Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1897-06-17
ENGLISH RAILWAYS.

ENGLISH RAILWAYS.
THEY ARE SLOW TO ADOPT IMPROVE
MENTe IN THE SERVICE.
American Wrinkles Arc Adopted In q Sort
Of Half Hearted Way, and Very Little
Effort Is Made by the Managers to Pop
ularize Them.
Two factors In English holiday travel
are 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
q cab IN Liverpool or Manchester ~ In
New York there would soon be a dimi-
mutton In the number Of packages, II NOT
in the weight Of the baggage, which
English families take with them on
their holiday travels Few big Saratoga
trunks are to be seen on the platform at
Crewe. Here and there may be seen .
trunk which it takes two men TO lift
but the address on it will almost GER
tain1y 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 or 10
small trunks, hampers, bundles and
other miscellaneous packages as the
baggage entitled to so with -one set Of
railway tickets, and SO long as an Eng
fish cab driver will pile all this stuff
on the top on box seat of his cab and
carry 1t and the family attached to 1t
from their home to the railway station
Cor half crown.
Every now and again an Englishman
who has been In America writes to The
Times concerning the advantages of the
check system as 1t is worked on the
American railways, but all these letters
60 unheeded. English railway managers
have dread Of innovations, especially
II 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 the whole, they save a
little money by it. English railway
companies allow 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 tip Of threepence to 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 as to weight are asked. It Ia
usually the lack of a tip or hostile
hint from cabman who is not satisfied
with his fare that leads to call at the
weighing machine on the way from the
cab to the baggage van. Under the ex-
listing 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, it is 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
lions that the American system Of checks
should be 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 aud the government department
which has the oversight Of railways
several of tho lines are gradually intro
ducing long cars for long distance travel.
They have not bstdiy adopted the Amer
loan car. The pattern fosr now being
brought into use is coinpromise be-
tween the American car and the Eng
lish coBpar TRENT carriage. The COM
partnent is retained. but each oompart-
ment Is connected with 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 tho trains al the car
riages are connected with vestibules
like these On American railways On
other trains there are two or three cor
rider Cars, while tho rest Of the carriages
are Of the Cid 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
che old compartments batter, a fact
upon which the railway companies do
net fail to lay stress when, after some
outrage III y 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
uso 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. EeWs5oys are not carried on
them. TIE English railway newsboy Is
still kept scIaiy to the platforms at the
railway stations. And he is likely to be
kept there, fer English people would
vote tia nuisance too great to be borne
~ ti>f>tti'Nts W DCJ Got-l-o SSi1SS-
tione1y they do not want. The nowsboy
who travels with the train has few
friends among Englishircn who have
been in America People grumble at
the prices charged by the monopolists
who control ali the railway news and
bool1stails III this country. But it is
often put to the credis OF the nonopo-
hsts that their uewsboys arc always at
hand, but 5,evt@ make themselves a
nuisance4 nsx very passengers who do
not want tbs books they are vending
One Of the Hewest innovatici.s from
America in the English railway service
concerns mileage books. These are now
in use on the Northeastern railway.
They are being tried in tentative
fashion, and SO far arc issued only 10
first class travellers. The reductions il
fare are quite considerable, AID the cca
ditions prescribed by tie company are
easy If tbs experiment works saiisfac