Passenger Coach--Horse Drawn Transportation

Concord Coach, 1866. Abbot-Downing Company, Concord, New Hampshire.

 Crawford House Coach, 1867. Abbott-Downing Company, Concord, New Hampshire.

Hack Passenger Coach.  1870. Abbot-Downing Company, Concord, New Hampshire

 Road Coach. 1920. Peters and Sons, England

Wells Fargo Coach. Abbot, Downing & Co., Concord, NH 

'When Wells Fargo announced overland passenger service in April 1867, customers could travel from Sacramento to Omaha for $275.  That was either very expensive or today's mode of transportation is very reasonable........'

Tally Ho--Horse Drawn Transportation

Tally Ho 1875 Holland & Holland Builders, London, England
Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages

Internationally famous, the Tally-Ho Road Coach was a catalyst of the road coaching movement in America, which hit its stride in the 1880s.  The vehicle was brought to this country by Col. Delancey Kane, a founder of the New York Coaching Club and the main force behind the popularization of American road coaching.

Written about widely in newspapers and prominent publications of the time, road coaching became a major event, engaged in by upper class society figures and watched by nearly everyone.  Road coaching took hold at a time that many Americans were feeling nostalgic for a seemingly simpler time in transportation, before stage coaches were supplanted by railroad travel.  As Harper’s Weekly put it, “genuine, healthful enjoyment can be derived from one ride out of Pelham Bridge and back on the top of Colonel Kane’s coach than from the whole flying railway trip from New York to San Francisco.”

'I find it interesting that in the 1880's Americans were longing for a simpler time in transportation before stage coach's and railroad.  Little did they dream what was coming.............'

Omnibus--Horse Drawn Transportation

The “Grace Darling,” named after the maritime heroine who persuaded her father, the keeper of a coastal lighthouse, to rescue shipwrecked passengers, was used by the Huntress family who operated a livery service from the 1860s to 1904 in South Berwick, Maine.

London, England 1872

 Double-decker omnibus built in England in 1874.  Bushnell Carriage Museum, Florida

Sidney, Australia 1893

Sometimes called a "barge," these very large wagons were used for land excursions, generally by hotels for sightseeing on rough terrain because of their high ground clearance from large diameter wheels, four feet in front & five feet in the rear. As this was not an issue on London street's, they were able to utilize the "double-decker" format. The wagons were drawn by a team of six horses, although less were used on smooth or cobble stone streets. Many of these vehicles were names after famous people or locations.