Introduction
In 1832, The Annual Register carried a short notice of the benefits that had accrued from the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in September 1830. It showed in dramatic but plain figures how the scheme’s investors had done very well not only for themselves but for everyone else too.
BEFORE the establishment of the Liverpool and Manchester railway,* there were twenty-two regular and about seven occasional extra [road] coaches between those places, which, in full, could only carry per day 688 persons. The railway, from its commencement, carried 700,000 persons in eighteen months being an average of 1,070 per day. The fare by coach was 10s inside, and 5s outside* — by railway it is 5s inside, and 3s 6d outside.* The time occupied in making the journey by coach was four hours — by railway it is one hour and three-quarters. All the coaches but one have ceased running, and that chiefly for the conveyance of parcels. The mails all travel by the railway, at a saving to government of two-thirds of the expense.
Gentlemen’s carriages are conveyed on trucks by the railway. The locomotives travel in safety after dark. The rate of carriage of goods is 106s per ton; by canal it used to be 156s per ton. The time occupied in the journey by railway is two hours; by canal it is twenty hours. The canals have reduced their rates 30 per cent.
* The line opened with much fanfare on September 15th, 1830, but the occasion was marred by the tragedy of a fatal accident to William Huskisson MP. See The Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The railway was funded by private investors, and cost £739,165 to build. In its first year of operation, it turned a profit of £71,098, rising to £136,688 in 1844. For a contemporary view of the advantages of infrastructure projects funded by the private sector over those funded by the taxpayer, see Macaulay’s remarks in Roses and Poor-Rates, written shortly before the railway opened.
* On a visit to England in 1782, Karl Philipp Moritz had observed that “they have here a curious way of riding, not in, but upon a stage-coach. Persons to whom it is not convenient to pay a full price, instead of the inside, sit on the top of the coach, without any seats or even a rail.” See Roof Riders.
* In the case of railway passengers, ‘riding on the outside’ meant sitting in trucks open to the elements. “The first-class were covered carriages, intended only for the well-to-do” said William T. Jackman (1871-1951) in ‘The Development of Transportation in Modern England’ (1916); “the third-class carriages were at first open and exposed to all the changes of the atmosphere, and were for the poor; while the second-class accommodation was intermediate in quality and cost, and was for the great middle class.”
Précis
In 1832, the ‘Annual Review’ catalogued some benefits brought by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway since its opening two years before. Compared to the roads, the railway had increased passenger numbers by 55%, and cut prices and journey times in half; canals had slashed their rates by 30% to compete with trains that were making the trip ten times faster. (60 / 60 words)
In 1832, the ‘Annual Review’ catalogued some benefits brought by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway since its opening two years before. Compared to the roads, the railway had increased passenger numbers by 55%, and cut prices and journey times in half; canals had slashed their rates by 30% to compete with trains that were making the trip ten times faster.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, despite, if, not, or, until, whether, who.
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