Yorkshire Almanac Geordie tourists depart for York in a special train

23 September 1844: Geordie tourists depart for York in a special train

Gateshead Observer. 1844/10/05. The “Special” Trip to York. Leicester Chronicle. Leicester. Get it:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

(The following account of the Special Trip to York last week, from the Gateshead Observer, will show that the good folks of Leicester and Nottingham had plenty of companions in misfortune.)

Old Ebor was overrun on Monday, by a descent, from all sides, of hordes of strangers. “Ireland for the Irish,” exclaim the Repealers; but it would have been idle to cry, on the day above-mentioned, “York for the Yorkists;” for the ancient city was in the hands of visitors outnumbering almost the ordinary population; and if the latter had been as unkind and inhospitable as they were the very reverse, they would have been turned out of house and home by the new comers. The invaders advanced, chiefly, from two points – from Newcastle in the North, and from Leicester in the South – the two “monster-trains” timing their departure so that they might meet, nearly at the same moment, on the banks of the Ouse; and friends and relatives, dwelling respectively on the Tyne and the Soar, slept on Sunday night 200 miles apart, and (by penny-post appointment) lunched together on Monday morning!

Such marvels we were wont to read of, in our schoolboy-days, in the “Arabian Nights’ Entertainments;” but now, they form a part of our waking, every-day life. And do they not, also, set us a-dreaming of a strange and still more miraculous Future!

Whether or not the arrangements might have been better ordered – whether all the available carriages of the company might not have been placed in a line before the appointed hour of starting, and filled up as the passengers arrived – we are hardly competent to judge; but certain it is, that the train was not in readiness to depart until nearly seven o’clock, and the time advertised was six.

The train – a sort of vertebrated ark – moved slowly on, drawn by four engines – whose power, however gigantic, was severely taxed to give motion to a “tail” having nearly as many joints as O’Connell’s. The number of carriages was fifty-three, namely, nineteen of the first-class, eighteen of the second, and sixteen of the third – the whole weighing, independently, of the engines and tenders, not less than two hundred tons!

The occupants of the pig-pens (promoted, for this occasion, to the dignity of passenger-carriages,) were seized with the genius loci, and amused the bystanders by grunting, bleating, and bellowing their good-byes!… We follow the train to Brockley Whins – where it acquired an accession of seven Shields and twelve Sunderland carriages, making the total number seventy-two – and eight were added at Darlington. The number of engines was then six.

At twelve o’clock, the multitudinous pleasure-party arrived at York; and, favoured by fine weather, they spent a delightful afternoon. Swarms of visitors were also there from Leicester, Nottingham, &c., enjoying themselves (to use a midland phrase) “above a bit.” Among the Leicestrians was a youngster who, when he purchased his ticket for the trip, was so staggered by its cheapness, that he took the precaution of asking “if it was York in Yorkshire they intended to take him to!” At half-past seven o’clock, the northern train was in motion homewards, and made good progress as far as Northallerton – where it was overtaken by the mail-train from London. It then lagged; and it was not until eleven o’clock that it arrived in Darlington.

“We shall not have many hours’ sleep before market-time in the morning,” said a knight of the cleaver to a brother-craft, between Northallerton and Darlington. His cry was changed, after passing the latter town, into- “We shall have to go to market without sleep at all, I fear.” And long before they had reached Gateshead, the dolorous conclusion was forced upon him, that Tuesday morning’s market would be lost!

An hour before midnight, hundreds of persons were assembled at the Gateshead station, awaiting the return of their friends. But twelve o’clock came, and still no train. At half-past twelve, the mail-train arrived, and reported the point at which it overtook} the benighted “monster.” The arrival of the mail silenced one of the many rumours that had got into circulation, viz., that the Victoria bridge had fallen down with the holiday travellers! But when one- two – three – four o’clock came- and the train came not, the minds of friends and relatives, worn-out with watching, were filled with gloomy apprehensions. Ladies, seldom seen abroad in the night air, lingered anxiously at the station; and women of the humbler classes betrayed the fears and solicitude of their hearts hy ejaculations, and even tears. Some few of the ruder sex sought consolation from the barmaid – who ministered to them so largely that they were “powerfully refreshed,” and had need of all the breadth that the broad platform could give, in their zigzag promenade.

Towards five o’clock, the welcome (albeit not very dulcet) sound of the whistle was heard, and the iron-horse shortly afterwards became visible in the grey morning of Tuesday. But when the train drew near, it was found to be a mere fragment of the “monster.” The remainder did not arrive until nearly six- twenty-four hours after the advertised time of starting! The passengers, so merry on Monday morning, descended from their seats “dazed” and sleepy- entirely “used up.” Those of them who were exposed to the cold and damp atmosphere must have passed a miserable night. Inquiries were made, on every hand, as to the cause or causes of the delay. But none of the passengers, so far as we could hear, were altogether in the secret. “Sometimes,” said they, “we were travelling forwards – sometimes backwards: at other times we barely crept along, and every now and then we stopped. But the why and the wherefore, we know not. We were never in any apprehension, however, of danger – we only felt weary with the long delay.” One of the watchers, not over weary for waggery, observed – “Well! at any rate, you must own the directors have given you a day of it!”

We were afterwards informed that the train was severed in two near Ferryhill, by the failure of a coupling link; which leads us to inquire why it is that these “monster trains” should not be divided by the directors into smaller and more manageable ones. The train of Monday and Tuesday was much too long – and water and locomotive-power were deficient. The dampness and “greasiness” of the rails, no doubt, also interfered with the progress of the engines. The untoward result, however, has weakened the public confidence in the management of the line, and brought “cheap trips” into suspicion. To the belated travellers of September 23-24, and the hundreds who “danced attendance” all night at the railway-station, a “cheap trip” advertisement will be, for a long time to come, as repulsive a sight as a glass of water to a hydrophobic patient.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Why did the day-trippers choose Monday 23 rather than eg Sunday 22?

Via Susan Major (Major 2012/08).

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Comment

Why did the day-trippers choose Monday 23 rather than eg Sunday 22?

Via Susan Major (Major 2012/08).

Something to say? Get in touch

25 September 1066: The Stamford Bridge massacre by Harold Godwinson’s army of Harald Hardrada and Tostig Godwinson’s force – symbol of the end of the Viking Age

1 July 1840: The opening of the Hull and Selby Railway terminates the threat to Hull’s port from Goole, Scarborough and Bridlington

12 September 1865: An unexpected gesture from Richard Scurr, watchmaker, at the Thirsk burial of John Pick Allison, solicitor

28 January 1069: In the first major northern battle after Hastings, Tynesiders slaughter a Norman army at Durham, whereupon William the Conqueror ravages the north

22 November 1884: The railway will not revive lead mining at Grassington, but may bring tourism to the Dales

11 March 1864: An inhabitant of Bacon Island survives the Great Sheffield Flood

25 May 1870: An Ascension Eve performance for tourists of the Whitby Penny Hedge ritual

7 May 1698: Abraham de la Pryme describes eel-fishing for animal feed in the River Went near Doncaster

19 August 1931: Lawrence Ennis of Dorman, Long & Co. of Middlesbrough, producer of steel and bridges, supervises closure of the arch on Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Comment

Ennis’ piece begins thus:

When a lad at school in Scotland, I remember learning a little proverb that went something like this:

From little acorns big trees grow.

I daresay it will be wondered what this has got to do with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but this will be clearer when I say that four men sitting over a cup of tea at the late Sir Arthur Dorman’s country home [Grey Towers, Nunthorpe] made the decision to tender for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the result of this decision is now spanning Sydney Harbour. The four mon were the late Sir Arthur J. Dorman, founder and chairman of the company, the late Sir T. Hugh Bell, vice-chairman of the company, Mr. Ralph Freeman, of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, and myself.

The discussion leading to a decision to tender lasted barely an hour, and it was decided that Mr. Freeman would act as our consulting engineer, and would carry out all work relating to designs.

When I left England to submit our tender, I carried with me seven designs, and one of these was accepted by the Government of New South Wales, the contract price being £4,217,721. Our successful design was for the construction of a two-hinged arch bridge of 28 panels, with a clear span of 1630ft, with 10 approach spans, and approach piers and main pylons in granite finish.

After the signing of the contract I returned to England and spent six very busy months in preparing the layout and plan for our fabrication shops, to be erected in Sydney, and in the ordering of the equipment required for the erection in the field – many machines and cranes having to be specially designed on account of the extremely heavy nature of the work. At the same time I laid down a programme of delivery operations to suit site requirements, and altogether an expenditure of practically one million pounds in equipment was incurred during my visit.

I returned to Australia at the end of 1924, accompanied by half a dozen of our own young experts. These men were from Yorkshire, and as young lads roamed the Cleveland Hills as Captain Cook did as a boy.

We brought with us many setting out plans and drawings, and we were therefore ready to start work immediately we arrived.

Readers presumably still know that James Cook achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia.

The University of Sydney’s defunct minisite on “Bradfield’s bridge” seems to suggest that the photo used above and others on their site are from Minutes of Proceedings of The Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 238 – Session 1933-1934, Pt. 2. London: 1935. The article cited contains a fine photo of Ennis and Bradfield “joining the top chord,” but unfortunately reproduction is very poor.

Dorman Long’s Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tyne Bridge both borrowed from the Hell Gate Bridge in New York. Dorman Long’s design team for both projects and others such as London’s Lambeth Bridge was remarkable for the inclusion of a woman, Dorothy Buchanan, first female member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. On the latter, she wrote: “I felt that I represented all the women in the world. It was my hope that I would be followed by many others.”

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