Travelling Coach

Description

Summary

A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are drawn by six horses. Commonly used before steam-powered rail transport was available, a stagecoach made long scheduled trips using stage stations or posts where the stagecoach’s horses would be replaced by fresh horses. The business of running stagecoaches or the act of journeying in them was known as staging.  Some familiar images of the stagecoach are that of a Royal Mail coach passing through a turnpike gate, a Dickensian passenger coach covered in snow pulling up at a coaching inn, a highwayman demanding a coach to “stand and deliver” and a Wells Fargo stagecoach arriving at or leaving a Wild West town. The yard of ale drinking glass is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though it was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts. Until the late 18th century, stagecoaches travelled at an average speed of about 5 miles per hour (8 km/h), with the average daily mileage traversed approximately 60 to 70 miles (97 to 113 km), The period from 1800 to 1830 saw great improvements in the design of coaches, most notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system, and a novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion. Besant, with his partner John Vidler, enjoyed a monopoly on the supply of stagecoaches to the Royal Mail and a virtual monopoly on their upkeep and servicing for the following few decades.