2-888-205 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Reception of Parisian Railway Excursionists at Dunkerque, [France] - Rue Arago, 1850. Three 'monster' trains arrived '...conveying 2100 passengers, consisting of badauds (Paris Cockneys)...The low fare of 9f. (7s. 6d.) was a sufficient inducement to clerks, shopmen, and employés generally, to avail themselves of this Sunday trip...The reception of the Parisians by the people of Dunkerque...was so spirited as to give the town the appearance of a holiday fete...the Rue Arago presented a multitudinous display of flags and standards floating from the roofs and windows of the houses, and garlands of roses and other flowers, and ribbons...'. In the evening, '...the excursionists in a body, accompanied by 10,000 of the people of Dunkerque, reached the railway station...and the trains left amidst shouts from the Parisians of "Non pas adieu, mais au revoir! Vive les Dunkerquois!",' From "Illustrated London News", 1850.