The ticket man scratched his head. 'He can't sit in a seat even if I issued a ticket' - 'No, but he can stand - he's got four legs, one at each corner'. The ticket man reluctantly agreed. 'Mm yes, but I'm afraid if you want that then you'll have to buy the whole carriage.' This Joe did. Apart from not having a goods van in those days, there were no toilets either but the train made two stops between Newcastle and London for the calls of nature. One at York, and a further one at Grantham. The Magpie, however, knew nothing and cared less about the stops for any specific purpose. He unloaded his personal burden whenever he felt like it. Not exactly the way to treat a first class carriage, or his fellow traveller. By the time they reached London Joe had to tread carefully.

Getting the little animal off the train was not easy, and that was only the beginning of Joe's problems, for he now had to find facilities for housing it. After some time he managed to get a 'growler' or cab and the driver was most accommodating. He suggested that he should take Joe and the pony to DeLawns Stables at Kennington. It was here that Joe met a man who did a milk round during the day and a comic act at night. He suggested that Joe should enter The Magpie for the trotting races held regularly between the Horns, Kennington (near where Charlie Chaplin was born) to the top of Streatham Hill.