Mr. Frank Buckland’s First Railway Journey
Mr. Spencer Walpole remarks:—“Of Mr. Buckland’s Christ Church days many good stories are told. Almost every one has heard of the bear which he kept at his rooms, of its misdemeanours, and its rustication. Less familiar, perhaps, is the story of his first journey by the Great Western. The dons, alarmed at the possible consequences of a railway to London, would not allow Brunel to bring the line nearer than to Didcot. Dean Buckland in vain protested against the folly of this decision, and the line was kept out of harm’s way at Didcot. But, the very day on which it was opened, Mr. Frank Buckland, with one or two other undergraduates, drove over to Didcot, travelled up to London, and returned in time to fulfil all the regulations of the university. The Dean, who was probably not altogether displeased at the joke, told the story to his friends who had prided themselves in keeping the line from Oxford. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘you have deprived us of the advantage of a railway, and my son has been up to London.’”