1839. Eastern Counties Railway opened to Chelmsford. 1840. Great Western Railway opened to Reading. ” London and Southampton Railway opened to Portsmouth: coaches taken off Portsmouth Road. 1841. Great Western Railway opened to Bath and Bristol: coaches taken off Bath Road. ” Brighton Railway opened: coaching ends on Brighton Road. 1842. Last London and York Mail-coach. 1844. Great Western Railway opened to Exeter: last coaches taken off Exeter Road. 1845. Railways reach Norwich. ” Eastern Counties Railway opened to Cambridge. 1846. Edinburgh and Berwick Railway opened. 1847. East Anglian Railway opened to King’s Lynn. 1848. “Bedford Times,” one of the last long-distance coaches withdrawn. ” Eastern Counties Railway opened to Colchester. ” Great Western Railway opened to Plymouth. 1849. Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway opened. 1850. Chester and Holyhead Railway opened. 1874. Last of the mail-coaches: the Thurso and Wick Mail gives place to the Highland Railway. INDEX Accidents, i. 206, 274, 281, 307, 310; ii. 28, 96–122 Allen, Ralph, Post Office reformer, i. 146 Amateur coachmen (for individuals, _see_ Coaching Notabilities) ” ” penalty for allowing them to drive, i. 209 ” ” rise of, i. 231 ” ” incident on the road with, ii. 91–3 ” ” originated about 1800, ii. 239 ” ” account of the, ii. 239–59 Balloon coaches, appear about 1785, i. 296 “Basket,” the, described, i. 96, 99; miseries of travelling in, i. 101, 295 Baxendale, Joseph, ii. 127–43, 207 Besant, designer of mail-coaches, i. 178 Bonnor, Charles, i. 168, 171 “Booking,” i. 320–23 ” -clerks, responsibilities of, i. 320 ” ” described by Dickens, i. 322, 330 ” -offices, i. 320–23 ” ” described by Dickens, i. 122, 330 Boonen, Wm., Queen Elizabeth’s coachman, i. 5 Brighton, first coach to, 1756, i. 134; first Sunday coach to, 1792, i. 198 Buckingham, Earl of, sets up a carriage, i. 7 Bugles (_see_ Key Bugles) Byers, ----, professional informer, i. 214–17 Canals, ii. 130, 133 “Caravan,” origin of word, ii. 128, 129 Carriages, introduction of, i. 2–13; become fashionable, i. 11 Carriers, the, i. 65; antiquity of, i. 103; account of, i. 103–45; restrictions on, 1622–29, i. 195; forbidden to travel on Sundays, 1627, i. 196 Cary, Robert, rides horseback to Edinburgh, 1603, i. 16 Coach and Harness Makers Company, founded 1677, i. 12 “Coach and six through Act of Parliament,” origin of saying, i. 86