Part 11 (1/2)

About the ti of the railway bubble, or the collapse of theclever lines appeared:-

”There was a sound of revelry by night”-_Childe Harold_

”There was a sound that ceased not day or night, Of speculation London gathered then Unwonted crowds, and ht, To Capel-court rushed wo railway shares and scrip; and when The lance, and eyes that spake again, 'Twas e'envoice strikes like a rising knell

Nay, it is nothing, emorton-street; Wild enterprise shall still be unconfined; No rest for us, when rising prereet The morn to pour their treasures at our feet; When, hark! that sole 'bears' its echoes yet repeat- 'Tis but too true, is now the general roar, The Bank has raised her rate, as she has done before

And then and there were hurryings to and fro, And anxious thoughts, and signs of sad distress Faces all pale, that but an hour ago Shts of their own craftiness

And there were sudden partings, such as press The coin frohs Of brokers and their clients Who can guess How ht such awful panics rise?”

RAILWAY FACILITIES FOR BUSINESS

A gentle, purchased, and took back with him to Manchester, 150 tons of cotton, which he sold, and afterwards obtained an order for a siain, and actually, that sa, delivered the second quantity in Manchester, ”having travelled 120 ht, sold, and delivered, 30 oods, in about 12 hours” The occurrence is perfectly astounding; and, had it been hinted at fifty years ago, would have been deeazine_, 1840

RAILWAYS AND THE POST-OFFICE

It ht that the new and quicker erly utilised by the Post-office

There were, however, difficulties on both sides The railway coht, and the old stage-coach offered the advantage of greater regularity The railas quicker, but was at least occasionally uncertain Thus, in November, 1837, the four daily haht occasions were exact to time, and on 102 occasions varied in lateness of arrival from five minutes to five hours and fivedelays by train The uard, rode outside the train with a box before him called an ”imperial,” which contained the letters and papers entrusted to his charge In very storuard would prop up the lid of his iet inside for shelter On one occasion when the uard was found imprisoned in his letter-box The lid had fallen and fastened in the male travesty of ”Ginevra” Fortunately for hiuards at wayside stations not unfrequently got under the wheels of the train and the contents were cut to pieces On one occasion, on the Grand Junction, an engine failed through the fire-bars co out The mails were removed from the train and run on a platelayer's ”trolly,” but unfortunately the contents of the bags took fire and were destroyed But many of these mishaps were obviated by the invention of Mr Nathaniel Worsdell, a Liverpool coachbuilder, in the service of the railho took out a patent in 1838 for an appliance for picking up and dropping s while the train was at full speed This is still used The loads of railway vehicles, it may be e of the 5 and 6 Vic, c 55 In 1837, when the weight of the haested that a special couard in which he could sort the letters _en route_ The first vehicle specially set apart for mail purposes was put upon the Grand Junction in 1838 Froradually developed the express mails, in which the chief consideration is the swift transit of correspondence, and which are therefore liers they are allowed to carry The cost of carrying the mails in 1838 and 1839 between Manchester and Liverpool by rail, including the guard's fare, averaged about 1 a trip, or half of the cost of sending thee of hauard and d per cwt

per ht a revenue of about 3,000 a year

When the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed and carried the ier duty, in 1832, the company intiuard's fare d per otiated between the Post-office and railway authorities to convey the ham four times daily for 19 10s a day, with a penalty of 500 on the railway coreement was not carried into effect

-_Manchester Guardian_

RAILWAY SIGNALS

The history of railway signals is a curious page in the annals of practical science For so up a hat or an umbrella was at first sufficient to stop a train at an interates had to stand closed across the line of rails, and on the top bar hung a lamp to indicate to drivers that the as blocked In 1839, Colonel Lander at a junction during a fog by going slowly, tolling a bell, beating a drunal was deno junctions ed of by the fact that when the Bolton and Preston line was ready for opening it was agreed that no train should attempt to enter or leave the North Union line at Euxton junction within fifteen ht interfere with it The movable rails at junctions had to be removed by hand and fixed into position by haineer to the Lancashi+re and Yorkshi+re Railway, is believed to have been one of the first to use the tapering ht, another designed the crank, while a third suggested the long rod These inal set up at stations was an ordinary round flag pole having a pulley on the top, upon which was hoisted a green flag to stop a train and a red one to indicate danger on the road The night signal was a hand lanal on which an arm orked at the end of a rod, and a square la on hinges to shut out the light These were used until 1848 The seo, and it is remarkable that the first time they were used on the Liverpool and Manchester line they were the cause of a slight collision The use of signal lights on trains was much advanced by two accidents which occurred on the North Union line on the 7th Septeton, where two passenger trains came into collision The other happened at Euxton, where a coal train ran into a stage coach which was taking passengers to Southport The Rev Mr Joy was killed, and several others, including the station , were injured These were the first serious accidents investigated by the now Government Inspector of Railways, Sir Frederic Smith, as appointed by the Board of Trade under Lord Seymour's Act

-_Manchester Guardian_

FOG-SIGNALS