Railway Adventures and Anecdotes Part 4

_Entre nous_, at the door I met my love, and after a good cry (I don't know which was the greatest fool!) set to work. The poor fellow was glad to see me, and never shall I forget the scene, his poor wife holding his head, and the great men weeping, for they all wept! He then received the Sacrament, added some codocils to his will, and seemed perfectly resigned. But his agonies were dreadful! Ransome says they must have been so. He expired at nine. We never left him till he breathed his last. Poor woman! How she lamented his loss; yet her struggles to bear with fort.i.tude are wonderful. I wish you could have heard him exclaim, after my pet.i.tion 'Forgive us our trespa.s.ses as we forgive . . . ' 'I have not the smallest ill-will to any one person in the whole world.'

They stay here until Sat.u.r.day, when they begin the sad journey to convey him to Suss.e.x. They wanted to bury him at Liverpool, but she refused. I forgot to tell you that he told Lawrence before starting that he _wished he were safe back_."

Mr. Huskisson was not buried at Chichester, for at last Mrs. Huskisson consented to the popular wish that his body might have a public funeral at Liverpool, where a statue of him by Gibson now stands in the cemetery."

ELEVATED SIGHT-SEERS WIs.h.i.+NG TO DESCEND.

Sir J. A. Picton, in his _Memorials of Liverpool_, relates an amusing incident connected with the opening of the railway at that town. "On the opening of the railway," he remarks, "of course, every point and 'coin of vantage' from whence the procession could be best seen was eagerly availed of. A tolerably high chimney had recently been built upon the railway ground, affording a sufficient platform on the scaffolding at the top for the accommodation of two or three persons. Two gentlemen connected with the engineer's department took advantage of this crowning eminence to obtain a really 'bird's eye view' of the whole proceedings.

They were wound up by the tackle used in hoisting the bricks, and enjoyed the perspective from their airy height to their hearts' content. When all was over they, of course, wished to descend, and gave the signal to be let down again, but alas! there was no response. The man in charge, excited by the events of the day, confused by the sorrowful news by which it was closed, and, it may be, oblivious from other causes, had utterly forgotten his engagement and gone home. Here was a prospect! The shades of evening were gathering, the mult.i.tudes departing, and every probability of being obliged to act the part of St. Simeon of Stylites very involuntarily. Despair added force and strength to their lungs, and at length-their condition and difficulty having attracted attention-they were relieved from their unpleasant predicament."

THE DUKE'S CARRIAGE.

A correspondent of the _Athenaeum_, in 1830, speaking of the carriage prepared for the Duke of Wellington at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, remarks: "It rather resembled an eastern pavilion than anything our northern idea considers a carriage. The floor is 32 feet long by 8 wide, gilt pillars support a crimson canopy 24 feet long, and it might for magnitude be likened to the car of Juggernaut; yet this huge machine, with the preceding steam engine, moved along at its own fiery will even more swimmingly, a 'thing of heart and mind,' than a s.h.i.+p on the ocean."

LORD BROUGHAM'S SPEECH.

At a dinner given at Liverpool in celebration of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Lord Brougham thus discourses upon the memorable event and the death of Mr. Huskisson:-"When I saw the difficulties of s.p.a.ce, as it were, overcome; when I beheld a kind of miracle exhibited before my astonished eyes; when I saw the rocks excavated and the gigantic power of man penetrating through miles of the solid ma.s.s, and gaining a great, a lasting, an almost perennial conquest over the powers of nature by his skill and industry; when I contemplated all this, was it possible for me to avoid the reflections which crowded into my mind, not in praise of man's great success, not in admiration of the genius and perseverance he had displayed, or even of the courage he had shown in setting himself against the obstacles that matter afforded to his course-no! but the melancholy reflection that these prodigious efforts of the human race, so fruitful of praise but so much more fruitful of lasting blessing to mankind, have forced a tear from my eye by that unhappy casualty which deprived me of a friend and you of a representative!"

AN EARLY RIDE ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.

No account of its first beginnings would, however, be complete for our time, which did not also give an idea of the impressions produced on one travelling over it before yet the novelty of the thing had quite worn away. It was a long time, comparatively, after September, 1830, before the men who had made a trip over the railroad ceased to be objects of deep curiosity. Here is the account of his experience by one of these far-travelled men, with all its freshness still lingering about it:-

"Although the whole pa.s.sage between Liverpool and Manchester is a series of enchantments, surpa.s.sing any in the Arabian Nights, because they are realities, not fictions, yet there are epochs in the transit which are peculiarly exciting. These are the startings, the ascents, the descents, the tunnels, the Chat Moss, the meetings. At the instant of starting, or rather before, the automaton belches forth an explosion of steam, and seems for a second or two quiescent. But quickly the explosions are reiterated, with shorter and shorter intervals, till they become too rapid to be counted, though still distinct. These belchings or explosions more nearly resemble the pantings of a lion or tiger, than any sound that has ever vibrated on my ear. During the ascent they become slower and slower, till the automaton actually labours like an animal out of breath, from the tremendous efforts to gain the highest point of elevation. The progression is proportionate; and before the said point is gained, the train is not moving faster than a horse can pace. With the slow motion of the mighty and animated machine, the breathing becomes more laborious, the growl more distinct, till at length the animal appears exhausted and groans like the tiger, when overpowered in combat by the buffalo.

"The moment that the height is reached and the descent commences, the pantings rapidly increase; the engine with its train starts off with augmenting velocity; and in a few seconds it is flying down the declivity like lightning, and with a uniform growl or roar, like a continuous discharge of distant artillery.

"At this period, the whole train is going at the rate of thirty-five or forty miles an hour! I was on the outside, and in front of the first carriage, just over the engine. The scene was magnificent, I had almost said terrific. Although it was a dead calm the wind appeared to be blowing a hurricane, such was the velocity with which we darted through the air. Yet all was steady; and there was something in the precision of the machinery that inspired a degree of confidence over fear-of safety over danger. A man may travel from the Pole to the Equator, from the Straits of Malacca to the Isthmus of Darien, and he will see nothing so astonis.h.i.+ng as this. The pangs of Etna and Vesuvius excite feelings of horror as well as of terror; the convulsion of the elements during a thunderstorm carries with it nothing but pride, much less of pleasure, to counteract the awe inspired by the fearful workings of perturbed nature; but the scene which is here presented, and which I cannot adequately describe, engenders a proud consciousness of superiority in human ingenuity, more intense and convincing than any effort or product of the poet, the painter, the philosopher, or the divine. The projections or transits of the train through the tunnels or arches are very electrifying. The deafening peal of thunder, the sudden immersion in gloom, and the clash of reverberated sounds in confined s.p.a.ce combine to produce a momentary shudder or idea of destruction-a thrill of annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on emerging into the cheerful light.

"The meetings or crossings of the steam trains flying in opposite directions are scarcely less agitating to the nerves than their transits through the tunnels. The velocity of their course, the propinquity or apparent ident.i.ty of the iron orbits along which these meteors move, call forth the involuntary but fearful thought of a possible collision, with all its horrible consequences. The period of suspense, however, though exquisitely painful, is but momentary; and in a few seconds the object of terror is far out of sight behind.

"Nor is the rapid pa.s.sage across Chat Moss unworthy of notice. The ingenuity with which two narrow rods of iron are made to bear whole trains of wagons, laden with many hundred tons of commerce, and bounding across a wide, semi-fluid mora.s.s, previously impa.s.sable by man or beast, is beyond all praise and deserving of eternal record. Only conceive a slender bridge of two minute iron rails, several miles in length, level as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firm as adamant! Along this splendid triumph of human genius-this veritable _via triumphalis_-the train of carriages bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer; the vibrations of the resilient moss causing the ponderous engine and its enormous suite to glide along the surface of an extensive quagmire as safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of a frozen lake.

"The first cla.s.s or train is the most fas.h.i.+onable, but the second or third are the most amusing. I travelled one day from Liverpool to Manchester in the lumber train. Many of the carriages were occupied by the swinish mult.i.tude, and others by a mult.i.tude of swine. These last were naturally vociferous if not eloquent. It is evident that the other pa.s.sengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of this last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an officer somewhat a.n.a.logous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but whose designation on the railroad I found to be 'Comptroller of the Gammon.' No sooner did one of the long-faced gentlemen raise his note too high, or wag his jaw too long, than the 'Comptroller of the Gammon' gave him a whack over the snout with the b.u.t.t end of his s.h.i.+llelagh; a snubber which never failed to stop his oratory for the remainder of the journey."

To one familiar with the history of railroad legislation the last paragraph is peculiarly significant. For years after the railroad system was inaugurated, and until legislation was invoked to compel something better, the companies persisted in carrying pa.s.sengers of the third cla.s.s in uncovered carriages, exposed to all weather, and with no more decencies or comforts than were accorded to swine.

EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING.

A writer in _Notes and Queries_ remarks:-"On looking over a diary kept by my father during two journeys northward in 183031, I thought the readers might be amused with his account of what he saw of railway travelling, then in its infancy:-

"Monday, Oct. 11, 1830, Darlington.-Walked to the railroad, which comes within half-a-mile of the town. Saw a steam engine drawing about twenty-five wagons, each containing about two tons and a half of coals.

A single horse draws four such wagons. I went to Stockton at four o'clock by coach on the railroad; one horse draws about twenty-four pa.s.sengers. I did not like it at all, for the road is very ugly in appearance, and, being only one line with occasional turns for pa.s.sing, we were sometimes obliged to wait, and at other times to be drawn back, so that we were full two hours going eleven miles, and they are often more than three hours. There is no other conveyance, as the cheapness has driven the stage-coaches off the road. I only paid 1s. for eleven miles. The motion was very unpleasant-a continual jolting and disagreeable noise."

On Sept. 1, 1831, he remarks:-"The railroad to Stockton has been improved since I was here, as they are now laying down a second line."

"Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1830.-Left Manchester at ten o'clock by the railroad for Liverpool. We enter upon it by a staircase through the office from the street at present, but there will, I suppose, be an open entrance, by-and-bye; they have built extensive warehouses adjoining. We were two hours and a half going to Liverpool (about thirty-two miles), and I must think the advantages have been a good deal overrated, for, prejudice apart, I think most people will allow that expedition is the only real advantage gained; the road itself is ugly, though curious and wonderful as a work of art. Near Liverpool it is cut very deeply through rock, and there is a long tunnel which leads into a yard where omnibusses wait to convey pa.s.sengers to the inns. The tunnel is too low for the engines at present in use, and the carriages are drawn through it by donkeys. The engines are calculated to draw fifty tons. . . I cannot say that I at all liked it; the speed was too great to be pleasant, and makes you rather giddy, and certainly it is not smoother and easier than a good turnpike road. When the carriages stop or go on, a very violent jolting takes place, from the ends of the carriages jostling together. I have heard many say they prefer a horse-coach, but the majority are in favour of the railroad, and they will, no doubt, knock up the coaches."

"Monday, Sept. 12, 1831.-Left Manchester by coach at ten o'clock, and arrived in Liverpool at half-past two. . . The railroad is not supposed to answer vastly well, but they are making a branch to Warrington, which will hurt the Sankey Navigation, and throw 1,500 men out of employment; these people are said to be loud in their execrations of it, and to threaten revenge. It is certain the proprietors do not all feel easy about it, as one living at Warrington has determined never to go by it, and was coming to Liverpool by our coach if there had been room. He would gladly sell his shares. A dividend of 4 per cent. had been paid for six months, but money had been borrowed. . . . Charge for tonnage of goods, 10s. for thirty-two miles, which appears very dear to me."

CRABB ROBINSON'S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY.

"June 9th, 1833.-(Liverpool). At twelve o'clock I got upon an omnibus, and was driven up a steep hill to the place where the steam carriages start. We travelled in the second cla.s.s of carriages. There were five carriages linked together, in each of which were placed open seats for the travellers, four or five facing each other; but not all were full; and, besides, there was a close carriage, and also a machine for luggage.

The fare was four s.h.i.+llings for the thirty-one miles. Everything went on so rapidly that I had scarcely the power of observation. The road begins at an excavation through a rock, and is to a certain extent insulated from the adjacent country. It is occasionally placed on bridges, and frequently intersected by ordinary roads. Not quite a perfect level is preserved. On setting off there is a slight jolt, arising from the chain catching each carriage, but, once in motion, we proceeded as smoothly as possible. For a minute or two the pace is gentle, and is constantly varying. The machine produces little smoke or steam. First in order is the tall chimney; then the boiler, a barrel-like vessel; then an oblong reservoir of water; then a vehicle for coals; and then comes, of a length infinitely extendible, the train of carriages. If all the seats had been filled, our train would have carried about 150 pa.s.sengers; but a gentleman a.s.sured me at Chester that he went with a thousand persons to Newton fair. There must have been two engines then. I have heard since that two thousand persons or more went to and from the fair that day.

But two thousand only, at three s.h.i.+llings each way, would have produced 600! But, after all, the expense is so great that it is considered uncertain whether the establishment will ultimately remunerate the proprietors. Yet I have heard that it already yields the shareholders a dividend of nine per cent. And Bills have pa.s.sed for making railroads between London and Birmingham, and Birmingham and Liverpool. What a change it will produce in the intercourse! One conveyance will take between 100 and 200 pa.s.sengers, and the journey will be made in a forenoon! Of the rapidity of the journey I had better experience on my return; but I may say now that, stoppages included, it may certainly be made at the rate of twenty miles an hour.

"I should have observed before that the most remarkable movements of the journey are those in which trains pa.s.s one another. The rapidity is such that there is no recognizing the features of a traveller. On several occasions, the noise of the pa.s.sing engine was like the whizzing of a rocket. Guards are stationed in the road, holding flags, to give notice to the drivers when to stop. Near Newton I noticed an inscription recording the memorable death of Huskisson."

-_Crabb Robinson's Diary_.

EARLY AMERICAN RAILWAY ENTERPRISE.

Mr. C. F. Adams, in his work on _Railroads_: _Their Origin and Problems_, remarks:-"There is, indeed, some reason for believing that the South Carolina Railroad was the first ever constructed in any country with a definite plan of operating it exclusively by locomotive steam power. But in America there was not-indeed, from the very circ.u.mstances of the case, there could not have been-any such dramatic occasions and surprises as those witnessed at Liverpool in 1829 and 1830. Nevertheless, the people of Charleston were pressing close on the heels of those at Liverpool, for on the 15th of January, 1831-exactly four months after the formal opening of the Manchester and Liverpool road-the first anniversary of the South Carolina Railroad was celebrated with due honor. A queer-looking machine, the outline of which was sufficient in itself to prove that the inventor owed nothing to Stephenson, had been constructed at the West Point Foundry Works in New York during the summer of 1830-a first attempt to supply that locomotive power which the Board had, with sublime confidence in possibilities, unanimously voted on the 14th of the preceding January should alone be used on the road. The name of _Best Friend_ was given to this very simple product of native genius. The idea of the mult.i.tubular boiler had not yet suggested itself in America. The _Best Friend_, therefore, was supplied with a common vertical boiler, 'in form of an old-fas.h.i.+oned porter-bottle, the furnace at the bottom surrounded with water, and all filled inside of what we call teats running out from the sides and tops.' By means of the projections or 'teats' a portion at least of the necessary heating surface was provided.

The cylinder was at the front of the platform, the rear end of which was occupied by the boiler, and it was fed by means of a connecting pipe.

Thanks to the indefatigable researches of an enthusiast on railroad construction, we have an account of the performances of this and all the other pioneers among American locomotives, and the pictures with which Mr. W. H. Brown has enriched his book would alone render it both curious and valuable. Prior to the stockholders' anniversary of January 15th, 1831, it seems that the _Best Friend_ had made several trips 'running at the rate of sixteen to twenty-one miles an hour, with forty or fifty pa.s.sengers in some four or five cars, and without the cars, thirty to thirty-five miles an hour.' The stockholders' day was, however, a special occasion, and the papers of the following Monday, for it happened on a Sat.u.r.day, gave the following account of it:-

"Notice having been previously given, inviting the stockholders, about one hundred and fifty a.s.sembled in the course of the morning at the company's buildings in Line Street, together with a number of invited guests. The weather the day and night previous had been stormy, and the morning was cold and cloudy. Antic.i.p.ating a postponement of the ceremonies, the locomotive engine had been taken to pieces for cleaning, but upon the a.s.sembling of the company she was put in order, the cylinders new packed and at the word the apparatus was ready for movement. The first trip was performed with two pleasure cars attached, and a small carriage, fitted for the occasion, upon which was a detachment of United States troops and a field-piece which had been politely granted by Major Belton for the occasion. . . The number of pa.s.sengers brought down, which was performed in two trips, was estimated at upward of two hundred. A band of music enlivened the scene, and great hilarity and good humour prevailed throughout the day."

It was not long, however, before the _Best Friend_ came to serious grief.

Naturally, and even necessarily, inasmuch as it was a South Carolina inst.i.tution, it was provided with a negro fireman. It so happened that this functionary while in the discharge of his duties was much annoyed by the escape of steam from the safety valve, and, not having made himself complete master of the principles underlying the use of steam as a source of power, he took advantage of a temporary absence of the engineer in charge to effect a radical remedy of this cause of annoyance. He not only fastened down the valve lever, but further made the thing perfectly sure by sitting upon it. The consequences were hardly less disastrous to the _Best Friend_ than to the chattel fireman. Neither were of much further practical use. Before this mishap chanced, however in June, 1831, a second locomotive, called the _West Point_, had arrived in Charleston, and this last was constructed on the principle of Stephenson's _Rocket_. In its general aspect, indeed, it greatly resembled that already famous prototype. There is a very characteristic and suggestive cut representing a trial trip made with this locomotive on March 5th, 1831. The nerves of the Charleston people had been a good deal disturbed and their confidence in steam as a safe motor shaken by the disaster which had befallen the _Best Friend_. Mindful of this fact, and very properly solicitous for the safety of their guests, the directors now had recourse to a very simple and ingenious expedient.

They put what they called a 'barrier car' between the locomotive and pa.s.senger coaches of the train. This barrier car consisted of a platform on wheels upon which were piled six bales of cotton. A fortification was thus provided between the pa.s.sengers and any future negro sitting on the safety valve. We are also a.s.sured that 'the safety valve being out of the reach of any person but the engineer, will contribute to the prevention of accidents in the future, such as befel the _Best Friend_.'

Judging by the cut which represents the train, this occasion must have been even more marked for its 'hilarity' than the earlier one which has already been described. Besides the locomotive and the barrier car there are four pa.s.senger coaches. In the first of these was a negro band, in general appearance very closely resembling the minstrels of a later day, the members of which are energetically performing on musical instruments of various familiar descriptions. Then follow three cars full of the saddest looking white pa.s.sengers, who were present as we were informed to the number of one hundred and seventeen. The excursion was, however, highly successful, and two-and-a-quarter miles of road were pa.s.sed over in the short s.p.a.ce of eight minutes-about the speed at which a good horse would trot for the same distance.