Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Charles Dickens stops at Market Harborough

The Leicester Mercury looked back to January 1867 today:
The 9.35 from Leicester to London had barely made it past Kibworth, but the passengers were already in a state of open revolt. 
When the train pulled in to Harborough station, windows were angrily yanked down and red-faced travellers bellowed their indignation at the guard, station master and porters alike. 
Their mood would surely have turned uglier still had they set eyes upon the driver and fireman, the cause of their ire. The express was going too fast, the passengers protested: it was intolerable.
We know about this incident because Charles Dickens was on board and later wrote an indignant letter to The Times about it.

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