RAILWAY
TRAINS. –  At all hours of the day and night, in all directions,
and at all points, the railway continues its wonderful and incessant
labours. Thus, last year 1,902,069 passenger trains, travelling 44,594,359 miles, and 1,222,617 goods trains, travelling 42,973,849 miles, were run
in England and Wales, 275,825 passenger trains, travelling 5,044,655
miles, 276,152 goods trains, travelling 6,558,777 miles, were run in
Scotland; and 174,445 passenger trains, travelling 4,416,462 miles,
and 30,882 goods trains, travelling 1,553,338 miles, were run in Ireland.
We thus arrive at the amazing aggregate of 105,141,440 miles as the
railway work of the British islands for twelve months. Astronomical
calculations indicate that the earth is 95,000,000 miles from the sun,
and the unwearied locomotives accomplish this immense distance with
an odd 10,000,000 miles to spare. Further it would appear that they
traversed nearly three and a half miles in every second which elapsed
during the year! This prodigious activity was not, however, attained
without a great effort; and taking every item of working expenses into
account, it appears that every mile traversed involved an outlay of
2s. 7 ½ d.*
* 2s. 7 ½ d = just over 13p in today's decimal
currency in the UK.
Statistics on Victorian Railways in Great Britain based on data in the above newspaper article
| Trains |
England and Wales
Train Journeys |
England and Wales
miles |
Scotland
Train Journeys |
Scotland
miles |
Ireland
Train Journeys |
Ireland
miles |
|
Great Britain
Total Train Journeys |
Great Britain
Total miles journeyed |
| Goods Trains |
1,222,617 |
42,973,849 |
276,152 |
6,558,777 |
30,882 |
1,553,338 |
|
1,529,651 |
51,085,964 |
| Passenger Trains |
1,902,069 |
44,594,359 |
275,825 |
5,044,655 |
174,445 |
4,416,462 |
|
2,352,339 |
54,055,476 |
| Total Trains/Miles |
3,124,686 |
87,568,208 |
551,977 |
70,603,432 |
205,327 |
5,969,800 |
|
3,881,990 |
105,141,440 |
|
