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Victorian Train Travel: Card Sharps, Matronly Women and Dangerous Hats
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 เม.ย. 2023
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Victorian train travel sounds like such a hassle, you might as well walk.
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Now that's actually a useful sponsor! Had them when travelling a lot more a few years back. Enjoyed it!
"He liked his women like he liked his railway carriages: well-sprung and riding on four-wheeled bogeys."
Mr Punch said that he would prefer not to ride in a first class carriage with a bogey (sic) or in a carriage with a first-class bogey ...passenger and ghost. F S Williams states that a porter at St.Pancras offered to put a lady into 'the tri-compo bogie carriage' (the tri-composite, ie. three class, bogie) ...'the lady indignantly refused'.
I thought women were like pianos - upright or grand.
@@hb1338 That's right - when they're not upright, they're grand.
I suddenly realise that the excessive speed of my commute from Watford to Uxbridge on the Met Line has been over-exciting my brain for months - that's probably why I struggle to maintain high levels of excitement until the journey back home!
Good grief you have hit my problem. Olympic to Hong Kong over excites me until I travel Hong Kong to Olympic. How do I explain this, Work from train?
As a Londoner my first "foreign" train experience was around Dublin in the late 80s - as soon as I got on the train someone started talking to me - then another person, then another. By the time I'd arrived at Heuston Station I was completely traumatised and pining for the silence of my homeland trains. What a strange bunch we are.
Everything I know about Victorian railways comes from "The First Great Train Robbery." A memorable quote "Have you not heard of the 50 mile an hour club?"
The film was good but the John Grisham book it was based on was hilariously full of anachronisms and inaccuracies - notably putting Ostend in France and Greenwich a day's journey from London
@@norbitonflyer5625 Not John Grisham. Michael Crichton wrote the book and the screenplay. Fun fact: the train scenes were shot in Ireland using one of the RPSI's steam locos.
That anecdote about Mr G and Lord B, wow. What a window into the Victorian class system.
Indeed.
Simply splendid once again! As for the British not being inclined to engage in conversation with strangers on trains I recall my concern when an American friend came to stay and he overheard a conversation between two people sitting on the other side of the carriage. To my horror and before I could stop him he decided to interject in their chatter and correct them on some point or other. Their facial expressions were priceless. As I explained to him later, "it just isn't done!" And as for advice on sending unaccompanied children by train I witnessed an appalling example when my Waterloo to Dorking rush hour service arrived at Wimbledon's Platform 8 on a wintry evening in the late nineteen-seventies. The door was opened and a woman placed her little boy, aged about five and clutching a teddy bear onto a vacant seat amidst us homegoing commuters. "Daddy will meet you at Leatherhead, darling!" she said, the door slammed shut and away we went. "Will you read me a story?" asked the child to the appalled city gent sitting next to him...ALL rules were broken there...speaking to strangers....as well as all sorts of child neglect and abandonment issues. My memories are hazy now but I seem to remember a kindly lady coming to the rescue and I think she was going to stay on the train until Leatherhead even though she should have got out at Motspur Park. Unwarranted expressions of emotion are also discouraged. I remember an absolutely hilarious incident at Cannon Street where a chap jumped aboard my rush hour slam door just as it was pulling out. He moved towards the nearest door as we trundled at low speed through London Bridge station where he obviously intended to change. But he was unlucky. It was first stop Chatham! Restrained laughter could be read on the red faces and pursed lips of many of my fellow passengers at the guy's face as we accelerated away towards deepest Kent......
There's an old joke about railway carriage protocol that ends with a punchline that goes something like: "And your luggage has been aflame for the last few minutes, but I had the courtesy not to bother you about it, because it's none of my business." An exaggeration for comic effect, by about 10%.
As an American, I was brought up not to butt into a conversation unless asked to do so. Perhaps it's a generational thing or how that person was brought up.
We spent two holidays in Britain that involved a lot of traveling by train. On the journey from Edinburgh to Inverness the young man sitting opposite us engaged us in a conversation, asking where we were from and telling us about the heavy snowfall in winter and that deer would come right up to the track. On a journey from Inverness to Aviemore a young couple sitting near us on an almost empty carriage sent their little girl over to offer us sweets. And on our journey from Mallaig to Glasgow the middle aged couple sitting opposite us, who looked very stiff upper lip, turned out to be very friendly and talkative. The husband and my partner even went in search of the buffet car together. When they hadn’t returned several minutes after the train started moving again, the wife and I were worried they had stepped off the train and missed it. It was just that it was a very long train and they had to go to the other end and back.
I believe the Scots are more open to friendly conversation than the English. That might be why.
@@Clavichordist Sorry? I was just talking to someone else....Only Joking 😄😄. No, you're right; making generalisations doesn't help.
Dangerous Hats, the Terry Pratchett character we wish we'd met.
As worn y the dark clerks,,,,
Nanny Ogg’s reinforced hat was pretty dangerous.
Yes!
Oddjob in 'Goldfinger' had a dangerous hat.
Death by Trilby.
"People quite regularly travel across the country without suffering migrains or being mutilated by top hats"
New favourite line.
😅
Admittedly, top hats aren't as common now as they were in 1862.
My experience on London trains was that being an American seemed to act as permission for the locals to speak to me. Perhaps the way stiff people might relax when there is a dog in the area? LOL. They were all very nice.
I find Americans are generally very open to striking up conversations with strangers on trains. I once shared a long trip to Edinburgh with an American couple and earned myself the nick-name "Point of Information" for answering their many questions about Britain along the way... and, in particular, for explaining that Allotments are places where people grow vegetables - NOT 'Shanty Towns' where the poor live!
@@johna5635 as a foreigner you don’t need to initiate a conversation. People will start to talk to you spontaneously.
@@kellydalstok8900 We do like to make our visitors feel at home.
Our forthright world travelling NZ daughter lived in London for 4-5 years in the 20-tens after her two years in Japan..she made it crystalline clear to us that at no time were we to converse with other people. ...Not the way we tend to do things ..so of course That advice went by the board...one met some pleasant and interesting people, whether they spoke Eng or ..to their surprise that I could.. in another language.
As an American, of a certain class, I keep repartee chilled to the point of frost. If I long for witty banter and dazzling turn of phrase I talk to myself.
Which always assures plenty of elbow room even in the most spacious and tastefully appointed first class carriages.
Regarding conversation. In 1977, on an extended holiday in Britain, I used two separate 1st class Britrail passes, bought in Melbourne for $150 each, and valid for 31 days from first use. When the conductor checked tickets, he had to ask my destination, as none was stated on my pass. This curiosity almost invariably aroused fellow passengers to enquire what I had. And thus the ice was broken. Some great conversations followed, especially one with a priest who related his experiences in the Northern Ireland troubles. Incidentally, the cost of each pass was approximately the same as a 1st class London/Edinburgh return.
Thanks Jago, for a spoken and visual railway feast.
I had some interesting conversations on the Continent going around by Eurailpass in 1991. It was an interesting historical moment in Germany particularly, with the country struggling with the stresses of reunification.
Don't scoff at the idea of dangerous hats. Oddjob from Goldfinger had one with a sharpened brim.
Not to mention the number of fights James Bond has had on trains these past 69 years. A dangerous hat probably would’ve helped him take out Red Grant or Mr. Hinx much quicker.
I love the idea of "performing" a train journey. Maybe performance art started much earlier than any of us realised.
I am not usually driven to hysterical laughter by your videos but one set me completely off the rails.
Pun intended?
@@kellydalstok8900 I take your point(s) but I kinda switch back and forth.
In the US,when the original transcontinental was opened in 1869,there was a similar guide published! Some of the data on Card Sharps was included,as the US also had them on the Steamboats,and other places of ill repute! Parallel history,at that! Thank you Jago,a most interesting side bar,in the history of rail operations! Thank you 😇! 😇
Ah, to be a traveling flim-flam man on the Central Pacific...
When Parliament ordered that Third Class carriages must be covered, the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway got around that by offering travel in their open wagons at an even cheaper Fourth Class.
Talking of card sharps, in the 90's I lived on Long Island, NY for a bit (that is 1990's, not 1890's)
There is a train line going to Manhattan. It was rather ragged, noisy and the snow got in during winter times.
BUT people played cards, chess, draughts and such, and seemed to leave their apparatus on the train for their commute home. A sort of library.
Rather touching.
Sounds wonderful.
Sounds very much like the reporting of incidents on the Victorian railways is similar to modern reporting of even quite minor problems with airliners. A plane loses an engine or experiences severe turbulence - headline news. The daily toll on our roads doesn’t get a mention.
Air travel is safer than traveling by car.
Pedantly the coach you showed was a Mail Coach, they tended to be faster, more expensive and the driver could shoot whom he wanted (carrying the kings mail). Stagecoaches were a bit heavier and were private enterprises
I believe Telford designed his roads with favourable gradients where he could to help coaches with horses.
Seeing those early coaches with leather upholstery and wood panels, I was expecting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to be seated inside...😅
"Holmes, why is the carriage door yellow?" "Dear Watson, it's a lemon entry!" : )
I think they switched to fabric seats made from horse hair pretty fast. I am not quite sure which class would have seats covered with horse-hair fabric, my guess it would be second class, while first class might have had leather upholstery. Anyway, the fabric was apparently pretty durable, easy to clean and had that glossy look we now associate with synthetic fibres.
The old Swing-Door electric stock of the Melbourne (Victoria) suburban system had those until final withdrawal of the last set in 1974. By the late 1960's their leather seats had become as hard as rock! th-cam.com/video/VpNSMLUIRrc/w-d-xo.html
Compartment carriages were much rarer on Sydney (NSW) suburban stock as NSW was an early adapter of North American corridor cars.
And here you go....
th-cam.com/video/L4htBQuuj7M/w-d-xo.html
😄
I, too.😄
When people travelled by ship it was common for card sharks to pick a solitary traveller and suggest a friendly game of cards. On the voyage he would be allowed to win big. Couldn't believe his luck! Then waiting for the boat train up to London, they would meet him just by chance on the platform and play a little game where they would clean him out. They would take his personal I.O.U. which they would take round to his club and threaten to tell everyone if he didn't pay up promptly or his social standing would be ruined. Can't have that!
On the ships, the same people under assumed names would travel back and forth looking for marks. So much so, that a familiar steward would see them in the first class smoking room and inquire, "Good to see you again, sir. what name this time? "
Terry Pratchett has the witches playing cards with a card shark. Nanny Ogg loses everything, including her broom, and granny Weatherwax wins it all back using headology.
I saw a picture of a train once. I'll never forget it.
Like Piglet once seeing Christopher Robin's braces.
The advice to lay on the floor sounds sensible. I’d like to see anyone try to apply it travelling by Southern or Thameslink on the Brighton Main Line at rush hour, mind! It’d be like a carpet of commuters…
Excellent video as always!
This is a very good video. I found a copy of "The Railway Traveller's handybook" a good few years ago.
My personal favourites among the advice were to note that if sending a child off alone even a lone bachelor was likely to be sympathetic to him should he be the other occupant of the compartment (no safeguarding then!)
Also the comment about old ladies with their tickets in folds of their dresses...
Tea baskets were often sold by the same refreshment rooms. While your fellow passengers rushed to the counter, porters would bring the baskets if you'd ordered them at the terminus (orders were telegraphed ahead).
Also I note the footage of Didcot's Victorian event...FR20 would be a lovely subject for a video, she is one of the most fascinating locomotives in preservation (and certainly puts her 0-4-0st sibling to shame in looks!)
Top hats might indeed be very dangerous when travelling by train - how would we know? Almost no one wears them any more, so reliable statistics on top-hat injuries in the modern age may be hard to come by.
Odd Job, his top hat was lethal to statues at Stoke Park.
@@richardcrossley5581but his was a bowler hat, different style and mire dense brim 😉😎
Once again, Mr H. you time the release of your video to coincide perfectly with when I am about to start my 10 minutes on the treadmill at the gym, thus giving me something edifying and entertaining to take my mind off the tedium and exhaustion.
One of the few "creaters" who I will not skip past ad-reads. All very entertaining!
Thank you for the grave warning about top hats; I shall leave mine at home when I am travelling on the train.
Wherever will you hide the rabbit?!
In the couple of decades that I was on and off commuting, newspapers practically disappeared. At first nearly everyone had them and by the time that I had finished everyone was on computers and other electronic devices. Slam door trains went from the norm to completely being eradicated. So it is just the dangers of injury from top hats that remains the last great issue for the commuters of 2023.
7:30 What happens on your holiday stays on your holiday, including the friends you incorrectly thought you made along the way.
The way the people talked about travelling by train reminds me of the modern advice for flying and dealing with jet lag!
Luncheon baskets remained available on uor railways into British Railways Days (They are advertised in a 1955 BR Eastern region Rimetabe)
I recall that the stop before the bus garage terminus was where the conductor on a late-night bus would call out "Anyone for fish & chips?", taking and delivering orders, before the bus continued to the end of the journey. This was a regular occurrence.
@@robertsprigge5535 On one of the rural routes I used to drive, a regular customer would travel in the evening from their (chippyless) village to the next village down the line (which had a very good chippy), get their fish & chips and then back home on the next train. The guards didn't charge for their ticket because on their return they'd bring chips for the crew as well... :)
I love this. If Terry Pratchett hasn't come across that very book, I'll eat my hat with Marmite and chilli sauce ...I'm sorry. I cracked up at the bit about The English and Conversation. There are some amazing videos of the Glasgow Subway/Underground and at least one rather nice one of a bamboozled Scot on the London Underground. And as for ghosts, sometimes I think my work is ethereal standing room only. Although admittedly the little netherworld buggers have been rather quiet of late, but then hey ho, that's what comes from being sited next to a graveyard while having a dread portal running through the bog, a wall and into a filing cabinet.
That old announcement for tea is superb
Lots of good interior and exterior shots of authentic Victorian-style carriages. Some are clearly at Didcot - hadn't realised Furness No. 20 had been visiting - but what about the ones in open countryside like 7:50-8:15? Isle of Wight Steam Railway perhaps? Not that many railways with real compartment stock rather than BR Mk 1's. Nice view from the Ouse viaduct at 3:22 to go with the Brighton line story.
Agree, it could be IOW Steam Railway who have an impressive collection in super condition. Bluebell have an extensive collection of pre-mk1 or Victorian compartment stock, so maybe filmed there? North Norfolk also have a some as well, but the scenery is not right for it to be the NNR. 👍
What amuses me is the incredible self-confidence of the Victorians. The doctor who saying the patient suffered migraines because travelling 100 miles in such a short amount of time, that ugly-looking people were likely to be nasty company, buying tickets for padded, cushioned first-class seats provided maximum crash protection (lol), or that tophats would turn the wearer into Odd Job killers.
Those Victorian doctors were so close to predicting the effects of jet lag before that became a thing tbf, just not quite on the right scale
What a fascinating title! I love listening to a bit of history. You do give off ‘Horrible Histories’ Energy.
Just how often would a steam engine barge into one's home and tuck into half a roast while frightening the children? Good Lord, England sounds like a dangerous place!
I thought he might have mentioned one should avoid the hot soup in refreshment rooms. It was often served almost at boiling point so that patrons wouldn't be able to eat all of it before their train was ready to depart. The half-eaten bowls of soup would sometimes then be poured back into the pot and reheated ready for the passengers of the next train. Yum.
“favourite non-death related section of the book.” HAHAHAHAHA
It's such a good video. I have now ordered a used copy of the book. If this goes on, I will have to move to a bigger house to have room for my books.
My great grandfather worked on the railways as a lengthsman and when travelling by train would insist on being in the middle of the train with his back to the engine. Something I still try and do myself, but when the 'train' consists of just two coaches or cars where the middle is is a moot point and probably academic in an accident!
Excellent video! Watching this en route from KGX to EDB, poised to fling myself to the floor if I sense danger
I still come across some people who are incredulous that a steam locomotive could do 35mph (60km/h). I tell them that steam passenger trains could do that from Day 1 in 1830!
It's probably because they nowadays see steam trains running at sedate speeds on heritage preserved lines.
The Mallard set a record at ~120 mph / 200 km/h. They were also making steam turbine trains at the same time the record was made, but they never caught on, so we`d never know if they could be faster. I think the idea was that they were more efficient at high speeds compared to their cylinder-and-piston brethren.
I love all your videos, but occasionally you post one that I find particularly amusing or delightful. This one is both. 💜
For a much more in-depth look at early rail travel, I recommend the series "Full Steam Ahead", with Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands, and Peter Ginn. One episode is entirely devoted to how the railways opened up travel to the masses.
Their combined historical knowledge is but a tiny fraction of that possessed by Mr Hazzard.
When it comes to the Victorian Gothic Aesthetic, upholstered trains comes to mind.
Lovely old steamer there. Some nice old photos too. Well done.
I loved this commercial integration, I did not skip this one, while I can't handle most others. (gets the xxx VPN shivers)
Another similarly famous book, or rather, series of books is the Bradshaw`s Guide series by George Bradshaw.
It is a compilation of a timetable and a guide book for railway travelers.
Various Bradshaw's Guides have been and are used extensively by Michael Portillo in his "Great Railway Journeys" series of TV programmes.
Even in my young days it was not unusual to be advised to avoid the rear coach in case of a following train missed a signal & ploughed into your train. Likewise the front coach that could be crushed by the locomotive in the event of a collision with a stationary object.
No mention of ladies armed with hat-pins to ward off unwelcome advances in tunnels.
One was advised that, in an uncovered carriage, if one's hat was blown off, one should not jump out in order to retrieve it (trains being faster than stage coaches). PS. Carrying a very large and ripe cheese or placing one's huge mother-in-law by the door window, should ensure one's compartment to oneself.
One of my close friends used to clear railway carriages by staging fake rows with his sister - being fake, they were able to say/shout things which were quite beyond the pail.
Your adverts are the tasteful gravy atop our excellent meal. Thank you : )
Thanks so much! A most neglected area of railway history - the carriages and even the etiquette to be observed. At 10:42 we see a loco from the 1860's hauling an Edwardian express carriage, a juxtaposition seen probably for the first time in history.
The incorporation of the sponsor message is next-level.
Did I briefly espy a copy of the NZ "Listener"?
Your ad integration is up there with Sizzletown. So creative!
Well that was a top and tale story from Jago. Must watchout for deadly top hats.
Looking at those heritage trains, I'm still fascinated a bit by how _different_ trains were on opposite sides of the Atlantic for so long.
Here in the US, our train cars had already gone compartmentless in the 1840s, with transverse seats on either side of a central aisle. (For the most part, compartments only returned in sleeper cars later on.)
We also had toilets on board in the 1840s. With such a big country, our train trips were routinely long enough -- and station stops were short enough -- to need them.
In any case, this was an interesting window into the time that guide was written. Enjoyable as always, Mr Hazzard! ...And yah, I bring books and other reading material too on pretty much any public transit.
A book on “ tips how not to die”. Priceless 😂
I wonder why travelling on the London Underground back in the Victorian era must of been quite unpleasant and sometimes dangerous as it still is today.
But those carriages that were built in the Victorian period do look surprisingly nice and comfortable. Including when travelling in first class for posher people. I’ve seen some of these at the National Transport Museum in York and at London Transport in Central London.
Not a lot has changed with regards to perceptions of safety. Even today, rail travel is statistically much safer than road, yet rail fatalities always seem to get more attention!
Sadly, they have stopped doing hampers on the Victoria Line
Thank you very much for this interesting piece of Railroad History!🙂👍
I can sit in a seat and not talk to the person next to me for 13 hours. It's a 747, I am flying from Asia to Europe and the person sat next me, Mrs C. I am British after-all.
The Ad Read was so seamless that I should call you the TGV.
Oh Mr Porter what shall I do, I wanted to go to Birmingham but they set me off at Crew?! Get my back to London, quickly as you can, Oh Mr Porter what a silly girl I am!! Popular song of the time!🧐
Surprised the book did not mention Bradshawa as essential reading material. 👍👍 from 🇦🇺
You are the Loquacious Inclination to my Abrupt Tart Reply.
Are you an abrupt tart ? I wouldn't be too forthcoming about that if I were you.
Nice clip there at 8.26..... that's the Westbound Platform at East Ham by the look of it...... I grew up in the area, and my family having no car, all trips out were by bus or train. We took many an R Stock or CO/CP from that platform although the sign back then was very dirty and hard to see.... Interesting fact : There was a staff canteen at East Ham up to the end of the 1950s, the Upton Park side of the bridge next to the Eastbound District Line. You walked from the EB platform, under the stairs and below the road bridge to access it. The concrete base can still be seen in the undergrowth to this day.....
My reprinted version says of express trains that they had the best stock and the tracks were specially cleared for them, but goes on to say 'the velocity of the train is so considerable that it may dash through obstacles without practically any shock being communicated to the passengers'!
Not sure if it was a migraine for the gentleman mentioned ... I'm not doctor but may have been Choo Choo Lag.
Oh to be accosted by a 'matronly woman' on a train (or anywhere) but that's probably just me. Of course nothing dodgy is implied, nothing that can't be observed while in the full view of others. Perhaps a discussion on the favoured titles on Readly (if I had it). Exchanging 'world views' with others who don't live where you do is of course fascinating if taken in good spirit. Thanks again Jago.
To be honest, the middle of a train is still the safest place to ride, since the most common serious accidents involve colliding with another train and one car telescoping into another. However, a North American standard passenger car will push through almost anything besides a locomotive, so you are safe wherever you sit.
I do prefer to read when traveling. Nothing too taxing; I prefer my face be unclouded by thought and, whilst reading, other travelers can admire the effect of my cravat combined with my profile without feeling compelled into
awkward railway carriage discourse.
March 20 to April 5 I crossed the continent on the Southwest Chief and returned on the California Zephyr. I saw no top hats and had some pleasant conversations. But then I am NOT British. I am an avid reader but I did no reading on my trip.
Second-hand booksellers must be wondering why these copies are flying out of stock!
On the subject of conversation, it is something that I have managed and had several interesting conversations with fellow travelers. Occasionally, I've been talking to somebody "in the know" about certain well to do people, politicians and the like, to find some interesting, even juicy, indiscretion being given away. (far be it for me to embarass said people now), I would add "football" to the list of subjects to be avoided.
The Oxbridge tradition is that discussion of women, religion, politics or one's work are not allowed at the dinner table. Failure to observe such etiquette might result in a sconce being imposed.
Punch produced a great book titled Mr Punch's Railway Book. Great satire for turn of the century railways and passengers. I think some of those black and white illustrations in your video came from that great book?
Hello Jago - @ 1:18 - I've got a few 'OO' scale Models of them 3rd & 1st Class Carriages pulled by of course by 'The Rocket' - also how very true - always quiet on the train - hardly any one talks to another!!! 🤔🚂🚂🚂
Is this a British trait, or just English? I remember a Glaswegian telling me about when he talked to people on the London Underground and it terrified them.
@@robertsprigge5535 May be an English thing by the looks of it!!! 🤔🚂🚂🚂
What a wonderful video! 😊
The funniest scene in literature about train travel burlesques some fears among middle-class Victorians who had only half a generation's experience of it.
'You're travelling the wrong way.'
'She ought to know her way to the ticket-office, even if she doesn't know her alphabet!'
'Never mind what they all say, my dear, but take a return ticket every time the train stops.'
'It's only a brook we have to jump over.'
Brilliant as usual. Thank you 👌
It is amazing for sure how trains improved this. I have ancestors who traveled by foot with handcarts and ancestors who went via trains a couple decades later here in the USA. How long it took via handcarts to travel from the Eastcoast to the Westcoast compared to trains.
9:27 “What is my weapon of choice? Top Hat.”
As I'm not normally in a hurry, I'd like if those stage coaches came back... and smoking sections. Lord B did Mr G dirty though, hope that didn't really happen😅
Jago clearly has travelled too much by train having such a highly strung nervous disposition
I wouldn’t place advice to pass the time by smoking in the non death related section though.
1:18 "the third class carriages were little better than goods wagons"
Ironically the class 142 Pacers built in the 1980s had wagon chassis (albeit with bus bodies)
The famous British "make do" attitude.
There is an old American fiddle tune, "The Ladies On The Steamboat". No idea what that means.
Excellent video as always. I enjoy these occasional forays into the world of oepn air railways.
My mother thinks it's safer to travel in the middle of a train rather than the end. Wonder if she read this book? 😂
Hello IW Steam railway at 4:40. Complete with Deacons Lane overbridge. You'd passed the summit and were starting the downhill stretch towards Smallbrook. Nice to see the sun shining.
Another great one. Jago Hazzard must have an away day pass as he sure does get around !
The next time I get the train, I'm going to get off half way, walk into whichever cafe happens to be on the platform and simply say 'pie' in the hope that I might be able to buy one and get back on again in under 30 seconds. How do you rate my chances?
one in 3.14 ?
Beware - by the time you return tour seat, someone may have called the bomb squad to deal with your unattended luggage
Another marvelous video. A bit different from the usual Underground series, but nonetheless fascinating. Was that snow or hail coming down in the live steam footage? Ugh! Enough of that, I'm ready for summer.
As comfy as a well-upholstered compartment looks, the lack of heat must have made winter-time travel grueling. It is telling that Britons considered trains to be similar to stagecoaches, and simply shivered through the experience.
In the States, a coal-fired stove was installed in saloon cars, with kerosene lamps for lighting; unfortunately, in serious accidents, the stoves and lamps supplied a ready source for igniting the largely wooden debris, e.g., "The Angola Horror" of 1867. The innovations of steam heat and electric lights were welcome advances.
Unless the windows were broken, travelling in a train was no worse than being outside - you simply dress accordingly.
The joy of safe rail was dammed when William Huskisson MP was mowed down near newton le willows, from then on it was a perilous experience. His monument is over the top seen as you go past it to quick.
"Without being mutilated by top hats" Brilliant!
More victorian advice, please
Dangerous hats, you say? How peculiar!
🥉
Odd-Job?
@@andrewemery4272 well, yes many people do call me ‘weird’ but I prefer to use the term ‘eccentric’.