The Project Gutenberg eBook, Railway Adventures and Anecdotes, by Various,
Edited by Richard Pike

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Title: Railway Adventures and Anecdotes
extending over more than fifty years

Author: Various

Editor: Richard Pike

Release Date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31395]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES***

This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.

RAILWAY ADVENTURES
AND ANECDOTES:
EXTENDING OVER MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS.

EDITED BY RICHARD PIKE.

THIRD EDITION.

* * * * *

"The only _bona fide_ Railway Anecdote Book published
on either side of the Atlantic."--_Liverpool Mercury_.

* * * * *

LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.
NOTTINGHAM: J. DERRY.

* * * * *

1888.

NOTTINGHAM:
J. DERBY, PRINTER, WHEELER GATE AND HOUNDS GATE.

PREFACE.

Although railways are comparatively of recent date we are so accustomed
to them that it is difficult to realize the condition of the country
before their introduction. How different are the present day ideas as to
speed in travelling to those entertained in the good old times. The
celebrated historian, Niebuhr, who was in England in 1798, thus describes
the rapid travelling of that period:--"Four horses drawing a coach with
six persons inside, four on the roof, a sort of conductor besides the
coachman, and overladen with luggage, have to get over seven English
miles in the hour; and as the coach goes on without ever stopping except
at the principal stages, it is not surprising that you can traverse the
whole extent of the country in so few days. But for any length of time
this rapid motion is quite too unnatural. You can only get a very
piece-meal view of the country from the windows, and with the tremendous
speed at which