Sherlock Holmes

[johnnychips]

I don't know if this has been covered before; if so I apologise.

Sherlock Holmes, in an effort to avoid Professor Moriarty, took a boat train to Dover with Dr Watson, which left just in time to let them see Moriarty shaking his fist at them as they left the platform.

Further to confuse their adversary, they debunked at Canterbury, only to see Moriarty fly past half an hour later in what seems to be a privately hired loco and carriage.

The book was written about 1900 (this is the place to apologise for my not giving more details: my copy is in store). Was it really possible to hire a private train in those days, and get it mobilised so quickly?

 

[yorksrob]

Perhaps Professor Moriarty was also the chairman of the South Eastern & Chatham Railways Managing Committee

 

[johnnychips]

Well he was outwardly very respectable and admired, so you never know.

 

[Phil.]

In a work of fiction anything can happen - that's why it's called fiction. I believe it took the helicopter pilot in the first "Mission Impossible" film three goes before he managed to fly it through the channel tunnel. In the Alfred Hitchcock film, "Flying Scotsman" you can see just how easy it is to uncouple a moving train with a penknife.

Actually it was possible to hire a private train then, in effect it still is now but it would have taken time.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Back in the 19thC - large stations often had a standby engine to hand - and a "special" could often be rustled up quickly - though you would have needed deep pockets. There was a law case by the GWR against a passenger who ordered a special from Swindon - but his cheque bounced ! - so he was taken to court for it !

 

[DaleCooper]

I'd say that's one of the more plausible events in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

 

[johnnychips]

Thank you!

 

[Taunton]

Many of the Sherlock Holmes stories which involve train travel have slightly (but only just) improbable journeys, wrong London termini, etc. There was a magazine article in Railway World many years ago which listed them all.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would appear to have been a railway enthusiast judging by some other works, a classic is "The Lost Special", it's here if you haven't read it :

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LosSpe.shtml

yet another of his accounts including instantly-hired special trains. I do imagine that the slight inaccuracies of geography, like the sometimes fictional company names, were deliberate, to divert any complaints from real persons.

 

[CatfordCat]

to be exact, 'The Final Problem' (the Sherlock Holmes story referred to) was published in 1893, but refers to events which happened in 1891.

Dr Watson does make it clear in some of his accounts of Sherlock Holmes' cases that he has changed names and places to protect the innocent (or in a few cases not quite so innocent)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story 'The Man with the Watches' also takes place on the railway (this took place in 1892, while Holmes was presumed dead and out of the country)

 

[yorksrob]

Perhaps Professor Moriarty was also the chairman of the South Eastern & Chatham Railways Managing Committee

to be exact, 'The Final Problem' (the Sherlock Holmes story referred to) was published in 1893, but refers to events which happened in 1891.

In that case, it would be Chairman of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Co !

 

[krus_aragon]

If we were to look a few decades earlier, to the dawn of the railways...

Hitherto it had been accepted as axiomatic that any highway, whether it was a turnpike, a canal or a horse tramway, should be open to all on payment of tolls fixed by statute. Indeed, it was held that for the owners of such highways themselves to act as carriers upon them would be unfair... The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was authorized by Parliament upon a similar basis, but fortunately it was soon recognized that at least the new Company must be exclusively responsible for the provision of motive power. [...] At first, trains, or especially light engines, had a way of appearing where or when they were least expected. Favoured individuals were granted the privilege of a train to themselves in which they roamed the railway conducting obscure experiments.

Sounds like the sort of thing that Holmes or Moriarty would get up to.

It also sounds like the sort of passage you'd expect to find in a book about railway disasters!

 

[Tangent]

One good example: when Lord Strathcona, the great Scots-Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and politician, lay dying in London in January 1914, an urgent telegram was sent to his lawyer in Edinburgh to come up and make some last-minute changes in his will. The lawyer chartered a special from the CR on the same day which left Princes Street at 12:58, and arrived in London at 8:50 (presumably, at Euston, as the West Coast route was used).

Broadly speaking, I would expect the kinds of people who could afford a 'special' then are the same kinds who can afford a private jet for the same reasons today.

 

[yorksrob]

If I could afford a private jet, I think I'd charter a private train instead. Far more civilised!

 

[essexjohn]

Much earlier than Holmes I know but perhaps of interest. In his book "Red for Danger", LTC Rolt describes how the Great Western Company gave Doctor Dionysius Lardner the use of an experimental train and the liberty of their tracks. Scroll down here https://www.simple-talk.com/how-to-write-an-interesting-technical-article.aspx
for the extract.

 

[Elecman]

Yes and a good job that Brunels response to the infamous doctor has never found favour

 

[70014IronDuke]

Sherlock preferred the Midland route to the LNW when visiting Manchester, ISTR.

 

[DarloRich]

I reckon old Sherlock was a closet spotter - he was always on the train

 

[Calthrop]

I’ll bet you’re right – his “ice-cold totally rational” façade, was just that: deep down, he was as silly and sentimental as any of us...

 

[CatfordCat]

Sherlock preferred the Midland route to the LNW when visiting Manchester, ISTR.

I don't think that any of Dr Watson's original records published by his colleague and literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle include a case in Manchester.

SH travels from St Pancras to Sheffield in 'The Man who was Wanted' which was at one point believed to be an un-published original, but was later proved to be a pastiche.

In 'The Blanched Soldier', SH leaves from Euston to go to Tuxbury 'near Bedford' - maybe somewhere on the Bletchley - Bedford line?

A journey to Mackleton in Hallamshire ('The Priory School') would suggest somewhere on the midland main line, but Euston is again mentioned.

The journey to Birmingham in 'The Stockbrokers Clerk' is by train, but we are not told by which company (although Watson at the time was living close to Paddington)

By implication (SH's client arrived at Liverpool Street to consult SH) Liverpool Street was used for the visit to Norfolk ('The Dancing Men')

In 'The Missing Three Quarter', Cambridge is reached from Kings Cross.

 

[yorksrob]

I don't think that any of Dr Watson's original records published by his colleague and literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle include a case in Manchester.

SH travels from St Pancras to Sheffield in 'The Man who was Wanted' which was at one point believed to be an un-published original, but was later proved to be a pastiche.

In 'The Blanched Soldier', SH leaves from Euston to go to Tuxbury 'near Bedford' - maybe somewhere on the Bletchley - Bedford line?

A journey to Mackleton in Hallamshire ('The Priory School') would suggest somewhere on the midland main line, but Euston is again mentioned.

The journey to Birmingham in 'The Stockbrokers Clerk' is by train, but we are not told by which company (although Watson at the time was living close to Paddington)

By implication (SH's client arrived at Liverpool Street to consult SH) Liverpool Street was used for the visit to Norfolk ('The Dancing Men')

In 'The Missing Three Quarter', Cambridge is reached from Kings Cross.

He travels from St Pancreas to Matlock in 'The Dancing Men'. Saw it on ITV3 last week !

 

[CatfordCat]

He travels from St Pancreas to Matlock in 'The Dancing Men'. Saw it on ITV3 last week !

While the ITV adaptations were very close in spirit to the originals, they did adapt some of the plots (I can't immediately remember which episode, but one of the TV adaptations ran two of the originals together.)

I'm not sure why they moved this one geographically - unless filming at St Pancras was easier (and / or easier to make it appear Victorian) than at Liverpool Street in the mid 80s.

the original written version of this was set in Norfolk (more here) - Holmes and Watson arrive at North Walsham Station.

 

[yorksrob]

While the ITV adaptations were very close in spirit to the originals, they did adapt some of the plots (I can't immediately remember which episode, but one of the TV adaptations ran two of the originals together.)

I'm not sure why they moved this one geographically - unless filming at St Pancras was easier (and / or easier to make it appear Victorian) than at Liverpool Street in the mid 80s.

the original written version of this was set in Norfolk (more here) - Holmes and Watson arrive at North Walsham Station.

Ah, that might have been the case. A very good adaptation anyway.

 

[Dr Hoo]

To get back to the original question, I have just got a few old timetable reprints out of store after moving house. Both the GWR in 1902 and the Midland in 1903 have short mentions of the ability to charter a special at a few hours' notice at 'principal stations'.

The Midland gives the most details. It cost 5 shillings per mile (=25p) plus the normal first class or third class fares for the party. A return trip was charged at 7 shillings and sixpence per mile (presumably meaning route mile).

By was of comparison, a first class return from St Pancras to Glasgow cost just over £5 10s at the time.

Interestingly the Great Central didn't seem to offer equivalent facilities. Presumably they had clocked that Professor Moriarty was unlikely to rock up at Grimsby and their newly opened Marylebone didn't have the luxury of spare locomotives and crews hanging around on the off chance.