Mr. Thomas Cook, the celebrated excursionist, in an article in the
_Leisure Hour_ remarks:—“As a pioneer in a wide field of thought and
action, my course can never be repeated. It has been mine to battle
against inaugural difficulties, and to place the system on a basis of
consolidated strength. It was mine to lay the foundations of a system on
which others, both individuals and companies, have builded, and there is
not a phase of the tourist plans of Europe and America that was not
embodied in my plans or foreshadowed in my ideas. The whole thing seemed
to come to me as by intuition, and my spirit recoiled at the idea of
imitation.
“The beginning was very small, and was on this wise. I believe that the
Midland Railway from Derby to Rugby _via_ Leicester was opened in 1840.
At that time I knew but little of railways, having only travelled over
the Leicester and Swannington line from Leicester to Long Lane, a
terminus near to the Leicestershire collieries. The reports in the
papers of the opening of the new line created astonishment in
Leicestershire, and I had read of an interchange of visits between the
Leicester and Nottingham Mechanics’ Institutes. I was an enthusiastic
temperance man, and the secretary of a district association, which
embraced parts of the two counties of Leicester and Northampton. A great
meeting was to be held at Leicester, over which Lawrence Heyworth, Esq.,
of Liverpool—a great railway as well as temperance man—was advertised to
preside. From my residence at Market Harborough I walked to Leicester
(fifteen miles) to attend that meeting. About midway between Harborough
and Leicester—my mind’s eye has often reverted to the spot—a thought
flashed through my brain, what a glorious thing it would be if the
newly-developed powers of railways and locomotion could be made
subservient to the promotion of temperance. That thought grew upon me as
I travelled over the last six or eight miles. I carried it up to the
platform, and, strong in the confidence of the sympathy of the chairman,
I broached the idea of engaging a special train to carry the friends of
temperance from Leicester to Loughborough and back to attend a quarterly
delegate meeting appointed to be held there in two or three weeks
following. The chairman approved, the meeting roared with excitement,
and early next day I proposed my grand scheme to John Fox Bell, the
resident secretary of the Midland Counties Railway Company. Mr. Paget,
of Loughborough, opened his park for a gala, and on the day appointed
about five hundred passengers filled some twenty or twenty-five open
carriages—they were called ‘tubs’ in those days—and the party rode the
enormous distance of eleven miles and back for a shilling, children
half-price. We carried music with us, and music met us at the
Loughborough station. The people crowded the streets, filled windows,
covered the house-tops, and cheered us all along the line, with the
heartiest welcome. All went off in the best style and in perfect safety
we returned to Leicester; and thus was struck the keynote of my
excursions, and the social idea grew upon me.”