There is more than a touch of romance about a coach and horses, whether it be the splendid state coach in a royal procession drawn by a team of ornately harnessed greys, or the mail-coach clattering over the cobbles of an inn's courtyard, pausing to replace its steaming horses with a fresh team. In the eighteenth century regular stage-coaches linked London with principal towns. Railways took over long-distance traffic in the nineteenth century, but horse-drawn vehicles continued to serve as cabs, station wagons, omnibuses and private conveyances until displaced by motor vehicles. Many can now be found in museums, but a considerable number of privately driven carriages are still in use, and the sport of driving is undergoing a revival. This book traces the evolution of horse-drawn passenger vehicles, tells how they were made and driven, and describes the types of carriage most popular in Britain and some foreign designs. It is a valuable guide for the enthusiast, and a fascinating introduction for the person who may not know a landau from a barouche.

Co-Winner of the 2005 Hagley Business History Book Prize given by the Busines History Conference. In 1926, the Carriage Builders' National Association met for the last time, signaling the automobile's final triumph over the horse-drawn carriage. Only a decade earlier, carriages and wagons were still a common sight on every Main Street in America. In the previous century, carriage-building had been one of the largest and most dynamic industries in the country. In this sweeping study of a forgotten trade, Thomas A. Kinney extends our understanding of nineteenth-century American industrialization far beyond the steel mill and railroad. The legendary Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company in 1880 produced a hundred wagons a day—one every six minutes. Across the country, smaller factories fashioned vast quantities of buggies, farm wagons, and luxury carriages. Today, if we think of carriage and wagon at all, we assume it merely foreshadowed the automobile industry. Yet., the carriage industry epitomized a batch-work approach to production that flourished for decades. Contradicting the model of industrial development in which hand tools, small firms, and individual craftsmanship simply gave way to mechanized factories, the carriage industry successfully employed small-scale business and manufacturing practices throughout its history. The Carriage Trade traces the rise and fall of this heterogeneous industry, from the pre-industrial shop system to the coming of the automobile, using as case studies Studebaker, the New York–based luxury carriage-maker Brewsters, and dozens of smallerfirms from around the country. Kinney also explores the experiences of the carriage and wagon worker over the life of the industry. Deeply researched and strikingly original, this study contributes a vivid chapter to the story of America's industrial revolution.

Discusses facts and myths about American presidents, including if Washington cut down a cherry tree, if Lincoln walked twenty miles to school, and if Taft weighed more than an elephant.

THE PASSING SCENE TRAVEL BY "ROCKET" PART - 2, by John M. Seabrook BOOK REVIEWS THE SEASON OF COACHING CARRIAGE AXLES, by Tom Ryder THE DALZELL AXLE COMPANY OF SOUTH EGREMONT MASSACHUSETTS DRIVING COMPETITIONS,Myopia Four-in-Hand Competition THE FAMOUS FRISIAN SJEES, by Kai Bouma M.A. "I DON'T CARE WHO MADE IT, IT'S FROM ELKHART", by Chuck Pierson THE WHEELS OF AN EMPIRE, by Yvonne de Brazay HOW ONE BECAME FOUR, by Clement R. Hoopes IN QUEST OF A COQUILLARD WAGON, by John and Mildred Frizzell