[Note 348.1] Railways first applied the term 'class' to the speed of the train not the fares or quality of accommodation. 'first class' trains being faster than 'second class'. By 1840 some railways were using 'first class and 'second class' to distinguish between rates of fare and quality of accommodation so the use of the phrase 'first class train suggests that the song dates from nearer 1840 than 1850 and that it may be a printing of something that had been in the oral tradition for some years

[Note 348.2] "Parish Board" Could be a reference to the Church courts, that often dealt with moral matters and cases of sexual impropriety and are so rich in wicked stories that they earned the nickname 'bawdy courts'. They had fallen out of use by 1850s . Alternatively it could be a reference to the Boards of Guardians set up to administer the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834