Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Accidents, Crime

    Detailed account of the sharp decline in interest in the railway business which opens by remarking that, compared with its buoyant state twelve months earlier, the railway 'has scarcely a smiling feature left', with 'rusty [...] hard and deeply sunken' lines 'as unpleasant to contemplate as the Railway Share List'. Describes the initial mania for railway shares but observes that the railway includes such depressing sights as 'Telegraphic Signs' that 'droop pointedly to "Danger"', engines which are 'put on a half-allowance of coals', and railway offices pervaded by 'An unwholesome silence'. Describes the fraudulent means devised by railway office workers to balance their accounts, and the fear felt by clerks and directors on being hauled before a committee of investigation.