2-981-797 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of the South Indian Railway between Tuticorin and Madura, Madras Presidency: Natives waiting to see the Prince [of Wales], from a sketch by one of our special artists, 1876. '...the Prince...started on his journey along the metre-guage [sic] line from Tuticorin to Trichinopoly, which, indeed, as far as Madura, he opened and hand-selled, the line having only just been completed in time for his journey, and only opened to the public a few days after his transit over it. All along this line the crowds of natives waiting to see the Prince was a most striking aspect of the ceremony. They formed, as it were, a living decoration; and all classes came out, even the very poorest. Some were well dressed, and others had scarce an article upon them. They waited patiently, and did not seem to give the police much trouble. At places a bamboo was put up as a barrier, behind which they stood'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.