Thomas Cook in Paris for the Exhibition. During the 1860s he took parties to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and the United States. The Thomas Cook statue outside Leicester Railway Station, London Road, Leicester (pictured above) was unveiled on 14 January 1994 by his great-great-grandson Thomas Cook. It was sculpted by James Walter Butler RA. In 1872, he formed a partnership with his son, John Mason Cook, and renamed the travel agency as "Thomas Cook & Son". They acquired business premises on Fleet Street, London. The office also contained a shop which sold essential travel accessories, including guide books, luggage, telescopes and footwear. Thomas
Leicester and Swannington Railway still in use. The first mention of the term "railway" in a newspaper was in "The Times" and the "Derby Mercury" in 1790. At a meeting held in Leicester Castle on 12 July 1790 to discuss making the River Soar navigable to Loughborough, it was also suggested that a cut or a railway from Swannington to Loughborough Basin should be built. Leicester and Swannington Railway The Leicester and Swannington Railway (L&S) was one of England's first railways, being opened on 17 July 1832 to bring coal from collieries in west Leicestershire to Leicester. The construction of the railway was a