In The Old Days

The old time-tables of the pioneer railways carry evidence of the virtues of road-rail co-ordination, and the faith of our forefathers in those virtues. In the first time-table issued by the Great Western Railway of England, in 1839, it is recorded that no fewer than sixty-four stage-coaches were carried by rail each day between London and Maidenhead, twenty-five miles distant, to continue their journey by road from Maidenhead to Oxford, Bristol, Gloucester, Hereford, Monmouth and other distant points. In the reverse direction, stage-coaches arriving at the London rail terminus from Maidenhead took to the road at Paddington and proceeded as omnibuses to points in the City and West End. Other old railway time-tables contain references to the movement by rail of omnibuses and road vehicles carrying general merchandise, furnishing proof of early belief in the worth of rail-road co-ordination.—From Our London Correspondent.