The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-11-11
ENGLISH RAILWAYS.
THEY ARE SLOW TO ADOPT IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE SERVICE.


Effort a. Made by the Managers to Pop
ularize shem.
Two factors in English holiday travel
Ire obvious from these great piles OF
Messengers baggage. One is that there
is no check system on the railways, and
the other that if it cost rs much TO hire
a cab in Liverpool or Manchester rs IN
New York there would socn be dimi-
nution in Tire number Of packages, if not
in the weight of the baggage, which
English families take with them ON
their holiday travels. Few big Saratoga
trunks are 10 be seen ON the platform at
Crewe Here and there may be seen
trunk which it takes two men TO lift,
bat the address ON it will almost GER
t.unly show it to belong to an American
visitor. English people VIII not take
tie trouble to pack all their belongings
into 7ne OF two large sized trunks.
Neither Is there any need why they
should so long as the railway companies
Will accept without demur II or 10
small trunks, hampers, bundles and
other miscellaneous packages as the
baggage entitled TO go with one set OF
railway tickets, and so lcssg as an Eng
lish cab driver VIII pile all this staff
on the top or box seat Of his cab and
carry it and the family attached to ii
from their home TO the railway station
for half a crown.
Every now and again an Enrlishman
who has been IN America whites TO The
Times concerning the advantages OF the
check system as 1t Is worked on the
American railways, butall these letters
20 unheoded. English railway managers
have a dread Of innovations, especially
II the innovation comes from America,
and the English people, who are accus-
toned to the scramble for baggage at
tie railway stations, are quite satisfied
with TIE existing system, or rather lack
Cf system. On the whole, they save
little money By il. English railway
CCmualies ALLOW, third class passenger
5G pourds OF personal baggage, and a
first class passenger double that amount
Any excess Is supposed 10 TO paid for,
but = tip O. threeponce tc porter will
mCnts Of family carried straight fEom
the cab 10 the train and insure that no
questions IS to weight are asked. 1t is
usually the lack Of a tip or a hostile
hint from cabman who Is not satisfied
with his fare that leads 10 a call ut the
weighing machine On the way from the
cao 10 the baggage van. Under the ex-
lsting sy stem English people have al
ways to watch over their own baggage
at every change, and sometimes 10
scramble ara struggle for il at the end
OF the Journey, and TO tumble over other
peoples baggage rs they fight their way
Into j crowded train. But then, as j
have shown, 1t IS q system under which
the paEcngec can nearly always get the
best Of the railway company in the mat
Ter Of excess Of baggage. ard notody
gives any heed to the frequent sueges-
tions that the American system of checks
shoald be adopted.
IN Cuc or two directions the English
companies are now following the exam
pie of the American railway companies
After years Of urging from the board OF
trade and the government department
which has the oversight of railways
several Of the lines are gradually intro
ducing long cars for long distance travel.
They have not boldly adopted the Amer
lean car. The pattern of car now being
brought into use is a compromise be-
tween the American car and the Eng
lish compar Cment carriage. The COM
partment is retained, but each compart-
ment is connected with corridor which
runs not down the middle, but along
one side Of the car. This has given the
name Of cO1idor train to the train made
up Cf carriages built after this fashion.
On some Of the trains all the car
riages are connected with vestibules
like these on American railways. On
ether trains there are two or three cor
ridor cars, while the rest of the carriages
are Of the old fashioned style. 1t is
characteristic of the English people that
there is seldom any scramble for places
in the new cars. People seem to like
the old compartments better, fact
upon which the railway companies do
not fail TO lay stress when, after some
outrage IN train, the companies are
pressed by the board Of trade to make
the use Of corridor cars more general
The corridor trains are principally IN
use between London and Scotland. On
scores of the long distance runs in Eng
land all the carriages are still of the
old fashioned kind.
Another fact concerning the corridor
trains is typical Of the English char
acter. Newsboys are not carried on
them. The English railway newsboy is
still kept solely to the platforms at the
railway stations. And he is likely TO be
kept there, for English people would
vote 1t a nuisance too great to be borne
TO be pestered to buy books and confec-
tiouery they do not want. The uewsboy
who travels with the train has few
friends among Englishmen who have
been in America. People grumble ST
the prices charged by the monopolists
who control all the railway news and
bookstalls in this country. But it is
often put to the credit Of the monopo-
lists that their newsboys are always at
hand, but never make themselves a
nuisance, nor worry passengers who do
not want the books they are vending.
One of the newest innovations from
America in the English railway service
concerns mileage books. These are now
III use on the Northeastern railway.
They are being tried in a tentative
fashion, and so far are issued only 10
first class travellers. The reductions in
fare are quite considerable, and the con
ditions prescribed by the company axe
easy. If the experiment works satisfac-
torily, 1t viii soon be extended &c third
class passengers on the Northeastern,
ard, once we'll established on one large
trunk line, the system viii soon become
general. Letter.
Tine Waltz In Africa
The dancers seen at kambuidi's were
Bisa and LUangeni. There were four
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