Middletown transcript., 1883-11-30
ENGLISH RAILWAY ARRANGE
MENTS.

We hear great deal at home about
the annoyance of the compartment
system of railway carriages, but it has
its advantages. Each compartment
opens independently of the others, and
so train is loaded and unloaded very
rapidly. There is nothing whatever of
the annoying delay that we have in
getting in and out at stations. 1t is
all done at once and without confusion.
AS for tickets, you do not give them
up until you arrive. There is, there
fore, no bother of continually showing
a check to the conductor. The names
of stations are not called out, but they
are very plainly marked in dozen diff
ferent spots at each place, and the
guards can always be called to from the
window for information. The guards
are uniformed and look very well, but
the porters and station men are more
elegant yet. At Hereford, for instance,
which is but small, quiet town, our
baggage was taken possession of at the
station by an elegant and stately gen
tleman, wearing stove pipe hat and
suit of dark blue made up in the long
coat fashion. 1t seemed like a favor
for him to consent to accept siXpence.
But they all do consent. Some excel
lent American, Hawthorne, 1 think,
remarked that his only regret in think
ing over his experience in England lay
in the fact that he hadn't offered the
high chancellor shilling. At every
railway station, suppose you wish to
stop over, there is a left baggage
room where, for four cents (tuppence),
they take care of your baggage. Every
station, too, has capital book-stall.
1t is not merely like ours, newsstand,
but it has good literature, and plenty
of it. Then, too, each important sta
tion has its restaurant. There is every |
facility for a good meal, but besides
that, certainly on some roads, the op-
portunities for getting drunk surpass
we know in America. Pocket
bottles, thin but copiOus, are spread
out on the counters for sale, containing
rum, brandy, whisky, gin, sherry or
port, etc., and boys go from car to car
offering these for sale. There is moth
ing done on the sly and at the lunch
counter there is often regular bar,
always presided over by a neat and tidy
girl, who sells the strongest liquors
with the mildest expression of counte-
nance. Apparently nobody is ashamed
o drink. They all do it openly and
make no secret of it. In London, in
Iced, so much of it is done that they
ell champagne by the glass-a liquor
which is supposed to spoil by opening.
Champagne, one siXpence," " is COM
non sign there. Great attention is
,iven to the English railway stations.
1t Shrewsbury, for example, a city of
lalf the size of our Hartford, OF say
., 1000 inhabitants, the station cost
100000 Along the route a grade
rossing is scarcely ever seen when it
S, the gate is kept shut, except when
ONE one wants to cross the track. It's
formal condition is to be closed. Tun-
lels and bridges are frequent. Over
hese in many places iyies ale grown,
md other climbing vines and at many
stations the cultivation of flowers,
simulated by prizes offered by the
has been carried to an art.
Crossing the tracks at stations is not
easible, and walking on the tracks
through the country is forbidden
Look from the car window half day
md you see no one on the track except
IN occasional railway employe. The
whistle scarcely ever blows except at
stations. The guard notifies the en-
gineer that all is ready by blowing a
;hrill little whistle which he carries in
lis pocket. Elerated Rail,Cay Journal.