Journal 53 — Autumn 2013

Table of Contents

  • General Ulysses S. Grant in Britain 1877 / By Roger Brettle
  • A Pullman Sleeping car
  • Foreigners / By Ian Howard
  • Midland SS "Antrim": Longitudinal Section & Deck Plans
  • The Midland Railway Steam Ship "Antrim" / By Ian Howard & David Hunt
  • A Settle & Carlisle Navvy Hut / By Mark Rand
  • Marshfield Viaduct, Settle
  • Query Corner
  • Comments on Items in Previous Journals
  • Front cover

    Front cover

    The Settle & Carlisle line is on an embankment starting about ¾ mile from the little town of Settle itself, and continuing for about another mile. The Marshfield viaduct, seen in the centre of our cover photograph, is the most impressive feature of this small section of the Midland’s great mountain railway. This lovely ‘autochrome’ photograph, taken around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, looking almost due east, shows the viaduct well with the town on the other side of the railway. This coloured image leads us into two items in this issue, one being a companion to a much earlier photograph in the article by Mark Rand that shows the viaduct with navvy huts at the base. The other, a small feature on the viaduct itself, compares the cover photograph with one from the Study Centre, and asks what were the four large poles seen on the right hand side of the structure.

    [Ian Howard collection: copies obtainable from the U.S. Library of Congress at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.09069

  • Rear cover

    Rear cover

    Unfortunately, there is no date on this two-sided MR leaflet, one side of which we show on the back cover. The other side consists of drawings of the varied and interesting scenery that one could see on the journey from Liverpool to London over the Midland Railway’s route. It was issued to capture the attention of transatlantic passengers arriving in Liverpool and wishing to journey onwards to London. Despite being undated, the leaflet must have been issued after February 1880, when John Noble took over from James Allport as General Manager of the Midland.

    Pullman cars were introduced on Midland trains between Liverpool, Manchester and London on 1st April 1875 with drawing room cars in the formation of the 10.30a.m. from Liverpool (Central) due at St. Pancras at 4.5p.m., the return service from London at 4.p.m. reaching Liverpool 6 hours later. First and third class passengers were conveyed at ordinary fares in ordinary carriages, second class having been withdrawn from the Midland on 1st January, 1875. A Pullman sleeping car was also run between Liverpool and St. Pancras at this period. However, by 1878, the late-afternoon day service from Liverpool had been stopped, the reduced service being a reflection of the reluctance of the British public to use these vehicles. However, by the time this leaflet was issued, the larger number of trains advertised in the service (both ordinary and with Pullmans) show that the Midland were attempting once more to entice the public onto these luxurious vehicles.

    [Roy F. Burrows Midland Collection Trust, No. 01890: Midland Railway Study Centre]