Bober River Bridge, near Grunberg, German National Railways.

Record Summer Travel.

Awonderfully successful summer holiday season has been experienced by the Home railways. Hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Empire Exhibition at Glasgow have been transported by the four group lines; the impressive Military Tattoo at Aldershot—now an outstanding annual event—called for the running of no fewer than 206 special trains; while to Home and continental holiday resorts there has been an exceptionally heavy passenger movement.

Enterprising excursion ideas by the score have, this season, been evolved by the railways, most of these aiming at popularising long-distance travel by rail, road and steamer. Taking advantage of cheap excursion fares, London's millions have been able to travel by day and half-day excursion trains to all corners of the country at trifling cost. Countryside outings by combined rail and road, and rail, road and river-steamer services have been a feature. These outings have varied from a conducted tour through Windsor Castle, with tea on a Thames river-steamer en route to Magna Charta Island, to organised rambles through the New Forest, and day trips by rail and road through the Shakespeare Country, the Peak District, Lincolnshire and Suffolk. Educational excursions have been well patronised, as, for example, half-day trips to Bath with a conducted tour of the Roman baths, an attractive motor-coach tour of the surrounding countryside (with tea provided), all for an inclusive fare of 11/3 from London.

The distance which it is possible to cover by special day trips is increasing enormously. Thus, this season special excursions have been run from London to Oban, in Scotland, for steamer cruises to the islands of Staffa and Iona, 1,100 miles being covered between Friday evening and Sunday morning at a cost of less than £2. Excursions to the continent have drawn thousands of passengers of all ages. Here are a few examples of the good fare offered this season: An excursion from London to Rouen, France, including a tour of the surrounding country, and giving 22 hours in France for 25s. A trip from London to Brussels, covering travel, three meals, and a conducted tour of the city, for 30s. Sixteen hours on the Belgian coast for 27s. Id. Seventeen hours in Holland for 57s. 7d. Truly, the railways have opened up a new world of adventure for the excursionist!

Locomotive Names.

Railway travel is made so much more interesting nowadays in a hundred and one ways. Look at the development of locomotive naming, for example, a practice which has grown steadily through the years, and one which has a great deal to commend it. Last year no fewer than 160 Home railway locomotives were given distinctive names, and during the past few weeks fresh christening ceremonies have been going on throughout the country. Ten new L. M. & S. engines of the “Princess Coronation” class, being built at Crewe, are to be named after the Duchesses of Gloucester, Norfolk, Devonshire, Rutland, Hamilton, Buccleuch, Atholl, Montrose, Sutherland and Abercorn. Five of these locomotives are of orthodox appearance, and the other five are streamlined like the “Coronation” and “Queen Elizabeth” engines. Four locomotives of the “Patriot” class have very appropriately been named after famous Army regiments.

L. and N.E.R. “Flying Scotsman” drawn by streamlined Pacific locomotive, “Dominion of New Zealand,” passing over water-troughs.

The L. & N.E.R. have carried forward the naming of their streamlined “Pacifics” after wild birds. “Golden Plover,” “Wild Swan” and “Sparrow Hawk” are examples. On the Great Western, we have the new group of “Manor” locomotives. Twenty engines of this class have so far been turned out of the Swindon Shops. Twenty-one additions have been made to the list of “Earls,” and nineteen to the “Castles.” No new names have lately been given to Southern locomotives, owing to this line's concentration upon electrification developments. Like the other group systems, however, the Southern favours locomotive-naming for its powerful steam passenger engines plying to and from the West Country.

A Famous Old Railway.

Exactly one hundred years ago there was opened a very famous old railway—the Manchester and Bolton Railway. This system developed out of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal, which was opened for both goods and passenger conveyance in 1796. Following page 39

A three-car electric train, Moscow-Mitischi Railway, Russia.

the course of the canal for part of the way, the Manchester & Bolton Railway was partly laid on stone sleepers. The cost of construction was £600,000, or £60,000 per mile. In the first six weeks of operation 33,000 passengers were carried. Early engines were supplied by Edward Bury, of the Clarence Foundry, Liverpool, who also supplied locomotives for the London & Birmingham Railway, opened throughout in September, 1838. Bury's engines, like the modern streamliners, had their own special names, among these being “Bolton” and “Manchester.” The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, it is interesting to recall, tried to sell to the Manchester & Bolton line their old “Arrow” locomotive for £300, but it is recorded that the Manchester & Bolton directors “declined to take the ‘Arrow’ at any price”! In 1846, the Manchester & Bolton was absorbed by the Manchester & Leeds Railway, which a year later became the Lancashire & Yorkshire line, and is now part of the L. M. & S.

Improved Freight Services.

Freight traffic is exceptionally heavy in this corner of England, and Lancashire contributed largely to the making up of the 286,617,000 tons of freight handled by the Home railways last year. Although at this season, freight business is on the light side, general business is good if not so bright as had been anticipated. An outstanding feature is the rise in popularity of road-rail containers. In 1928 the Home railways had 1,574 container units: today there are 13,800 in service. Introduced experimentally some years ago in selected rural districts, railway country lorry services are another popular activity of the Home lines. These services are maintained by modern motor lorries, operating up to twenty miles from railheads. In all, about 2,800 railheads are fed by the road motor services in question. To-day, the four group lines operate more than 10,000 road motors, these mostly consisting of 2-ton and 4-ton vehicles, supplemented by light vans and heavy lorries for special work. Remarkable increases, too, have been recorded in the numbers of special wagons built for the rail movement of specific traffics. In 1928, the fleet of special wagons totalled barely 6,000 vehicles: it is now in excess of 11,900. But one of the greatest improvements on the freight side has been the wonderful speeding up of goods trains. Apart from the ordinary pick-up services, there are now more than 660 express braked freight trains linking up the principal centres, and mostly giving next morning deliveries.

Developments in Diesel Traction.

Interesting information is contained in the recently published bulletin for 1937 of the Diesel Engine Users' Association. Progress in the application of oil engines to railway traction, it is stated, was fully maintained last year.

The Erecting Shop, Swindon Engine Works, Great Western Railway, London.

There are now some 3,600 railway-owned diesel locomotives, railcars and trains in service in powers of 75 h.p or more, and the present world rate of increase is about 800 a year. Note-worthy developments in Europe in 1937 were the introduction of two 4,400 h.p. diesel-electric locomotives on the Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean Railway; and the bringing into service on the German Railways of a new slow-speed, high-powered engine—an eight-cylinder vertical unit—in a four-car express train. Practically all the development in the case of horizontal engines, it is stated, has originated in Germany. A standard engine has been produced of 275 h.p., which is being used both singly and in pairs in Germany, and which is being taken up in other countries, as, for example, Norway and Brazil.

Russia's Railway Centenary.

Europe this year is celebrating yet another railway centenary—that of the Russian lines. Russia's pioneer system was the Tsarskoye-Selo Railway, linking the Czar's summer residence with St. Petersburg. Five years later there was commenced the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg line. In 1914, the total length of the Russian and Manchurian railways was 38,650 miles. To-day, the official mileage figure is given as 52,900. Most of the lines are steam operated, although there are about 1,000 miles of electrified track in use, an outstanding electrification being that in the Moscow area.