NEW JANUARY 2014. In 1893 Cassell's published a book by J. Pearson Pattinson entitled British Railways. His aim was to compare the passengers' experience of railways at that date in the UK with those overseas - especially in France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Italy and the USA.

The book began with a general comparison in terms of train speeds, punctuality, ticket costs, the carriages provided for the different classes of traveller and matters of safety. This file contains nine pages comprising a selection of extracts from that, judged to be particularly interesting and informative.

The rest of the book described the situation on the main British companies individually, devoting a chapter to each. This file includes the chapter on the Great Eastern Railway and a page on the London Tilbury and Southend line, whose punctuality was rated as excellent. Two sample trips on each are given in tabular form, listing scheduled and actual times.

The text from the book is unaltered, but has been put into more modern font and is fully word-searchable.

This file will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.