Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-08-11
Two Railroad Systems.
DifYe Between Travel ia England
and America.
from the Baltimore Dayl

Difference Between Travel in England
and America.
From the Baltimore Day.l
English people conservative Ameri-
cans progressive. The worst accusation that
can be leveled at a man in the old country is
that he is a n00es homo, an upstart. No one
will do business with him society distrusts
or ignores him. But in America the cry is
ever for something new-a new acquaintance,
new hat, new dress, pair of boots,
new illusion! even if it prove so. English
railroads have scarcely altered whit since
the Liverpool and Manchester railroad was
opened in 1888. In the New World the strug-
gle of the companies for supremacy produces
something new every year.
With the view of forcing into prominence
the contrasts between railroads in Old Eng
land and New England let us glance for a
moment at John Bulls idea of q road and
how it should be conducted To begin with,
he has not yet risen to the dignity of pro-
ducing rings and ring masters. He does not
deal in Jay Goulds, Cyrus Fields or Wander
bills, but treats a railroad as square profit
and loss commercial speculation. But while
he is happily free from the manipulations OF
these gigantic jobbers, he has no projectors
or masters of enterprise who can at all com.
pare with Roberts, Huntington or Garrett.
Railways in England are immensely costly
undertakings, and in short there is every
thing to check and nothing to encourage the
opening of new lines. To begin with, the
moment scheme is mooted the land owners
along the proposed route rush to she front
and use every available means to thwart it.
An English Squire breads nothing more thar
the sound of railroad whistle. 1t means
the bringing of the vulgar, slovenly crowd
between the wind and his nobility the dis
turbing of his pheasants and hares, the inva
sion of his domains by berry laborers and
| muddy construction cars and host of incon
veniences which he can appreciate far more
than the public can
But the construction of a line once re-
solved on, the act of Parliament procured
and the capital subscribed, the track is laid
down as if significantly the natural
condition of railway affairs. Whether it be
a small branch line or main track, every
thing is made solid, firm and lasting as
possible. It is the rarest of accidents for q
portion of an English railroad track to give
way. SO expensive is this construction pro
cess that it has been estimated that the cost
of obtaining and constructing one road only
eighty miles in length (the London, Chatham
and Dover) was as much as if the rails were
made of gold the whole way. In any case
the Simple track found in our branch lines
would appal an English railroad engineer al
the bare thought of passing over it.
The depots are constructed on a CORE
spending scale of dignity. Those at st. Pan
cras, Cannon street, Charing Cross, Bishops
gate and Paddington in London. New street
and Snow Hill, Birmingham and Reading
may be taken typical specimens. The
Great Western station at Paddington EN-
| ploys 1000 clerks and other officials beneath
| its roof, irrespective of the travelling en-
ployes and general public. In the southwes
of London, at Chaplain junction, there are
thirteen lines of railway under one roof, ant
| it is estimated that at ordinary seasons fou
hundred trains pass through every hour o
the day. This fact is, of course eas'''' -
| counte5 fN,s-ss- 49,