Theatrical Rail Rates

One of the major problems for touring companies in Great Britain during the Edwardian era was transport to move them from town to town. Not only did the personnel and their personal luggage need transporting, but also all of the theatrical paraphernalia associated with the production , ie. the costumes, props and scenery etc. In the days before heavy transport road vehicles (or indeed the modern motorway network) the main mode of transport for theatre companies within the UK were the railways.

The system of theatrical special trains owed it's existenced largely to the efforts of one man, Mr. John Bosworth, an employee of the Midland Railway Company, who came to realise that a better system than the regular scheduled service was required to serve the growing number of touring theatrical companies. In the late nineteenth century, since most theatrical engagements closed on the Saturday and the trains did not run on Sundays, the touring theatrical artiste was often faced with a mad dash to the railway station at the close of the Saturday performance to catch the last train to the next town on the touring schedule. This often entailed getting into a cold, bare carriage and, after an uncomfortable journey, arriving at his/her destination in the wee small hours of the morning. The alternative was to wait until monday to travel which might entail arriving only a few hours before he or she was due to appear on stage for Monday night's show. Bosworth, a clerk in the Railway Company's Derby office, who was a devotee of the theatre, convinced his superiors that there was much to gain for both the Railway Company and the theatrical profession by running special theatre trains on Sundays.

So impressed were the Railway bosses with his plans that not only did they adopt Bosworth's proposals, they set him in charge of the project which he immediately set about with great enthusiasm - so much so in fact that within a very short time the Midland Railway Company enjoyed a virtual monopoly of all theatrical traffic. Bosworth's great genius was in the way he organised his special trains. Theatrical companies booked their journeys in advance and Bosworth scheduled his Sunday Specials so that one train might service a dozen of them or more - starting from Birmingham with three companies on board and heading North, a train might deposit one company at Derby and pick up another, repeating this at other stops along the way till depositing the last at, say, Preston. This was a great source of revenue for the railway company and so much more convenient for the theatrical companies, as well as his special trains being much more comfortable than the regular variety, that before long few theatrical folk would ever even think of travelling other than on a Sunday.

Every theatrical manager knew John Bosworth, or at least knew of him, and to them he was the absolute dictator of the line. The general manager of the railway was nothing to them, Bosworth was the man they dealt with and only his word was good enough for them. When Bosworth died from cerebral apoplexy in May, 1897, his passing was greatly lamented by the theatrical profession whose lives he had so greatly improved.

Another effect of Bosworth's efforts was that it soon became the favourite amusement of many of the youths in the various railway towns like, Derby, Crewe, Sheffield, Leeds, and York to camp out at the railway station on Sunday, armed with a basket of provisions for the day, to watch the comings and goings of the various theatrical companies in the hope of catching a glimpse of some particular favourite and perhaps securing the occasional autograph.

At either end of the journey, to transport the baggage between the theatre and the railway station, horse-drawn wagons were the norm, but since in most towns both the stations and the theatres would be fairly centrally located, this would generally be a fairly short distance.

Costs

Of course the cost of travel for the theatrical companies was very expensive, especially as the stay in any particular town was usually short and moves were frequent. Consequently, the theatrical profession negotiated special rates with the Railways Clearing House for the transport of touring companies. At a meeting in 1896, the railways conceded a one quarter fare confession for theatrical personnel (all classes of of travel) and special rates for baggage trucks, thus considerably reducing the costs for touring companies.

Following a price update which came into force on July 1st, 1912, the rates were then as follows:

Thus, for example, a company of 24 persons travelling a distance of 50 miles and requiring two trucks to carry all of their theatrical equipment would pay 3/4 the standard fare rate for each member of the company (which might include 1st class for the leading members of the company, 2nd or 3rd class for the chorus etc.), would get one baggage truck free and would pay for the other (assuming a small truck) 3d/mile for 50 miles (= 12s. 6d.)