Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A History and Guide, Arranged AlphabeticallyHarman, Thomas T.
History
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A History and Guide, Arranged Alphabetically
Harman, Thomas T.
Birmingham (England) -- History -- Dictionaries
Manchester, Preston, and Carlisle; distances and times being,
Manchester, 78-1/2 miles, 8 hours, fare, 14s.; Manchester to Carlisle,
118 miles, 12 hours 55 minutes by the mail, including stoppage of fifty
minutes at Preston for post office purposes, fare, £1 2s. 6d.; Carlisle
to Edinburgh, 95 miles, 9 hours 35 minutes, fare, 18s.; coachmen and
guards' fees about 15s.; all hotel charges, &c., were paid by the
passenger. Total distance, 291-1/2 miles; travelling time, 30-1/2 hours;
cost, £3 9s. 6d., in all. The mail coach which left the Albion reached
London in 10-1/2 hours, which would be reckoned as very good travelling,
even in these days. For some time after the introduction of railways,
the coaching interest was still of some account, for as late as 1840
there were 54 coaches and omnibuses running from here every 24 hours.--
There has been a kind of modern revival of the good old coaching days,
but it has not become popular in this part of the country, though quite
a summer feature on the Brighton Road. A four-in-hand, driven by the
Earl of Aylesford, was put on the road from here to Coventry, at latter
end of April, 1878; and another ran for part of the summer, in 1880, to
Leamington. The introduction of railways set many persons to work on the
making of "steam coaches" to travel on the highways. Captain Ogle coming
here on one of his own inventing September 8th, 1832, direct from
Oxford, having travelled at from ten to fourteen miles per hour. Our
local geniuses were not behindhand, and Messrs. Heaton Bros., and the
well-known Dr. Church brought out machines for the purpose. Both parties
started joint-stock companies to carry out their inventions, and in that
respect both parties succeeded, for such was the run for shares, that in
June, 1833, when Heatons' prospectus came out, offering to the public
2,000 £10 shares, no less than 3,000 were asked for in one day. There
was also a third company in the field, the "London, Birmingham, and
Liverpool," with a nominal capital of £300,000; but none of them
prospered; for though they could construct the engines and the coaches,
they could not make receipts cover expenses. Heatons' ran theirs for
some little time to Wolverhampton and back, and even to the Lickey; the
Doctor came out every month with something new; and even the big Co.
managed to bring one carriage all the way from London (August 28th,
1835). Others besides Captain Ogle also came here on their iron horses,
and there was plenty of fun and interest for the lookers-on generally--
but no trade and no interest for the speculators. For steam coaches of
the present day, see "_Tramways_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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