Lecount estimated the general results of
the road and canal traffic between here and London as follows:
Pessengers, 233,155; goods, 62,389 tons; parcels, 46,799; beasts,
50,839; sheep, 365,000; pigs, 15,364; the amount expended in cost of
transit being L1,338,217. In 1837 it was estimated that L6,789 was
received per week from coach passengers on the road from here to London,
L1,571 for parcels per coach, and L729 from persons posting along the
same roads; and that L8,120 was received for goods by canals and
waggons, not including iron, timber, cattle, minerals, or other goods at
low tonnage--L17,209 _per week_. There was, notwithstanding the large
number of coaches leaving here every day, no direct conveyance from
Birmingham to Edinburgh. The best and usual route was by Walsall,
Manchester, Preston, and Carlisle; distances and times being,
Manchester, 78-1/2 miles, 8 hours, fare, 14s.; Manchester to Carlisle,
118 miles, 12 hours 55 minutes by the mail, including stoppage of fifty
minutes at Preston for post office purposes, fare, L1 2s. 6d.; Carlisle
to Edinburgh, 95 miles, 9 hours 35 minutes, fare, 18s.; coachmen and
guards' fees about 15s.; all hotel charges, &c., were paid by the
passenger. Total distance, 291-1/2 miles; travelling time, 30-1/2 hours;
cost, L3 9s. 6d., in all. The mail coach which left the Albion reached
London in 10-1/2 hours, which would be reckoned as very good travelling,
even in these days. For some time after the introduction of railways,
the coaching interest was still of some account, for as late as 1840
there were 54 coaches and omnibuses running from here every 24 hours.--
There has been a kind of modern revival of the good old coaching days,
but it has not become popular in this part of the country, though quite
a summer feature on the Brighton Road. A four-in-hand, driven by the
Earl of Aylesford, was put on the road from here to Coventry, at latter
end of April, 1878; and another ran for part of the summer, in 1880, to
Leamington. The introduction of railways set many persons to work on the
making of "steam coaches" to travel on the highways. Captain Ogle coming
here on one of his own inventing September 8th, 1832, direct from
Oxford, having travelled at from ten to fourteen miles per hour. Our
local geniuses were not behindhand, and Messrs. Heaton Bros., and the
well-known Dr. Church brought out machines for the purpose. Both parties
started joint-stock companies to carry out their inve