COACH PROPRIETORS. i4t 



' I attribute/ he said, ' my losses to railroads entirely. 

 Our business was in a very fair state till then.' In 

 the early part of the year 1839, he said, from the 

 opening of the railroad his business had been 

 gradually decreasing : from the time it opened to 

 Tring, and then to Denbigh Hall, fifteen coaches 

 running daily had been taken off. It also afi'ected 

 coaches running on the Oxford road through Uxbridge 

 and Wycombe when opened to Tring : of these he 

 had about five or six, which were nearly all taken 

 off then. 



Though all the celebrated ' Tally Ho ' coaches, of 

 which there were three, together with the other Bir- 

 mingham day-coaches, had been taken off, Sherman still 

 stuck persistently to the road, and in conjunction with 

 Mrs. Mountain, of the Saracen's Head, worked one 

 night-coach to Birmingham, and kept on the ' Grey- 

 hound.' In fact, in 1839 all the coaches, day and 

 night, were off but two, which there was great difii- 

 culty in keeping on, the fare being reduced to one 

 pound inside, and only twelve shillings outside ; and 

 even with that reduction they got no inside pas- 

 sengers, as they could go by rail for a pound. The 

 number of passengers had, in fact, so dwindled down, 

 that they did not on an average book one inside 

 passenger per coach, but they could have booked 

 more than the number outside. People went away 



