The Railways And The War.

With calm confidence and cheerfulness, Britain and France continue to march forward hand in hand, backed up by their two far-flung Empires and by decent-thinking people everywhere. The Home railways are exerting themselves as never before, and although more than 30,000 railwaymen have been released for service with His Majesty's Forces, passenger and freight traffic is kept moving smoothly and swiftly. Freight business is of great importance at this juncture, and one can have nothing but praise for the wonderful fashion in which the locomotive and operating staffs are “delivering the goods” despite every obstacle.

The special conditions have created a striking degree of goodwill among railway employees in dealing with the public; passengers, too, are keen to help the railways whenever possible by handling their own luggage, refraining from asking needless questions of station staffs, and falling in readily with such regulations as are necessary in the peculiar circumstances.

Typical of the adaptability of Home railwaymen is the admirable way in which locomotive crews are handling their heavy trains in both daylight and darkness. To-day, the average speed for express passenger trains has been fixed at 50 m.p.h., with a maximum of 60 m.p.h. The utmost use is being made of locomotives by using to the maximum the carrying capacity of trains, and on all the main lines heavy loads are being carried. On the London and North Eastern line, for example, the pre-war passenger train record load was one of 661 tons (tare) attained by a 23-vehicle train hauled by a “Pacific” engine. Not long ago new records were established by trains to and from King's Cross with an empty tare weight exceeding 700 tons. These enormous loads throw increased responsibility upon locomotive crews, but one and all are handling their heavy trains in fine fashion.

By night, engine-drivers have to face the nation-wide “black-out.” It is common knowledge that drivers in normal times are greatly helped in locating their exact position on the track by the various landmarks passed en route. After dark now there are none of the usual town and village lights to be seen, and drivers have to rely mainly on sounds—such as that of passing over a bridge—as an indication of their precise whereabouts. Train signals, of course, are there as usual, but that is all. In a busy city station, it calls for the utmost skill and care to pull up exactly in the right position alongside the platform when everything is in almost total darkness.

Because we have specially mentioned the fine effort of the locomotive men, it does not mean that outstanding work is not being performed by other branches of the railway service. The truth is that every individual grade of employees is working as never before. Many chapters could be devoted to the painstaking activities of the time-table staffs, for example, for they have slaved day and night in the preparation of emergency schedules. That we are proud of those members of the railway service who have joined the Forces goes without saying. We are also proud of the office-boys, and “old boys” of every grade, who worked like trojans filling sand-bags to protect railway property. A bouquet, too, for the female clerks who toil in the headquarters and district control offices, many dragged away from their home surroundings at a moment's notice and billeted in cottage and mansion so as to be near their jobs. Hats off, also, to railwaymen's wives up and down the country, who have cheerfully parted with their breadwinners hastily transferred to far-away stations to meet war-time needs. Incidentally, many of these women-folk have found a solace for their loneliness by helping in the canteens established at various stations for travelling Service men. And so we could go on, extolling the efforts of the Home railway family!