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Paintings of railway scenes Circa 1855 by Abraham Solomon - 1824-1862 The parting A mother, dressed in black, is comforting her young son who is leaving for a life at sea. The scene is a second class carriage with hard, unpadded, wooden bench seats. First class - the meeting The young man, in uniform and evidently having made a success of his career, has returned to England. He is chatting to an elderly man whilst exchanging glances with the old man's daughter. The scene, as befits the officer's status, is a first class railway carriage. By any standards this is luxurious being fitted out with leather, buttoned, uphoulstery. Seats for five persons The scene this time is an overcrowded third class carriage. In contrast to the scenes above this has a comic, cartoon-like, appearance. Does this suggest a degree of class-consciousness in the painter? The three paintings taken together show very wide differences in the travelling conditions of the three classes in the middle of the 19th century. Nevertheless, even for the third class passengers, conditions had improved considerably. Third class passengers on the first trains had to travel in open trucks.