One of the great battles in the history of railway policing has been the pursuit of equality of pay and conditions with territorial forces. Despite the Wright Committee Report in 1979 (which led to pay parity) there is still no statutory obligation on BTP to pay its officers the same as officers in other forces. Indeed the allowances and pension arrangements are still not as generous. As recently as 2018 claims supported by the Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales for back pay of allowances to ensure parity was rejected by the Chief Constable and Police Authority. I was then rather pleased to read the Essex Standard of the 30 November 1838 which reported that the Directors of the Eastern Counties Railway (the pre-cursor to the Great Eastern Railway and then the LNER) had attended the Petty Sessions (Magistrates Court) at Ilford to update the Bench on their plans for policing. The Justices were keen to know when police would be introduced on the line and where