Help understanding a Bradshaw from 1888

[The exile]

Depending where you were, there were either 10 or 12 zoll (inches) to the fuss (foot). I found a miniature gauge line in Switzerland recently which quotes its track gauge in zoll. Is this sort of thing still commonplace I wonder?

A non railway example- but German TV sizes are still quoted in Zoll- or at least they were less than 20 years ago.

 

[30907]

I was surprised how poor the 1888 timetable was - as others have said it took a while for Germany to get its act together after unification.

1899 has 3 or 4 expresses (one looks to be for seasonal traffic - Hoyerschleuse being for the ferry to Sylt), slightly better.
Although Berlin was politically important, it was commercially/industrially something of a backwater (arguably still is) - I imagine Hamburg would have had far more traffic to the Ruhr and Frankfurt.

 

[The exile]

1899 has 3 or 4 expresses (one looks to be for seasonal traffic - Hoyerschleuse being for the ferry to Sylt), slightly better.
Although Berlin was politically important, it was commercially/industrially something of a backwater (arguably still is)

Certainly in terms of heavy industry - and this would have been before the rise of Siemens et al.

 

[Taunton]

Hi, this is a screenshot from the Bradshaw's Continental Rail Guide September 1888. I'm trying to learn how to read timetables, and while I was looking at this page, I couldn't understand how to read it.

There is a certain skill in using Bradshaw, in part due to their sometimes extreme compression techniques to save space. Whether times shown are through trains or connections is one such, but the clues are normally there, even if in different tables. Detaching and shunting to other trains of individual carriages was far more common than now, and sometimes this was varied by the day depending on demand.

One classic story from the UK version of long ago was of a major boarding school headmaster (and railway enthusiast) who, for minor punishments which did not merit him getting his cane out, would produce a Bradshaw and set the miscreants the task of "Um ... a journey from, say, Skegness to ... Aberystwyth". Which they would have to pore over. When the results were produced he would tell them severely that it could be done far better, which he would then recite off the top of his head.

 

[Nelson84]

There is a certain skill in using Bradshaw, in part due to their sometimes extreme compression techniques to save space. Whether times shown are through trains or connections is one such, but the clues are normally there, even if in different tables. Detaching and shunting to other trains of individual carriages was far more common than now, and sometimes this was varied by the day depending on demand.

One classic story from the UK version of long ago was of a major boarding school headmaster (and railway enthusiast) who, for minor punishments which did not merit him getting his cane out, would produce a Bradshaw and set the miscreants the task of "Um ... a journey from, say, Skegness to ... Aberystwyth". Which they would have to pore over. When the results were produced he would tell them severely that it could be done far better, which he would then recite off the top of his head.

When I joined this forum,I made a self-denying ordinance to be a reader only. I have been sorely tempted to add my ha’porth before, but have restrained myself.

I now make an exception as methinks thou speaketh of John Manisty, housemaster of one of the Commoners’ Houses when I was a Scholar in College. His knowledge and enthusiasm for railways (shared with his more well known brother Peter) and his ability to memorize timetables was one of the catalysts for my life-long hobby interest in railways. Unsurprisingly, a major part of my interest is timetables and, before the advent of tools like RTT, trying to work out carriage diagrams.

As a teenager, I succeeded to the responsibility for obtaining mine and my fellow Scholars’ requirements for train tickets for exeats and end of half (including PLA tickets for our trunks), taking the order to the ticket office and returning in due course to collect and distribute the tickets. My journey to our then family home for an exeat started with an H2 over ”the mountains”, then a 2BIL or 2HAL and finally a 4SUB or 4EPB to my home 1930’s V shaped station. With luck, the return journey would include a 4COR (aka a Nelson) on the down leg instead of the morning’s 2BIL or 2HAL. My soubriquet reflects my love of all the vehicles of Maunsell and Bulleid on which I have travelled. When I went to our station on a Summer Saturday morning to observe the extra services from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via our line (non stop if my memory of 60 years ago is right), I am convinced that the headcode behind the stencil was 84. I have not, however, been able to verify this anywhere.

Life has taken me north for the last 50 years and now to retire to a market town no longer with a railway, but which now boasts a highly attractive and extremely well used trail. As one of its 4000 inhabitants, I am strongly opposed to any idea of reinstating a railway. It will not relieve us from traffic jams.

That’s all folks. My ordinance is back in place.

 

[WesternLancer]

When I joined this forum,I made a self-denying ordinance to be a reader only. I have been sorely tempted to add my ha’porth before, but have restrained myself.

I now make an exception as methinks thou speaketh of John Manisty, housemaster of one of the Commoners’ Houses when I was a Scholar in College. His knowledge and enthusiasm for railways (shared with his more well known brother Peter) and his ability to memorize timetables was one of the catalysts for my life-long hobby interest in railways. Unsurprisingly, a major part of my interest is timetables and, before the advent of tools like RTT, trying to work out carriage diagrams.

As a teenager, I succeeded to the responsibility for obtaining mine and my fellow Scholars’ requirements for train tickets for exeats and end of half (including PLA tickets for our trunks), taking the order to the ticket office and returning in due course to collect and distribute the tickets. My journey to our then family home for an exeat started with an H2 over ”the mountains”, then a 2BIL or 2HAL and finally a 4SUB or 4EPB to my home 1930’s V shaped station. With luck, the return journey would include a 4COR (aka a Nelson) on the down leg instead of the morning’s 2BIL or 2HAL. My soubriquet reflects my love of all the vehicles of Maunsell and Bulleid on which I have travelled. When I went to our station on a Summer Saturday morning to observe the extra services from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via our line (non stop if my memory of 60 years ago is right), I am convinced that the headcode behind the stencil was 84. I have not, however, been able to verify this anywhere.

Life has taken me north for the last 50 years and now to retire to a market town no longer with a railway, but which now boasts a highly attractive and extremely well used trail. As one of its 4000 inhabitants, I am strongly opposed to any idea of reinstating a railway. It will not relieve us from traffic jams.

That’s all folks. My ordinance is back in place.

Glad you opted to post on this one!

 

[Taunton]

His knowledge and enthusiasm for railways ... and his ability to memorize timetables

Probably a fair few forum members here who could give him a run for his money ...

 

[Rescars]

When I joined this forum,I made a self-denying ordinance to be a reader only. I have been sorely tempted to add my ha’porth before, but have restrained myself.

I now make an exception as methinks thou speaketh of John Manisty, housemaster of one of the Commoners’ Houses when I was a Scholar in College. His knowledge and enthusiasm for railways (shared with his more well known brother Peter) and his ability to memorize timetables was one of the catalysts for my life-long hobby interest in railways. Unsurprisingly, a major part of my interest is timetables and, before the advent of tools like RTT, trying to work out carriage diagrams.

As a teenager, I succeeded to the responsibility for obtaining mine and my fellow Scholars’ requirements for train tickets for exeats and end of half (including PLA tickets for our trunks), taking the order to the ticket office and returning in due course to collect and distribute the tickets. My journey to our then family home for an exeat started with an H2 over ”the mountains”, then a 2BIL or 2HAL and finally a 4SUB or 4EPB to my home 1930’s V shaped station. With luck, the return journey would include a 4COR (aka a Nelson) on the down leg instead of the morning’s 2BIL or 2HAL. My soubriquet reflects my love of all the vehicles of Maunsell and Bulleid on which I have travelled. When I went to our station on a Summer Saturday morning to observe the extra services from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via our line (non stop if my memory of 60 years ago is right), I am convinced that the headcode behind the stencil was 84. I have not, however, been able to verify this anywhere.

Life has taken me north for the last 50 years and now to retire to a market town no longer with a railway, but which now boasts a highly attractive and extremely well used trail. As one of its 4000 inhabitants, I am strongly opposed to any idea of reinstating a railway. It will not relieve us from traffic jams.

That’s all folks. My ordinance is back in place.

Being a fellow admirer of all things Maunsell, I think you may be in good company on this forum in having your formative years shaped by one of the members of his V class. I am sorry your ordinance is back in place. I, and I am sure others, would enjoy more ha'porths from you.