Very pleasant it must have been in the ‘Thirties’ to travel by a well-appointed stage coach—say the _Rockingham_, _Rodney_, _Trafalgar_, _Wellington_, _True Briton_, _Express_, _Telegraph_, _King William_, or _Queen Adelaide_, all of which coaches were running from Hull in 1832. But this would be, of course, provided the weather were fine, and one could afford to travel ‘first class.’ It would not be pleasant to have to get out and walk uphill as the ‘second class’ passengers were expected to do in the case of a coach running from North Cave to Hull through Brantingham and Hessle; and it would be decidedly unpleasant to have to get out and push behind, as was demanded of the ‘third class’ passengers by this coach. But there was always the danger of highwaymen to be faced, and the Royal Mail travelled ‘with a guard well armed,’ as the coaching bill reproduced on page 241 shows. And what of winter travelling, with the thermometer down below freezing-point and the risk every minute of the coach’s being stuck fast in a snow-drift on a part of the road ‘five miles from anywhere’? Here are two local records which testify to the existence of such discomforts:— [Illustration: _Photo by_] [_C.W. Mason_ Pistols and Holsters formerly used on the Hull and Patrington Stage Coach. (Now in the possession of Dr. J. Wright Mason, Hull) ] 1839. Jan. 7. A dreadful storm visited the country.... For an hour and a half the Scarbro’ mail coach horses could not contend against the wind. The inside passengers of the Beverley coach had to get out and support the vehicle from being overturned. 1846. Dec. 15. Turnpike roads impassable with snow. Scarborough mail coach unable to proceed beyond Bridlington. Narrow escape of several persons from being frozen to death on the highways. Ten years before stage coaches reached the height of their prosperity, a new era had begun—the era of the RAILWAY. The first railway to be used for passenger traffic was one between Stockton and Darlington, and in the year of its opening another from Leeds to Selby was being planned by the great engineer, George Stephenson. This, as originally planned, was to be of a length of 20 miles. Near Leeds there were to be three inclines, up each of which the train was to be hauled by a fixed engine stationed at the summit. The rest of the line was to be worked either by a travelling engine or by a horse. The latter could, it was calculated, be very profitably employed. For his work would only be needed on the flat and up the slight inclines; and for six or seven miles on the journey from Leeds to Selby he could be ‘thrown off’ and could ride ‘in his own carriage behind the train of waggons,’ until his services were again required. Such was Railway Engineering in its infancy.