[lit-ideas] Re: The omnibus story
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 09:26:17 -0800
I wrote:
Oh dear, now I have to try to remember, without going off mine, my father's story about some colleague or golfer who had something to do with omnibuses and trolleys. I'll send him an e-mail.
My father wrote:
Re your query. Ted Shillibeer and Bob Outram, both members of the club, were connected with transport through ancestry. The first point to point cab runs in London were started by Ted,s ancester to the extent the cabs became known as Shillibeers and developed into London transport. When I was telling this story to Bob Outram he said well what about my ancester ...OuTRAM ! Apparently somewhere around Geordieland the idea came about of putting wheels on rails and thereby reducing the pulling/driving effort.....this is not as clearcut as the first claim but it makes a good story.Even today the comparison between tyres and wheels is something like 1/4or5 in pulling effort so the difference between rough ground and rails is much much more. There is more to golf than hitting a ball.
<x-tad-bigger>Wikipedia confirms that Mr. Shillibeer had an important role in the history of transportation, but they say he invented the omnibus rather than the cab.
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary gives a history of tram that casts doubt on the second claim.</x-tad-bigger>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shillibeer
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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