Tag: Railways

One running theme of the 1830s was the sheer excitement of so many people about the possibilities of the rail network and the amount of time it could save them.

The Railway Times reprinted a news story that had been published in Aylesbury News in November 1837, although they must have got the omnibus to another nearby station (perhaps Tring railway station which had opened in October 1837) as the railway was another eighteen months from opening in Aylesbury.

“One day, last week, a gentleman of Aylesbury left the White Hart inn in an omnibus, at a quarter before seven o’clock, proceeded by the first train to London, attended Doctors’ Commons, proved a will, and returned to Aylesbury to dinner, without experiencing either personal fatigue or hurry, or even the inconvenience of postponing his dinner-hour. To men of business, a saving of time is a saving of property.”

This feels like a perfect example of the sort of thing that would have excited me, to be able to get a lunch in London without any “personal fatigue or hurry” and without having my evening meal late…

As another random aside, back to my reading through old back issues of the Railway Times…. There was an article in December 1837 which gave progress on the line between Birmingham and Gloucester.

“We have much pleasure in being able to inform our readers that considerable activity is displayed on this line. Fourteen contractors are at work—four in the Birmingham division, and ten in the Gloucester—five are engaged in earth-work, one brick-work and masonry, four fencing, and the remainder stone suppliers. Four miles of earth-work, and twenty miles of fencing are in progress.”

What amuses me is reading that the route of the line had been planned by Captain William Scarth Moorsom (1804-1863) who had worked with Robert Stephenson. He delivered a route which was economical, efficient and well planned, but unfortunately, it was economic as he had missed out nearly all the towns en route to save money. This displeased residents of numerous towns, including Cheltenham. The compromise was that Pearson Thompson (1794-1872), a member of a key committee of the railway and resident of Cheltenham, paid for much of it so that was a handy arrangement for the railway.

The whole project was successful, it was decided not to build a new railway station in Birmingham and instead they decided to share Curzon station. This building is interesting, it opened in 1838 but ceased to be used for rail purposes in 1966. It is very visible now amid all the civil engineer works when arriving into Birmingham as it is being integrated into the new Curzon HS2 railway station which should be open in around three to four years.

As for the towns that they missed, the railway network decided to build a series of branch lines, including to locations such as Tewkesbury and Worcester. That seemed to be a very reasonable compromise although Tewkesbury lost its rail connection following the Beeching cuts. Eventually the whole arrangement became part of the Midland Railway which then in turn became the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with the railways, but the Railway Times of 1837 certainly found itself with quite a lot to say about the world around them.

It’s some stretch to suggest that Germans speaking German in the United States, at a period of substantial migration, was “evil”, but it clearly concerned those speaking English. It’s also an interesting sign of the times that there was an opinion that it would be English and Spanish that would be the two major global languages.

“The Germans in America.—The German newspapers inform us, that according to the most recent intelligence, “German life and civilization,” develop themselves more and more at Saint Louis in the United States, and apparently will in time predominate in this part of the Union. A German Library is established there, a German Annual published, &c. In two of the German newspapers printed in America, a proposal has recently been made to found a German University in the States, and is said to be likely to meet with support. We hope that the friends of progressive civilization in America will not allow this evil to advance too far before they oppose a check. It has always been considered a cheering point in the future prospects of the world, that, in all probability but two languages, the English and Spanish, would prevail over the vast continent of America, among a population of hundreds of millions, whose influence would be of such weight as to spread those languages pretty generally among the whole human race, every person of education knowing both, and almost every individual knowing one or the other.

The common languages of Europe would then be eclipsed by the superior importance of these two, in the same manner as Welsh or Wallachian now by French or German. All this vast improvement in the condition of mankind will be prevented or obstructed, if another language is suffered to gain ground in America. The Portuguese is there already in Brazil, but that may be considered as hardly more than a dialect of the Spanish; the French is there already in Canada, but on the decline before the advancing influence of the English. Dutch, Russian, &c., are spoken at a few points, but have never attained sufficient importance to excite any apprehension that they will offer resistance to the gradually overpowering march of Spanish and English. But if the practice gain ground for natives of the different nations of Europe to emigrate in bodies, and carry their language and habits with them, we shall have an America as much cut up into small divisions as Europe, and the difference will be a fruitful source of dissensions and wars.

While the future mischief to be apprehended is so gigantic, the present inconvenience is by no means small. Lieber, the editor of the Encyclopædia Americana, himself a German, but who, since his emigration to America, not only speaks but writes in English, complains that the little knots of Germans scattered over the States, are full of ignorance and prejudice; not knowing the language of the country, they are shut out from intercourse with their neighbours.“