The Pleasures of the Railroad

Coloured lithograph, The Pleasures of the Rail-Road, Caught in the Railway! by Henry Hughes, 1831. Depicts a locomotive, North Star, running into a group of people, who try to get out of its way. On the footplate are the driver and fireman. One of the men is reading a newspaper and the other is asleep, with his arms folded. There are three men, two women and a girl in front of the engine, tumbling over and running out of the way. The women and girl are well dressed, with large hats. A disabled man in a blue suit drags himself away from the engine, as a brown dog runs from beneath. Another man is visible below the locomotive. Inscription identifies the artist as "H.H" and the publisher as S Gans of Southampton Street, London. North Star was a Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotive, designed and built by the Stephensons, and the satirical cartoon might have been inspired by the death of William Huskisson MP at the opening of the railway in September 1830.