2-798-863 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Railway Mania, 1845. Speculators hang on to the tail of a long-haired troll-like creature riding a steam locomotive, the personification of 'Railway Mania'. 'Written and illustrated by Alfred Crowquill: Railway Speculation has become the sole object of the world - cupidity is aroused, and roguery shields itself under its name, as a more safe and rapid way of gaining its ends. Abroad, as well as at home, has it proved the rallying point of all rascality - the honest man is carried away by the current and becomes absorbed in the vortex - the timid, the quiet, the moral, and he who "has no speculation in his eyes," are at last, after some slight hesitation, caught in the circle of the whirlpool as it expands, and they follow in the giddy whirl with as much excitement as those whom they have watched with pity and derision'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.