Rock Island Argus., 1896-10-16
ENGLISH RAILWAYS.
THEY ARE SLOW TO ADOPT IMPROVE
IENTS ~ TIE SERVICE.

at is"ii Hearted W N:'. aud Nrr. Little
Effort Is Made iy the Managers to Pop
uiarize Them.
Two factors i'll English holiday travel
are obvious from these great piles of
passengers baggage. One is that there
Is no check system Oh the railways, and
the other that if it cost as much to hire
a cab III Liverpool or Manchester n in
New York there would sccr be tiimi-
mutton i'll the number IF packages, if not
IN the weight of the baggage, which
English families take with them OH
their holiday travels. Few big Saratoga
trunks are To he seen On the platform a,
Creve Here and there may be seen a
trunk which it takes two men To lift,
but the address On it will almost GER
tainly show it to belong to an American
visitor. English people will not take
the trouble TO pack all their belongings
into one or two large sized trunks.
Neither is there any need why they
| should Sc long as the railway companies
Will accept without demur IL or Is
small trunks, hampers, bundles aud
other miscellaneous packages as the
baggage entitled to go with enc set Of
| railway tickets, ard so long as an Eng
| iish cab driver y,iil lsile all this stuff
on the top or Gcx seat Of his cab and
carry it and tie family attached to it
| from their Eci-c To the railway station
for half crown.
Every now and again an Englishman
| who has bcer IL America writes TO TIE
Times concerning the advantages of the
| check systCI4. Is il is worked on the
American railways, bGt all these letters
| go unheedCG. English Railway managers
have dread q innovations, especially
| If the innovation comes from America,
and the English people, VINO are accus-
toned TO the scramble for baggage ut
the railway stations, are quite satisfied
with the existing system, or rather lack
of system. On the whole, they save "A
little money by 1T. English railway
companies allow q third class pasSt nger
90 pounds of Personal baggage, and "a
first class passenger double that amount.
Any excess is supposed to be paid for,
but n tip CT thrgcpencc to porter VIII
usually see the Whole travelling iinpedi-
ments Ct 4 family carried straight from
the cab to tho train and iusIrc that no
questions Is to weight are asked. It is
usually Tie laC!, Of u tip CT hostile
hint from y cah1Can vino is Eot satisfied
with his fare that leads to "a call 1T the
weighing machine on the way from the
cab to the baggage van. Under the Cx-
isting system English people have al
ways to watch over their own baggage
at every change, and sometimes &c
scramble and struggle for il at the end
of the Journey, and 10 tu:nbic over Other
peoples baggage as they fight their WY
into Il crowded train. But then, IS
have shown, 1t is a system under which
the passenger can nearly always get the
best Of the railway company in the mat.
; ter Cf excess Of baggage. and nobody
gives any heed to the frequent suSgcs
tions that the American system of checks
should he adopted.
In one or two directions tho English
companies are now following the exam
pie Of the American railway companies.
After years OF urging from the board oi
trade and the government department
which has the oversight of railway,
several of the lines are gradually intro
ducing long cars for long distance travel
They have not boldly adopted the Amer
ican car. The pattern of car now being
brought into use is a compromise be
tween the American car and the Eng
lish Compar tment carriage. The com
partment Is retained, but each compart
ment is connected with a corridor whic!
runs not down the middle, bat aloDs
one side of the car. This has given til,
name of corridor train to tie train mad,
up of carriages bull { after this fashion
On some of the trains ali the car
riaSes are connected with yCs:ibule
like those on American railways. Oh
other trains there are two or three ccr
D ridor cars, while the rest of the carriaye,
are OF the old fashioned style. Ii il
characteristic of the English people tha
! there is seldom any scramble for place
I in the new cars. People seem to lik,
{ the old compartments better, "a fac
> upon which the railway companies d,
not fail to lay stress when, after som,
; outrage i'll u train, the companies ar,
. pressed by the board of trade to max,
the use Of corridor cars more general
Il The corridor trains are principally il
USE CctWIeu LUflt.Cii anu SCCi4dllu. VI
scores of the long distance runs in Eng
land all the carriages are still Of TN
e old fashioned kind.
! Another fact concerning the corrido
l trains is typical of the English char
acter. Newsboys are not carried ol
them. The English railway newsboy i
> still kept solely to the platforms at TN
a railway stations. f.ud ne is likely to b
> kept there, for English people woul,
vote 1t n nuisance too great TO be born
. 10 be pes,ered to buy books and confec
tioDery they do not want. The newsbo'
who travels with the train has fey
7 friends among Englishmen who hav
:, been in America. People grumble a
= the prices charged by the moncpolist
who control all the railway news an,
bookstalls III this country. But it j
often PIT TO the credit Of the monopc
lists that their newsboys are always q
hand, but never make themselves
nuisance, Eor worry passengers vino
y, not want the books they are vending.
One of the newest innovations fror
/. America in the English railway servic