The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 3 (July 1, 1932)

Transport Methods and Needs

Transport Methods and Needs

Mr. Frank Pick, Managing Director of the “Underground” group of British railway companies, and recently elected President of the Institute of Transport, made some thoughtful comments upon changed attitudes in transport in a recent speech.

“The Road vehicle,” said Mr. Pick, “as a serious element in the provision of a complete system of transport, was practically non-existent prior to the War, but to-day there is in existence a very considerable system of transport represented by road vehicles, and a system which has never yet been made a consistent part of a complete scheme of transport for the country as a whole. It has grown up by itself; it has grown up alongside the railways, and the time has come when those engaged in transport should ask themselves whether it ought not to be made a part of that one system of transport which is all the country can afford in these impoverished days.

Large Capacity Wagons

“I look back to the year 1900, when I first entered the railway service. I remember that the problem which was then very much discussed in general managers' offices, and certainly on the old North Eastern Railway, was the question of large wagons—wagons of large capacity. Sir George Gibb had been to America, and had brought back a large mass of data upon the use of large-capacity wagons in the United States. All that data was passed over to me, and I was told to digest it and see what sort of a case could be made out for large-capacity wagons. Knowing that Sir George Gibb desired that there should be a good case for large-capacity wagons, I certainly produced one! I remember analysing at great length the pick-up traffic on the Chicago and North Western Railroad, and I illustrated how successful they were even in massing together small consignments into large box wagons and securing satisfactory results in the case of their trains, which ran westward from Chicago. When one looks back on the efforts which were made in 1900 to justify large-capacity wagons, and when one looks at what is the most popular unit of transport to-day, one is bound to confess to feeling a little shocked. What has happend to the railways is that much of their traffic has gone to the roads; at least, that is what the railwaymen say, though personally I do not feel so satisfied about it. There is certainly, in any case, a great deal of traffic on the roads, and that traffic is not traffic which can be put into large-capacity wagons.

Changed Attitude to Rail Transport.

“From considering the problem of large-capacity wagons I was set to deal with the problem of how longer train-loads could be obtained. That meant larger locomotives, and the use of larger locomotives meant re-building the bridges and re-aligning a great deal of the track. Altogether, it speedily came to involve such a large programme of work that it, obviously, had to be abandoned. Again, if in those days boards of directors had been induced to have those larger locomotives and to carry out the requisite widening works, the results might have been even worse than they are to-day, because the capital of the railways would have been considerably increased, without, presumably, a corresponding increase in their efficiency to-day. The whole attitude in regard to railway transport has, in fact, been reversed during the past thirty years. The effort at the present time is directed to keeping on the railways any sort of consignment, regardless of size, and for that purpose to give a service of quite a different class from that which was contemplated when 40-ton wagons were suggested.