Part 6 (2/2)
SNAKES' HEADS
One of the earliest forms of rails used by the Americans consisted of a flat bar half-an-inch thick spiked down to longitudinal ti the train, the iron was curved, the spikes loosened, and the ends of the bars turned up, and were known by the name of snakes'
heads Occasionally they pierced the bottoers, and it was no uncoers speculate as to which line they would go by, as showing fewest snakes'
heads
PREJUDICE REMOVED
Mr Williaive evidence in favour of the Great Western Railway He was questioned as to the benefits conferred upon the localities passed through by the Manchester and Liverpool Railway He was asked, ”Frohbourhood, can you say that the houses have not decreased in value?” ”Yes; I know an instance of a gentleh he quarrelled very much with the Company when they came there, and said, 'Very well, if you will coht,' and a year-and-a-half ago he petitioned the Co, so that he may see them”
A RIDE FROM BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE IN 1835
The early railway enterprise in As of unmixed satisfaction Thus we read of the railway journey taken by a gentleman of the old school, whose experience and sensations-if not very satisfactory to hi at nine o'clock I took passage in a railroad car (from Boston) for Providence Five or six other cars were attached to the locolier boxes I do not wish to travel in They were s, who sit cheek by jowl as best they can Two poor felloere nottheir toilet squeezed arments a villanous compound of smells made up of salt fish, tar, andfactory girls were introduced, ere going on a party of pleasure to Newport 'Make rooentlemen, jump up on the top; plenty of roo er Some made one excuse and some another For ed to the corps of Silver Greys I had lost allantry, and did not intend to move The whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon reen applesThe rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the vulgar, all herd together in thisThe consequence is a coamation Master and servant sleep heads and points on the cabin floor of the steamer, feed at the same table, sit in each other's laps, as it were, in the cars; and all this for the sake of doing very uncoht or ten Shall we be , hurrying, fro (those who can afford it) on a journey with our own horses, and h the country, with the power of enjoying its beauty, and be the ood inns Undoubtedly, a line of post-horses and post-chaises would long ago have been established along our great roads had not steaTalk of ladies on board a steamboat or in a railroad car There are none! I never feel like a gentleentility in any one whorooms or elsewhere, I have been accustomed to respect and treat with every suitable deference-when I see therants or lowbred homespun fellows in petticoats or breeches in our country, in order to reach a table spread for a hundred or entility and view the to the plebeian herd To restore herself to her caste, let a lady move in select company at five ood inn, where she may dine decentlyAfter all, the old-fashi+oned way of five or six miles, with liberty to dine in a decent inn and bethe country and getting along rationally, is the ain by the generations of after times”
-_Recollections of Samuel Breck_
APPEALING TO THE CLERGY
Mr C F Adaees of the construction of the Western road, connecting Worcester with Albany-when both e seemed almost exhausted-Mr De Grand never for a ht almost be said to have then had Western railroad on the brain As, he issued a circular which causedtheman, had preached a serood deal of attention, on the subject of theinfluence of railroads Mr De Grand thought he saw his occasion, and he certainly availed himself of it He at once had a circular printed, a copy of which he sent to every clergy the propriety of a discourse on 'The eneral and of the Western railroad in particular'”
AIR-WAYS INSTEAD OF RAILWAYS
In the _Mechanics' Magazine_ for July 22nd, 1837, is to be found the following reestion:-”In many parts of the new railroads, where there has been soines, stationary ones are resorted to, as everyone knows to draw the vehicles along Whydragged on the surface of the ground, along costly viaducts or under disagreeable tunnels, h? By balloons, I as lighter than the air They ht be of all shapes and sizes to suit convenience The practicability of this plan does not seees are obvious Instead of having to purchase, as for a railway, the whole line of track passed over, the company for a balloon-ould only have to procure those spots of ground on which they proposed to erect stationary engines; and these need in no case be of peculiar value, since their being a hundred yards one way or the other would make little difference Viaducts of course would never be necessary, cuttings in very few occasions indeed, if at all The chief expense of balloons is their inflation, which is renewed at every new ascent; but in these balloons the gas once in need never to be let out, and one inflation would be enough”
The same writer a few years later on observes:-”One feature of the air-way to supersede the railould be, that besides preventing the destruction of the architectural beauties of the metropolis, now menaced by the multitudinous network of viaducts and subways at ith the existing thoroughfares, it would occasion the construction of numerous lofty towers as stations of arrival and departure, which would afford an opportunity of architectural effect hitherto undreamed of”
PREJUDICE AGAINST CARRYING COALS BY RAILWAYS