About the Galicia railway-and-post timetable from 1867

Abstract

The article discusses the railway-and-post timetable published in Cracow in 1867, attempting to explore the potential of this type of source, which is rarely used by historians. An analysis of the information included in the timetable made it possible to describe quite accurately the realities of travelling in Galicia at that time. The major junctions of the region were two cities, Cracow and Lviv, with Przemyśl playing a secondary role and other towns being just local centres. Western and central Galicia had much better railway connections than the southern, northern and eastern parts. The analysis revealed many details concerning the standard of travelling, e.g. the speed of the trains, the time of trips, the frequency of stops, the time of waiting for a connection when changing trains. The timetable also made it possible to infer information about the railway catering service and to estimate the costs of travelling, thus confirming that railway timetables are useful in the historical investigation of everyday life.