Evening journal., 1896-10-12
ENGLISH RAILWAYS.
They ARE SLOW TO ADOPT IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE SERVICE.

Lhort Is Made by the Managers to Pop
ularize Them.
Two factors in English holiday travel
arc obvious from these great piles Of
passengers baggage. One is that there
is no check system on the railways, and
the other that if it cost as much to hire
a cab in Liverpool or Manchester as. in
New York there would soon be a dimi-
mutton in the 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 a
trunk which it takes two men to lift,
but tho 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 so long as the railway companies
will accept without demur 10 OF 10
small trunks, hampers. bundles aud
other miscellaneous packages as the
baggage entitled TO go with one set Of
railway tickets, and so long as an Eng
lish cab driver will pile all this stuff
on tho top or box scat Of his cab and
carry it and the family attached TO it.
from thoir home to the railway station
for half a crown.
Every now and again an Englishm an
who has heen in America writes to The
Times concerning the advantages Of the
check system as it is worked on the
American railways, but all these letters
70 unheeded. English railway managers
have a dread of Innovations, especially
if the innovation comes from America,
and the English people, who are accus-
toned to the scramble for baggage at
the railway stations, are quite satisfied
with the existing system, or rather lack
Of system On tho whole, they save
f. little money by it. English railway
companies allow a third class passenger
SO pounds of personal baggage, and a
first class passenger double that amount.
Any excess is supposed to be paid for,
but a tip OF threepence to a porter will
usually see the whole travelling impedi-
ments Of a family carried straight from
the cab to the train and insure that no
questions IS 10 weight are asked. 1t is
usually the lack of tip or a hostile
hint from a cabman who is not satisfied
with his fare that leads to q call at the
weighing machine Oh the way from the
cab TO the baggage van. Under the ex-
isting system English people have al
ways to watch over their own baggage
at every change, and sometimes to
scramble and struggle for it at the end
Of the Journey, and TO tumble over other
peoples baggage as they fight their way
| into a crowded train. But then, as
| have shown, IL is a system under which
the passenger can nearly always get the
best Of the railway company in the mat
ter Of excess of baggage, and nobody
gives any heed to the frequent sugges-
tions that tie American system Of checks
should bo adopted.
In one 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
I
They have not boldly adopted the Amer
ican car. The pattern CT car row being
/ brought into use is a compromise be-
tween the American car and the Eng
lish compartment carriage. The COM
partment is retained, but each compart-
ment is connected with q corridor which
runs not down the middle, but along
one side Of the car. This has given the
name Of corridor train to the train made
up Of carriages built after this fashion.
On some Of the trains all the car
riages arc connected with vestibules
like those ON American railways. On
other trains there are two or three cor
ridor cars, while tho 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 dc
not fail to lay stress when, after some
outrage in train, the companies arc
pressed by the board of trade to make
the use OF corridor cars more general.
The corridor trains arc principally in
use between London and Scotland. On
scores Of tho 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 it q nuisance too great to be borne
to be pestered to buy books and confcc.
tioneIy they do not want The uewsboy
who travels with the train has few
friends among Englishmen who have
been in America. People grumble al
the prices charged by the monopolist:
who control all the railway news anC
bookstalls in this country. But it il
often put 20 the credit Of the monopo
! lists that their newsboys are always al
hand but never make themselves Q
nuisance, nor worry passengers who dc
not want the books they are vending.
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