SLEEPING IN A SLEEPER COACH.
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The Experience of Our Liverpool Correspondent Who Made the First Journey to London by the Newly Inaugurated Service.
TIT_;RING one of his experiences of Ll night travel, Mark Twain, when trying to woo sleep on a long railway journey, set the clackety-clack of the wheels passing over the joints in the metals to rhythmic words which ran something like this :—
Punch in the presence of the passenjare.
A buff trip slip for an eightcent fare, A blue trip slip for a six-cent fare, A pink trip slip for a threecent fare, Punch in the presence of the passenjare."
Despite repetition he was unable to persuade that which was lost to come when wanted most !
Thoughts of the great American humorist kindled a smile when, on Wednesday night, the writer, one of a party of 12 travelling by the Albatross coach from Liverpool to London, tempted by sleep, which was already knocking at the door, soliloquised on this new development in road passenger travel.
We were blazing a new midnight trail, inaugurating a service, therefore the only one of its kind in Europe, the full significance of which cannot at this early stage be fully appreciated or its development forecasted.
To smooth out the rugged brow of night is a task of which motor coach owners have always fought shy, but the development of long-dktance day journeys provided an opening in this virgin territory, which is now about to ,be fully exploited.
P,etween 200 and 300 people assembled in Commutation Row, Liverpool, to give the car a hearty send-off, after its inaugural triumphal journey from London. One of the last passengers to board the coach was the departmental chief ef one of the leading city stores. He was the first to take the initiative in submitting a toast which found popular acceptance : "Success to the Albatross venture." Then the strong men of the North discussed the possibilities of sleep ' and their propensities for early rising.
"Five-thirty every morning is my time," said one of them. Was It a peculiar coincidence that he overslept the following morning? And very badly ! His first acquaintance with the dawn of a new day was when the steward brought him a cup of tea, which he enjoyed and then dozed off for another short nap—until 8.15 a.m.!
Shades of the Fat Boy of "Pickwick Papers" descended heavily on the coach. Everybody, even the representative , of a Liverpool firm of coachowners, reported a full healthy sleep on this luxurious dream car. From Warrington all the inside lights were out, which was a certain indication that passengers had not to tire themselves out by reading to induce repose.
When we tumbled out of our bunks between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., experiences were generously exchanged, and they seemed to reveal strange unanimity. We had all had a very good and comfortable night. The swaying of the coach was not disturbing, but the droning of low and middle gears, and the gearchanging did Occasionally make one realize that we were travelling by road.
"What do I think of the night sleeper service?" echoed a Liverpool business man in response to ray inquiry. "It's a jolly fine scheme. The coach is /corny yet compact, and its ventilation is, I think, excellent. I would not hesitate to travel this way even in winter time.
"My firm could fill a coach like this between Liverpool and London or vice versa almost every day—and it would pay us to. The difference is between 57s. and 25s." He was making a comparison with the railway sleeper service.
Our first passenger disembarked at Barnet. On the way to Woburn Place, London, we exchanged greetings with the Imperial Services day coach, bound for the city we had just left.
An awful indignity was perpetrated in Easton Road. A passenger wanted to catch a train from Euston and asked to be disembarked outside the hotel. He was.
Our next and final stop was at Woburn Place, which we reached at 9.20—nearly one hour late. This delay The first was due to a slight error of route: tails of running times were : Left Liverpool 11.5 p.m. • „ Newcastle 2.14 a.m.
„ Lichfield 3.43 Ran. Left Coventry 5.31 a.m.
„ St. Albans 8.17 a.m.
Arr. London 9.20 a.m.
Mr. It, H. Cox was the driver of the coach except for an interval of about an hour, when he was relieved by Mr. Chirgwin. Driver Cox looked—and said he felt—quite fit after being nearly all night at the wheel.
The establishment of the Albatross service of night sleeper coaches enables passengers to travel between London and Glasgow, 541 miles, in 24 hours, including mine hours' sleep. The junction for this traffic is the office of the North End Touring Co., Ltd., 5, Commutation Row, Liverpool. This concern acts as an agent for Anglo Scots Motorways, Ls well as for Albatross Road
arrival in London at the completion of the The latter has , prepared
journey from Liverpool on Thursday last. plans to open up eight new
routes (four from London) Dewith night sleepers.
Within the next two or three weeks Albatross Roadways, Ltd., will announce its plans for handling express Parcel traffic between the two cities.