[RAILWAYS AND INVENTIONS: FORECASTS AND NOVELTIES]
Railways continue to be a fertile seed plot of grievances. In 1876 Charles Keene devises a patent costume for collisions, closely resembling that of a diver. This was the year in which Captain Tyler's report on the Long Ashton accident to the "Flying Dutchman" on July 27 prompted Punch to a scathing set of verses on the G.W.R. directors, of which the motto was, "Westward Ho! with grim Death." The introduction of the Pullman dining-car in 1879 is welcomed in a lyrical effusion, to the air of "The Low-backed Car," in which Punch contrasts the discomforts of "Mugby Junction" days with the new amenities of travel:—
Five minutes, a frantic fixture,
You strove with might and main
To gulp some scalding mixture,
While the bell rang—for the train!
Your tea or soup you swallowed,
As much as did not fly
On your shirt-front or your waistcoat,
From the dense crowd hustling by.