Posted by Robin Selby on April 18, 2025 at 08:24:38 user RobinSelby.
In Reply to: Re: Percy Westerman and Arthur Ransome posted by Alan Hakim on April 18, 2025 at 02:49:57:
Ransome makes it clear that what Tom did was unwise:
• Tom was carrying too much, which made him stumble and drop things. By the time he recovered the train was moving at running speed (‘In another moment he had the tin in his arms and was running beside the carriage’).
• There were two warnings from railway staff; the porter was sufficiently concerned to start running towards Tom.
• Tom called ‘heads’ and threw the rope and tin of paint through the open window. It was a matter of luck that no-one was hurt.
• It was equally a matter of luck that the paint tin did not burst.
• By the time that Dorothea managed to get the door shut the running porter had been left ‘far behind’. Getting hold of the door and closing it would in itself be hazardous.
• The station master at Norwich thought that the matter was serious enough to ring ahead to Wroxham to ensure that Tom was given a good talking to. The Wroxham station master makes it clear that the train had been moving fairly fast (‘fairly got going’).
• This sort of behaviour was habitual for Tom (‘I might have guessed it was you…’).
• All of this was in any case totally unnecessary. Tom had ample time to board the train, except that he was looking for Port and Starboard’s carriage. It is a short trip of about 8 miles as the crow flies, so it made little difference whether they were in the same carriage or the same train. As it happened, by the time Tom reached Wroxham Port and Starboard had been home for an hour. In other words, Tom had got his priorities wrong.
In summary, there is nothing to support Alan Hakim’s proposition that Tom’s behaviour was perfectly normal (‘Everybody did it in those days’). On the contrary, Ransome makes it abundantly clear that Tom’s behaviour was unwise, much like Slogger’s behaviour.
In the 1950’s I travelled frequently by train between Southend and London, and I do not recall that safety practices were in any way lax. Looking into it, I see that since 1913 train companies were in the habit of running effective safety campaigns for passengers and staff alike. I cannot speak for Turkey.
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