Tales from "Blackwood," Volume 1

"Tales from 'Blackwood', Volume 1" by Various is a compilation of imaginative stories, probably from the 1800s, that features work from the Scottish journal, Blackwood's Magazine, offering a mix of societal observations and creative narratives. The first story, "How We Got Up The Glenmutchkin Railway" by Professor Aytoun, starts the collection by throwing readers into the ridiculously over-the-top world of railway investing when Britain was obsessed with trains. At the beginning is Augustus Reginald Dunshunner, along with his friend Bob M'Corkindale, who is unmotivated and short on cash. The friends think up a crazy plan to build a railway to a made-up place called Glenmutchkin. The scheme is a funny jab at the wild economic speculation common in the 1800s. Their plan is big but makes no sense, and they involve questionable people.