[Note 299.1] "this town" is probably Harrow on the Hill. Accidents involving the general public were common. As the Railway Review remarks, the line to Boxmoor had just opened. Few people yet understood the dangers and like most early railways, the London to Birmingham line was unfenced as shown in this picture of the cutting at Harrow-on-the-Hill.

[Note 299.2] The line “Gay on the train he used his wonted sport,” suggests that Thomas Port was probably a passenger rather than a railway servant.

[Note 299.3] in the Vision of Mirza by Joseph Addison published 1711, ‘multitudes of people’ fall from the bridge of human life into the waters of eternity The editor of Railway Review assumed that his readership would understand the reference to the relevant passage of the Vision of Mirza. The nature of their work, especially the importance of being able to understand written regulations, meant that railway servants were a notably literate group.

[Note 299.4] The London to Birmingham line opened on 1837