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Despite the ubiquity of the railway in British life before 1914, trains do not feature extensively in the literature of the time. In the mid-Victorian period, railways were often seen as an instrument of harm, as in the death of Carker in Dickens's Dombey and Son (1848). It was not until much later that railways were written about with affection, and yet so rare are the occasions when the railway becomes central to the story that we could probably reel many of them off from memory, for example E. Nesbit's The Railway Children (1906). It is to the many periodicals of the Victorian era that the historian must look to find contemporary writing featuring railways. They were lambasted mercilessly in Punch, their locomotive and carriage works were investigated in popular magazines such as The London Gazette, and of course they were the entire subject of The Railway Magazine.

It was in another Victorian periodical The Strand Magazine that Sherlock Holmes made his mark, and with him the railway journeys he took. They are the item that interests the railway historian, because their casual inclusion is a valuable window back to the time when the steam railway was as much part of society as the car and the motorway are now. I felt it worthwhile to examine each journey and test it for authenticity.

The creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, was born in Edinburgh in 1859, and studied medicine. He began writing while waiting for patients. The inspiration for Sherlock Holmes apparently arose from the extraordinary forensic talents of one of his tutors at Edinburgh, Dr Joseph Bell, but Doyle's stroke of genius was to combine the bohemian Holmes with the conventional but courageous Dr John Watson. Watson was Holmes's foil, the "everyman" representing the reader. Holmes first appeared in two novels; A Study in Scarlet (1887) and The Sign of Four (1890). Watson marries Miss Mary Morstan, but if Doyle thought that was the last he would hear of his creation, he was mistaken. The tempting fees offered by the publishers of The Strand persuaded Doyle to embark upon a series of short stories which would raise Holmes, and the gaslit, foggy city he inhabited, to mythical status.

The first stories had little or no railway interest in them, but it must have become obvious to Doyle that to keep his detective confined to London would be dull and constricting, and that travel to various crime scenes outside the metropolis would be necessary. Sure enough, from the fourth Adventure onwards, Holmes and Watson regularly board trains for professional purposes.

When analysing the railway journeys of Sherlock Holmes, it sometimes seems that Doyle made peculiar choices of railway companies and their London termini, preferring Paddington (Great Western) or Waterloo (London & South Western) over all others, and never using St Pancras (Midland) at all, even when a journey to Derbyshire was required. The Great Central's Marylebone station was opened too late to feature in the stories, which are nearly all set in the 1889-1899 period. Holmes never took the Underground, preferring a hansom cab or a "four-wheeler" to take him to his station or crime scene. However, when looking at the actual timetables, it usually turns out that Doyle has an excellent reason for writing what he does. Certainly the author makes Watson an accomplished user of Bradshaw, but inevitably there are some gaffes.

For convenience, I have divided the journeys into sections corresponding to the collections of stories as published. The earliest timetables I have been able to consult have been in my Bradshaw of 1902, not a perfect match, but still just in the Holmesian period. Another difficulty arises where Doyle has changed the name of a location. Where I have made an identification, tentative or otherwise, I note it in the text. The illustrations are the work of Sidney Paget, who added considerably to the legend of Sherlock Holmes with his portrayal of a tall, beak-nosed man, wearing a variety of travelling hats and coats, modelled on the artist's brother Walter. Paget's exterior drawings of carriages are not specific to any company and are rather bland. By contrast, his carriage interiors are very detailed, and I think he must have procured some official photographs for the purpose.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The first recorded journey of Sherlock Holmes occurs in the fourth story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" (October 1891). Holmes and Watson are required to travel to Ross (GWR) in Herefordshire from Paddington. At the time of the story (1890) the GWR was still running broad gauge trains, but all broad gauge lines except those beyond Exeter were laid with a third rail for standard gauge, and some 300 miles of former broad gauge had already been "narrowed" to standard gauge, including the line from Grange Court to Hereford. It was likely that Holmes and Watson boarded a standard gauge train, as by this time almost the only broad gauge trains running in and out of Paddington were the West of England expresses. Holmes states that their train left Paddington at 11.15 a.m. The 1902 Bradshaw has an equivalent train leaving at 10.30 a.m, arriving Gloucester 1.48 p.m. Lunch in Holmes's journey was taken at Swindon, a common occurrence for which ten minutes were allowed in the timetable by contracted arrangement with the caterers, although the refreshment rooms at Swindon did not have a very good reputation at the time. The introduction of GWR dining cars from 1896 (originally first class only) made these lunch stops redundant. The branch line train to Hereford left Gloucester in 1902 at 1.55 p.m, arriving at Ross 2.48 p.m. Watson describes coming in to Ross at "nearly four o'clock". Later in the day, Holmes takes a trip into Hereford itself, not difficult as there was a good service of trains on the branch extending into the evening.

In the next story "The Five Orange Pips" (November 1891) we find our first puzzling anomaly. The story tells of the unfortunate demise of their client John Openshaw at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr Openshaw lived in Horsham, Sussex, on the London Brighton & South Coast Railway, and yet Doyle would have him returning to Horsham from Waterloo (LSWR). Horsham could be reached from Waterloo, by changing at Leatherhead on the Epsom & Leatherhead Joint (LBSC/LSWR), or taking the main line to Guildford and changing there, but why bother when a direct service could be taken from Victoria (LBSC), which was also closer to Baker Street? Possibly the answer is twofold, if my Bradshaw is anything to go by. Firstly, if the time was "not yet nine" as stated by Holmes, Openshaw had missed the last direct train from Victoria, and a later one from London Bridge, whereas there were still trains to Leatherhead and Guildford running from Waterloo. Secondly, it was a plot device, as the route from Baker Street to Waterloo would take Openshaw to the dangerous steps and alleyways near the river, where he could be waylaid and drowned.

Leatherhead itself is a destination in the eighth adventure "The Speckled Band" (February 1892). Set in 1883, not long after Holmes and Watson had begun their association, once again our heroes drive to Waterloo instead of Victoria in order to take the train to meet their client Miss Helen Stoner. It seems the LSWR gave a superior service to Leatherhead which took on average 55 minutes, whereas the LBSC trains usually took over an hour, although one fast service ran it in 46 minutes. After the death of her stepfather, Holmes and Watson took Miss Stoner on a morning train to convey her to her aunt at Harrow. This would be a tortuous journey indeed. I believe the best route would have been to take the LSWR as far as Clapham Junction, then by London & North Western Railway train up the West London line via Kensington (Addison Road) to Willesdon Junction, finally completing the journey to Harrow & Wealdstone along the LNWR main line. The friends then simply return to Euston later in the day, discussing the case on the way. None of this is detailed by Doyle, but his London readers may have been able to fill in the gaps themselves.

The following adventure "The Engineer's Thumb" (March 1892) reminds the reader that there was more than one railway present in Reading. The unfortunate engineer of the title, Victor Hatherley, came to Watson's practice straight from Paddington Station in order to dress a wound; his thumb had been hacked off in a murderous attack. Naturally, Watson takes him to Holmes. Mr Hatherley had been persuaded to visit in secret (and late at night) an establishment near "Eyford" in Berkshire, seven miles from Reading. I am confident in identifying the actual location as Earley, especially when we learn that the engineer starts from Paddington, and finds that "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station". This refers to the South Eastern Railway's Reading branch, an unexpected interloper from Guildford. The LSWR used the station as well, via a branch from Ascot. Mr Hatherley caught the last train at 11.05 p.m, which happened to be an LSWR train connecting with the 10.00 p.m express from Paddington. After an eventful night, he managed to return by the same route early that morning. He arrived at Paddington about 6.30 a.m, which corresponds with the arrival of a West of England express, but in 1902 there is no train early enough from Earley (!) for him to catch this train at Reading. Holmes, Watson and Inspector Bradstreet merely retrace the engineer's steps later in the day.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

For the start of the new season, Doyle opened with what in my opinion is one of his finest stories. Most of the action in "Silver Blaze" (December 1892) takes place in the West Country, and occurs before Watson's marriage, in the 1882-1888 period. Holmes and Watson embark at Paddington (GWR) for Tavistock on Dartmoor, in order to help Colonel Ross find his horse and solve the murder of his trainer. The time is vague, but "within an hour of breakfast". In 1902, the 9.00 a.m departure for Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth is the best candidate, arriving Plymouth (Millbay) at 4.38 p.m. The timing in the 1880s may have been a little easier, but this was one of the GWR's crack expresses, so there may not have been much in it. In 1902, they could have waited for the Corridor Dining Car Express at 10.35 a.m, which would have got them there an hour before the other train, but this kind of service was not available until the mid-1890s. At Plymouth, our friends would have caught the 5.10 p.m for Launceston, alighting at Tavistock just before 6 o'clock, as Watson says: "it was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock". The entire journey would have been undertaken on the broad gauge.

After a day of activity, Holmes announces, much to the surprise of Watson and the disdain of Colonel Ross, that "We return to town by the night-express…..we have had a charming little breath of your beautiful Dartmoor air". Of course they don't know that he has solved the whole thing. The night express mentioned may well have been the 8.55 p.m from Penzance, provided with one first class sleeping carriage, leaving Plymouth at 12.05 a.m. Sleeping carriages were introduced on the GWR in 1881. Paddington was reached at 6.40 a.m. in 1902.

Four days later, the duo were at Winchester to watch the races, specifically the Wessex Cup. The usual journey from Waterloo (LSWR) would have been undertaken, just as in the adventure of "The Copper Beeches". The return journey is an example of one of Doyle's little slips. Watson says "We had the corner of a Pullman car to ourselves that evening as we whirled back to London" and the journey went quickly as Holmes explained the reasoning which led him to solve the case. The LSWR did indeed run a Pullman (a type of coach introduced from America) from Plymouth up to 1889, but apparently sold it to the LBSCR. The Pullman service from Bournemouth via Winchester introduced in 1890 was more successful, so Doyle has made an accurate statement for the time of writing but not for period of the story. To cap it all, he makes the train run to Victoria; Waterloo would surely have been the destination. Doyle must have thought for a moment he was on the LBSC, which ran Pullmans for the rest of its existence. The best evening Up trains in 1902 left Winchester at 5.51 p.m and 8.10 p.m, arriving at Waterloo one hour and forty minutes later, neither of which had Pullman cars.

After such a concentration of railway activity, the next two stories, published in January and February 1893, have only modest journeys. In "The Cardboard Box" a trip was taken to Croydon, and in "The Yellow Face", Norbury was the destination. Both of these locations could be reached from London Bridge (LBSC) in 40 to 45 minutes.

The friends are once again at Waterloo in the case of "The Crooked Man" (July 1893), this time bound for Aldershot in 1889. Holmes had already been there the day before, investigating the death of a respected army commander, Colonel James Barclay. He had returned to Waterloo for supper, calling on Watson and staying overnight. They took the 11.10 a.m from Waterloo and Watson states it was mid-day when they reached Aldershot. As the fastest service in 1902 takes one hour and sixteen minutes for the 35 miles from Waterloo, this seems unlikely. The nearest service to the one Holmes names is the 11.30, which reaches Aldershot via Woking at 12.57 p.m. I believe Doyle must have read his Bradshaw wrongly to get such an optimistic timing.

For "The Naval Treaty" (October 1893) Holmes and Watson visit Woking (LSWR) twice on two consecutive days in July 1889. Watson's old school friend Percy Phelps has asked for help to recover a stolen document. Within an hour of breakfast Watson is at Baker Street, and the detective and his chronicler soon are on their way to Woking on an early train from Waterloo. Journey time was about 45 minutes, for example the 9.30 a.m arrived at Woking at 10.14 a.m. After seeing Mr Phelps, Holmes and Watson return to London on "a Portsmouth train", arriving about 3.30 p.m for a late lunch at Waterloo. The 2.40 p.m from Woking corresponds to this, running in at 3.24 p.m. This time it was Holmes's turn to admire the view. Not rolling hills for him, but "the beacons of the future" that were the Board Schools. On the next day, they repeat the journey using the same trains, Phelps going to London with Watson, but Holmes remaining incognito at Woking to apprehend the thief, promising to return to Baker Street at 8 o'clock the next morning. This he does, with the stolen treaty, catching the 7.09 a.m from Woking, arriving Waterloo 7.57 a.m.

The last story of the series "The Final Problem" (December 1893) contains the most complicated railway journey Holmes had yet undertaken. In April 1891 Holmes finds it advisable to leave the country until his arch enemy Professor Moriarty is arrested, and resorts to subterfuge to avoid him. Watson boards the Dover boat train at Victoria (London Chatham & Dover Railway side) for the 11.00 a.m departure, the only time they ever travel on the LCDR. Perhaps its poor reputation (it was called by some the "London, Smashem' and Over") kept them away. Holmes also boards the train, in disguise. They disembark at Canterbury, allowing their luggage to go on as a decoy for Moriarty, who engages a special train to follow them. While they hide behind some luggage, Moriarty's special dashes past. In 1902 the boat train does not stop at Canterbury, but it probably did in the preceding decade. The friends would have alighted there around 12.30 p.m.

Holmes's idea is to make their way across country to Newhaven and the Dieppe ferry. They find they have an hour to wait before they can get a train to Newhaven. Holmes is unsure whether to have an early lunch at Canterbury, or to risk starving before they reach Newhaven. They certainly would have been starving by the time they got there, as the journey, far from being the simple task Doyle implies, involved six hours and two different railways. Here is the journey as it was in 1902. The two friends would first of all have to walk between the Canterbury LCDR station (later East) and the SER station (later West), and board a local train to Ashford at 1.24 p.m, arriving there at 2.00 p.m. After an hour's wait, the 3.00 p.m train would deliver them to Hastings at 3.57 p.m. A Brighton train of the LBSC would leave them at Lewes an hour later. Here they could take the next connection to Newhaven Harbour at 7.15, arriving there at 7.28 p.m, seventy-five miles, six hours and four minutes after leaving Canterbury. Alternatively, Holmes and Watson could wait for the boat train from London, and board it at Lewes 10.18 pm. After an overnight crossing to Dieppe, the weary travellers could disembark in Paris (St.Lazarre) at 7.15 a.m the following morning. It's just as well Watson considered himself an old campaigner, able to make a bivouac anywhere.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Possibly the best known Sherlock Holmes adventure at the present time was inspired by a stay at Cromer Hall, only a mile from where I am writing. Doyle was told of the Norfolk legend of Black Shuck, a spectral hound. He relocated the legend to Dartmoor, no doubt to take advantage of the dramatic scenery. The journey to Cromer (Great Eastern Railway) by train that he must have experienced later resurfaced in "The Dancing Men".

The time period for the story is once again in doubt. Doyle implies in the text that it is 1889, but Watson was married by then, so I believe it should be 1888. The story is familiar. Doctor Mortimer wishes to protect Sir Henry Baskerville from the family curse, the hound of the title, and Watson is sent with Sir Henry as his guardian. Much intrigue follows, beset with fogs and bogs, until the criminal is exposed.

Sir Henry arrives at Waterloo off the boat train at approximately 10.50 a.m. At that time, the LSWR had the advantage over the GWR in terms of mileage from Plymouth to London. There is no equivalent train in 1902, but timings of the Atlantic crossings would no doubt have altered many times in the preceding decade.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Having been prevailed upon by the public and his publishers to bring back his creation despite Holmes's apparent death in 1891, Doyle (now Sir Arthur) resumed the series of short stories in The Strand after a ten year gap. The first adventure ties up the loose ends from "The Final Problem" very neatly, and Holmes takes his place once more in Baker Street in 1894, having been presumed dead for three years. Mrs Watson had died in the interim, and so Watson was free to move back into his old chambers, a much better scenario. Doyle seems to have been refreshed after his rest from the characters and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles and he sets Holmes and Watson on a series of classic adventures, many of which surpass his earlier efforts.

In the second adventure "The Norwood Builder" (November 1903) it is believed that Mr Jonas Oldacre was murdered by John Hector Macfarlane because of a Will, but Holmes deduces that the said Will was written up on an afternoon train into town from Lower Norwood, where Oldacre lived, the pattern of writing indicating that it was an express. There is indeed a fast train into London Bridge station, originating in Purley at 1.01 p.m, and stopping only at Norwood Junction and New Cross. In quest of information, Holmes travels first to Blackheath (SER) from Charing Cross, and then to Norwood, probably by hansom-cab, as the train journey would be awkward. It would have involved taking a London train back one stop to Lewisham Junction, and then taking a Croydon (Addiscombe Road) train, possibly alighting at Elmer's End.

The following tale "The Dancing Men" (December 1903) is one of the best stories, and yet a tragic one. Set in 1898, Holmes infers from some seemingly harmless drawings of stick figures that his client, Mr Hilton Cubitt of Riding Thorpe Manor in Norfolk, is in mortal danger, and rushes to save him. But in one of the most shocking plot developments of the whole canon, this decent country squire is shot dead, possibly by his own wife. Holmes and Watson take the earliest train they can but they arrive too late to prevent the tragedy. In 1902 this would have been the 5.08 a.m from Liverpool Street (GER), and after changing at Norwich the friends would arrive at North Walsham at 9.39 a.m. Riding Thorpe was an adaption of the name Edingthorpe, a few miles east of North Walsham. After a rapid and impressive investigation, they were able to return by the 3.40 express to London.

The seeds of this story were planted by Doyle's visit to Cromer some years before, the same fertile trip that provided him with The Hound of the Baskervilles. He undoubtedly took advantage of the new Cromer express introduced in 1896, which used the Wensum curve at Norwich to avoid running into the terminus, with the first stop at North Walsham; 131 miles in two hours and forty minutes. Holmes and Watson were too early to catch the first Up service from London, which ran at 1.35 p.m, but they were able to take the Down train, which left North Walsham at 4.10 p.m in 1902, arriving London 7.13 p.m.

The fourth adventure "The Solitary Cyclist" (January 1904) involves a number of trips to Farnham in Surrey in 1895. This was on the LSWR from Waterloo, on the Portsmouth line via Alton. There was a fairly frequent service, taking about 1˝ hours for the trip. Miss Violet Smith was in the habit of cycling every Saturday to get the 12.22 p.m into Town. I imagine that this was an express service, which in 1902 runs later, at 1.50 p.m.

The story is set in the 1894 -1904 period, Holmes later stating it was one of his last cases in 1903. The large cheque from Lord Holderness, whose son had been kidnapped, must have provided very nicely for his retirement. The journey from Euston to Macclesfield could be taken by direct express train, running over the North Staffordshire Railway from Stoke. The 4.00 p.m from Euston would run in to Macclesfield (Hibel Road) at 7.43 a.m, as Watson writes; "That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the Peak country". Dr Huxtable, the headmaster, had made the journey up to London that morning, probably by the 9.02 a.m express, arriving Euston 12.20 p.m in 1902, although Holmes remarks that it is "not yet twelve" when Dr Huxtable makes his dramatic entrance by fainting on their hearthrug. He could have arrived at 12.00 noon by catching the 6.50 a.m local service and changing at Stafford. There were no earlier trains.

The death of Captain Peter Carey or "Black Peter" (March 1904) engaged Holmes's attention in 1895, involving a journey to Forest Row in Sussex. This LBSC station was rather off the beaten track, requiring a train from Victoria and a change at Three Bridges on the Brighton main line near Crawley. The 11.55 a.m from Victoria would have got Holmes, Watson and Inspector Stanley Hopkins to Forest Row at 1.35 p.m.

Holmes takes no other railway journey until "The Golden Pince-Nez" (July 1904). The two friends are sitting up late one blustery night in 1894 when they are visited by Hopkins. The eponymous glasses have been found clutched in the dead hand of Mr Willoughby Smith, secretary to Professor Coram of Yoxley Old Place near Chatham. From Hopkins's description, it would seem the house was nearer Gravesend than Chatham, nevertheless it is to Chatham that the friends go. They depart from Charing Cross (SER) rather than take the LCDR from Victoria, taking the 6.00 a.m train, arriving Chatham 7.58 a.m. The perennially puzzled Hopkins had taken the last train back to Town the night before, arriving Charing Cross at 12.30 a.m, hence the late arrival at Baker Street.

The tale of "The Missing Three-Quarter" (August 1904) involves a trip to Cambridge in 1897, not from Liverpool Street (GER), but from King's Cross (Great Northern Railway). The fastest trains on this route via Hitchin and Royston took one hour and twenty minutes, for example the 5.00 p.m from King's Cross, which would accord with their evening arrival at Cambridge. The comparable train from Liverpool Street took a good ten minutes longer, and of course this terminus was not as convenient for Baker Street.

The final railway journey in this series in "The Abbey Grange" (September 1904) has Holmes and his companion travelling to Chislehurst in the winter of 1897, to investigate the death of Lord Brackenstall. They leave Charing Cross (SER) at dawn, but in 1902 the earliest train actually leaves Cannon Street at 5.44 a.m, running in to Chislehurst at 6.09 a.m. The case is remarkable in that on the return journey, Homes pulls Watson out of the train at an intermediate station, possibly New Cross. Holmes expounds his cause for unease as they wait for a train back to Chislehurst, which turns out to be entirely justified, as Lady Brackenstall's story proves to have been a tissue of lies.

The Remaining Stories

After the high railway mileage Holmes clocks up during The Return of Sherlock Holmes series, there is scant interest for the railway historian in the remaining adventures. Probably the most significant adventure, and certainly one of the best of Doyle's later stories, was "The Bruce-Partington Plans" (December 1908). In this clever tale, surrounded by a thick fog in November 1895, the body of young Cadogan West, a Government employee, is found by the side of the Metropolitan Railway at Aldgate with stolen secret plans of a submarine in his pocket. Holmes visits the scene, where the "inner circle" emerges briefly from the tunnels into the open air, and where there is a curve and a junction (for the line to Aldgate East and Whitechapel). Holmes deduces that the body had been placed on the roof of a carriage from a property with rear windows overlooking the line, and had been thrown off by the train crossing the points. He finds just such a property in Kensington, near Gloucester Road station, where Met trains were often held at signals at the intersection with another railway (probably the District Railway's Cromwell Curve North Junction) allowing Cadogan West's body to be dumped on the carriage roof. In the course of the investigation, Holmes also travels to Woolwich Arsenal, a thirty minute trip on the SER from London Bridge. An excited West had been seen on the 8.15 p.m to London from Woolwich, after abruptly leaving his fiancé standing in the foggy street at about 7.30 p.m. In 1902, this train leaves at 8.07 p.m.

The novel "The Valley of Fear" (1914-15) is set c.1888 before Watson's marriage, and only mentions the railway obliquely. A train is taken from Victoria for Birlstone in Sussex, where Mr John Douglas has apparently been murdered. The description of the area corresponds to East Grinstead on the LBSC loop line via Oxted. Trains on this route had the distinction of traversing the Croydon & Oxted Joint, owned by both the LBSC and the SER.

The adventure of "The Blanched Soldier" (November 1926) contains an example of one of Doyle's strange choices. Holmes has to go up to Tuxbury Old Place, a hall in its own grounds in Bedfordshire. Doyle sends him from Euston (LNWR), rather than the more obvious Midland from St.Pancras. I can only assume Doyle was thinking of Woburn Abbey when he wrote the piece, the nearest station being Woburn Sands on the LNWR Bletchley to Cambridge line. The best train was the 10.15 a.m from Euston which could have got him there in just less than an hour and a half.

Although Holmes has to travel to various places in Hampshire, Sussex and Berkshire over the next few years, the journeys are barely mentioned. The last adventure which contains any real railway interest is "The Retired Colourman" (January 1927). In this story, set in 1899, Holmes sends Watson with their client Josiah Amberley on a trip to Little Purlington near Frinton in Essex, in order to find vital new evidence. They catch the 5.20 p.m from Liverpool Street (GER). Watson states "Little Purlington is not an easy place to reach, for it is on a branch line. The remembrance of the journey is not a pleasant one, for the weather was hot, the train slow, and my companion sullen and silent". As a matter of fact, the 5.30 p.m from Liverpool Street in 1902 is one of the better trains, stopping only once before reaching Colchester. After changing trains and a ten minute wait, the 6.57 p.m from Colchester ran without stopping until Thorpe-le-Soken, reaching Frinton at 7.35 p.m, an average speed of 29 miles an hour. Obviously not quite the express speeds that Watson was used to, but Doyle is once again slightly exaggerating for dramatic effect.

I undertook this study with deep affection for the Sherlock Holmes stories, and not from any desire to expose Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's shortcomings as an author. There is a flourishing Sherlock Holmes industry on the World Wide Web, mostly based in the United States, where whole pages are devoted to finding inconsistencies in the adventures, and trying to explain them from the point of view that the text is "sacred" and cannot be altered. I do not subscribe to this view, because it forgets that Doyle was a jobbing writer, with many different stories on his mind, and so it is natural that there are inconsistencies. On the whole, as I have found, these anomalies do not extend to Doyle's railway journeys, for which I am glad, although I still can't understand why he never used the Midland!

References

The Sherlock Holmes Illustrated Omnibus (John Murray and Jonathan Cape 1976)

The Penguin Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Penguin 1981)

Bradshaw's Guide July 1902

British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas (Ian Allan 1958)

Nineteenth Century Railway Carriages Hamilton Ellis (Modern Transport 1949)

Locomotive and Train Working in the 19^th Century E.L.Ahrons (Heffer 1951)

British Railway History Hamilton Ellis (Allen and Unwin 1954)

London's Historic Railway Stations J. Betjeman & J. Gay (John Murray 1972)

Britain's Joint Lines H.C.Casserley (Ian Allan 1968)

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