Free Fire and Steam by Christian Wolmar Page B

feudal attitude towards their staff, which manifested itself in the provision of various benefits within the bounds of what was deemed acceptable to the shareholders. For example, the Liverpool & Manchester pioneered the concept of railway cottages rented cheaply to its employees, a tradition that continued right into the twentieth century. Moreover, while the railway was quick to levy fines, the company also paid bonuses to its ‘servants’ for accident-free records, long service and good conduct, money which it was under no obligation to disburse. The railway even supported employees who were absent from work through injury or illness, but, by contrast, did not consider itself liable for those killed on duty, although discretionary sums were normally paid out. This policy reflected the strong laissez-faire ideology of the time tempered with moral obligations towards the workforce. This combination of harshness and compassion created an ethos that placed great stress on the maintenance of continuity of service, and the huge pride in being arailwayman, summed up in the often used slogan: ‘the train must go through’.
    Indeed, sticking to the timetable was another rule established right from the outset. If at all possible, late starting was to be avoided, even though at first no timings were offered for intermediate stations or even arrival at the final terminus because of concerns over the reliability of the locomotives and other vagaries such as the weather, the stops to be made (the trains called at each of the twenty intermediate stations on the route only by request) and mishaps such as animals on the line or gatemen absenting themselves. People getting on the train along the way had to make an informed guess about when it might arrive, a situation that still exists at some of the network’s more remote stations.
    These early stations were not pleasant places to wait, consisting merely of a gate on to the track, with no raised platform and no shelter and it was a decade before these basic facilities began to be provided. Certainly it was not worth waiting for a train on a Sunday as no services started from either terminus between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. This had been a contentious issue among the directors, some of whom were reluctant to allow any Sunday services at all in line with the strong Sabbatarian traditions in nearby Wales and in Scotland. The partial timetable was a compromise that ensured the operation of the trains did not clash with church services and established a pattern followed later by other railway companies. While most ran some Sunday trains, several companies, especially in Scotland, closed down entirely. The trend even extended to the London Underground with the Metropolitan Railway incorporating a ‘church interval’ into its services when it opened in 1863, a practice that continued as late as 1909. In the 1860s companies began to notice that services appeared to be little used on the Sabbath and withdrew them to save money. Special Sunday working arrangements appear to be a British phenomenon, as European countries, even those with far more devout populations, largely run the same service seven days a week.
    There were other hazards involved in taking the train. The interior of the coaches remained unlit until 1834 and even then only one compartment of each first-class carriage was provided with a single oil lamp, a major fire hazard given that the coaches were wooden. Smoking, however, posed no such risk since it was banned in first class even if theother passengers acquiesced. However, the railway company could hardly stop people in second class from lighting up, given that they were effectively in the open air, but as the accommodation gradually improved and became fully enclosed by 1840, a similar restriction was imposed. While the early railway companies mostly followed suit, arguing that smoking was a fire risk, more and more began to allow it as longer journeys