THE “AUTOMATON” STEAM OMNIBUS.
But the public’s patronage of the “Automaton” grew less as time went on. People soon found that riding in horse omnibuses was far more enjoyable. Moreover, they discovered that they were much more reliable, the falling of a horse and a minute or two’s delay caused thereby, being the worst that ever happened to them. The “Automaton,” however, could not even be relied upon to start when desired.
In spite of loss of patronage, the “Automaton” dragged on its existence until 1840, when the Turnpike Acts were enforced in London, and gave Hancock the opportunity of discontinuing his steam omnibus and posing as an ill-used man.
And so came to an end the first attempt to run horseless omnibuses in London.
CHAPTER V
Some old omnibus names—Story of the “Royal Blues”—Omnibus racing—Complaints against conductors—Passengers’ behaviour—The well-conducted conductor—The ill-conducted conductor—The “Equirotal Omnibus.”
While Hancock’s steam omnibuses were endeavouring to win public support, horse omnibuses were in a very flourishing condition, and their proprietors were opening new lines in all the chief parts of London.
In 1837 there were fourteen omnibuses running from Blackheath to Charing Cross; twenty-seven from Chelsea to Mile End Gate; forty-one from Piccadilly to Blackwall; nineteen from Hampstead to Holborn, Charing Cross, and the Bank; seventeen from the Angel, Islington, to the Elephant and Castle; and twenty-five from Edgware Road (the spot where Sutherland Avenue now joins Maida Vale) to the Bank. There were also many omnibuses running into the City from Putney, Kew, Richmond, Deptford, Greenwich, Lewisham, Holloway, Highbury, Hornsey, Highgate, Hackney, Homerton, Clapton, Enfield, Edmonton, Peckham, Brixton, Norwood, Kennington, Dulwich, Streatham, and elsewhere.
At that time it was the fashion to give each omnibus line a distinctive name, and people soon understood that a “Favorite” went to Islington, an “Eagle” to Pimlico, and so on. The chief lines were the “Favorites,” the “Eagles,” the “Wellingtons,” the “King Williams,” the “Napoleons,” the “Victorias,” the “Nelsons,” the “Marlboroughs,” the “Hopes,” “Les Dames Blanches,” the “Citizens,” the “Emperors,” the “Venuses,” and the “Marquess of Westminsters.” At the present day the “Atlases,” the “Favorites,” the “Paragons,” the “Royal Blues,” and the “Times,” are the only omnibuses which have names.
The “Eagles” were green omnibuses, and ran from the “Compasses,” at Pimlico, to Blackwall, viâ Piccadilly. They belonged to a Mr. John Clark, and old ’busmen declare that one day, as an “Eagle” was passing Hyde Park Corner, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, then unmarried, overtook it, and by some means or other her long habit was caught by the handle of the open door. Clark, who, so the story runs, was acting as conductor on that occasion, released it instantly, and Her Majesty graciously thanked him for his promptitude. In commemoration of this incident, Clark had the omnibus painted blue, and substituted for the word “Eagle” on the panels, the words “Royal Blue.” Moreover, he had a picture of Her Majesty on horseback painted on the panel of the door. After a time he called all his omnibuses on that line “Royal Blues,” but the original “Royal Blue” was the only one that bore a picture of the Queen.