But if passengers were still scarce and not worth the provision of a coach, something could be done, and was done, to expedite the waggons, so that passengers and goods could be conveyed at once. Imagine, then, the stir created by the announcement on October 22nd, 1750, that the “Shrewsbury Flying Stage-waggon will begin to fly on Tuesday next, in five days, winter and summer.” They were, of course, only the poorer classes who were thus catered for——people who had no objection to being wedged in between the rolls of Welsh flannel, the butter and lard, and miscellaneous consignments being conveyed; or else we should not in the same year find a lady, anxious to reach London, riding twenty-two miles to Ivetsey Bank, across country, to catch the Chester and London stage-coach, which, taking six days over the whole journey, would not have brought her to town any sooner.
But times now began to move rapidly, and the close of 1750 saw a new conveyance on the road. This was the “Caravan,” an affair greatly resembling modern gipsy-vans, and fitted up inside with benches for eight, twelve, or even, at a pinch, eighteen persons. It was drawn by “six able horses,” and professed to reach London in four days, but often occupied the whole of five. If it had taken the direct way, instead of wandering off to the Chester road, this promise could have been kept, as it was in 1752, when the proper way was adopted, and Birmingham reached the first night. The fare to London by the “Caravan” was 15_s._
The roads were then, under the operation of various Turnpike Acts and the General Highway Act of 1745, beginning to lay aside something of their pristine horrors, and Shrewsbury coaching enterprise was once more aroused to great issues. In April, 1753, the “Birmingham and Shrewsbury Long Coach, with six able horses, in four days,” started from the “Old Red Lion” (the “Lion,” Wyle Cop), and went to the “Bell,” Holborn. The fare was only 18_s._, not more than 5_s._ over and above the price of a third-class railway journey that nowadays takes you either way in something less than three hours and three-quarters. Competition began at Shrewsbury in less than three months after the establishment of the “Long Coach,” for in the following June Fowler’s “Shrewsbury Stage-coach in three and a half days” began to set out from the “Raven and Bell” to the “George and White Hart,” Aldersgate Street; fare one guinea, outside half-price. It is not on record how these rivals regarded one another, but they seem to have continued, each going to London once a week, for thirteen years before circumstances warranted the intrusion of a third.