one penny per mile; provided for the running of workmen's trains; and
prescribed a scale of reduced fares for the conveyance of Her Majesty's
soldiers and sailors.

After this Act, and until the year 1888, no further general railway
legislation of importance took place.




CHAPTER XVI.
BELFAST AND THE COUNTY DOWN RAILWAY


After eighteen years of railway life, at the age of 34, I had attained
the coveted position of a general manager. Of a small railway it is
true, but the Belfast and County Down Railway, though unimposing as to
mileage, was a busy and by no means an uninteresting line. A railway
general manager in Ireland was in those days, strange to say, something
of a _rara avis_. There were then in the Green Isle no less than
eighteen separate and distinct working railways, varying from four to
nearly 500 miles in length, and amongst them all only four had a _general
manager_. The system that prevailed was curious. With the exception of
these four general managers (who were not on the larger lines) the
principal officer of an Irish railway was styled _Manager_ or _Traffic
Manager_. He was regarded as the senior official, but over the Traffic
Department only had he _absolute_ control, though other important duties
which affected more than his own department often devolved upon him. He
was, in a sense, maid of all work, and if a man of ability and character
managed, in spite of his somewhat anomalous position, to acquire many of