1 note
"It happen't one sunshoiny mornin' I' june" :- Almost certainly refers to the opening of the first section of the Manchester-Birmingham line 4th June 1840. The section ran from Heaton Norris - just north of Stockport - [Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaton_Norris_railway_station] to a temporary station at Travis Street in Manchester [Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_and_Birmingham_Railway.] (See Notes 515.2 and 515.5 below). The railway was immediately popular and carried nearly two thousand passengers in the first twenty weeks.
"a mon wi' a chimney-sweep sign on his broo" is probably a reference to some sort of brush-like cockade or hackle on the uniform cap of a railway employee. Early railway uniforms were heavily influenced by military uniforms.
"Bu aw're loike for t' com back, so aw ventur't my ride, Wonst moor, up' o' th' mersy o' steum ; -Ther'n a gentlemon's pleck, so aw crop i' to insoide, For a shillin' - wheer nobdy con see 'um.":- apparently the hero paid a shilling for seat in a covered carriage for his return journey; implying that he was previously in an open carriage; the sixpenny fare of the title. An inference supported by the earlier lines "When ther' coom such a blaych o' cowd wind; / Then aw gript fast to th' side, bur my hat it went o'er".
"Then i' Rushfort wi' stopt, an' a rush ther' vur for't" :-
There is a Rushford Park on the line between Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport.
"Till again Stopport pavors aw leet on" :- If Stopport is Stockport, then the likelihood is that the railway referred to is the Manchester and Birmingham.