Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-02-03
The Railroad Route from New York TO
Washington.

From the u !. Correspondence London Times I
The journey from New York to Washington
Is an excellent experience, as ii includes an
interesting variety Of locomotion. The popu-
lar belief Is that line Of railroad connects
the two cities; and though the general i'm
PIession is not entirely erroneous it Is not
Mhoiiy correct. The sections Of the road to
tne political capital, are even more independ-
ent OF each other than the States thew ira
v'rse; and, partly from natural causes. partly
from causes less Ineligible, are very far from
complete union among themselves The in
terVals o. disconnection are frequent, with q
consequence TO the voyager of a continual
change OF vehicle at unexpected hours.
Inc disturbing shifts are not without an
advantage, especially by the night train:
they prevent the too common waste Of time in
sleep; night has very little 10 do with il on
the road TO w ashin gton. The whole number
OF changes on the route are these: first, the
heavy hotel coach, carrying nine inside at a
plach, and any amount of baggage, TO the
steam ferry for the Jersey shore, the South
wark of New York; then the railroad TO
Philadelphia, as the tickets state, but the
Delaware cuts You of from the city proper,
ard or arriving there is another steam ferry
across the river; then a string of omnibusses
Is put In requisition to make the connection
with the terminus on the other side Of the
city towards Baltimore. 1t is an exceedingly
Ions ride, 50 long that the streets seem inter-
mI2abie, like those of a city stretching out
continually In a dream. But they terminate
at last. and the railway regained speeds you
along for Baltimore-not 10 it; there is ano-
therrlVer tOcrOss-the Susquehanna-s stream
to which Campbell's poetry has given a place
IN our popular geography; had it been a
larger river with less musical name he might
not have mentioned it; on such accidents does
fame depend.
On Susquehanna' rs side you walk the planks
Of an inclined plane down to a steam ferry
boat the third, and this pause in the night
ride is turned to account by arrangements on
board tor stanC-up supper and drinks" il
you choose The prose Of existence, as usual,
maintains its ascendancy, and the impressions
left of this portion Of " Pennsylvania shore"
on dark winter morning, are of a cold wind
and execrable coffee. On the opposite bank
of the Susquehanna you find the railroad
again, and are landed without further inter-
ruption at Baltimore. Here the old bsrbsrisn
Of an omnibus has been superseded, and q
horse railroad car carries you through the
city to the station for Washington 1t is the
last shift. After taking the train again here,
there is nothing more than the ordinary
changes of the road between you and the Fed
eral city.
But add to the many changes of vehicle on
the route, the score Of summons at different
intervals from the conductors to give up, show,
or take checks and tickets and It will be per-
ceived that the night train to Washington is
kept very lively. Some passengers obtain a
1.-THE respite and repose from these calls of the
official by sticking their checks IN their hat
band, leaving him to take them without ask
ing. He understands the arrangement per-
fectly, and glides down the centre Of the car
riage with his lamp, picking right and left at
the red and yellow cards, like a botanist
gathering night flowers In bot-house All
these minor evils the worst result Of this dis
J0inted and sectional state Of the road is felt
at Washington, In the delay of the mails,
which break down about three times q week,
depTiVing the capital practically of one Of the
greatest benefits Of the railway The COM
panies contrive TO etpassengers through, but
appear TO have some malicious satisfaction in
leaving the letter-bags behind whenever they
can; with the slightest desire to aid the Post
Office the mishap could not occur 50 often.