  262 ; 
generating  station  of  the,  263  ;  its 
opening  by  Lord  Salisbury,  263,  264, 
266 

Overworked  artisans,  ii.  261 

Oxford,  First  coach  travelling  from 
London  to,  i.  17 

Oxford,  Worcester  and  Wolverhamp- 
ton line  opened  by  the  Midland 
Railway  Company,  i.  221,  222 

Pack-horse,  Transit  of  goods  by,  i.  6, 
17,  18,  347,  348 

Packets  to  the  Continent,  Early,  i.  454, 
455 

Paddington,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  i.  400 

Paddint^n  Station,  i.  399 

"  Paddy  Mail,"  The,  L  34  ;  lighting, 
ii.  215 

Paget,  Mr.  Oeorge  Ernest,  chairman 
of  the  Midland  Railway  Company, 
ii.  168  ;  on  Sir  James  Allport,  170 ; 
and  the  bridges  on  the  Midland, 
372 ;  and  railway  rates,  497 

Palestine,  Railways  in,  ii.  100,  101 

Parcel  Post,  The,  i.  604 

Parcel  traffic  on  railways,  i.  505,  506 

Paris,  siege  of.  Armour-plated  train 
at  the,  i.  225 

Paris,  Ihr.,  one  of  the  joint-inspectors 
of  Primrose  Hill  Tunnel,  i.  77 

Paris-Havre  Railway,  Amusing  inci- 
dent on  the,  ii.  77,  78 

Paris,  Lyons  and  Mediterranean  Rail- 
way, i.  452 

Paris  and  Rouei)  Railway,  English 
navvies  sent  to  help  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the,  i.  110 ;  constructed  by 
Thomas  Brassey,  110;  accident  and 
rescue  of  navvies  on  the,  112,  113 

Parker,  Mr.,  secretary  to  the  loco- 
motive superintendent  of  the  Great 
Eastern  Railway,  on  the  Stratford 
works,  i.  378,  379 

Parkes,  Mr.  C.  H.,  late  chairman  of 
the  Great  Eastern  Railway  Com- 
pany, i.  395,  and  note 

Parkeston  Quay,  i.  396 

Parliament,  Bill  to  prevent  coach- 
riding     introduced      into,    i.    5 ; 


discussion  of  Bill  for  promoting 
the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Rail- 
way in,  43-46 ;  railway  Bills  from 
1844-46  in,  198  ;  its  declaration  re- 
specting North-Eastern  Railway, 
324  ;  returns  of  fast  trains  made  to, 
ii.  254 ;  and  industrial  grievances, 
262  ;  Select  Committee  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  excessive  hours  of 
labour  on  the  Scotch  railways,  271  ; 
and  the  case  of  John  Hood,  274- 
280  ;  and  railway  rates, 4 86,  495,  496, 
498,  501 

Parliamentary  debates  and  the  tele- 
graph, i.  116-118 

Parliamentary  trains,  ii.  164 

Parnell,  Mr.  Chjis.,  left  behind  at 
Crewe,  ii.  54 

**  Passenger  follows  the  Trade,  The," 
i.  138 

Passengers,  in  a  train,  Cosmopolitan 
character  of,  i.  13,  14  ;  number 
entering  London  of,  495  ;  number 
carried  yearly,  ii.  174,  506 

Payment,  evadhig,  Incident  on  the 
railway  of,  ii.  35,  36 

Peace,  Charles,  Escape  from  an  express 
train  of,  i.  61, 62  ;  execution  of,  63 

"Peacock,"  The,  Row8ley,ii.  248 

Pease,  Edward,  and  the  Stockton  and 
Darlington  Railway,  i.  30  ;  his  inter- 
view with  George  Stephenson,  32; 
his  visit  to  Killingworth  to  see 
Stephenson's  locomotives,  33  ;  his 
opinion  of  the  prospects  of  railways, 
414 

Pease,  Joseph,  Statue  to  the  memory 
of,  ii.  511 

Pebody,  Mr.  Charles,  his  ''English 
Journalism  and  the  Men  who  have 
Made  It,"  quoted,  i.  502 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  compares  the  London 
and  North  -  Western  Railway  to 
Agricola's  communication  from 
London  to  Chester,  i.  128 ;  Mr. 
Gladstone*s  allusion  to  the  railway 
deputation  waiting  upon,  372 

Penistone,  Accident  at  (1884),  ii.  442- 
445  ;  second  accident  at  (1885),  446, 
447 

Penloidge  Viaduct,  The  work  of 
Thomas  Brassey  on  the,  i.  109 

Penny  Postage,  i.  165 

Perl  and  Baillehache's  frictional 
systems  for  train  communication, 
ii.  204 

"  Perseverance"  locomotive,  Burstall's, 
i.  63, 66 


yy2 


548 


OUR   RAILWAYS. 


Peter  the  Great  in  the  Admiralty 
dockyard,  i.  143 

Peterborough,  Line  from  Syston  to,  i. 
214 

«  Petrolea  "  locomotive,  i.  379,  380 

Phaeton,  The,  i.  6 

Philip,  Mr.,  lecturer  on  chemigtry,  one 
of  the  inspectors  of  Primrose  Hill 
Tunnel,  i.  77 

"  Phoenix,'*  locomotive,  The,  i.  68 

Pilkington,  Sir  William,  and  the  sur- 
vey of  his  land  for  a  niilway,  i.  177 

Pilot  engines,  i.  101 

Pinxton  to  Leicester,  Railway  from,  1. 
173 

"Planet"  locomotive.  The,  i.  68;  ii. 
227 

Playfair,  Lord,  and  the  Railway 
l^rvants*  Hours  of  Labour  Bill.  ii. 
285 

Plymouth,  Express  service  to,  i.  404 

Pochin,  Mr.,  on  the  opening  of  the 
Metropolitan  line  to  Aylesbury,  i.  ol  6 

Poetry  of  the  railway,  i.  13 

Pollitt,  Mr.  W.,  general  manager  Man- 
chester, Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire 
Railway,  ii.  203 

Ponsonby,  Sir  Henry,  i.  99,  103 

iW<  Elitabeth  Telegraphy  Incident  on 
the  railway  recorded  in,  ii.  230 

Port  Erin,  ii.  90 

Port  Patrick  and  Wigtown  Railway, 
i.  654 

Port  Skillion,  ii.  90 

Port  Soderick,  ii.  90 

Portal,  Mr.,  Chairman  of  the  I.iondon 
and  South-Western  Railway,  i.  432 ; 
his  tribute  to  Mr.  Button,  436 ;  on 
the  prospects  of  trade  between 
America  and  Southampton,  445 ;  on 
second-class  passexigers,  ii.  183 

Portico,  Doric,  The,  in  Euston  Square, 
i.  127 

Portland,  Duke  of,  and  his  St.  Leger 
party,  i.  310 

Portland  Street,  Manchester,  i.  38,  39  ; 
goods  traffic  at,  138 

Portmadoc  and  Festiniog  Railway,  ii. 
105 

Post-chaises,  L  347 

Postal  service.  The,  improvements  in, 
i.  154,  156;  and  the  railways,  604 

Potter,  M.P.,  Mr.j  I  43 

Pretoria,  Trayellmg  in  a  bullock- 
waggon  in,  i.  3 

Precautions  taken  before  a  royal 
journey,  i.  100-102;  in  Russia  for 
a  journey  of  the  Csar,  106,  107 


Preston  Railway,  i.  70 

Price,  Mr.  W.  E.,  former  chairman  of 
the  Midland  Railway,  i.  183,  433 

Primrose  Hill  Tunnel,  Report  of  in- 
spection of,  i.  77-79 

•«  Puffing  Billy  "  engine,  The,  L  30, 
347  ;  a  226 

Pullman  cars,  i.  16 ;  their  introduction 
on  the  Midland  Railway,  iL  196- 
198;  on  the  South-Eastem,  206, 206; 
places  of  safety  and  of  danger,  466, 
466 

Funek^  and  the  railway  mania,  i.  349, 
350 ;  on  the  Eastern  Counties  Rail- 
wav,  377;  on  the  broad  ^oge,  418; 
and  the  Underground  Railway,  614 ; 
on  the  discomforts  of  third-olass  pas- 
sengers, ii,  190;  cartoon  on  over- 
worked engine-drivers  in,  269 ;  and 
the  visitor  to  a  signal  box,  312  ;  cm 
railway  rates,  496 

"  Quaker's  line,"  The,  i.  24 
Quarterlif  Review^  The,  on  coaches  and 

railway  travelling,  i.  26 
**  Queen  Empress  "locomotive,  i.  153 ; 

ii  253 
Queen's  messen^  train,  ii.  608 
Quicksand  in  Kilsby  Tunnel,  i.  83 

Race,  Railway,  to  the  North  in  1888, 
i.  133:  ii.  232-240;  in  1896,  i.  630, 
u.  257,  268 
Races  at  Doncaster,  i.  309 
Rack,  carriage.  The,  ii.  36-38 
Rae,  W.  Eraser,   «'The  Businioss  of 

Travel "  by,  quoted,  i.  214 
Rails,  Substitution  of  steel  for  iron,  i. 

8,  416 ;  stabiUty  of,  429,  430 
Railways: — 

Ambergate  and  Rowsley,  i.  247 
Ashbourne,  LI 66,  168,  note 
Bala  and  Festiniog,  ii.  106 
Barry,  ii.  262,  264 
Birmingham  and  Derby,  i.  189 
Bolton  and  Leigh,  L  69,  70 
Brandling  Junction,  i.  339 
Cambrian,  l  399 ;  iL  273-280 
Canterbury  and  WhitsUUe,  i.  69 
Central  London  (Electric),  i.  623 
Central  Pacific,  ii.  207 
Chamwood  Forest,  it  287 
City  and  South  Lcoidon  (Electric), 

i.  618-622 
Cork,  Blackrock  and  Passage,  ii. 

177,  note 
Crewe  and  Chester,  i.  122 
Dinas  and  Rhyd-du,  ii  105 
East  Frisian,  U.  106 


INDEX. 


549 


Ballways  {(tmtinuiS^ — 

Eaat  London,  I  492 

Eastern  and  Midland,  i.  279,  note 

FumeflB,  i.  286,  287 

Grand  Jnnction,  i.  72,  109,  114 

Great  Eastern,  i.  875-397,  497; 
iL  182,  254,  256  (ei  passim) 

Great  Northern,  I  133,  217,  222, 
223,  225,  281,  282,  284,  296- 
319,  360,  383,  530;  u,  181,  212, 
218,  237-239,  254,  255  (et  pas- 
sim) 

Ghreat  Northern  and  City  (Electric), 
i.  522 

Great  Western,  i.  72,91,  109, 114, 
189,  195,  311,  393,  398-429 ;  ii. 
80,  92,  126,  128,  138.  182,  210, 
211,254,  255  {st  passim) 

High  Peak,  i.  158,  210,  246 

Hml  and  Bamsley,  i  324,  326 

Inner  Circle,  i.  492 

Jaffa- Jerusalem,  ii.  101, 102 

Kendal  and  Windermere,  ii.  64 

KUlingworth,  i.  23,  30 

Lanca&ire,  Derbyshire  and  East 
Coast,  i.  252,  276,  362,  380,  382 

Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  i,  162- 
168 ;  u.  184 

Leeds  and  Bradford,  i.  222 

Leeds  Northern,  i.  323 

Leicester  and  Swannington,  i.  207 

Liverpool  and  Manchester,  i.  24, 
40-51,  194 

Liverpool  Overhead,  i.  262-266 

London  and  Birmingham,  i.  72-74, 
76-82,  84-88,  114,  173,  194 

London,  Brighton  and  South 
Coast,  i.  475-490;  ii.  183,213, 
217,  370 

London,  Chatham  and  Dover,  L 
462-471 

London  and  North- Western,  i. 
116,  116,  121. 126-146,  149-159, 
162,  254,  393 ;  ii.  46,  93-97, 
158,  178-180,  187,  212,  218, 
232-235,  256,  256  (et  passim) 

London  and  South- Western,  i. 
270,  391-393,  432-445 ;  ii.  183 

Lynton  and  Lynmouth,  ii.  105 

Manchester  and  Birmingham,  L 
114 

Manchester  and  Bolton,  L  71 

Manchester  and  Oldham,  i.  70 

Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincoln- 
shire, i.  253,  276,  317,  344-374, 
383,  394  ;  ii.  78-181 

Manchester,  South  Junction  and 
Altrincham,  ii.  204,  note 


Railways  ((OonUnusdS — 

Manchester  ana  Southport,  i.  165 
Mersev  Tunnel,  i.  267-269 
Merstnam   and    Wandsworth,    i. 

30 
Metropolitan,  i.    367,   393,  394, 

513-616;  ii.  39 
Midgeholme,  i.  66 
Midland,  i.  82,  83,  113,  119,  169- 

172,    183,    189,   207,    214-218, 

221-249,  252-269,  271,  276,  278- 

280,   284,   286-295,   315,    383, 

656;  ii.  71,  102,  137,  173,  176 

196-198,   206,   212,   218,    241, 

223,  256-268,  300-304,  368,  387, 

615  {et  pitssim) 
Midland    Counties,    i.    174-176, 

189 
Mont  Cenis,  ii.  103 
Newcastle    and    Carlisle,   L    62, 

323 
North  of  France,  i.  452 
North  Midland,  i.  178-189,  194 
North  Union,  i.  166 
NorthEastem,  i.  293,  320-343 
Paris,  Lyons  and  Mediterranean, 

i.  462 
Paris  and  Rouen,  i.  110,  112 
Preston,  i.  70 
Runcorn,  i.  69 

St.  Helens  and  Widncs,  i.  72 
St.  Helens  and  Wigan  Junction, 

i.  349 
Shrewsbury  and  Hereford,  L  161 
South-Eastem,  i.    446-449,   461- 

464,    461,    467-471;    ii.    206, 

206 
Stockton  and  Darlington,  i.  30, 

33-38,  63,    194,   323;    ii.   160, 

511 
Stone  and  Rugby,  i.  361 
TViff  Vale,  i.  399  ;  ii.  262,  264 
Tenbury,  Worcester  and  Ludlow, 

U.286 
Vesuvius,  ii.  103 
West  Hartlepool,  i.  323 
Whaley  Bridge   and  Boxton,  L 

124,  125 
Wigan,  i.  70,  165 
Wirral,  i.  370 
Woolwich  Arsenal,  ii.  102 
York,  Newcastle  and  Berwick,  i. 

323 
York  and  North  Midland,  i.  323 
{See  also  under  names  of  various 

railways) 
(For  Scottish  railways,  m»  under 

Scotland) 


550 


OUB  RAILWAYS. 


Railway  acddents,  in  darly  days  of 
railways,  i.  63  {see  abo  Accidents) 

Bail  way  advortisements  during  the 
mania,  i.  197 

Bailway  Benevolent  Institution,  ii. 
606,610 

Bailway  bridges,  Accidents  to  pas- 
sengers in  coming  in  contact  with, 
i.  63 

ailway  carriages,  their  clumsy  con- 
struction at  the  opening  of  the 
Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway, 
i.  69 ;  g^ven  names,  69 ;  without 
doors,  69 ;  luggage  packed  on  the 
roof  of,  69;  the  ^'iirst  class  and 
mail/'  69 ;  for  families,  69, 60 ;  made 
at  Crewe,  123 ;  madmen  in,  ii.  42, 
46  ;  smoking  in,  67-61 ;  discomforts 
of  primitive,  192 ;  with  toast-rack 
backs,  190;  improvements  in,  196- 
199 ;  communication  cord  in,  200, 
201 ;  slamming  doors  of,  204 ;  heating, 
201,  205,  211;  lighting,  211,  214- 
220 ;  latest  made,  212,  213 

Railway  Clearing  House,  Purpose  of 
the,  ii.  476,  477  ;  system  at  the,  478 ; 
its  originators,  479-481 ;  its  first 
premises,  482;  jabilee  of,  482; 
statistics  of,  482 ;  number  and  duties 
of  clerks  at,  483  ;  Mr.  P.  H.  Dawson 
and  the,  483 ;  Mr.  Oliver  and  the, 
484 

Railway  Clearing  House,  and  lost 
articles,  ii.  116 

Railway  Congress  at  St.  Petersburg,  i 
260,  261 ;  in  London,  ii.  618-619 

Railway  guards,  in  scarlet  cloaks,  i. 
69 ;  on  the  London  and  North- 
western Railway,  148-150  ;  of  the 
•*  Flying  Scotsman,"  305 

*' Railway  King,"  The,  i.  202,  206 

Railway  mania,  The,  i.  190,  191,  193- 
198  * 

Railicay  News,  The,  incident  on  the 
Paris- Ha\Te  Railway  in,  ii.  77,  78 ; 
Mr.  Pollitt's  paper,  on  train  com- 
munication, in,  203,  204  ;  on  the 
Forth  Bridge,  366 

Railway  race  to  the  North,  i.  133, 
630  ;  ii.  232-240,  257-258 

Fiilway  rates  affecting  factories,  ii. 
486 ;  revision  of,  486 ;  report  of 
Lord  Balfour  of  Biivlcigh  and  Sir 
Courtenay  Boyle  on,  487 ;  provisional 
orders  and  Acts  of  Parliament  on, 
487  ;  dissatisfaction  of  traders  with, 
488-490;  Lord  WharncliflFe  and, 
491,  492;  Sir  Henry  Oakley  and. 


493 ;  Mr.  Mundella  and,  496,  497 ; 
report  of  the  Select  Committee,  600. 
603 ;  a  new  Act,  603 

'*  Railway  Sabbath  Agitator's  Manual, 
The,"  quoted,  ii  62 

Railway  servants,  Treatment  of,  i.  10, 
132 ;  overworked,  ii.  269, 261 ;  strike 
in  Wales  of,  262,  264;  strike  on 
Scotch  railways  of,  264-268,  271; 
gratuities  to,  146;  Parliamentary 
inquiry  into  hours  worked  by,  271, 
282 ;  Mr.  Mnndella's  BiU  on  behalf 
of,  283, 286 ;  number  employed,  606  ; 
courtesy  of,  609 

Railway  Servants*  Hours  of  Labour 
Bill,  ii.  283,  286 

Railway  signalling,  i.  8,  120 

Railway  speed,  L  10 ;  at  the  opening 
of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
Railway,  68  ;  compared  to  the  speed 
of  birds,  64 ;  the  race  to  the  North 
in  1H88  and  1895,  i.  133,  630:  ii. 
232-240,  257,  268;  of  a  Midland 
bogie  engine,  ii.  224;  of  early  en- 
gines, 227,  236 ;  errors  respecting, 
230;  Mr.  C.  Stretton  on,  231,  232; 
in  the  race  of  1888,  232-240;  in 
America,  243 ;  returns  to  Parlia- 
ment of,  264-266 

Railway  stations,  Improvements  in,  i. 
8;  appearance  ox  large,  12,  13; 
varieties  o^  231 ;  described,  107, 
108,  109 

Railway  system,  Rapid  development 
of,  i.  16 ;  its  networks,  16,  16 ;  the 
<< father"  of  the,  24 ;  and  the  Post 
Office,  604-613 

"  Railway  System  of  London,"  by  Mr. 
F.  Macdermott,  quoted,  i.  494 

Railway  Temperance  Union,  i.  466 

Railway-theatre  tickets,  i.  316 

Railway  ticket.  The  earliest^  L  208, 
209 

Railway  train.  First  ideas  in  England 
regarding  a,  i.  7;  improvements 
in  the,  8,  10 ;  cosmopolitan  character 
of  passengers  in  a,  13,  14 ;  running 
after  a,  72  ;  County  Court  case  in  a, 
ii.  115,  116 

**  Railway  Train  Lighting,"  by  Mr. 
Langdon,  quoted,  ii.  219 

Railway  travelling.  Prejudices  against, 
i.  14,  74 ;  safety  on  the  London  and 
North -Western  of,  129;  John  Leech's 
sketch  of,  390;  on  Sunday,  iL  61- 
74 

Railway  tunnels  (tee  Tunnel) 

Railways,  Enthusiasm  for,  after  the 


INDEX. 


551 


Mocess  of  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  i.  62 ;  the  comedy 
and  tragedy  of,  <>0,  61 ;  social  power 
of,  90;  prejudice  against,  14,  74, 
90;  goods  traffic  on,  138-143;  and 
the  penny  postage,  155  ;  accidents 
on,  63,  98,  99,  107,  108,  189,  447  ; 
ii.  1-6 ;  assaults  on,  22-28 ;  murders 
on,  i.  112,  439;  ii.  13-22;  various 
incidents  on,  29-50 ;  in  remote  lands, 
99  101 ;  English  compared  with 
American,  246,  249 ;  American 
criticism  of  English,  248-250 ;  statis- 
tics of  the  development  of,  505 

"Railways  of  England,"  by  Mr.  W. 
M.  Acworth,  quoted,  i.  60,  230 

"  Railways  of  Scotland,"  by  Mr.  W. 
M.  Acworth,  quoted,  ii  361 

Rain,  Englishmen's  dread  of,  ii.  93 

Rainhill,  Locomotive  competition  at, 
i.  53-56 

Ramsey,  ii.  91 

Rasjh,  MP.,  Major,  and  agricultural 
depression,  iL  491 

Rates  paid  by  railway  companies,  il 
476 

Ravcnsworth,  Lord,  supplies  George 
Stephenson  with  money  to  build  his 
first  locomotive,  i.  23 

Receipts  of  railway  companies  yearly, 
ii.  506 

Reed,  Sir  Edward,  and  a  tubular 
railway  from  England  to  France,  i. 
460 

Refreshment  rooms,  ii.  120-140  ;  early 
visitors  to,  120,  122;  Charles 
Dickens  and,  123;  amusing  incidents 
at,  130-132;  class  barriers  in,  132, 
133;  barmaids  at,  135,  136  ;  on  the 
Midland  liailway,  137,  138 ;  on  the 
Great  Western  liailway,  138;  on 
the  London  and  North- Western,  the 
Great  Northern,  and  the  North- 
Eastem  Railways,  138;  at  Preston, 
235 

Rpg'ulations  for  railway  travellers, 
Early,  ii.  144  ;  for  composite  trains, 
194 

Rcigate,  Line  to  Dover  from,  i.  449 

Remote  lands.  Railways  in,  ii.  99-101 

Rcnnie,  George,  appointed  one  of  the 
engineers  of  the  Uvcrpool  and 
Manchester  Railway,  i.  46 

Rennie,  John,  appointed  one  of  the 
engineers  of  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  i.  46 

Reporters  at  meetings  of  shareholders, 
L  184 


Revolver  -  carrying  mania,  IL  12, 
note 

Rheumatic  fever  prevented  by  a  rail- 
way accident,  ii.  400 

Ribblehead  Viaduct,  The,  i.  252 

Rich,  Colonel,  on  the  Abergele  dis- 
aster, ii.  425 

Richmond,  Duke  of,  and  railway  rates, 
ii.  487 

Rickard,  Mr.  Percy,  and  the  Totley 
Tunnel,  ii.  323 

Riot  on  the  Sunday  question  at  Strome 
Ferry,  ii.  72-74 

Ripon,  Bishop  of,  delayed  on  the 
North-Eastcm  Railway,  i.  332  ;  and 
railway  speed,  ii.  241 

Roads  of  the  17th  century,  i.  17 

Robberies  on  railways,  ii.  9-11 

"Rocket,"  The,  i.  10;  wins  in  the 
competition  at  liainhill,  54,  56 ;  its 
subsequent  service,  56 ;  now  in 
South  Kensington  Museum,  66,  68, 
338  ;  ii.  227 

Rochdale,  Population  of,  i.  164 

Rockets,  Proposal  to  drive  locomotives 
by  means  of,  i.  195 

Rolls  Court,  Judgment  given  in, 
against  George  Hudson,  i.  204 

Rome,  Chariots  of,  i.  3,  4 

**  Round  the  Works  of  our  great  Rail- 
ways," by  Mr.  BrickwoU,  quoted, 
ii.  508 

Rowsley,  Line  from  Ambergate  to, 
i.  247  ;  the  "  Peacock  "  at,  ii.  248 

Rowthom,  i.  271 

Royal  CoUe^  of  Science,  and  electric 
railways,  i.  523,  524 

**  Roval  MJail  Route  to  Scotland  and 
Irdand,"  i.  154 

Royal  train  of  the  Queen,  i.  95-98  ; 
of  the  Czar,  93  ;  of  ,the  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph,  93,  94*;  of  the  late 
Emperor  William,  96 

Runaway  train,  A,  ii.  62,  244 

Runcorn  Gapj^  Railway  to,  i.  72 

Runcorn  Railway,  Eagerness  to  secure 
stock  in  the,  i.  69 

Running,  Exercise  of,  i.  1 

Rushton  estate.  Legend  associated 
with  the,  i.  234, 235 

Ruskin,  Mr.,  his  prejudice  against 
railway  travelling,  i.  14;  his  de- 
scription of  Derbyshire,  250,  251; 
and  Chesterfield,  2'76 

Russian  immigrants  at  the  Central 
Station,  Liverpool,  i.  260 

Rutland,  Earl  of,  builder  of  the  first 
coach  in  England,  i.  17 


&52 


OUR  RAILWAYS. 


Rutland,  the  late  Duke  of,  and  the 
railway  through  his  Derbyshire 
estate,  i  248 

Kylandsand  Sons,  Messrs.,  Manchester, 
Warehouses  of,  i.  39 

Sacr6,  Charles,  engineer  of  the  SheAeld 

Bailway,  i.  336  ;  ii.  474 
Safety  lamp,  The  discoverer  of  the,  L 

24 
Sails,  Proposal  to  propel  engines  by, 

i.  196 
St.  Albans,  Coaches  running  through, 

i.  27 
St.  Gothard  Tunnel,  ii.  315,  316 
St.    Helens,    Subscribing   for  capital 

in    the   Runcorn    Railway    at    the. 

Fleece  Inn,  i.  69  ;  population  of,  164 
St.  Helens  and  Widnes  Railway,  i.  72 
St.  Leger,  Excursions  for  the,  i.  309 ; 

incident  in  returning  from  the,  ii.  82 
St.  Pancras  Churchyard,  i.  232 
St  Pancras  Hotel,  i.  232 
St  Pancras  Station,  at  night,  i  228 ; 

likened    to    an    iceberg,    230  ;    its 

beauty  and  dimensions   231,  232  ; 

the  electric  light  at,  241 
St.  Petersburg,   Railway  Congress  at, 

i.  260 
Salford,  Population  of,  i.  164  ;  fire  at, 

ii.  397 
Salisbury,  Lord,  opening  of  the  Over- 
head Railway,  Liverpool,  by,  i.  263, 

264  ;  chairman  of  the  Great  Eastern 

Railway,  378 
Salt,  Sir  Titus,  i.  285 
Saltaire,  Alills  at,  i.  285,  286 
Saltaire  Exhibition,   Opening  of,  by 

Princess  Beatrice,  i.  98 
Saltash  Bndge,  i.  410 
"Samson*'  locomotiTe,  The,  i.  68;  ii 

227 
Sanders,  M.P.,  Mr.,  i.  43 
Sankey,  George  Stephenson  at,  i.  49 
Sankey  Canal,  i.  71 
"Sanspareil"    locomotive,    Timothy 

Hackworth*s,  i.  53-66 
Saturday  half-holiday,  The,  i.  181 
Saunders,  Mr.,  ex-chairman  of  Great 

Western    Railway,    on    the    broad 

gauge,  i.  427  ;  ana  the  snowstorm  of 

1891,  ii.  386  ;  and  railway  rates,  498 
"  Saxby  Bridge,  BatUe  of,"  I  214 
Scarsdale,  Vale  of,  i.  272 
Scener}',       theatrical.      Claim       for 

damaged,  ii.  475 
jhneider,  M.,  and  the  proposed  bridge 

across  the  Channel,  i.  460 


Schoolboys,  Strike  of,  ii.  263,  204 

Scilly  Islands,  Export  of  narcissi  from, 
i.  408;  the  "King "of,  408 

Scorton,  Floods  at,  ii.  390 

Scotland,  Dr.  Johnson  on,  i.  627  ;  Sir 
Walter  Scott*s  andR.  L.  Stevenscm^s 
pictures  of,  628  ;  of  today,  628,  629  ; 
variety  of  passengers  by  the  *'  Flying 
Scotsman  *'  to,  629  ;  competition  for 
railway  traffic  in  629;  Great  Northern 
Railway  in,  530  ;  number  of  rail- 
ways in,  531 ;  Highland  Railway 
in,  531,  532 ;  armed  men  a  century 
and  a-half  ago  in,  632  ;  navvies  on 
Culloden  Moor  in,  632 ;  the  Duke 
of  Sutherland's  interest  in  railways 
of,  534,  536  ;  Dingwall  and  Skye 
Railway  in,  635  ;  Sutherland  Rail- 
way, 536  ;  Golspie  and  Helmsdale 
Railway,  536  ;  Sutherland  and  Caith- 
ness Railway,  536  ;  Grotit  North  of 
Scotland  Railway,  636-539  ;  Cale- 
donian Railway,  539,  546-563  ;  tho 
incf'ption  of  the  railway  system  in, 

541  ;  Glasgow  Central  Station,  542  ; 
Marten  Dalrymple's  railway  work  in, 

542  ;  the  Gamkirk  line,  542-544  ; 
North  British  Railwav,  644-563; 
Glasgow  and  South -Western  Rail- 
way, 553-554  ;  Port  Patrick  and 
Wigftown  Railway,  564  ;  Ayrshire 
and  Wigtown  Railway,  554,  655  ; 
Sunday  in,  ii.  64,  65 ;  Sunday 
travelling  in,  65  ;  speed  of  Midland 
express  to,  257.  258  ;  railway  raco 
to,  i.  133,  530  ;  li.  232-240,  257-258; 
strike  on  railways  of,  264-268,  271 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  and  his  pictures  of 

Scottish  life,  i.  628 
Sootter,  Sir  C,  general  manager  of 

the     London    and    South- Western 

Railway,  and  the  American  line  to 

Southampton,  i.  441 
"Scrap  Book,"  Ned  Fanner's,  ii.  287- 

289 
Seafordf  The^  Loss  uf,  in  the  Channel, 

i.  485 
Sea-sickness,  Suggestion  of  a  London 

and  South- Western  shareholder  to 

prevent,  i.  432,  433 
S<^ide  recreation,  English  custom  of 

taking,  i.  2,   146,    147 ;    excursion 

trains  and,  212 
Season-tickets  on  the  Great  Northern 

Railway,  i.  301-303 ;  holdei-s  of,  in 

London,  496 
Sedan  chairs,  Travelling  in,  i.  6 ;  in 

Manchester,  347 


INDEX, 


553 


Sefton,  Lord,  declines  to  allow  hU  land 
to  be  surveyed  for  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  Railway,  i.  41 

Belby,  James,  and  the  ''  Old  l^roet*' 
coach,  i.  27 

Semaphore,  The,  ii  309,  310 

Sergius,  Grand  Duke,  and  the  railway 
companies  at  Boulogne,  ii.  55,  56 

Servants,  Ck)nce8Bions  to,  on  railways, 
11191 

Settle,  Midland  Railway  at,  i.  286, 
287  ;  line  to  Carlisle  from,  287,  288 

Severn  Tunnel,  Rush  of  water  in  the 
construction  of,  L  83 ;  death  of 
engineer  of,  159;  length  and  con- 
struction of,  ii.  319,  320,  321 

*' Shakespeare  Country,*'  Coaches  in 
the,  L  27 

Shareholder,  The  over-sanguine,  of 
the  Eastern  Counties  Railway,  i.  386 

Shareholders,  Characteristics  of,  i.  182  ; 
description  of  a  meeting  of,  183, 184 ; 
abuse  of  privileges  by,  187 

Sharland,  engineer  of  the  Midland  line 
to  Carlisle,  i.  289,  290 

Sharpe,  M  P.,  Mr.,  i.  43 

Sheffield,  The  old  Wicker  SUtion  at, 
i  178,  279 ;  railway  distance  to 
Manchester  from,  277 ,  Midland 
system  at,  277-280  ;  need  of  a 
central  station  in,  280  ;  extension  of 
line  from  Dinting  to,  348 

Shitjleld  Independent,  on  the  opening 
of  the  railway  to  Wicker  Station, 
Sheffield,  i.  178 

"  Sheffield,  Past  and  Present,"  by  Rev. 
Alfred  Gatty,  D.D.,  quoted,  i.  346, 
317 

Shirehampton  Station  on  a  Bank 
Holiday,  i.  427 

Shopkeepers  in  snmll  towns,  preju- 
dicial effect  of  railways  and  tram- 
ways on,  i.  351 

Shrewsbury  and  Hereford  line  pur- 
chased by  the  London  and  North- 
western Railway,  i.  161 

Siemens,  Dr.,  and  the  Firth  of  Forth, 
ii358 

Si^al  box,  the  lar^st  in  the  world, 
1.  439 ;  madman  m  a,  ii  46,  47  ; 
madwoman  in  a,  47 

Signalling,  Railway,  early  methods 
replaced  by  the  block  system,  L  8 ; 
in  the  early  days  of  railways,  ii. 
307,  308 ;  disc,  308  ;  by  the  sema- 
phore, 309,  310;  by  block  signals, 
311 

Signalmen,  and  the  telegraph,  L  121 ; 


labours,  ii.  288;  in  the  country, 
283 ;  responsibility  of,  305 ;  acci- 
dents through,  305,  306;  in  the 
earlv  days  of  railways,  307-311 ;  and 
block  signals,  311  ;  humour  of, 
312 

Sinclair's  single-wheel  outside-cylin- 
der  passenger-engine,  L  379 

Skipton,  Midland  Railway  at,  L  284 

Skull,  The  <*  Dickie,*'  and  the  Buxton 
RaUway,L  124,  125 

Slamming  carriage  doors,  ii.  204,  and 
note 

Sledges,  Travelling  on,  i  3 

Sleeping  in  a  railway  carriage,  ii.  474, 
475 

Sleeping-car,  American,  Incident  in 
an,  ii.  44 

"  Sleepy  Leeds  '*  coach.  The,  i.  27 

Slough  Station,  fitted  and  decorated 
for  the  reception  of  royalty,  i.  92, 
93 

Smardale  Viaduct,  i.  293 

Smiles,  Dr.,  on  the  opposition  to  the 
Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway, 
i.  42,  43 ;  his  *'  Life  of  George 
Stephenson  **  quoted,  48 

Smith,  Colonel  Gerard,  chairman  of 
the  Hull  and  Bamsley  Railway,  i. 
324,  325;  unlocks  the  Hull  and 
Bamsley  line,  ii.  299 

Smith,  Mr.  Dorrien,  «*  King  of  Scilly," 
i.  408 

Smith,  Sydney,  on  railway  travelling, 
i.  108;  on  George  Hudson,  206 

Smith  and  Son,  Messrs.  W.  H.,  dis- 
tribution of  newspapen  by,  i.  497, 
500,  502 

Smokers*  carelessness  on  railways,  iL  8 

Smoking  carriages,  ii.  57-61 

Snaefell  Railway,  i.  626 

Snibston,  coalpits  at,  i  173 

Snow^  Travelling  through  the,  i.  8i 
trains  on  North  of  Gotland  Rail- 
way blocked  by,  ii.  378  ;  loss  of 
Great  Western  from  trains  blocked 
by,  379  ;  train  on  Dartmoor  blocked 
by,  380-384  ;  and  the  Launceston 
mail,  384,  roads  impassable  at 
Kingsbridge  through,  386 

Snow-block  on  the  North-Eastem 
j  Railway,  i,  341,  342 ;  on  the  South- 
I      Western,  435 

Snowdon  Railway,  ii.  516 

Snowstorms  and  telegraph  wires,  L 
121,  122 

Society  of  Friends,  Speech  and  garb 
of  the,  i.  32,  33 


554 


OUE  RAILWAYS. 


Solomon,    King,    Qnoen   of   Sheba*! 

J'oomey  to,  i.  2 
croon  de  Cans  confined  in  a  mad- 
house at  Paris,  i.  21 

South  Derbyshire,  Railways  in,  i.  158, 
note 

South- Eastern  Railway,  Growth  and 
present  extent  of,  i.  446;  the 
capital  and  train  milea<^e  of,  44G; 
the  hop-pickers  carried  by,  447 ; 
accident  to  a  passenger  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Shakespeare  Tunnel, 
447  ;  cost  in  Bermondsey  of  widen- 
ing the  line  of,  448,  449 ;  Charing 
Cross,  terminus  of,  449 ;  first  line 
and  first  extensions  of,  449 ;  com- 
plaints against,  451 ;  Lord  Braboume 
on  third-class  passengers  on,  451  ; 
the  run  from  Cannon  Sti'eet  to  Dover 
on,  451 ;  the  Club  train  on,  451, 
452 ;  its  co-operation  with  the  North 
of  Franco,  and  the  Paris,  Lyons  and 
Mediterranean  Companies,  452 ; 
Continental  service  of,  452,  453 ; 
number  of  passengers  from  Dover 
to  Calais  by,  454  ;  collieries  of,  461 ; 
proposed  amalgamation  with  the 
London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Rail- 
way, 467 ;  American  carriages  on, 
ii.  205,  206 

South  Kensington  Museum,  The 
"  Rocket "  placed  in  the,  i.  56 

Southampton,  Docks  at,  i.  270,  433, 
440,  445,  note;  the  International 
Navigation  Company  at,  440 

Southampton  Water,  Description  of, 
i.  466 

Southportj  Railway  to,  i.  165 ;  excur- 
sions to,  ii.  86 

Spain,  Travelling  in  a  diligence  in,  i. 
3  ;  railway  travelling  in,  ii.  50 

Sp>irrow-hawk  and  the  engine,  The, 
ii.  294 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
The,  admonishes  the  directors  of 
Oimbrian  Railways,  ii.  279 

Speeches  made  from  railway  carriages, 
ii.  29-32 

Speed  of  railway  travelling,  i.  10,  11, 
58,  64  ;  ii.  222-258  [see  also  Railway 
speed) 

Spencer,  M.P.,  Mr.  Ernest,  and  ladies' 
compartments  on  railways,  ii.  25 

Spcns,  Mr.  Nathaniel,  on  the  proposed 
amalgamation  of  the  South-Eastem 
and  r«ondon,  Chatham  and  Dover 
Railways,  i.  469 

Spiers  and  Pond,  Messrs.,  ii.  137,  138 


Spitalfieldt  warehooMJ,  L  888 

Spondon,  Difficulty  in  oonsfemotion  ol 
the  Midland  Counties  Railway  at, 
i.  174 

Sports  and  pastimes,  and  railways,  ii 
111 

Stafford,  Jonmey  of  a  royal  train 
through,  L  101 

Stage-oMtches,  First,  i.  5,  6;  mined  by 
railways,  26 ;  in  the  present  day,  26, 
27;  robberies  from,  848;  to  Brixton, 
475 ;  speed  of,  ii  222 

Stalbridge,  Lord,  on  the  conceenons  of 
the  Lcmdon  and  North- Western  Rail- 
way to  the  workpeople,  i  130;  on 
second-class  passengers,  ii  179 ;  and 
the  bridges  on  the  North- Western, 
372 

Stalybridge,  population  of,  i.  164 

Standard^  The,  and  newspaper  trains, 
i.  502 

Staplehurst,  Accident  at,  ii  416-418 

State  pun^Ase  of  railways,  The,  ii 
163 

Stationmaster,  Duties  of,  i  137 

"  Stationmaster  of  Lone  Prairie,  Tha,^ 
Bret  Harte*s,  quoted,  ii  118 

Stations,  Railway,  improvements  in, 
i  8 ;  appearance  o^  12^  13 ;  described, 
107,  108 

Staveley,  Opening  of  line  from  An- 
nesley  to,  i.  367 

Steam,  First  inventions  for  the  utili- 
sation of,  i.  22 

Steam  engine.  Invention  by  James 
Watt  of  the,  i  21 

Stephenson,  George,  i.  15;  builds  his 
&vt  locomotive  for  the  Killing  worth 
Railway,  23,  24;  prejudice  against 
him,  24 ;  his  perseverance,  24 ;  his 
after-Buocess,  24 ;  his  prediction  re- 
garding railways,  25, 26 ;  the  *'  father 
of  the  railway  system,**  24;  his 
activity,  30  ;  his  railroad  from  Het- 
ton  Pits  to  the  Wear,  31 ;  his  inter- 
view with  Edward  Pease,  32;  con- 
structs locomotives  for  the  Stockton 
and  Darlington  Railway,  33 ;  his 
knowledge  of  embroideiy,  33;  his 
survey  of  the  land  for  the  Livetpool 
and  Manchester  Railway,  41 ;  ex- 
amined before  the  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  Bill  for 
the  Liveipool  and  Manchester  Rail- 
way, 44 ;  his  reply  to  the  question 
about  the  locomotive  and  the  cow, 
44;  appointed  chief  constmotive 
engineer    of    the    Liverpool    and 


I 


INDEX. 


555 


Moncheeter  Railway,  46 ;  drains 
Chat  Moss,  47;  his  reply  to  Mr. 
Cropper  respecting  Napoleon,  48 ; 
constructs  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  and  opens  the 
line  (1830),  49,  50 ;  his  locomotive 
**  Rocket  "  wins  in  the  competition 
at  Rainhill,  54,  56;  with  Fanny 
Kemble  on  a  locomotive,  64;  ap- 
pointed joint-engineer  with  his  son 
Robert  of  the  London  and  Birming- 
ham Railway,  73;  inspects  the 
ground  for  the  Midland  Railway, 
17 1 ;  recommends  his  son  Robert  as 
engineer  for  the  Midland  Railway, 
1 72 :  surveys  the  land  for  line  from 
Derby  to  Leeds,  176;  his  dislike  of 
speculation,  196 ;  his  death,  219 ; 
anecdote  of  the  young  man  with  the 
gold-headed  stick  and,  220 ;  his  dis- 
taste for  ostentation,  220;  George 
Hudson*8  opinion  of  him,  221  ; 
burial  place  of,  276 ;  his  plan  for 
the  Brighton  line,  and  his  examina- 
tion by  Sergeant  Merewuthor,  47^- 
481  ;  simplicity  of  his  habits,  ii 
505 ;  centenary  of  his  birth,  612 ; 
his  birthplace,  Wylam,  514 

Stephenson,  Jumcs,  driving  an  engine 
and  calling  to  his  wife  for  help,  i. 
30 

Stephenson,  Robert  (brother  of  George 
Stephenson),  i.  58 

Stephenson,  Robert  (son  of  George 
Stephenson),  i.  58 ;  appointed  juint- 
cngineer  with  his  father  of  the 
London  and  Birmingham  Railway, 
73 ;  his  podestrianism  on  the  track 
of  the  London  and  Birmingham 
Railway,  80 ;  removes  the  water 
from  Kilsby  Tunnel,  84 -86;  appointed 
engineer  of  the  Midland  Railway, 
172;  and  the  Menai  Bridge,  ii.  344; 
and  the  Railway  Clearing  House, 
479 

Stepney  Station,  Remarkable  scene  at, 
ii.  97 

Stirling,  Mr.,  late  superintendent  of 
Doncaster  railway  works,  i.  312;  on 
the  speed  of  the  Great  Northern  in 
the  railway  race  of  1888,  il  237 

Stockbrokers  in  the  early  days  of  rail- 
ways, i.  190,  191 

Stockport  Viaduct,  The,  i.  262 

Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway,  Bill 
sanctioned  for  the  construction  of 
the,  i.  30 ;  the  decision  to  use 
Stephenson*!   looomotiret  on   the. 


38 ;  its  opening,  33,  34 ;  first  engine 
and  coaches  employed  on  the,  36  ; 
the  '* Experiment"  coach  on  the, 
37 ;  advertisement  of  train-service 
on  the,  37  ;  first  dividend  of,  38 ; 
the  makinff  of  Middlesbrough,  38  ; 
large  dividend  of,  194 ;  time-table 
of,  ii.  160;  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  opening  of,  511 

"  Stokers  and  Pokers,"  by  Sir  Francis 
Head,  quoted,  i.  82,  83 

Stone  and  Rugby  Railway,  i.  361 

Stone- thro  wing  at  trains,  ii.  6 ;  Mr. 
Nottleship  on,  6 

Stratfoixl,  Great  Eastern  Railway 
works  at,  i.  379 

Stretton,  Mr.  Clement,  on  the  speed  of 
locomotives,  ii.  231,  232 

Strike,  Coal,  in  Durham,  i.  339  ;  on 
the  Taff  Vale  and  Barry  Railways, 
ii.  262;  at  Cardiff,  262;  at  the 
London  Docks,  2G2  ;  of  Grenadier 
Guards,  263  ;  of  schoolboys,  263  ; 
on  Scotch  railways,  261-269  ;  of 
coal  miners  (1893),  269,  270;  of 
engine-drivers,  300-304 ;  of  gas 
stoicers,  391 

Strikes,  Effect  of,  ii.  262 

Strome  Ferr^,  Riot  on  the  Sunday- 
triin  question  at,  ii.  72,  73 

Strutts,  The,  of  Belper,  their  opposition 
to  the  railway,  i.  1 79 

Subterranean  London,  i.  229,  230 

Suburban  railways.  Complaints  on, 
ii.  208 

Suicide  on  the  railway,  iL  1 ;  of 
Giuseppe  Dellvido,  6 

Sunday  newspaper  work,  ii.  69-71 

Sunday  railway  travelling,  ii.  61-74 

Sunday  traffiio  on  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  Railway  denounced  by 
ministers,  i.  40,  41 

Sunderland,  George  Hudson's  election 
for,  i.  200,  201 

Superintendents,  district,  Duties  of,  i. 
137 

Superintendents  of  lines.  Duties  of,  i. 
137 

Surprises  on  the  railway,  ii.  51-54 

Sussex,  Ironworks  of,  i.  476 

Sussex,  Earl  of,  drinking  the  waters  at 
Buxton,  i.  156 

Sutherland  (the  late),  Duke  of,  his 
interf«t  in  railways,  533-536  ;  the 
"Iron  Duke,"  634  ;  his  youth,  534  ; 
on  a  fire  engine,  534  ;  down  a  coal- 
pit, 634  ;  uie  navvies'  respect  for, 
634;  'akespartin  the  extension  of 


556 


OUB   RAILWAYB. 


the  Highland  Railway,  686 ;  his 
interest  in  the  Dingwall  and  Skye, 
the  Sutherland  and  other  railways, 

635,  636 
Sutherland  Railway,  i.  636 
Sutherland  and  Outhness  Railway,  i 

636,  636 

Swannington  to  Leicester,  Opening  of 
line  from,*  i.  172 

Swansea  railway  accident,  ii.  418 

Swanwick,  Mr.  Frederick,  surveys  the 
land  for  line  from  Derbyshire  into 
Yorkshire,  i.  176,  177 ;  at  the  cen- 
tenary of  George  Stephenson's  birth, 
ii.  612 

Swindon,  i.  399 ;  the  ten  minutes' 
stoppage  at,  ii.  124-128 ;  Mr. 
Lowenfeld's  action  for  failure  of 
contract  at,  126-128 

Syston,  Line  to  Peterborough  from, 
i.  214 

Taff  Yale  Railway,  i.  399 ;  strike  of 

servants  on,  ii.  262,  264 
'*  TaUsman,  The,"  Allusion  to,  i.  144 
Tamar,  Bridge  over  the,  ii.  362 
Taplow  and  Didcot  line,  Widening  of, 

1.419 
Tapton  House,  GhesterlSeld,  residence 

of  George  Stephenson,  i.  219,  220 
Taunton,  Accident  at,  ii.  454-466 
Tawell,  John,  the  murderer,  ii.  11 
Tay  Bridge,  The,  ii.  362  ;  disaster  at, 

352-367  ;  the  new,  367,  358 
Tea-making  in  railway  caiTiages,  ii.  8 
Tebay  and  Darlington  Branch  of  the 

North-Eastem  Railway,  i.  293 
Teeth  lost  on  a  railway,  ii.  40 
Teleg^rams  sent  from  a  train,  ii.  203 
Telegraph,  The,  its  first  use  on  the 
London  and  North- Western  Rail- 
way, i.  116  ;  in  the  transmission  of 
Parliament^y    debates,   116,   117 ; 
its  effect  on  newspaper  enterprise, 
118  ;  various  uses  of,  118;  in  rail- 
wa}*  management,  119,  120  ;  on  the 
Midland  Railway,  119  ;  Post  Office 
concessions  to  nulways  for  messages 
by,  119,  120 ;  mileage  of  wires  on 
the    London    and    North- Western 
Railway  for,  121 ;  duration  of  wires 
of,  121 ;  effect  of  storms  on,  121,  122 
Telegraphy,  Train,  ii.  203 
Tenbury,  Worcester  and  Ludlow  Rail- 
way, ii.  286 
Tennant^  Mr.  Henry,  and  the  rivalry 
of  the  North-Eastem  Rulway  with 
small  lines,  i.  323 


Teversall  and  Pleasley  branch  of  the 
Midland  Railway,  i.  271 

Thackeray  his  burlesque  of  the  for- 
tunate broker's  derk,  i.  191,  192 ; 
allusion  to  his  ''Adventures  of 
Philip,"  206 ;  on  the  broad  ^uge, 
418  ;  allusion  to  his  "  Vanity  Fair," 
454 ;  on  the  Duke  of  N(nrfolk  at 
Brighton,  474 

Thames  Tunnel,  ii.  338, 389 

Third-class  passengers  and  the  London 
and  North- Western,  i.  130 ;  on  the 
Midknd,  ii.  166,  167  ;  on  the  Great 
Northern  Railway,  188;  the  traffic 
in  1894,  188 

Thirsk,  Railway  accident  at,  i  99, 
342  ;  ii.  460-467 

Thomas,  Mr.  Sutcliile,  on  Sir  Edward 
Watkin,  i.  366 

Thompson,  Sir  Matthew,  former  chair- 
man of  tiie  Midland  Railway,  i.  183, 
184 ;  and  the  strike  of  engine- 
drivers,  ii.  301,  302 ;  receives  a 
baronetcy,  364 

Thorp,  Claud,  i.  167 

Thurston,  Professor,  on  the  steam 
engine,  ii.  620 

Ticket-collectors,  i.  209, 210 

Tickets,  railway,  First,  i.  209 ;  railway- 
theatre,  315 ;  incidents  in  collect- 
ing, ii.  36,  36 

Tiger  on  a  platform  in  India,  ii.  Ill 

Time-table,  Bradshaw*s  first,  ii.  141  ; 
"  Grand  Junction,''  146  ;  "  Midland 
Counties,"  147-160  ;  Bradshaw*8, 
162,  154 ;  Cassell's,  156 ;  London 
and  North- Western,  168 ;  Stockton 
and  Darlington,  160 

Time*,  The,  on  Sir  Richard  Moon,  i. 
134,  136;  and  Geolrge  Hudson^s 
election  for  Sunderland,  200,  201 ; 
the  paper  nsed  by,  389;  on  the 
financial  condition  of  railway  com- 
panies, 466;  chiefs  of,  499,  500; 
its  distribution  by  the  railways, 
502 ;  on  street  improvements  in 
London,  625,  626;  on  the  agreement 
between  the  North  British  and 
Caledonian  Railways,  652 ;  and  the 
capture  of  a  Russian  prince  by  a 
railway  company,  ii.  65,  56;  on 
Whit-Monday  holiday  traffic,  82; 
on  lighting  the  carriages  of  the 
Brighton  Company,  217 ;  letter  on 
"Railway  Punctuality,"  in,  256, 
257;  on  the  strike  on  Scotch  rail- 
ways, 268 ;  on  railway  rates,  494 

Toad  dug  ont  of  railway  cutting,  ii.  149 


INDEX. 


557 


Tontine  Hotel,  Sheffield,  i.  346 

Totlcy  Tunnel,  ii  322-328 

Tower  Bridge,  ii.  340, 368 

Towle,  Mr.,  and  refreshment  rooms 
on  the  Midland  Bailway,  ii.  137, 138 

Trade,  formerly  crippled  by  slowness 
and  cost  of  carriage,  i.  16  ;  customs 
in,  before  the  advent  of  railways, 
131 

Train  telegraphy,  ii.  203 

Training  of  an  engine-driver,  ii.  297 

Trains,  Comical,  i.  34-36;  excursion, 
130,  ii.  75-97 ;  royal,  i.  93-98  ;  news- 
paper,  499-504 ;  mail,  504,  506,  508- 
513;  on  fire,  ii.  51,  53;  Parlia- 
mentary, 164 ;  corridor,  i.  16 ;  ii. 
110;  break-down,  398;  attempts  to 
wreck,  401,  402 

Tram-road,  The  primitive,  i.  20 ;  first 
uses  of,  21 ;  iron  rails  used  on,  21 ; 
Roger  North's  description  of  a,  21 ; 
to  the  Leeds  and  Liverpool  Canal, 
70 ;  in  Manchester,  351 ;  at  Glasgow 
in  1778,  541 

Transit  of  merchandise,  Early  modes 
for,  i.  6,  20 

Travelling,  Difficulties  in  some  coun- 
tries of,  i.  2 ;  in  Africa,  2 ;  in  an 
Lrish  car,  3 ;  in  a  diligence,  3 ;  in  a 
bullock- waggon,  3  ;  on  sledges,  3 ; 
on  an  elephant,  3  ;  in  the  chariot  of 
Ericthonius,  3 ;  on  the  footplate  of 
an  engine,  3,  63-65,  66;  early 
English  modes  of,  4  ;  in  France  in 
16th  century,  4;  in  "  whirlicotes " 
or  "Noah*s  arks,"  4;  by  the  first 
coaches  in  England,  5,  6 ;  in  sedan 
chairs,  6 ;  in  cabriolets,  cabs,  han- 
soms, broughams  and  phaetons,  6; 
in  carrier's  cart,  6,  7  ;  on  horseback, 
7 ;  by  railway  train,  7,  8 

**  Travelling  Post  Office,"  The,  i.  160 

Trent,  Station  at,  and  Lord  Grim- 
thorpe,  ii.  38 

Trent  Valley  line.  Opening  of,  i.  128 ; 
engfineers  of,  161 

Trentham,  Elizabeth,  and  the  Rushton 
estate,  i.  235 

Treshams,  The,  and  the  Rushton 
estate,  i.  234 

Trevithick,  Richard,  engines  made  by, 
i.  22,  note  ;  his  enterprising  schemes, 
and  boring  under  the  Thames,  23; 
his  ''  Cornwall "  locomotive,  ii.  228 

•*Tripper8,"i.  211,  212 

Tunnel,  Edge  Hill,  i.  46  ;  completion 
of,  50;  CSuuinel,  52,  460,  ii.  317, 
818 ;  incident  in  the  Baloombe,  60 ; 


prejudice  against  travelling  in  a, 
74;  the  Guibal  fan  recommended 
for  the  ventilation  of  a,  75;  foul 
air  in  a,  75 ;  Woodhead,  75,  ii. 
331-334;  as  an  obstacle  to  railway 
enterprise,  i.  77 ;  inspection  of  Prim- 
rose Hill,  77-79  ;  dangers  disproved 
of  travelling  in  a,  78,  79 ;  the 
Kilflby,  82-86,  ii.  334  ;  between  Dore 
and  Chinley,  i.  82,  83,  ii.  322- 
328;  the  Severn,  83,  ii.  319-321; 
dangers  of  walking  through  a,  i. 
87,  88 ;  Clay  Cn)88,  181 ;  Midland  at 
Manchester,  254 ;  the  Mersey,  267- 
269:  Bradway,  276;  Blea  Moor, 
288,  292,  ii.  336;  Black  Moss,  i. 
293;  smoke  in  a,  ii.  190;  Glenfield, 
227;  St.  Gothard,  316,  316;  Mont 
Cenis,  316;  Cowbum,  330;  Box, 
334  ;  Shakespeare's  Cliff,  336 ;  Shug- 
borough,  336 ;  Spruce  Creek,  336 ; 
Monsal  Dale,  336;  Thames,  338; 
Blackwall,  340 ;  Dove  Holes,  389 

Tunnelling,  Dangers  incurred  in,  ii. 
315 ;  gelignite  in,  325 ;  rush  of  water 
in,  326 

Tunnels  in  England  over  a  thousand 
yards  long,  ii.  318,  319 

Turner,  Mr.  G.  H.,  General  Manager 
of  the  Midland  Railway,  ii.  170- 
172 

Tweeddale,  Marquis  of,  and  the  North 
British  Railway,  i.  545;  and  the 
Thirsk  accident,  ii.  465 

"  Twin  Sisters"  locomotive,  ii.  227 

Tyldesley  Banks,  The  porter  at,  and 
Sir  Richard  Moon,  i.  135 

Tyndall,  Professor,  Early  connection 
with  railways  of ,  ii  515 

Tyne  Docks,  i.  326,  327 

Underground  Railway,  Incident  of  an 
old  lady  travelling  in  the,  ii  44, 
45 

Dnston,  Viaduct  at,  i  276 

«» Valley  of  Desolation,"  Yorkshire,  i. 

47 
Vanderbilt,    Cornelius,    his    fortune 

compared  with  the  income  of  the 

London    and  North- Western  Rcdl- 

way,  i  129 
Velvet  Street,  Manchester,  i.  39 
Ventilation  of  tunnels,  i.  76,  267 
Vernon,  Sir  George,  and  Haddon  Hall, 

i  248,  249 
Versailles,  Railway  accident  at,  i.  107, 

108 


558 


OUB   RAILWAYS. 


VesuviuB,  Railway  up,  ii.  103 

Viaduct,  Penkriqo^e,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Brassey,  i.  109 ;  at  Monsal  Dale, 
252,  383;  the  Dutton,  262;  the 
Stockport,  262  ;  the  Dent  Head,  252, 
293  ;  the  Conglcton,  252 ;  the  Dint- 

.  ing,  252 ;  the  Llangollen,  252 ;  the 
Ribblehead,  252;  Combrook,  259, 
note ;  at  Unston,  276 ;  Batty  Moss, 
292  ;  Arten  GiU,  293;  Deep  Gill, 293 ; 
Smardale,  293  {se^  also  Bridge) 

Victoria,  Uueen,  her  first  railway  trip, 
i.  92 ;  saloons  used  in  travelling  by, 
96-98 ;  her  concern  on  account  of 
railway  accidents,  98,  99 ;  her  letter 
to  IVIr.  Mundella  after  the  accident 
to  the  "  Flying  Scotsman,"  99  ;  pre- 
cautions for  her  safety  in  railway 
travelling,  100-102;  her  memento 
of  her  journeys  on  the  London 
and  North-Westem  Railway,  102, 
103 ;  her  railway  journeys  on  the 
C!ontinent,  105,  106;  opens  Grimsby 
Docks,  354;  fired  at  by  Robert 
Maclean,  ii.  12;  her  despatch  of 
State  affairs  whilst  travelhng,  508, 
509 

Victoria  Station,  Manchester,  extent 
and  opening  of,  i.  166;  stationary 
engine  at,  166 ;  traffic  at,  166,  167 

Victoria  steamboat,  i.  455 

Vignoles,  George,  his  survey  of  the 
ground  for  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway,  i.  46;  incident  of 
his  chain-bearer  and  the  theodolite 
in  the  construction  of  the  Wigan 
Railway,  70  ;  engineer  of  Midland 
Counties  Railway,  173 ;  in  favour  of 
a  high  level  route  from  Derbyshire 
into  Yorkshire,  176,  177;  his  plan 
for  the  Brighton  line,  479 

Wakefield,  Railways  at,  i.  282 
Wales,  Coaches  in,  i.  27 ;  Mr.  Glad- 
stone on  the  mountains  and  railways 
of,  i.  371-373;  railways  of,  398,  399; 
ii.  516 
Wales,  Prince  of,  Christening  of  the, 
and  the  decorations  at  Slough 
Station,  L  92,  93 ;  news  of  his  birth 
carried  on  an  engine  from  Birming- 
ham to  Liverpool,  115;  opens  the 
Alexandra  Dock  at  Grimsby,  355; 
engine  used  on  the  Great  Eastern 
Railway  on  his  wedding-day,  379 ; 
opens  the  City  and  South  London 
Electric  Railway,  518;  at  Forth 
fridge,    iL     362;     and     Railway 


Benevolent  Insfitution,  506;  Great 
Northern  saloon  for  the,  508 

Walker,  Mr.  John,  late  ^neral  manager 
of  the  NorUi  British  Railway,  i. 
549 

Wtilton,  Isaak,  fishing  in  the  river 
Dove  at  Ashbourne,  L  156,  157; 
drinking  ale  in  the  Peak,  314 

Ward,  Mrs.  Humphry,  her  description 
of  a  Manchester  station,  quoted,  i, 
257 

Warehouses  of  Manchester,  i.  38,  39 

Warrington,  Railway  from  St  Helens 
to,  L  72 ;  railway  from  Liverpool  to, 
258 

Water  in  the  Kilsby  Tunnel,  and 
Robert  Stephenson's  feat  in  re- 
moving it,  L  84-86 

Waterloo  Station,  i.  437-439 

Waterton,  Mr.  Charles,  and  the  pro- 
posed railway  through  his  land,  i.  177 

Watkin,  Sir  Edward,  and  the  foul  air 
in  the  Woodhead  Tunnel,  L  76 ;  his 
project  for  bringing  the  Manchester, 
Sheffield  and  iQnoolnshire  Railway 
into  London,  317,  356;  the  effect 
of  his  work  on  Grimsby  and 
Cleethorpes,  352;  on  the  Man- 
chester, Sheffield  and  Lincolnshire 
Railway,  355,  360,  363,  366;  his 
daring  proposal  for  public  works 
in  Lreland,  366;  his  retirement, 
367 ;  and  the  price  of  land  in  B«)r- 
mondsey,  433,  434 ;  his  expectations 
of  completing  the  Channel  Tunnel, 
460;  and  the  coal  seam  at  Dover, 
461,  462;  called  the  ** Railway 
Macchiavelli,"  47 1 ;  his  probable  ideas 
regarding  the  amalgamation  of  the 
South-Eastem  and  London,  Chatham 
and  Dover  Railwajrs,  471 ;  and  the 
railway  race  of  1888,  ii.  234-236  ;  on 
third-class  passengers,  186 ;  and  im- 
provements in  carriages,  202,  203; 
on  the  Channel  Tunnel,  317, 318 ;  on 
the  safety  of  railway  travelling, 
430;  and  the  Hexthorpe  accident, 
450,  451 ;  on  the  Railway  Clearing 
House,  479 

Watson,  Dr.,  one  of  the  inspectors  of 
Primrose  Hill  Tunnel,  i.  77 

Watt,  James,  Discovery  of  the  steam 
engine  by,  i.  21 

Webb,  Mr.  F.  W.,  his  test  of  the 
"Greater  Britain"  locomotive,  i. 
163,  note;  on  the  railway  race  of 
1888,  ii  237,  250;  his  '<  Queen  Em- 
press,*'  ii.  253 


»» 


I>sk»   ol  ML  1^ 
EK^vmr.  L  Sfl^:  aa£  Mr.  HaskuMK. 


W«il  Hutkpool  BttOvmr,  L  S;2S 
Wot  U  .clilmad  RuHrmr,  i.  ^^^ 
WerBOQth.I>oedc4iuid  Sooth^W^stem 

Imt to.  L  4)5. 437  :  tbe  lUror  of.  4Su 
Whaler  Bridge.  To  BoxUm  from,  i  1:^5 
WluuiicHire,  Laid,  and  the  Woodh«wi 

Tonnc-L  L  76 :  on  the  fuluiv'  of  the 

Lundon  and  Birminghani  BilL  81 
Whamdiffe  (the  pment)  Lord,  Letter 

from  Sir  Edwd  Watkin  to,  i.  367. 

368;    appointed    Chairman  of    the 

Manchester,  Sheffield  and  Lincohi- 

shire  Company,  367 ;   and  imilway 

rates,  ii.  491 
mistle.  The  Stnm,  i.  207,  208 
Wickham,  Henrv,  maid  poet,  ii.  47 
Widnea,  AlkaU'works  of,  i.  71,  72; 

railway  through,  72 
Wigan  Bailway,  i.  70;  extended  to 

Southport,  165 
Wild  Boar  Fell,  L  294 
"  WUd  Irishman,''  The,  Speed  of,  ii. 

241 
Wiles,    BIr.,    of    Sheffield,    and    his 

questions   at    meetings   of  railway 

shareholders,  i.  76,  and  note 
William,    the    late    Emporor,    Royal 

train  of,  i.  96 
Williams,  Judge,  trying  a  case  in  a 

railway  carriage,  ii.  116, 116 
Wills,  Making,  before  taking  a  long 

journey,  i.  303 
Winchilsea,  Lord,  and  railway  rates, 

ii.  490 
Wirkswortb,  i.  210 
Wirral  RaUway,  i.  370 
Wolverton,  Engine  repairing  dopAt  at, 

i.  '115;    ii.   150;    railway  carriage 

bmlding  at,    i.    122,   ii.    150  j    the 

laundry  at,  123 ;  fire  at,  396 


W*x\iho»i  rvi5t»<;.  i  T.^  :  ii.  Ji.M-W4 
W«Cwh  Arfvsul  Kjul^nny^  u.  «^ 
VToevvvs^  Mu>)«u$  oi.  h);jt  tiiat  k^  iW 

BaokiY  at  rVovs  i  :^K  :k':i 
WomM9«r  \MMurf,  l^rm)r«^:ham«  KW« 

tncH$ht  at^i.  :24l 
WoTMcvl,  Mr.  hi*  d<:^^Ti|>liv>n  »\f  t>w» 

tnM'kof  the  NiYth«Ka$t<Nm  KAil>ir%\« 

i.  S20-Si2  ;   his  v\W){xnu)U  onjptnv*^ 

35\  3S6 
WordswuMlh,   hi*  i>iM\n»^   vm  iho  |vrvv. 

kvt^     KendAl    :ind     WiudrmH'w 

Railway,   and   hi*    Mi^mt    Io     tho 

M*itntim4  /\wt/,  ii.  64 
Workixvplt\  tm>Yninff  i\nu>>Mi\m*  f\x 

thv*so    on  tho  l^mium  and   N\Mih» 

Wosatem  Hailway,   i.    1:^0;    of  \\\t^ 

NorthKAstom  lUilwnv,  34.1,  .H4.i 
Workew,  Nijjht,  in  lA>m\\m,  i,  497>MK1 
**  Workinir    and   Man^i^^niont    of  an 

English  liailway,**  Sir  lit^rgo  b^nd* 

lay\  quottnl,  i.\2,  137 
Working-men,  National  innu(«ntH»  of, 

i.  390  ;  ii.260  ;  tho  oighthouw  drtv, 

260 
Workmen's  trains,  i,  389-396 
Worksop,    Esttipe   of    CharUni   PoatH* 

from  an  oxjtnvM  tmin  at,  i.  61»  62 
Wrecking  trams,  Attempts  ut,  ii.  401, 

402 
WyUm,  Goorgo  Htophonson^s   birth* 

place,  ii.  514 

York,  Coftchos  to,  i.  17  i  tho  mil  way 
journey  to,  303  \  North- Krfinteni 
lUiilwny  at,  327,  329}  trnvoUom* 
terminus  ia  tho  oonohing  days  at, 
329  \  antiquity  of,  329  {  t)io  Htittioa 
at,  329,  330  )  ongino  worlcN  at,  33*^ 

York  and  Midland  liitilwav,  Action 
aKainnt  Oeorgo  Iludiion  iiy  tho,  I, 
204,  323 

York,   Nowcastlti  and   Ilorwlfh    Mall 
way,  i.  323 

Zone  system  of  railway  fiiros,  It,  177 


Thu  Sno. 


PanrriD  bt  Casskll  4  OoMrAWT,  Umitiu,  La  UcuJi  lAirvAaa,  Lomuom,  H.CL 


■ 


:i 


i 


i. 


( 


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// 


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Early  Days  of  Christianity,  The.  By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 
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Family  Prayer-Book,  The.    Edited  by  the  Rev.  Canon  Garbett.  M.A.,  and 
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Selections  from  Cassell  A  Company's  Puhticcttions, 


*« Graven  in  the  Rock";  or,  the  Historical  Accuracy  of  the  Bible  confirmed  by 
reference  to  the  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  Sculptures  in  the  British  Museum  and  else- 
.  ,  where.     By  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Kinns,  F.R.AS.,  &c  &c     Illustrated.    Library 
Edition^  in  Two  Volumes,  cloth,  with  top  edges  gilded,  15s. 

••  Heart  Chords."    A  Series  of  Works  by  Eminent  Divines.     In  cloth,  is.  each. 

Father.    By  the  Right  Rer.  Ashton  Oxenden.         My  Hereafter.    By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  Bicker- 
late  Bishop  oi  MontreaL  steth. 

BSSnV.ffe.2lS  *^*'  ^^'  ^*  "°^**  C*'P«°t«''  My  Aide  to  the  DlTlne  Lite.     By  the  Very 

_  Smotional  Life.    By  Preb.  Chad  wick,  D.D.  „  kcv.  uean  Boyie. 

My  Body.    By  the  Rer.  Prof.  W.  G.  Blalkie.  D.D.  ^^^  So^roee  of  Strength.    By  the  Rev.  E.  E. 

My  8oi2.    By  the  Rev.  P.  B.  Power,  M.A.  Jenkins.  M.A. 

My  Orowth  in  Divine    Life.     By  the   Ren  My  Oomfort  in  Sorrow.    By  Hucrb  MarmOlan. 

Prebendary  Reynolds,  M.A.  i            D.D. 

i 

Helps  to  Belle!     Helpful   Manuals  on   the    Religious   Oifficulties   of  the  Day. 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  Teignmouth-Shorb,  M.A..  Canon  of  Worcester,    zs.  each. 
MiRACLRs.      By  the   Bev.  Brownlow  Mait-  I    The    Atonement.       By     William    Connor 
land.  M.A.  I  Maffee,  HJi.,  Ute  ArohbUhop  of  Yoric 

Holy  Land  and  the  Bible,  The.  A  Book  of  Scripture  Illustrations  gathered  in 
Palestine.  By  the  Rev.  Cunningham  Geikik,  D.D.  Cheap  Enition,  cloth 
gilt,  7s.  6d.  Also  Superior  Edition^  with  24  Collotype  Platen,  cloth  gilt,  gilt 
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Life  of  Christ,  The.     By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 
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Popular  Edition.     With  16  Full-page  Plates.     Cloth  gilt,  gilt  edges,  7».  6d. 
Illustrated  4to  Edition.    Cloth,  gilt  edges,  7s.  6d. 

Life  Of  Uvea  Further  Studies  in  the  Life  of  Christ.  By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean 
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Matin  and  Vesper  Bella  Earlier  and  Later  Collected  Poems  (Chiefly  Sacred). 
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Methodism,  Side-Lights  on  the  Coniiicts  of.  During  the  Second  Quarter  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  1827- 1852.  Cloth,  8s.  Cheap  Edition.  Unabridged. 
Cloth,  3s.  6d. 

Moses  and  Geology;   or,  the  Harmony  of  the  Bible  with  Science.     By 

the  Rev.  Samuel  Kinns,  Ph.D.,  F.R.A.S.     lUtu.    Library  Edition^   los.  6d. 

Old  and  New  Testaments,  Plain  Introductions  to  the  Books  of  the.  Con- 
taining Contributions  by  many  Eminent  Divines.     In  Two  Vols.,  3s.  6d.  each. 

Plain  Introductions  to  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament.  336  pages.  Edited  by 
Bishop  Ellicott.    3s.  6d. 

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Bishop  Ellicott.     3s.  6d. 

Protestantism,  The  History  oL  By  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Wylie.  LL.D.  Containing 
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** Quiver"  Yearly  Volume,  Tha  With  about  600  Original  Illustrations  and 
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81  George  for  England  and  other  Sermons  preached  to  Children.  Fifth 
Edition.     By  the  Rev.  Canon  Teignmouth-Shore,  M.A.     5s. 

8t  Paul,  The  Life  and  Work  of.     By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  Fakkak,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 

Illustrated  410  Edition.     7s.  6d. 

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Popular  Edition.     Cloth,  gilt  edges,  7s.  6d. 

Shortened  Church  Services  and  Hjrmns,  suitable  for  use  at  Children's  Services. 
Compiled  by  the  Rev.  Canon  Teicnmouth-Skorb.  Enlarged  Edition,     is. 

**  Six  Hundred  Years  " ;  or.  Historical  Sketches  of  Eminent  Men  and  Women  who 
have  more  or  less  come  into  contact  with  the  Abbey  and  Church  of  Holy  Trinity, 
Minories,  from  1293  to  1803,  and  some  account  of  the  Incumbents,  the  Fabric,  the 
Plate,  &c.  &c.  By  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Kinns,  F.R.A.S.,  &c.  &c 
With  6s  Illustrations.     X5&. 

"Sunday":  Its  Origin,  History,  and  Present  Obligation.  By  the  Ven.  Arch- 
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THB  Million,  as. ;  or  cloth,  3s.     Books  for  Jones's  System,  Ruled  Sets  of,  as. 
British  Empire  Map  of  the  World.  By  G.  R.  Parkin  and  J.  G.  Bartholomew, 

F.K.G.S.      Mounted  or  Folded,     ass. 

Chemistry,  The  Public  SchooL    By  J.  H.  Anderson,  M.A.     2s.  6d. 

CkK>kery  for  Schools.    By  Lizzie  Heritage.    6d. 

Dulce  Domum.     Rhymes  and  Songs  for  Children.     Edited  by  John  Farmer. 

Old  Notation  and  Words,  5S.      N.B.— -The  Words  of  the  Songs  (with  the  Airs  both 

in  Tonic  Sol -Fa  and  Old  flotation)  can  be  had  in  Two  Parts,  6d.  each. 
England,  A  History  of.     From  the  Landing  of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  Present  Day. 

By  H.  O.  Arnold- FoRSTKR,  M.A.     Rernsed  Edition.     Fully  Illustrated.     5s. 
English  Literature,  A  First  Sketch  of;  from  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present 

Time.     Bv  Prof.  Henry  Morlev.    7s.  6d. 
Euclid,  Cassell'a    Edited  by  Prof.  Wallace,  M.A.    is. 
Euclid,  The  First  Four  Books  of.    New  Edition.     In  paper,  6d.  ;  doth,  qA. 
"Eyes  and   No  Eyes'*  Series,   Cassell's.    By  Arabella  Buckley.    With 

numerous  Illustrations  and  Coloured  Plates.     Books  I.  and  II.,  4d.  each.     Books 

III.  to  VI.,  6d.  each 
Farm  Crops.     By  John  Wrightson,  M.R.A.C.,  etc.   Fully  Illustrated.    2s.  6d. 
Founders  of  the  Empire.      By  Philip  Gibbs.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  is.  8d.  ; 

bevelled  boards,  as.  6d. 
French,   Cassell's  Lessons   in.     Nnv  and  Revised  Edition.     In  Two  Parts. 

Cloth,  as.  each.     Complete  in  One  Vol.,  3s.  6d.     Key,  is.  6d. 

French  Lessons  in  French.  By  F.  P.  De  Champtassin.   R^  L.,    B.^s  Sc   as. 
French-English  and  English-French  Dictionary.    3s.  6d.  or  5s. 
Qalhraith  and  Haughton's  Sdentiflo  Manuals. 

Astronomy,  5s.  6uoiid,  Books  I.,  II..  111.,  as.  6d.  Books  IV..  V..VI.,  zs.  6d.  Mathematical 
Tsblea,  3s.  6d.  Optics,  m.  6d.  Hydrostatics.  3s.  6d.  Alffebra,  Part  I..  ck>th,  2s.  od. 
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Qaudeamus.    Songs  for  Colleges  and  Schools.     Edited  by  John  Farmer.     5s. 
Words  only,  paper,  6d.  ;  cloth,  Qd. 

Geography,  A  Practical  Method  of  Teaching.     By  J.  H.  Overton.  F.G.S. 

Book  I. — England  and  Wales.     Book  II. — Europe.    6d.  each. 

Geometry,  First  Elements  Of  Experimental.  By  Paul  Bert.  Illustrated,  is.  6d. 
German    Dictionary,    Cassell'a      German-English.    English- German.      Ch€ap 
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German  Reading,  First  Lessons  in.    By  A.  JXgst.    Illustrated,    is. 

Hand   and  Eye  Training.    By  George  Ricks.  B.Sc,  and  Joseph  Vaughan. 

Illustrated.     Vol.  I.,  Designing  with  Coloured  Papers  ;  Vol.  II.,  Cardboard  Work, 
as.  each.     Vol.  III.,  Colour  Work  and  Desijzn.  3s. 
Hand  and  Eye  Training.    By  G.  Ricks,  B.Sc.    Two  Vols.,  with  16  Coloured 
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on  canvas  and  varnished,  with  rollers.  5.<i.  each.     (Descriptive  Pamphlet,  16  pp.,  id.) 

b  ranger's  Hour ;  or.  Stout  Hearts  and  Stirring  Deeds.  A  Book  of  Adventures 

for  School  and  Home.   With  Four  Coloured  Plates  and  numerous  Illustrations.    Cloth, 

IS.  8d.     Bevelled  boards,  2s.  6d. 
Latin    Dictionary,    Cassell'a     (Latin-English    and   English- Latin.)    3s.  6d.; 

half- morocco.  5s. 
Latin  Primer,  The  First    By  Prof.  J.  P.  Postgate.     is. 
Latin  Primer,  The  New.    By  Prof.  J.  P.  Postgate.     2s.  6d. 
Latin  Prose  for  Lower  Forma    By  M.  A.  Bayfield,  M.A.    2s.  6d. 
Laws  of  Every-day  Life.    For  the  Use  of  Schools.     By  H.  O.  Arnold- Forster, 

M.A      IS.  6d. 

little  Folks' History  Of  England.    By  Isa  Craig-Knox.    Illustrated,     is.  6d. 


SeUctions  from  Cassell  A  Company's  PubiuaiioHS, 


MaiHw^r  of  the  Home,  The.    By  Mrs.  Samuel  A.  Barnett.    is.  6d. 

Kap    Bnildizig    for    SchoolB.      A  Practical  Method  of  Teaching   Geography 

(England  and  Wales).     By  J.  H.  Ovbxton,  F.G.S.     6d. 
IburlborOIlgh    Books :    Arlthmetio  Sxample*.  3S.     Freiioh  BxeroUea,   3s.  6d.    Frenob 

Orammar,  2s.  6d.    Oerman  Qrammar,  3s.  6d. 
MechaniCB,  Applied.    By  John  Perry,  M.E.,  D.Sc..  &c.     Illustrated.    7s.  6d. 
Mechanics,  Cassell's  CjrclopsMlia  of.    7s.  6d.     Profusely  Illustrated. 

Mechanics  for  Tonng  Beginners.  By  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Easton,  M.A.  Cheap 
EditioHf  3S.  6d. 

Mechanics  and  Machine  Design,   Numerical  KTamples   in  PracticaL    By 

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