The daily gazette., 1878-01-23
From the Dublin EUesing Mail.
English and American Rail-


English nnd American Rail-
ways.
An Enghsh Correspondent Of the Nesc
York Sun has passed verdict upon the
Railways of Great Britain, az contrasted
with those of America, and generally he
is complimentary. The English and Irish
railways far surpass, he admits, those of
the United Stases in durability. They
are evenly and strongly built, and allow
much higher rate of speed than Is reach
ed on American railways. "In trying to
a" make them strong" he adds, ''they
often attain a marvellous degree Of
" little oscillation of the train when in
4" motion, and little or no jolting." He
traces all our casualties to excessive
speed. "Trains follow each other so fire.
" quently and so closely that very
slight delay in switching is likely to
" cause an accident of some kind
"Swiftening" has been demanded unduly
by a small section of travellers; and hav-
ing been conceded to their importantly,
1t is very difficult to get back TO more
reasonable pitch of locomotion;but of late
1t is becoming understood that over-rapid
travelling, even If rendered safe by avoid
ance of collisions, explosions or runnings
off the rail, Is actually danger to the
health of three out of every five travel
lers, from the excitement which il Gre
ates. Reverting TO the arran esements of
English railways for comfort. the writer
secs much necessity for smodernizing
1t Is astonishing Che saysl that English
managers have not yet learned to check
baggage. Your last care at starting and
first care at reaching your destination
is your baggage. The Use of checks
I" would obviate all this unnecessary
trouble. Stop-over checks are not given
and 1T necessary to leave the train be-
fore the ticket Is used up the balance
:" must be forfeited" Still more to the
point is his complaint of the days limit
of tickets value. Throughout the
summer months excursion tickets are
. issued at reduced rates, and good for a
"specified time. Ordinary tickets are
/ good only for the day on which they
" are issued, except that on some lines
" tickets issued on Saturday are good
until the Monday following. American
railways tried that plan years ago, but
few sharp lessons in the courts taught
them that railway tickets, when sold at
the regular rates, are mere commo-
i" dity, and that the buyer may use them
in his own good time" 1t is TO be hoped
We may some day come to this common
sense arrangement, at least ON our sub.
urban lines; and that any person will be
/ at liberty to purchase book of tickets,
and either use them for his own personal
! convenience, or give them to his friends,
family, or servants, at his pleasure. The
railway company contracts To carry so
much living material, and II cannot
really matter To it whether the weight Is
borne to-day or TO tomorrow, or Is called
by this name or that. h 0
The American tourist makes further
unexpected complaint; we have heard
much grumbling from time to time, and
not mreasonably, that certain railway
line is closed against beer, but our visitors
annoyance was that he could procure no
mater. "The wants oftemperance people
are entirely ignored. / think the
statutes of the United Kingdom do not
recognise any such condition of life as
being according to nature, and hence
no provision is made for such cases.
: " Neither carriages nor stations are pro-
! " vided with drinking water, There Is
" water, indeed, about most stations, but
{ /" it is not accessible, and is not provided
" for that purpose. The omnipotent fee
IT., " will secure drink of water, If you are
willing to wait until the porter has
" searched the premises for cup. Beer
is always handy, but as for water, there
:" is no demand for il as a beverage, and
hence no supply A Permissive Bill
to the extent Of allowing water to be
drunk on Railways might be fair com
promise with Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and
may be suggested for his consideration
The American also found fares, especially
on short city-margin lines, very high
" They may be generally stated at i and
" = cents per mile for first, second and
" third classes respectively. Local fares
+" are never below the figures | have
named. For long distances, where
" there are competing lines, first class
" fares are slightly above cents per
mile, and second class trifie above 8
" cents. Third class rates, for either long
or short distances, are always fraction
more than cents mile. Where there
" are no competing lines, fares for al
" classes are often considerably higher
than the rates named, even for long
" distances; a distance of 200 miles is long
in so small country az this. From
London to Glasgow, 406 miles, the fares
" are IA dols 50c, IL dolls Bic, and doh
25cs to Liverpool, 202 miles, z dolls 25c
" . dols 43c, and dolls lSc: to Dover, Uio
" the South Eastern, 76 miles, dols '62c
+" 3 dols 37c, and l dol sc (tirst class here
above q cents a mile, and second class
above cents); to Barnstaple, by the
/" Great Western, 205 miles, 10 dols, i
" dols &c, and dols Bic; to Salisbury
"74c."
We may learn something from this
stranger, who, we may add, applaud'
the English Midland for its abolition OF
second-class, and its proposal to adopi
carriages open from end to end AS We
have said ,he is candid In admitting thai
while American railways excel ours in
convenience, they are mere omnibuseS a,
to speed compared with the "Wild Irish
man" or .'Flying Dutchman" We con
slider his best hints to be contained in tn,
propositions that tickets should be pur
chasable in quantity, and that the char
acter of the carriages should be altered
An approach to the latter arrangement
is seen in many new first-class carriages
which are one open apartment, but thi.
change has not yet extended to the Sec
ond or Third Glass, in which the mass o
travellers find their way from place tt
place. The exorbitant fares is the mos
crying evil of all, and return in cost O
working is in many instances greatly re-
quired. The American also think
American stations and American porter
eseaner and more businesslike than il
ireland or England, and that there 4
4 4,.r