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16-529: 51°51′50″N 0°25′16″W  /  51.864°N 0.421°W  / 51.864; -0.421 The Mossman Carriage Collection is a museum housing a collection of horse-drawn vehicles in Stockwood Park , Luton , Bedfordshire . It is the largest collection of such vehicles in the United Kingdom, and includes original vehicles dating from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The collection

32-506: A livery -clad postilion . Decorated troikas were popular in major religious celebrations and weddings. The troika was a part of both urban and rural culture. The horses usually driven in a troika were generally plain and rather small; for example the Vyatka horse was not taller than 14.1  hands (57 inches, 145 cm). However, the wealthy preferred to use the elegant Orlov Trotter . The first troika competitions were held in

48-728: A car that was used in cities before electric trams were developed. A two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle is a cart (see various types below, both for carrying people and for goods). Four-wheeled vehicles have many names – one for heavy loads is most commonly called a wagon . Very light carts and wagons can also be pulled by donkeys (much smaller than horses ), ponies or mules . Other smaller animals are occasionally used, such as large dogs , llamas and goats (see draught animals ). Heavy wagons, carts and agricultural implements can also be pulled by other large draught animals such as oxen , water buffalo , yaks or even camels and elephants . Vehicles pulled by one animal (or by animals in

64-530: A delivery driver. This was the beginning of Mossman's lifelong interest in horse-drawn transport. Mossman had a varied working life, running several businesses and a farm. He acquired a leasing company providing horse-drawn carriages for films. The museum houses 54 registered vehicles of Mossman's, as well as carriages from the Luton Museum Services collection. In total there are more than 63 vehicles on display, including original carriages from

80-457: A load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by automobiles and other forms of self-propelled transport but are still in use today. Horses were domesticated circa 3500 BCE. Before that oxen were used. Historically, a wide variety of arrangements of horses and vehicles have been used, from chariot racing , which involved a small vehicle and four horses abreast, to horsecars or trollies, which used two horses to pull

96-426: A single file) have two shafts that attach either side of the rearmost animal (the wheel animal or wheeler ). Two animals in single file are referred to as a tandem arrangement, and three as a randem . Vehicles that are pulled by a pair (or by a team of several pairs) have a pole that attaches between the wheel pair. Other arrangements are also possible, for example, three or more abreast (a troika ),

112-443: A wheel pair with a single lead animal (a "unicorn"), or a wheel pair with three lead animals abreast (a "pickaxe"). Very heavy loads sometimes had an additional team behind to slow the vehicle down steep hills. Sometimes at a steep hill with frequent traffic, such a team would be hired to passing wagons to help them up or down the hill. Horse-drawn carriages have been in use for at least 3,500 years. Two-wheeled vehicles are balanced by

128-668: Is also steered by the shafts or pole, which are attached to the front axle; this swivels on a turntable or "fifth wheel" beneath the vehicle. From the 15th century drivers of carts were known as carmen, and in London were represented by the Worshipful Company of Carmen . In 1890 there were 13,800 companies in the United States in the business of building carriages pulled by horses. By 1920, only 90 such companies remained. Troika (driving) The term "troika"

144-589: Is significant to the people of Luton, Bedfordshire as it documents the life’s work and passions of a local man. It is also of national significance as the largest private collection of horse-drawn vehicles. The collection was put together by George Mossman who was born in Luton in 1908. Shortly after the First World War , Mossman left school and started work for a local butcher, Panters, in Park Street, as

160-530: Is sometimes used to refer to any three-horse team harnessed abreast, regardless of harness style or what horse-drawn vehicle is used. At full speed a troika can reach 45–50 kilometres per hour (28–31 mph), which was a very high land speed for vehicles in the 17th–19th centuries, making the troika closely associated with a fast ride. The troika was developed in Russia during the 17th century, first being used for speedy mail delivery, and then becoming common by

176-491: The Moscow hippodrome in 1840. The troika was also exhibited at the 1911 Festival of Empire in London. The troika has become a cultural icon of Russia, especially after it was featured in a scene of Nikolay Gogol 's novel Dead Souls , where a character marvels at a troika speeding through the vast expanses of Russia ( Oh troika, winged troika, tell me who invented you? ). The person carried by Gogol's troika – Chichikov ,

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192-504: The 18th to the 20th centuries as well as replicas made for film work in the 20th century. Unusual vehicles include an 18th-century landau and an early-19th-century barouche , both in very good condition. There is also an 1890s 'char-a-bang' which dates from the early days of public transportation. Horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or

208-417: The distribution of weight of the load (driver, passengers, and goods) over the axle, and then held level by the animal – this means that the shafts (or sometimes a pole for two animals) must be fixed rigidly to the vehicle's body. Four-wheeled vehicles remain level on their own, and so the shafts or pole are hinged vertically, allowing them to rise and fall with the movement of the animals. A four-wheeled vehicle

224-475: The late 18th century. It was used for travelling in stages, where teams of tired horses could be exchanged for fresh animals to transport loads over long distances. Prior to this time, only groups of three or more people could use three horses, and a single person or two people had the right to only drive a single horse or a pair. During the Russian Empire , the upper classes would use a troika driven by

240-487: The protagonist of the novel – is a fraudster buying "dead souls" (ownership of dead serfs whose deaths had not yet been registered by population censuses) with the intent of taking out a loan against them. The irony of the iconic Russian troika being the bearer of a swindler has been discussed in Vasily Shukshin 's short story Started Skidding ( "Забуксовал" ). The 1934 Russian film Lieutenant Kijé portrays

256-611: Was donated to the Luton Museum Service in 1991 (now Stockwood Discovery Centre part of Luton Culture) and has examples of horse-drawn road vehicles and carriages used in Britain dating from Roman times up until the 1930s. The collection has examples of vehicles used by tradesmen and ordinary people as well as luxury vehicles and state coaches used by the British nobility and on the large British estates. The collection

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