Chapter 2

A.B.C. and D.E.F. 171 Accident, Abergele, The 220 ,, Beneficial Effect of a Railway 186 ,, Extraordinary 128 ,, ,, 265 ,, Remarkable 172 ,, Versailles, The 96 Action, A Novel 255 Advantages of Railway Tunnels 126 Advertisement, Remarkable 124 Adventure, Remarkable 146 Affrighted Toll Keeper 19 Agent, The Insurance 269 Air-ways, instead of Railways 83 Alarmist Views 28 Almost Dar Now 122 American Patience and Imperturbability 183 A’penny a Mile 170 Army with Banners, An 207 Atmospheric Railroad Anticipated 14 Baby Law 216 Balloonists, Extraordinary Escape of 275 Bavarian Guards and Bavarian Beer 198 Bill, Expensive Parliamentary 102 ,, First Railway 16 Bishop, A Disingenuous 267 ,, An Industrious 248 Blunder, An Extraordinary 254 Bookshops, Growth of Station 130 Booking-Clerk and Buckland, The 248 Bookstalls, Messrs. Smith’s 131 Brahmin, The Polite 260 Bride’s Lost Luggage, A 142 Brassey’s, Mr., Strict Adherence to his Word 264 Brougham’s, Lord, Speech 60 Box, Shut up in a large 273 Buckland’s, Mr. Frank, First Railway Journey 175 Buckland, Mr. Frank, and his Boots 261 Bridge, Awful Death on a Railroad 273 Bully Rightly Served, The 190 Burning the Road Clear 179 Business, Railway Facilities for 118 Calculation as to Railway Speed 28 Capture, Clever 105 Catastrophe 165 Carlist Chief as a Sub-contractor, A 213 Carriage, The Duke’s 60 Casuality, Curious 193 Chase after a Runaway Engine, A 136 Child’s Idea on Railways, A 179 Child, Remarkable Rescue of a 249 Claim for goodwill for a Cow killed on the Railway 268 Clergy, Appealing to the 83 Clever, Quite too 181 Coach _versus_ Railway Accidents 198 Compensation for Land 106 ,, A Widow’s Claim for 242 Competition, Early Railway 27 ,, For Passengers 167 ,, Goods 135 Conductor, A Wide-awake 184 Coincidences, Remarkable 291 Cook’s Railway Excursions, Origin of 87 Cool Impudence and Dishonesty 248 Coolness, A Little Boy’s 258 Constable, The Electric 92 Contracts, Expensive 263 Contractor, An Accommodating 113 Contractors and the Blotting Pad, Rival 99 Contrast, National 171 Conversion of the Gauge 243 Counsel, The bothered Queen’s 247 Courting on a Railway thirty miles an hour 159 Crimea, The First Railway in the 156 Croydon. It’s 271 Curious Classification, A 294 Custom of the Country, The 234 Cuvier’s Description of the Locomotive 21 Damages easily adjusted 127 Day. The Great Railway Mania 114 Death. Faithful unto 153 Decision. A Quick 95 Decoy Trunk, The 224 Deodand. The 88 Difficulties encountered in making Surveys 31 Difficulty solved, A 181 Discovery, A Great 144 Discussion, An Unfortunate 89 Disguise, Duty in 283 Dissatisfied Passengers 236 Doctor and the Officers, The 246 Dog Ticket 91 Down Brakes, or Force of Habit 192 Drink. That accursed 274 Drinking from the Wrong Bottle 262 Driving a last spike 224 Dropping the letter “L” 267 Dukes and the traveller, The two 114 Dying Engine Driver, The 191 Early American Railway Enterprise 66 Early Morning Ride 187 Early Steam Carriages 15 Elevated Sight-seers Wishing to Descend 59 Engine Driver, A Brave 247 ,, A Mad 278 Engine Driver’s Presence of Mind 232 ,, Driving 230 ,, Fascination 166 Engineer and Scientific Witness 133 ,, Very Nice to be a Railway 113 Entertaining Companion 195 Epigram, Railway 124 Epitaph, An Engine Driver’s 86 ,, on the Victim of a Railway Accident 85 Escape, Providential 128 Escapes from being Lynched, Narrow 153 Everett’s Reply to Wordsworth’s Protest 123 Evidence of General Salesman 78 ,, Picture 111 Evil, A Dreaded 145 Excursionists put to the proof 294 Extracts from Macready’s Diaries 138 Fares, Cheap 188 Fault, At 241 Female Fragility 250 Flutter caused by the murder of Mr. Briggs 253 Fog Signals 121 Forged Tickets 217 Fourth of July Facts 244 Fraud on the Great Northern Company, Immense 161 Frauds, Attempted 140 Freak, Singular 170 Freaks of Concealed Bogs 138 Frightened at a Red Light 223 Girl, A Brave 273 Goat and the Railway, The 155 Good Things of Railway Accidents 186 Gravedigger’s Suggestion, A 257 Gray, Thomas. A Railway Projector 22 Greenlander’s First Railway Ride, A 255 Growing Lad, A 217 Hartington, The Marquis of, on George Stephenson 283 Hair-Dresser, The anxious 79 Heroism of a Driver 270 Highlander and a Railway Engine, The 138 Hoax, Accident 167 Horses _versus_ Railways 262 How to bear losses 214 Impressions, A Mexican Chief’s Railway 278 Incident, An amusing 258 ,, An Electric Tramway 282 Information, Obtaining 154 Insulted Woman, An 235 Insured 202 Judge’s feeling against Railways, A County Court 150 Kangaroo Attacking a Train, A 209 Kemble’s Letter, Fanny 35 Kid-Gloved Samson, A 184 Kiss in the Dark, A 256 Lady and her Lap-dog, The 242 ,, An Exacting 183 Legislation, Railway 100 Liabilities of Railway Engineers for Errors 127 Liability of Companies for Delay of Trains 191 Life upon a Railway, by a Conductor 148 Loan Engineering, or Staking out a Railway 172 Locomotive, A Smuggling 234 ,, Dangerous 292 Luggage, Lost 112 ,, in Railway Carriages 281 ,, What is Passengers’ 243 Madman in a Railway Carriage, A 201 Marriage, A Railway 139 ,, and Railway Dividends 228 Match, A Runaway 93 Merchant and his Clerk, The 160 Mistake, A slight 263 Monetary Difficulties in Spain 212 Money. Lost and Found 87 Monkey Signalman, A 294 Navvy’s Reason for not going to Church, A 80 Nervousness 259 New Trick. A 203 Newspaper Wonder, A 211 Newton, Sir Isaac’s Prediction of Railway Speed 14 Notice, Copy of a 237 ,, A curious 154 ,, A remarkable 252 ,, to Defaulting Shareholders, A Novel 95 Not to be caught 246 Novel Attack, A 197 ,, Obstruction 215 Objections, Sanitary 77 Opposition, A Landowner’s 110 ,, English and American 71 ,, Parliamentary 29 ,, to Making Surveys 75 Orders, My 280 Parody upon the Railway Mania 118 Passengers and other Cattle 158 ,, Third-class 143 Peto, Sir Morton, and the Balaclava Railway 156 Peto’s, Sir Morton, Railway Mission 104 Phillippe and the English Navvies, Louis 125 Photographing an Express Train 259 Polite Irishman, The 194 Portmanteau, His 130 Post Office and Railways. The 119 Power of Locomotive Engines, Gigantic 94 Practice, Sharp 80 Prejudice against carrying Coals by Railways 84 ,, Removed 81 Presentiment, Mrs. Blackburne’s 56 Profitable Damages 295 Prognostications of Failure 73 Pullman’s Carriages 295 Race, A Curious 254 Railway, An Early 20 ,, An Early Ride on the Liverpool and Manchester 61 ,, Announcement 17 ,, Enterprise 296 ,, Travelling, Early 63 ,, Destroyers in the Franco-German War 223 ,, from Merstham to Wandsworth 16 ,, Liverpool and Manchester 32 ,, Manners 272 ,, Merthyr Tydvil 17 ,, A Profitable 260 ,, Opening of the Darlington and Stockton 26 ,, Romance 93 ,, Sleeper, A 246 ,, Signals 120 ,, Switch Tender and his Child 199 ,, Train turned into a Man-trap 185 ,, Up Vesuvius 274 Railways, Elevated 214 ,, A Judgment 268 ,, Origin of 13 Railroad Incident 214 ,, Tracklayer 216 Rails, Expansion of 158 Rector and his Pig. The 103 Redstart, The Black 199 Rejoinder, A smart 158 Reproof for Swearing 189 Request, A Polite 136 Ride from Boston to Providence in 1835, A 81 Robinson’s, Crabb, First Railway Journey 65 Ruling Occupation strong on Sunday 186 Safety on the Floor 147 Seat, The Safest 268 Scotch Lady and her Box 272 Scene at a Railway Junction, Extraordinary 134 ,, Before a Sub-Committee on Standing Orders 176 Security for Travelling 229 Sell, A 241 Seizure of a Railway Train for Debt 208 She takes Fits 210 Shrewd Observers 20 Signalman, An Amateur 97 Singular Circumstance 125 Sleeper, A Heavy 276 Sounds, Remarkable Memory for 266 Snag’s Corners 210 Snake’s Heads 81 Snowed up on the Pacific Railway 237 Speed of Railway Engines 30 Steam defined 137 ,, Pulling a Tooth by 276 Steel Rails 193 Stephenson Centenary, The 284 ,, ,, George Robert Stephenson’s Address 286 ,, ,, Rev. T. C. Sarjent’s Address at the 288 ,, ,, Sir William Armstrong’s Address at the 284 Stephenson’s Wedding Present, George 194 Stopping a Runaway Couple 200 Stumped 293 Swindling, Ingenious 292 Taken Aback 152 Taking Him Down a Peg 252 Taste, Loss of 291 Tay Bridge Accident 245 Telegraph, Extraordinary use of the Electric 111 Ticket, A Lost 164 ,, Your 271 Traffic-Taking 86 Train Stopped by Caterpillars, A 204 Travelling, Effects of Constant Railway 281 ,, in Russia 204 ,, Improvement in Third-Class 143 Trent Station 192 Trip, An Unpleasant Trial 72 Tunnel, In a Railway 137 Very Cool 199 Waif, An Extraordinary 245 Ward’s, Artemus, Suggestion 197 Watkin, Sir Edward, on Touting for Business 269 Way, A Quick 138 Way-Leaves 13 Wedding at a Railway Station 166 What are you going to do? 189 Whistle, Steam 98 Wolves on a Railway 197 Wordsworth’s Protest 122 Yankee Compensation Case, A 218

ORIGIN OF RAILWAYS

The immediate parent of the railway was the wooden tram-road, which existed at an early period in colliery districts. Mr. Beaumont, of Newcastle, is said to have been the first to lay down wooden rails as long ago as 1630. More than one hundred and forty years elapsed before the invention was greatly improved. Mr. John Carr, in 1776 (although not the first to use iron rails), was the first to lay down a cast-iron railway, nailed to wooden sleepers, for the Duke of Newcastle’s colliery near Sheffield. This innovation was regarded with great disfavour by the workpeople as an interference with the vested rights of labour. Mr. Carr’s life, as a consequence, was in much jeopardy and for four days he had to conceal himself in a wood to avoid the violence of an indignant and vindictive populace.

WAY-LEAVES.

Roger North, referring to a visit paid to Newcastle by his brother, the Lord Keeper Guildford, in 1676, writes:—“Another remarkable thing is their _way-leaves_; for when men have pieces of ground between the colliery and the river, they sell the leave to lead coal over the ground, and so dear that the owner of a rood of ground will expect £20 per annum for this leave. The manner of the carriage is by laying rails of timber from the colliery down to the river exactly straight and parallel, and bulky carts are made with four rowlets fitting these rails, whereby the carriage is so easy that one horse will draw four or five chaldron of coals, and is an immense benefit to the coal merchants.”

SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S PREDICTION OF RAILWAY SPEED.

In a tract by the Rev. Mr. Craig, Vicar of Leamington, entitled “Astral Wonders,” is to be found the following remarkable passage:—“Let me narrate to you an anecdote concerning Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire. Sir Isaac wrote a book on the Prophet Daniel, and another on the Revelations; and he said, in order to fulfil certain prophecies before a certain date terminated, namely 1260 years, there would be a certain mode of travelling of which the men in his time had no conception; nay, that the knowledge of mankind would be so increased that they would be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe in the Holy Scriptures, got hold of this, and said, ‘Now look at that mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such marvels for us all to admire, when he became an old man and got into his dotage, he began to study that book called the Bible; and it appears that in order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we must believe that mankind’s knowledge will be so much increased that we shall be able to travel fifty miles an hour. The poor ‘dotard!’ exclaimed the philosophic infidel, Voltaire, in the complaisancy of his pity. But who is the dotard now?”

THE ATMOSPHERIC RAILROAD ANTICIPATED.

_First Voice_.

“But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?”

_Second Voice_.

“The air is cut away before, And closes from behind.”

—_The Ancient Mariner_.

This is the exact principle of the atmospheric railroad, and it is, perhaps, worthy of note as a curious fact that such a means of locomotion should have occurred to Coleridge so long ago.

W. Y. Bernhard Smith, in _Notes and Queries_.

EARLY STEAM CARRIAGES.

Stuart, in his “Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of Steam Engines and of their Inventors and Improvers,” gives a description of what was supposed to be the first model of a steam carriage. The constructor was a Frenchman named Cugnot, who exhibited it before the Marshal de Saxe in 1763. He afterwards built an engine on the same model at the cost of the French monarch. But when set in motion it projected itself onward with such force that it knocked down a wall which stood in its way, and—its power being considered too great for ordinary use—it was put aside as being a dangerous machine, and was stowed away in the Arsenal Museum at Paris. It is now to be seen in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.

Mr. Smiles also remarks that “An American inventor, named Oliver Evans, was also occupied with the same idea, for, in 1772, he invented a steam carriage to travel on common roads; and, in 1787, he obtained from the State of Maryland the exclusive right to make and use steam carriages. The invention, however, never came into practical use.

“It also appears that, in 1784, William Symington, the inventor of the steamboat, conceived the idea of employing steam power in the propulsion of carriages; and, in 1786, he had a working model of a steam carriage constructed which he submitted to the professors and other scientific gentlemen of Edinburgh. But the state of the Scotch roads was at that time so horrible that he considered it impracticable to proceed further with his scheme, and he shortly gave it up in favour of his project of steam navigation.