Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/151

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CHAPTER VIII.

Rolling Stock (ii.).—Carriages.

Mention has already been made in a previous chapter of the rude accommodation with which the earlier railway passengers of half a century ago had to content themselves, as compared with the luxurious conditions of modern travel. As illustrative of this wide difference, our illustration (Plate XXIV.) reproduces an old print showing two of the trains which were actually run upon the Liverpool and Manchester railway at, or soon after, its opening. One of these, which apparently represents the very earliest form of passenger train, is drawn by an engine which is a species of first cousin to the famous "Rocket." All the vehicles, as will be seen, are fully exposed to the weather, except for a slight awning overhead, and only a portion of the passengers are indulged with seats, the vehicles, being, in fact, not unlike an open goods waggon of the present day. The upper portion of the picture shows a train containing somewhat superior accommodation, for all the carriages are covered in, although we may be sure that the internal fittings of these ungainly vehicles were very different to the elegantly-furnished saloons of 1888. It will be observed, too, that the luggage of the passengers is piled on the roofs of the carriages, which elevated situation is also occupied by