[Note 590.1] You travels thirty miles an hour" :- Further research is needed to establish if this is accurate.
[Note 590.2] "I never minds the Buffers":- a play on the alternative meaning of buffer(2)
[Note 590.3] "But here have I been on this 'ere blessed platform ever since 6.14. A.M." Railway servants worked very long hours.
[Note 590.4] "this 'ere Hamper too- Marked "Glass with care," :- Just such a hamper is shown in this picture of Cowell in what might well be the character of a railway porter.
[Note 590.5] "We're not allow'd to take no fees / Or we our service break it;
Railway companies made it a disciplinary offence to take tips. [Ref; Simmonds, J & Riddle, G Eds. The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, p387] This facsimilie of a ticket issued by the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway says at the bottom "Notice - No Gratutites allowed to be taken by any Guard, Porter, or other Servant of the Company". Gratutities were an important source of income to Porters. See bar339~Railway Porter Dan.
[Note 590.6] "Beel he says to me":- the text offer the alternative of "Jock" This piece may well be the song referred to in the obtiuray of Arthur Lloyd printed in The Era (July 23rd 1904) which says that "One of Mr Lloyd's songs was a Scotch edition, by permission, of Sam Cowell's Railway Porter".
[Note 590.7] "smoking is strictly prohibited" :- Smoking was widely prohibited from the 1830s until 1868 [Ref: Simmonds, J & Riddle, G Eds. The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, p454]
[Note 590.8] "Take his luggage to the scale And keep him while they weigh it " :-
The amount of luggage carried free of charge by most companies was: first class 150lb (~68.0 kilo); 2nd class 120lb (~54.4 kilo); and third class 100lb (~45.4 kilo) [Ref: Simmonds, J & Riddle, G Eds. The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, p300]
[Note 590.9] "he says to me says he - I want 2 Portmanteaux, 2 Hat Boxes - 2 Writing Cases - 2 Fishing Rods - And 2 Terrier Dogs -" :- Victorian travellers habitually took enormous amounts of luggage with them. The process of loading and unloading luggage could be time-consuming and troublesome as portrayed by the cover of the song sheet.[ref: Simmonds, J & Riddle, G Eds. The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, p454]
The front page of the sheet music by Alfred Concanen, (1835-1886)
[Note 590.10] "Now there's Sam Cowell for instance he's always on the move" Sam Cowell made extensive tours of England in 1857, 1858 and 1859. [Ref: Baker, A.R. British Music Hall; An Illustrated History p8] He died 4 years before this song was published so his fame must have been considerable.
[Note 590.11] "I hear the Bell a ringing":- A system of bell rings was used to communicate between manually operated Signal Boxes