16 AUGUST 2003, Page 31

Muck in your eye

From C.R. Smith Sir: Yes, you certainly could open the carriage windows under British Rail (Diary, 9 August), but all you got through them, in the days when porters came, tugging forelocks and thankful for a 6d tip, was smoke, smuts and the occasional piece of red-hot coal.

Chris Smith

Dorchester, Dorset