John R. Raynes

“ The decade of the seventies had been an atrociously hard time for railwaymen. There had been many fatalities and accidents to men and boys in the service, and all were "wage slaves" in a real and grim sense. The system that brought vastly increased wealth to commerce, banks, mines, and all financial interests, was only a durance vile for the men who ran the system. ”

“ As to the speed of trains, I have mentioned 80 miles an hour being exceeded, and on several occasions 78 miles or more has been recorded. On certain favourable lengths of line, speeds of 70, 73 and 75 miles an hour are often made, but such speeds involve needless risk, and are to be deprecated. Europe's fastest trains have a sort of understood maximum of sixty miles an hour. Drivers need nerves of warriors to bear the strain of ever increasing power and weight whilst maintaining speed. There was keen zest about railway races in 1885 to 1888, when they came to an end. ”

“ Every hand was for itself against the great public, which has had to pay ever since. Companies fought each other, and made compacts with each other against a third. The Lancashire & Yorkshire, the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincoln, and the London & North Western, made an agreement in 1850 to keep the Midland out of Manchester. Vested interests fought each other for monopoly of towns and routes all over the country, in order to collect toll on traffic into those centres. ”

“ For example, in 1853 the Bristol & Exeter Railway had some broad gauge tank-engines with wheels of nine feet diameter, which ran at eighty miles an hour. But the battle went in favour of the 4 feet 81⁄2 inch gauge, and the Caledonian and the Great Northern each designed their fastest engines to suit that gauge. Train speed was a great cult seventy years ago, and by 1854 speeds were attained which were unbeaten in the great speed races to the North which were such a feature of competition in the '80's. ”

“ A railway mania had seized those with money to spare, and quite a fevered gambling took place. In one year, 1846, 272 Acts were passed for new lines. At that time there were several Midland Companies—the Midland Counties, the North Midland, the West Midland—all later absorbed in the Midland. There were two North Westerns—the London & North Western and the "Little" North Western. The competition for towns and routes was of a bitter and remorseless character, and contract work was rushed. ”

“ M. Kirtley, the Midland Railway led the way in 1852 with what was then a very large class of express engine, with driving wheels of 6 feet 6 inches, and cylinders 16 by 22 inches. Six were constructed by Messrs. R. Stephenson & Ca., having no flanges on the driving wheels. In 1864 twenty engines of still greater power and size were built, having a working steam pressure of 140 lbs. Greater power and greater economy in fuel and running costs were aimed at all through the chapter of progress, until the twentieth century express engine represents the acme of steam engines. ”

“ So did thousands of country squires, and they got it by keen resistance to tracks being laid through their land. They rocked the new companies for enormous prices for the requisite strip of land, and took toll for damages for disturbance, for noise, for nerve and shock if these monsters came thundering by, and for every sort of pretext. ”

“ The canal companies were therefore remorseless opponents of the swifter iron roads. Capitalist interests fought each other, and an investing public was scrambling to get money on all sorts of wild railway enterprises. ”

“ Changes during the last ten years have been minute compared to the strides of 1840 to 1850, and anything at all comparable could only come by a change to some other motive power. There is considerable difference of design in the engines on the various fines, and there are many types of engines on the same system all constructed to serve particular needs and purposes. ”

“ It was in 1835 that George Stephenson and his secretary set out in a stage coach from Derby to drive to Leeds, to find the best route for a railway line. He spent a long time over that rugged journey of 72 miles, walking into the fields, examining geological formations, and finding alternative routes. ”

“ William F. Cooke, and established in 1865, made a greatly needed improvement in railway working, contributing enormously to the safety of travelling and the confidence of drivers. I have already indicated how rapidly speed developed from Stephenson's modest guarantee of ten miles an hour up to seventy miles an hour within twenty years, and all this was taking perceptible effect in public life. ”