Short stories; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
The driver twisted his wheel and worked some levers, and the rhythmical
chunking of the engine gradually ceased. Gliding at a speed that was
still high, the train curved to the left, and swung down a sharp
incline, to move with an imperial dignity through the railway yard at
Rugby. There was a maze of switches, innumerable engines noisily
pushing cars here and there, crowds of workmen who turned to look, a
sinuous curve around the long train-shed, whose high wall resounded
with the rumble of the passing express; and then, almost immediately,
it seemed, came the open country again. Rugby had been a dream which
one could properly doubt. At last the relaxed engine, with the same
majesty of ease, swung into the high-roofed station at Crewe, and
stopped on a platform lined with porters and citizens. There was
instant bustle, and in the interest of the moment no one seemed
particularly to notice the tired vermilion engine being led away.
There is a five-minute stop at Crewe. A tandem of engines slip up, and
buckled fast to the train for the journey to Carlisle. In the meantime,
all the regulation items of peace and comfort had happened on the train
itself. The dining-car was in the center of the train. It was divided
into two parts, the one being a dining-room for first-class passengers,
and the other a dining-room for the third-class passengers. They were
separated by the kitchens and the larder. The engine, with all its
rioting and roaring, had dragged to Crewe a car in which numbers of
passengers were lunching in a tranquility that was almost domestic, on
an average menu of a chop and potatoes, a salad, cheese, and a bottle
of beer. Betimes they watched through the windows the great
chimney-marked towns of northern England. They were waited upon by a
young man of London, who was supported by a lad who resembled an
American bell-boy. The rather elaborate menu and service of the Pullman
dining-car is not known in England or on the Continent. Warmed roast
beef is the exact symbol of a European dinner, when one is traveling on
a railway.
This express is named, both by the public and the company, the
"Corridor Train," because a coach with a corridor is an unusual thing
in England, and so the title has a distinctive meaning. Of course, in
America, where there is no car which has not what we call an aisle, it
would define nothing. The corridors are all at one side of the car.
Doors open thence to little compartments made to seat four, or perhaps
six, persons. The first-class carriages are very comfortable indeed,
being heavily upholstered in dark, hard-wearing stuffs, with a bulging
rest for the head. The third-class accommodations on this train are
almost as comfortable as the first-class, and attract a kind of people
that are not usually seen traveling third-class in Europe. Many people
sacrifice their habit, in the matter of this train, to the fine
conditions of the lower fare.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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