Interior of Dynamometer Car, employed for checking the “Silver Jubilees” record runs.

A Happy New Year to all! Time's pendulum swings with unerring precision, and here we are once again at the beginning of another chapter in transportation's ever-varying story. Looking back, outstanding among railway activities of 1935, were the energetic measures taken to speed up passenger movement on both main and branch lines. At the opening of the New Year, Europe is immersed in still more ambitious plans for passenger train acceleration, through the introduction of new streamlined steam and oil-driven trains, many of almost futuristic design.

At Home, the most interesting streamliner is the “Silver Jubilee” Express of the L. & N.E. system, covering the 268 miles between King's Cross, London, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, daily in both directions in exactly four hours, with a single intermediate stop at Darlington. This service has proved exceedingly popular, and recently the “Silver Jubilee” set up a new world's speed record for steam-operated trains conveying ordinary fare-paying passengers. Four 4-6-2 type streamlined locomotives are allocated to the “Silver Jubilee” service, and it was No. 2512, “Silver Fox,” which established the new record. With a load of 270 tons, a maximum speed of 113 m.p.h. was attained over a half-mile section. More than 100 m.p.h. was averaged for 11 miles, and for over 6 miles the speed was 110.8 m.p.h. A light-weight, seven-coach train, seating 198 passengers, the “Silver Jubilee” is decorated outside in silver. Two restaurant cars and a kitchen car are included in its makeup.

Accelerated Time-tables.

While experiments are being conducted by the Home lines in the way of introducing high-speed streamliners, the need for a general acceleration of passenger trains is not being over-looked. Normally, this season does not see any very important accelerations, but actually the winter time-tables show marked speeding-up throughout all the four group systems.

On the L.M. & S. Railway, for example, no fewer than 1,146 passenger trains have been accelerated this winter. The “Royal Scot” throughout run from Glasgow to London (Euston) has been cut to 7 hours 25 minutes, the fastest booking ever recorded. The “Irish Mail” (Holyhead-Euston) has been speeded up, reducing by as much as 25 minutes the journey times between Dublin and many important cities.

A noticeable feature of the winter time-tables is the greatly improved Sunday services on many routes, and the bettered interchange arrangements between the four groups. Week-end travel has grown by leaps and bounds of late, and it is essential the railways should cater suitably for this demand, and not allow so valuable a source of revenue to go untapped.

Streamlined “Pacific,” hauling the L. and N.E. “Silver Jubilee” Express.

Railway Speeds on the Continent.

On the Continent of Europe, probably the best all-round showing from the viewpoint of speed is made by the railways of France. The Nord Railway comes first, with a splendid array of fast, daily heavy main-line trains, linking Paris with a hundred important centres. On this system, “Pacific” type locomotives daily haul 700- to 800-ton trains at average start-to-stop speeds of 55 m.p.h. Daily speeds recorded start-to-stop include runs between Paris and Calais, 59 m.p.h.; Boulogne, 61 m.p.h.; Aulnoy, 62 m.p.h.; Brussels, 64 m.p.h.; and St. Quentin, 65 m.p.h.

The Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean is another system which prides itself upon its high-speed attainments. A noteworthy run is that between Paris and the Italian frontier town of Ventimiglia, averaging 54 m.p.h. throughout. This includes speeds of 66 m.p.h. between Paris and Laroche; 68 m.p.h. between Dijon and Macon; and 67 m.p.h. between Avignon and Marseilles. On the Midi line, there are daily recorded in page 18 page 19

All-metal passenger carriage, Northern Railway, France.

the Paris-Bordeaux service speeds of up to 75 m.p.h.