CHANGED IDEAS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1931, Page 6

CHANGED IDEAS

GROWTH OF SPEED

JIOW TRAINS WERE FEARED

"FLYING-" COACHES

Twenty years ago a speed of more jfe'han 100 milos an hour by any mcchan-fc-.al means, by which human beings could (Travel seemed unattainable; 'but rcfcently' the.torrifi.e speed of 340 miles an Jiour was reached by Flight Lieutenant Boothman in au aeroplane flown over the course for tho Schneider Cup; and ■f.his record was broken a few hours later by Flight Lioutenaut Stainforth, who flew at the rato of 40-i. miles an hour over a course of three kilometres, says tho Mdlbourno "Age." It will be some years before passenger aeroplanes travel at such-a rate, which would cuablo Australians to . reach London in a littl« more than- 24 hours of continuous flying; but speeds of over 100 miles an hour are scheduled on most of tho aerial routes over European countries. In contrasting the present conditione of life with conditions that existed a hundred years ago, few things are more striking than the difference in tho attitude to speed. A hundred years ago a speed-of twenty miles an hour by train ■waa; regarded'by the general public as dangerous, and people who travelled by train Were regarded as risking- their lives* •■-..: The.first railway line in England, 'constructed with Parliamentary authority to carry passengers, was between Stockton and Darlington, in Durham, a distance of twelve miles, and it was formally Opened with much ceremony on 27th September, 1825. The first train consisted of 36-.vehicles, including 12 Wagons loaded with coal, and though the journey of 12 miles occupied three hours seven minutes, owing to frequent stops at roadside stations to celebrate the occasion, a speed of 12 miles an hoW was attained over short distances, and over'" one particularly favourable stretch of line the speed mounted up to 35 miles an hour. Thfee~'Kunb7re(l tickets' had "been isJtued to shareholders Of the company ■which constructed the line, but the general public rushed the coaches (the first-class- carriages were constructed like stage coaches and tho second-class •were open trucks) before the train moved off, and hung on to the steps of the coaches, while others secured accommodation for themselves on tho loaded coal wagons. It is stated that the train carried nearly 600 passengers, and that the total load behind tho engine was over 90 ftons. ' There wore no signals, bnt a man rode in front of tho engine on horseback, to see that tho line waa clear. Thousands of people assembled in the fields along the route to watch tho train go by. When the end of the journey waa approached the train was met by hundreds of people in carriages, gigs, and carts, _ and other vehicles,,who accompanied it to Stockton. '"'■ THE COACH PASSES. MAt one time the passengers by the Engine,V- states! a contemporary account of "the journey, which was published in the.<iScotsman,"."had the pleasure of accompanying and cheoring their brother .passengers .by the stage coach, •which passed alongsido, and observing tho striking contrast exhibited by the powers of tho cngino and the horse— the engine with her 600 passengers and load, and'tne coach with four horses and only 16- passengers." In a leading article, the/Scotsman" said: "The •whole train of 36 vehicles must have occupied a:]ine not. much less than .400 feet in length—that is, as long as tho east side of the Southbridge from Cowgate areii' to High street. Think of 600 persons,.besides 12 loaded coal wagons moved by, one engine, and that too with such rapidity! Had the twelve loaded coal wagons been removed, the tram' of carriages shortened from 400 feetto 100, it is obvious that tho velocity ■would have been greatly increased. Perhaps thf! average velocity might have been raised to' 15 miles an hour, and the velocity at the most favourable parts of the "road to 20 miles." But the enthusiasm for the new method of travel was limited to a comparatively'small section of the public; and the construction of new lines met with considerable opposition from vested interests—from the canal companies, the stage coach companies, the turnpike trusts, tho innkeepers, and others. The idea of people being able to travel at 20 miles an hour was ridiculed; and most of those "who admitted that such a speed was possible insistod that it would be extromely dangerous. It was prophesied that such a speed against a lead wind would cither extinguish tho fire.in the engine or make it burn so furiously that the "boiler ■would burst. The horrors of an accident in a tunnel wero portrayed in the mossfc lurid terms. Doctors declared that the noise of the roaring wheels would permanently deafen passongora, and that the dust and ashes from the engino would mm their eyesight. All sorts_ of absurd reasons were put ..forward in order to place ..obstacles. In.tho way of construction &£. .railway.Jin.es... .The.local authorities at Northampton refused to allow" lino "jpondon-Bffniingham lino to approach, l TOtMn tJ &..cgnsiderable distance of the town, on the ground that'the' smoko from'thd I. engines would spoil the wooLrof the slieop grazing in the neighbouring, fluids. .' ■" , ■ ■ ■MANY ACCIDENTS; Accidents'.' were' numerous in tho fearly days of railway travelling in England, most of them being due to landslips in tho puttings. Those accidents naturally intensified the determination of timid people tp s^iek to the stage coach when they had to travel. Tt was not-until 1842 that -Queen Victoria overcame: her/reluctance to travel by train, although iher husband, , the' Prince Consort* and her- mothcrj tho Duchess of Kent, were comparatively early concerts, to tho new method of transport.' ■'' '■• '■ On 13taiTune, 1542, Queen Victoria jna.de her"-first railway jduruey from Slough (near Windsor) to Paddington (London), a distanco of only 18 milos. On her safe arrival at Paddington she 'expressed herself quite-charmed with tho journey, bnt many.of her subjects thought that in the interests of the State the Queen ought not to risk travelling by train. Tho "Atlas" newspaper declared in the coutsb of a leading articlo: '/.We.are ;awaro that overy precaution is takon by the directors and manager of the' Great Western "Railway ■when Her Majesty makes use of a Hpecial train, and wo arc not less acquainted with the courage- and absence of all fear from the mind of > the Queon. But a long regency in this country would bo so fearful and trcrnendous an evil that we cannot but desire, in common with many others, that theso Royal excursions should be, if possible, either wholly abandoned or only occasionally resorted to."

The stage coaches were used by timid travellers long after railways were constructed along the routes served by tho coaches. Mr. Cecil Torr, the author of "Small Talk at Wreylaud," gives some interesting notes about travelling in those days before tho coaches had been driven off tho xcads;.hy the railways. "My grandfather writes-on 27th April, 1845, thafcClaptain ——- has just roturncd from Lpnd.on, By some, misnndcrstanding ho was driven to tho wrong station therf?i fijouth Western, not Groat Western.; -and .'at^ that date tho . South Wostern inn only to Gosport. and Southampton* Ifc being dark, he did

not notice this, and got into the train and started off, find then they told him that, lie must lake another train and cross over to the C4rcut Western; but. ho said, 'Tho devil tako the train; I'3l havo no more to do with it, but coach it.' . So he eoachod it all the way homo, and did not arrive-until Monday instoad of Saturday. MENACE OP TUNNELS. "A cousin writes to my father from Brighton 2Sth April, 1812: 'I was very glad to find from your note that you reached homo safely, having escaped all tho dangers of the railroad with its fearful tunnels. I think of returning to London by the good old stage conch, slow though it be; it. is better to lose time than to run the risk of being crushed to pieces in those dark tunnels, where you havo not even a chance of saving yourself by jumping out." "My grandfather," continues Mr. Torr, ''did not travel in a. train until sth December, 1546, and then he writes: 'I ha,"1, not much inclination to go in it after reading of so many collisions and accidents, but now I think 1 could form a resolution to go anywhere in it; but I shall not do so unices it is for special purposes ... I admit there is danger in all conveyances, but this, I think, with proper caution, is by far the safest and I shall;in "future (if over I travel again) tako about tho middle carriage, for I see the hinder carriages arc liable tt bo run into—therefore the danger is almost equal to that of the front, except the bursting of tho engine." In a letter of 13th February, 1852, he warns niy father of another danger. 'I do hope you will leave tho train at Exeter., when you .come down,: and npt risk going on to Newton. Tho post is now arrived near 3 o'clock; another landslip just as the mail train came up. This has boen tho fifth slip.' And really tho dangers were considerable then. Theso were reduced as years went on, but lie never got quite reconciled to trains. Thero was an old. gentleman hear here— (Wreyland, Devon) —who was a reckless rider and met with many accidents - out hunting yet could not bring himself to face tho dangers of the railway. ■At last—in 1851, I think—he had to go to London on some urgent business, and then, to use his own .words, he committed his soul to its Creator and. took a ticket by the train." PLYING COACHES. In the days of the stage coach, in England there was keen competition, in speed, between, rivals, and those, coaches which accomplished a journey of fifty miles a day at an average speed of four miles' an. hour, including stops, were called " flying coaohes" as a tribute to their speed. Miss' Joan Parks, in her book, ''Travel in England in the Seventeenth Century,?' writes as follows concerning stage coaches: "By 1673 almost every town within a radius of twenty-ar, twenty-five miles of London had a; service of one or more coaches running either daily or twice Weekly to town. The rates of both long and short journeys ranged.between 2d and 3d a mile, a slightly increased charge being not\ unusual during the winter season. .The-'longer ' distances were for the'most part established by carriers and innkeepers, and less often by coach, and- harness makers. To the carrier it was, of course, a natural extension jbf business; to the innkeeper it was a means of bringing custom to his house. There'being many more inns on the main roads than were necessary for the purpose of the stage coach, an innkeeper had consequently to setup as-a stager himself or to induce stagers to patronise his inn by granting them special terms fpr provender.- The result appears to have been fierce rivalry between innkeepers on some of the more popular routes and a speeding up of time-tables between London and certain of the more important towns, such as. Oxford and Bath. But, as -always happens where.a trade boom rests on no solid' foundation of great economic demand, the competition lator subsided. When de Laune issued tho 1690 edition of his guide'to, London barely a, score of towns had duplicate services, and no more, than five—Oxford, Bath, Guild-, ford, Windsor, and Newbury—had any number exceeding, this. Nor waa tho pace of these' new-running vehicles any great advance- upon previous rates, 'flying coaches, 5 though they were. How changed, is", our-point of viewl "Fifty miles they, coyerod, sometimes more and sometimes less, in a.day of twelve or thirteen'.hours,-the stage coach which accomplished the greatest^ distance appears to have been the ampton coach, which presumably was accustomed to travel sixty-five, milea in a day oh one stage of its journey; at least, it achieved this feat in 1674, and in 1682, when Sir William Dugdale travelled by it. Five, six, and seven o'clock in the morning were the normal hours of departure..As a consequence, it was no unusual-thing for passengers to stay the night at tho inn where the coach would start the. next day."