Parliamentary train
Parliamentary trains were introduced by Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom in 1844 as a means of providing a minimum standard for passenger travel.
Until that time there were three classes of carriage provided, third class usually being no more than an open goods wagon, often without seats, sometimes referred to as "Stanhopes". During that year, a select committee had produced six reports on the railways, at the behest of the Board of Trade under its President, W.E.Gladstone.
These led to legislation entitled in full An Act to attach certain Conditions to the construction of future Railways authorised by any Act of the present or succeeding sessions of Parliament; and for other Purposes in relation to Railways, usually referred to, in short, as "Gladstone's Act" or the "1844 Railway Regulation Act".
The original bill had been far-reaching for its time - even proposing state ownership of the railways. Although nothing so revolutionary passed into law, it was decreed that:
- One train with provision for carrying third-class passengers, should run on every line, every day, in each direction, stopping at every station.
- The fare should be 1d. (½p) per mile.
- Its speed should not be less than 12 mph.
- Third-class passengers should be protected from the weather and be provided with seats.
Many railways complied grudgingly, providing the bare minimum, or running the trains early in the morning or late in the evening. The Midland Railway broke the mould by providing three compartments, glazed windows and an oil lamp in the roof. While those who could afford to were travelling first class, others were using third who could afford second, and causing considerable resentment. Finally in 1875 they upgraded the standard of third class and abolished second - in effect simply relabelling the coaches. It is difficult to appreciate, in this day and age, the scandal this caused. It was suggested that the railway was encouraging the working class to have ideas above its station in life.
In time all the other railways followed suit, and because they were legally obliged to provide third class, the oddity of first and third, but no second, persisted into the twentieth century.
Interestingly, some local trains, to this day, have the nickname "The Parliamentary Train."
Parliamentary Trains were painful not least because they stopped at every station. W. S. Gilbert poked fun at them in 1885 Operetta "The Mikado":
" The idiot who, in railway carriages,
Scribbles on window-panes,
We only suffer
To ride on a buffer
On Parliamentary trains."
References
- Ransom, P.J.G., (1990) The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved, London: Heinemann
- Billson, P., (1996) Derby and the Midland Railway, Derby: Breedon Books
