The modern passenger railway dates back to 1830. Before that, there were railed ways which carried goods, and occasionally passengers, in vehicles drawn by horses, by ropes attached to stationary engines, or moved (downhill) by gravity. The Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in 1825, was a close forerunner of the modern railway, but it still had primitive features; it used horses as well as locomotives and stationary engines, and passenger coaches were run by independent operators on payment of a toll; furthermore, it carried few passengers, its main function being to carry coal.

But in 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened. It was the first railway to be run with exclusively mechanical traction. All traffic was operated by the railway company; there were no toll-paying independent operators. And, although goods were carried, its primary function was to carry passengers. It was basic, but it was recogniseably a modern railway.

The cartoons shown here were published between 1855 and 1893. Development of the railways between 1830 and 1855 had been very rapid. By 1855 much of the main network had been built, and the railways were well established as the primary mode of transport for long and medium-length passenger journeys. Railway workers had already developed strong public images - especially those figures of authority, the guards. But it was still a very young mode of transport. Its vehicles, its infrastructure, its operating procedures, its culture were all steadily (and often rapidly) evolving; and to many of its passengers it could still be a perplexing novelty.

These cartoons were published in the magazine Punch, and reprinted in a compilation published in 1904 entitled Pictures from Punch.

To see each cartoon enlarged and with its dialogue, click on the picture on this page

In transcribing the texts of the cartoons I have kept as close as possible to the presentation style of the originals, including the use of all capital lettering for dialogue.