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1852: A man is found murdered on a train going to an illegal bare knuckle fight…
The Excursion Train (The Railway Detective 2)
What you need to know before your trail
On a train going on an excursion to a fight, a body is found, hanged in one of the carriages. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, are dispatched to the scene.
At first they are puzzled as to why the train taking groups of men to an out of town location should be targeted and why a man should be killed in this way. When they find out that the dead man had worked as a public executioner, the macabre link makes them see that this could be a lot stranger and deadly than they at first thought.
Then another body is found…another macabre link to a case getting more strange by the day
Locations
Reset- England - Berkshire
- A: Twyford - train station
- England - London
- G: Paddington-Underground
- H: Hoxton
- I: Thames St
- J: Bethnal Green
Travel Guide
Twyford
The town in Berkshire where the illegal fight is to take place. The train is called an excursion train as it;s heading out to here taking all passengers on board to the field where the fight is going to be held. A popular Victorian pastime it would seem!
Remember these are the early days of rail travel in England, with the train leaving Paddington, London and heading out to Twyford, so from the slums and smog of the city to the cool air and fields of the countryside. The excitement of rail travel and especially to an illegal fight is palpable.
London
A city undergoing great change. Now detective Inspector Robert Colbeck is known as The Railways Detective since the success of his last case and now is brought into this one. The London of bare knuckle fighting opens up for him – Bethnal Green being the place which is known for it apparently.
Scotland Yard as it was, is the focal point for the investigations but there’s a jaunt out to Ashford in Kent
Ashfor, Kent – “The garden of England”
The investigation takes the police here:
“Ashford had been a centre of communication for generations and the arrival of its railway station in 1842 had confirmed its statue. But it was when the railway works was opened seven years alter tat its geographical significance was full ratified.”
This is the village which has become a town ,a major hub for industry and population growth. Changes that not everyone appreciates.
Maidstone, Kent
“Maidstone was an assize town with a long and varied history, its earlier ecclesiastical dominance reflected in the ancient, but expertly restored Pilgrims’s Chapel, its ruined priory, its noble palace, formerly belonging to to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and its imposing churches.”
Streetview Maps
A) Berkshire - Twyford Station - scene of the crime
G) London - Paddington Station today
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Excursion Train (The Railway Detective 2)
Destination: London, Ashford, Maidstone Author/Guide: Edward Marston Departure Time: 1852
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