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  MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK

[Illustration]

PUNCH LIBRARY OF HUMOUR

Edited by J. A. HAMMERTON

Designed to provide in a series of volumes, each complete in itself, the
cream of our national humour, contributed by the masters of comic
draughtsmanship and the leading wits of the age to "Punch," from its
beginning in 1841 to the present day.

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[Illustration: "READING BETWEEN THE LINES"]

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MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK

_WITH 160 ILLUSTRATIONS_

BY PHIL MAY,
GEORGE DU MAURIER,
CHARLES KEENE,
JOHN LEECH,
SIR JOHN TENNIEL,
E. T. REED,
L. RAVENHILL,
J. BERNARD PARTRIDGE,
REGINALD CLEAVER,
AND MANY OTHER HUMOROUS ARTISTS

[Illustration]

PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE PROPRIETORS OF "PUNCH"

THE EDUCATIONAL BOOK CO. LTD.

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PUNCH LIBRARY OF HUMOUR

_Twenty-five volumes, crown 8vo, 192 pages fully illustrated_

LIFE IN LONDON COUNTRY
LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS
SCOTTISH HUMOUR
IRISH HUMOUR
COCKNEY HUMOUR
IN SOCIETY
AFTER DINNER STORIES
IN BOHEMIA
AT THE PLAY
MR. PUNCH AT HOME
ON THE CONTINONG
RAILWAY BOOK
AT THE SEASIDE
MR. PUNCH AFLOAT
IN THE HUNTING FIELD
MR. PUNCH ON TOUR
WITH ROD AND GUN
MR. PUNCH AWHEEL
BOOK OF SPORTS
GOLF STORIES
IN WIG AND GOWN
ON THE WARPATH
BOOK OF LOVE
WITH THE CHILDREN

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A WORD AT STARTING

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ONLY a few years before MR. PUNCH began his long and brilliant career
had passenger trains and a regular system of railway travelling come
into existence. In his early days it was still very much of a novelty to
undertake a journey of any length by train; a delightful uncertainty
prevailed not only as to the arrival at a given destination, but equally
as to getting away from a starting-place. Naturally, the pens and
pencils of his clever contributors were then frequently in use to
illustrate the humours of railway travel, and even down to the present
time MR. PUNCH has not failed to find in the railway and its
associations "a source of innocent merriment."

It must be admitted that some thirty years ago the pages of PUNCH
literally teemed with biting satires on the management of our railways,
and the fact that his whole-hearted denunciations of the inefficient
service, the carelessness which resulted in frequent accidents, the
excessive charges, the inadequate accommodation, could have been allowed
to pass without numerous actions for libel, is proof of the enormous
advantages which the present generation enjoys in this great matter of
comfortable, rapid and inexpensive transit. Where MR. PUNCH in his
wrath, as voicing the opinion of the public, was wont to ridicule and
condemn the railways and all associated therewith, we to-day are as
ready, and with equal reason, to raise our voice in praise. But ridicule
is ever a stronger impulse to wit than is appreciation, and in these
later days when we are all alive to the abounding merits of our railway
system MR. PUNCH has had less to say about it. If we were to cull from
his pages written in the days of his wrath we might be held guilty of
presenting a gross travesty of the conditions now obtaining. Thus it is
that in one or two cases only have we retained passages from his earlier
chronicles, such as "Rules for the Rail" and "The Third-Class
Traveller's Petition," which have some historical value as reminders
that the railway comfort of the present day presents a remarkable
contrast to the not very distant past.

To-day every member of the community may be regarded as a railway
traveller, so large a part does the railway play in modern life; and it
will be admitted that, with all our improvements, the element of humour
has not been eliminated from our comings and goings by train. We trust
it never may. Here, then, is a compilation of the "best things,"
literary and pictorial, that have appeared in MR. PUNCH'S pages on the
subject, and with his cheery presence as our guard, let us set forth
upon our excursion into the Realm of Fun!

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MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK

RAILWAY JOKES

_As Played Daily on the Principal Lines_

_Turning Business into Pleasure._--Take a traveller pressed for time,
and induce him to enter a train supposed to be in correspondence with
another train belonging to another line, and by which other train the
traveller proposes to proceed to his destination. As the first train
arrives at the junction, start off the second train _en route_ for Town.
The dismay of the traveller when he finds his journey interrupted will
be, to say the least, most mirth-moving.

_The Panic-stricken Passengers._--Allow an express train to arrive at
the station of a rival company two hours behind its time. The travellers
will, of course, be anxious to learn the cause of the delay, and will
(again of course) receive no sort of information on the subject from
the servants of the rival company. Should there be any nervous ladies in
the train, the fun will become fast and furious