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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 15, Issue 1 (April 1, 1940)

“King of the Road.”

“King of the Road.”

In normal years, with the coming of the long summer days, the Home railways are busy perfecting their arrangements for the movement of the season's holiday traffic. This year, of course, the situation has been entirely altered by the war, and holiday business will undoubtedly be on a much smaller scale. Actually, there are no restrictions upon civilian travel, and such amenities as restaurant and sleeping-cars continue to be placed at public disposal. With so many men serving in the armed forces, on munitions, aircraft production, and so on, and with the enormous call for transport on the part of the Government, however, the railways could hardly be expected to launch out on ambitious holiday campaigns. Such a move would, in any event, be unpopular with the general public, and so our vacation arrangements this summer will be on a modest scale. Excursion travel is mostly confined to the running of trains conveying parents anxious to spend a few hours with their evacuated children, and of the big passenger publicity campaigns commonly launched at this season there is practically no evidence.

Very wisely, the Home railways are working on the assumption that Government demands for transport will increase, rather than decrease, in the months that lie ahead. Priority always must be given to troop and supply trains, while important freight business such as foodstuff handling also ranks before ordinary passenger movement. The freight train is, indeed, “King of the Road” on the Home railways today. Smoothly and efficiently the railway freight machine is backing up the national effort, and a few figures recently officially released, relating to activities on a typical line—the London, Midland & Scottish—may be quoted.

During the first four months of the war, the L.M. & S. operated the highest loaded wagon mileage (520,600,000) since its formation. During the same period of 1938, the figure was 428,000,000. The number of loaded wagon journeys was approximately 10,500,000, or roughly 2,000,000 more than in the same period of 1938. For the conveyance of loaded traffic the L. M. & S. has run a daily average of 4,000 freight trains, an increase of 500 trains per day. Empty wagon trains have, of course, also shown large increases to correspond.

Interior of a saloon car on the Southern Railway Continental Express.

Interior of a saloon car on the Southern Railway Continental Express.