Tomtom

“ At six o'clock, usually, supper was hot, and Tom arrived through the front gateway, glancing at the flower-bed in the centre of the diminutive grass plot, carrying his dinner-pail, having divested himself of his grimy, greasy blouse and overalls at the great repair shops, where his engine had already begun, with much panting, to spend the night.
In a small railroad town on the main line, one is continually hearing locomotive whistles. All the inhabitants know that one long moan of the steam is the signal of the train's swift approach ”

“ Captain Tom knocks out his pipe on the heel of his boot, his eyes still on the lights of the steamer. "Well," says Tom, "they can still do it. They don't want any help old Tom could give aboard her. A good man there. Where's she bound for, I wonder?"
Now who could tell him that? What a question to ask me. Did Tom ever know his real destination? Not he! And have I not watched Dockland itself in movement under the sun, easily mobile, from my window in its midst? Whither was it bound? Why should the old master mariner expect the young to answer that? ”

“ But the erratic tracks of a tramp steamer go not as her voyagers will. They have no control over her. She moves to an enigmatic will in London. It happens, then, that she rarely shows a wonder of the world any respect. She arrives like sudden rain, like wind from a new quarter. She is as chance as the fall of a star. None knows the day nor the hour. At the most inconvenient time she takes the wonder's visitors to the back door.
We went, light ship from the South, to Barbados, for orders; and because I wanted New York, for that was the way home, we were sent to Tampa for phosphates. ”

“ The successful voyage from the Clyde to the Thames achieved by Captain Dodd, and the less-known one by the Runcorn Packet from the Clyde to the Mersey, gave a great impetus to steam-packet building, and created active opposition, especially on the London and Margate service. The Thames, after being refitted, opened the service in July, 1815. She had a monopoly of the station for about three months, when the Defiance was put on in opposition. The following year saw the Majestic placed on the River Thames, and this vessel was probably the first steamer employed in towing ships. ”

“ Thames Steamers.—A local passenger steamboat service on the Thames suffers from the disadvantage that the river does not provide the shortest route between points at any great distance apart, and that the main thoroughfares between east and west do not touch its banks, so that passengers along those thoroughfares are not tempted to use it as a channel of communication. ”

“ In the North Country, both on the east and west coasts, with a few important exceptions, the cross-channel and over-sea traffic is operated by steamship companies, which, while running in connection with the railway systems of their respective ports, are entirely separate and independent undertakings.
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Co. has now running between Dover and Calais, the new turbine steamer The Queen, and the fast and large paddle steamers Empress, Victoria, Dover, Calais, Lord Warden, Le Nord, and Le pas de Calais. ”

“ For two or three summers Glasgow was the only City in [Pg 13] Great Britain or Ireland whose citizens enjoyed the advantages of steam packet communication with the coast. But, in the summer of the year 1815, the citizens of London and of Cork were given equal facilities.
Ireland has always occupied a most honourable position in the Annals of Steam Navigation. Cork had a steamship service certainly as early as Liverpool; the pioneer of the Liverpool coasting steamship trade was a Belfast steamer; from Cork, sailed the first steamer with passengers from Europe to America ”

“ Any person travelling by these steamers will find that very few vessels will pass them, and those which do are probably some crack mail packets running short passages.
The ships of the British and Irish Steam Packet Company are as well-known at Falmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, and Portsmouth as they are at the terminal ports of London and Dublin. Being so well-found, roomy, comfortable, and up-to-date, and calling in at all the principal southern ports, it is but natural that they should be favourites with the holiday-making and touring public. ”

“ There are in Great Britain, as well as in the United States of America, many steamship lines which are either owned or controlled by railway corporations. On the south coast of England, from Harwich to Falmouth inclusive, almost the whole of the Anglo-continental passenger traffic is held by the great railway companies, who have made the various ports along that stretch of coast their termini. ”

“ Now, hardly a day passes that does not see several large and powerful steamers leaving the ports of New York and Liverpool to make the same voyages, and their passages are made with such regularity and safety, that travelers can anticipate with confidence the time of their arrival at the termination of their voyage to a day, and can cross with safety and with comparative comfort even amid the storms of winter. Yet all that we to-day see of the extent and the efficiency of steam-navigation has been the work of the present century, and it may well excite our wonder and our admiration. ”

“ He describes his trip as follows: “I may state that such a feat as going over the Ord of Caithness has never before been accomplished by steam, as I believe we rose one thousand feet in about five miles. The Ord is one of the largest and steepest hills in Scotland. The turns in the road are very sharp. All this I got over without trouble. There is, I am confident, no difficulty in driving a steam carriage on a common road. It is cheap, and on a level I got as much as nineteen miles an hour.” ”

“ The Great Liverpool, of 1,540 tons and 464 horse power, built by Sir John Tobin, of Liverpool, and intended for the Liverpool and New York trade; and the Oriental, of 1,600 tons and 450 horse power, were the steamers offered by Messrs. Willcox and Anderson, and approved by the Admiralty, to convey mails between England and Alexandria, calling at Gibraltar, and combining the two mail services of the Peninsular and the Oriental, thus constituting the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. ”

“ Do you think it would be necessary to make any alteration in the form of the present line of turnpike road for the facility of working by steam?—I do not think it would be absolutely necessary; it would, however, be of great benefit to the country and every person in it, if the hills on the present lines of road were more reduced and the surface strengthened; no road should have a greater ascent than one in thirty or one in thirty-five ”

“ If he was, he was well concealed, for they did not see him.
"Though I suppose he's somewhere around," said Jack.
"Well, maybe we can fool him," suggested Tom. "We're going quite on the other side of Paris."
They made sure that, as far as could be told by observation, there was no one resembling the spy around the place or in the street in front, and then got into the cab with their baggage. The chauffeur seemed not to know them, but Tom thought there was just the slightest wink of one eye, as though to indicate that the game was going well. ”

“ Presently the English Channel was bridged — a series of great iron Eiffel Tower pillars carrying mono-rail cables at a height of a hundred and fifty feet above the water, except near the middle, where they rose higher to allow the passage of the London and Antwerp shipping and the Hamburg-America liners.
Then heavy motor-cars began to run about on only a couple of wheels, one behind the other, which for some reason upset Tom dreadfully, and made him gloomy for days after the first one passed the shop... ”

“ With wildly throbbing hearts both Tom and Jack peered downward as they once more resumed their voyage on a level. Dawn had come to the earth below. They could make out the character of the ground, and see a road which ran in a zigzag fashion. Tom noticed this in particular because it was probable that a house would be discovered close to a thoroughfare; and they must come upon such a place if they hoped to secure the necessary supply of gasolene. ”

“ The hood of the tonneau shut Tom out from sight of Mr. Morgan and his chauffeur.
Tom ran no farther after the rapidly-gliding car. He saw in a flash that his only chance of stopping it was by a sharp swift dash diagonally to a point where the circling road cut south. He speeded reckless of flower beds and fences on his mission, flew heedless of mud and water through an obstructing swale, and, breathless and pretty nearly exhausted, gained the main-road. ”

“ Jack told him. "We'll try to run across some Virginia farmer, black or white, who will have a horse and agree to take us to the nearest railroad station. Once we hit civilization, the rest will be easy."
"What about the plane, Colin?" asked Tom.
"It can stay here for the time being," the other answered him. "Later on I'll hire some one to have it hauled out and stored against my coming back—after we've been a while in Berlin and got Heine to behaving himself." ”

“ This combination put both portage roads and the gorge of the Columbia into the hands of a corporation, giving it perfect control of all transportation to and from every point beyond the Cascades. Thus owning both portages and all the steamboats, it is needless to say that the Oregon Steam Navigation Company found it unnecessary to consult any one as to what prices they should charge. Such an opportunity, with such unlimited power, seldom ever falls into the hands of man. ”

“ WHEN the history of the nineteenth century comes to be written, not the least interesting chapter of it will be that which treats of the origin, the development, and the triumphs of Steam Navigation—that mighty combination of inventive genius and mechanical force that has bridged the oceans and brought the ends of the earth together. ”

“ Can you get back there and tell the men?"
"Yes," answered Tom. "Why not break 'through the ends of all the cars—so we can get back and forth without having to climb over the roofs!"
"All right—but hurry. Uncouple just as soon as you can."
Tom climbed over the logs in the tender; then, balancing carefully, he stood up and clutched the top of the swaying freight car. In an instant he had swung himself over and was running down the roofs of the cars, silhouetted against the cloudy sky. When he reached the end of the train he lay on his stomach and looked down. ”

“ Mount Tom, a dozen miles north of Springfield, and the highest peak in the region, is reached by a remarkable trolley line which takes passengers to the summit where a very fine view is obtained of the country for fifty miles in every direction. ”

“ As related in the various volumes of this series, Tom was not content to remain on earth. He built a speedy motor boat, and then secured an airship, following that with a submarine. He also made an electric runabout that was the speediest car on the road. Sending wireless messages, having thrilling experiences among the diamond makers, journeying to the caves of ice, and making perilous trips in his sky racer took up part of the young inventor's time. ”

“ The Beulah struck a straight course shorewards. Tom, glancing through the cabin window, observed that the lady passengers grouped there seemed quieted down and coherent.
The bulky man passenger with the life preservers had crawled to the shelter of the stern platform, and, wedging himself in between two rods, only occasionally shouted out some mad threat of a suit against the steamship company. ”

“ Little more than half a century ago railroads drove the coaches off the highways. Only within the last decade or so the conditions of London street traffic have been entirely revolutionised. But what we take to be new is in a large measure old. The steam omnibus, which is quite the latest thing of to-day (1908) , is really a direct descendant of the steam coaches introduced in the time of George IV. Many efforts were made to utilise steam motors between the years 1821 and 1833. ”

“ A Quarter of a century had elapsed since the launch of Bell’s Comet on the Clyde. In the interval, all the chief ports of Great Britain and Ireland, and several of the continental ports, had been connected by steampacket services. ”

“ Already I feel better for the change."
"How about it if we should sight a steamer?" asked Jack. "They'd report meeting a plane flying west here in midocean, which would stir up no end of comment in the papers, and might lead to our being found out."
"We depend on you to keep the glasses in use, and report anything in sight ahead," laughed Tom; for the clatter of the motors did not seem to bother them in the least when using the wireless telephone. "And when you sing out 'smoke down low on the horizon to the west!' it's going to be an easy job for us to climb up above the clouds in a hurry." ”

“ Twelve years after this service had been commenced, the London and North Western Railway Company, who had by that time absorbed the Chester and Holyhead Railway, commenced a rail connection between the harbour of Dublin and three of the principal Irish railway companies, which connection was completed in 1876, and the London and North Western Company began to run a service of steamers in direct opposition to the mail route. ”

“ They were both paddle-steamers, built of wood, the former designed by Brunel, and engined by Maudsley, Sons & Field, and the latter built by Menzies, of Leith, and engined by Wingate & Co., of Glasgow. For upwards of eight years the Great Western continued to sail regularly between Bristol and New York, on which station she was very popular with passengers. She was sold in 1847 to the Royal Mail Steampacket Co., in which service she was also a favourite for several years. ”