Arizona republican., 1899-05-04

parliamentary sanction to the proposed line from London to Birmingham was refused in 1881 and 1882, but granted in 1883. This line was completed five years later, and formed the nucleus from which grew the mighty London and Northwestern Railway company of today. But gradually the iron roa proved itself an absolute necessity to the development of the country.
 Still. extension was slow, for. at the end Of 1S41 there was but 1650 miles of rail constructed. and only 1S0 miles
 additional were laid down in the next ten years All save one-tentn Of this mileage was in England and alto- eether G6O,00 ,000 had been spent on
 British railways. Today the mileage is over 20,000 and the capital invested considerably over 3S00,000,00O. It was during 'tllc foTtios, however, that
 the opponents of railways were com pe1ed to admit that the new facility of
 transport had come to stay. In 1S43, f1ourishing coach towns were rapidly
 losing their business. The month of
 May of that, year saw only eleven
 coaches leaving LondCn daily, where
 as, before the advent of the iron horse.
 eighty used to take their daily depart
 ure from the general postofiice alone.
 But it must not be thought that the growing popularity Of the railway was
 ill any way due either to the speed or
 comfort of this new means of locomo-
 tion. In 1843 the average speed ob-
 tained on all the passenger lines was
 tWenty-One and half miles per hour,
 and that exclusive of stoppages. But
 even this speed was too much for
 many. The queen did not travel by
 rail until June, 1S42, and the prince
 consort, who made his first railway
 journey some time before. remarked,
 as he descended from the coach: Not
 quite so fast next time, MT. Conductor.
 please"
 The engines were fire vomiting, lum-
 tering creations of che steam roller
 pattern, and, although they ran slowly.
 were good weight movers. This they
 had to be, for trains were few and far
 between, and the departure of a train
 from a station was, even when duly
 advertised, always contingent to a sort
 of D. V. and w. P clause, and eonse-
 quently, loads were very heavy Pas ssnger's luggage was carried on the
 roof. covered with tar sheets, and each
 train boasted two guards, who sat ouI-
 side, one in the front of the train and
 one at the rear. Old sailors were in
 great demand for these berths-we presume because they could keep their
 precarious seats and better lash the luggage than the average landsman. Ii. throws an interesting sidelight on past
 methods to note that a leading news paper recommended in the fcrties that these guards should ba provided with SPectac-es so as to protect their eyes rom tEe ash, etc, elected from the
 tunnel. We have already remarke,
 that the trains lWere not tied to time. as now. The main reason for this ir- frequency and irregularity of the train service was the inadequacy of sig naIllng methods The drivers did nof exactly find their way by the sun, but certainly the plan adopted was an ex- cesdlngly primitive one, being that ot stationing men with flags and lanterns and good voices at frequent distances along the route. As q result of this Imperfect signalling arrangement it was impossible to run freuuent trains with the result that passengers accu- mulated to such an extent that on one occasion train from London to Taun- ton carried 2,115 passengers. while a tTain-the last for the night-once left manchester with 5000 passengers aDoard, some being on the roof and others clfnging to the sides of the car rlages like flies round a jam pot
 But, perhaps the most marked fea- ture dlHerentiating between thec and now IS the catering for the third-class passenger. The contrast between the accommodation then pro .iued for ths
 poorer classes, as the third-clas- travellers were then dubbed. is as pro- uouhced as any contrast can be- They were, ln the fo1ies, carried like cattle Tn trucks, box with no cover fSx71l ieet' oelng deemed sufficient to hold, at least, seventy passengers. The sides of ths box were three feet high and 2 distinct advance was made when q rail six inches high was placed on tbis Frequen'tly when the engine trave,ed tender first the chilled thirds woulf warm their hands on the engine finn neL But then even the seconds com plalned of the chills and draughts and dirt caused by the spaces in the floor 1 Ing of their compartments. while a company Which provided seated trucks TOT thelr thirds announced a fourth clasS Tn Which no seats were provided especially were the railway companies jealous Of respectfully dressed Dassen- gers travelling third-class, and. to pre- vent them, it is stated that one concern kept sweeps whose business it was. by i means of the contents of their soot | DaSs, to compel these ''defrauders of lhe company to travel a class higher Other lines employed pigs and sheen Tor the same purpose, driving them in to the same compartments as the pas 5engers.-British Consular Report.