frontispiece

Cartoon, ink pen (stylic art), "Frontispiece", by C.A.S., a satirical comment on railway safety depicting a train derailment, with carriages and locomotives falling down an embankment next to Boxmoor station, and a strange statue looking down from a mound behind, about 1838 - 1843.

This is one of a series of cartoons satirising the early railways. This scene shows a locomotive and its carriages falling down an embankment. Passengers can be seen escaping the wreckage through carriage windows. Some others have been thrown clear of the train. In the background a carriage can be seen, travelling undisturbed. The whole scene is watched by a strange statue placed upon a hill. There was considerable anxiety about the safety of railway travel in the Victorian period, which was only increased by a number of high-profile accidents that occurred throughout the period. The illustration is attributed to ‘C.A.S’. It is possible that C.A.S refers to Charles Alexander Saunders who worked for the Great Western Railway until 1863. The artist and the date of creation remain unknown.