London Letter

(From our own Correspondent)

With this issue we publish the first of a series of letters from our London correspondent, who is one of the best known Home writers on railway and allied topics. During the world war he served in France, Belgium and Germany, as commissioned officer with the Railway Troops of the Royal Engineers. With twenty years actual experience of railway working in Britain, covering almost every department of railway activity, his contributions on railway subjects are a valued feature of many leading Home and overseas publications. Obtained from sources of information of an especially wide and reliable nature, these contributions should assist our readers to keep abreast of the times regarding the general transport situation and the various phases of railway development in Britain and on the Continent.

When George Stephenson, more than a century ago, brought into being the now world-famous Stockton and Darlington Railway, he could never have dreamt how far-reaching was to be his invention, nor how rapid was to be the expansion of the railway throughout the five continents.

By railwaymen the world over, the name of Stephenson is one which will never be forgotten. While “Geordie,” the Tyne-side pit-boy, primarily goes down to history as the maker of the railways of England, to his father Robert Stephenson goes credit for the establishment of those far-flung lines of glistening steel which to-day knit together the land surface of the British Empire. It was to Robert Stephenson himself that the New Zealand Government turned for technical aid when sanction was secured for the pioneer line connecting Christchurch with Lyttelton, and in the succeeding sixty odd years Home railway engineers and operating officers innumerable have journeyed overseas to pursue their respective tasks associated with the development of the “Iron Way.”

To a considerable degree, the never-failing interest taken by railway workers throughout the Empire in the activities of the railways of Britain, is attributable to the peculiar position occupied by the Home lines as pioneers of the industry, and as the training ground for the vast number of skilled men who have figured in the building up of transportation systems overseas. The railways of Britain always provide a subject of profitable and attractive study for the railwayman across the water, and thus it has become usual for publications such as this to afford space month by month to a “London Letter” telling of their many and varied activities.

In this correspondence it is the aim to afford readers of the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” as accurate a pen-picture as possible of the Home railway situation month by month, and to tell briefly of the progress of these undertakings, as well as of the activities of their seven hundred thousand employees. In many ways the New Zealand railways may take pride in the knowledge that they have progressed considerably ahead of the Home lines in transportation's development. There are, however, innumerable aspects of the Home railway industry which offer immense attraction for the New Zealand railwayman.

It is hoped that the present series of articles will serve to sustain interest in the working of the railways of Britain, and enable readers to keep abreast of innovations and developments which might, perhaps, otherwise escape notice. Topics of interest, too, concerning the railways of the other leading European lands will receive due attention, and the important developments proceeding in post-war Europe thereby be brought before one and all.

A vastly different picture is presented by the Home railway world of to-day as compared with pre-war years. In place of the two hundred individual lines which previously served the country, there were set up on January 1st, 1923, four big group undertakings, known respectively as the London, Midland and Scottish; London and North Eastern; Great Western and Southern Railways. As a result of grouping, valuable economies are being made in administration and operation, and improved service rendered the public.

In reviewing British railway progress under grouping, it must not be overlooked that the Home railways were built up, little by little, on essentially individualistic lines. It was a physical impossibility for the railways to immediately transform their systems into the compact and harmoniously working transportation undertakings contemplated by the consolidation scheme. Grouping changed the page 15 flow of the main traffic streams, and the re-adjustment of traffic along the altered routes has been a perplexing problem. In the transition period delay and congestion were inevitable. To-day the majority of difficulties arising under this head have been overcome, operating problems have been simplified by the remodelling of marshalling yards, stations and exchange sidings, and journey times speeded up in every direction.

Group working not only effected vast alterations in the interior economy of the Home railways. It also resulted in a complete change in the appearance and atmosphere of familiar railway stations and trains. Until the opening of the grouping area, the stations and trains of each railway exhibited marked individuality. The smooth green-coated locomotives and dark red passenger cars of the North Eastern line; the yellow locomotives and yellow and white passenger cars of the Brighton system; the London and North Western coal-black locomotives and chocolate and white passenger stock; all have disappeared in the new standard colour schemes developed by the four group undertakings.

Gone for all time are the picturesque ultramarine locomotives of the old Great Eastern line, the dark gamboge engines on the North British and the colourful crimson and white passenger cars on the London Midland and Railway. In place of these multifarious colourings we now have crimson-lake locomotives and passenger cars on the London Midland and Scottish; light green engines and varnished teak passenger coaches on the London and North Eastern; dark green locomotives and chocolate and cream passenger stock on the Great Western; and olive green locomotives and passenger cars on the Southern line.

At the great railway termini alterations necessitated by grouping have effected marked changes at many points. In London the Victoria Stations of the Brighton and South Eastern and Chatham lines have been amalgamated into one big depô and a similar change has taken place on the London, Midland and Scottish line at Manchester, by the amalgamation of the Victoria and Exchange passenger stations, a work which has given Manchester a 2,200 feet long passenger platform, the longest of any in Britain. The

“Locomotion No. 1.”
This is George Stephenson's quaint looking engine which drew the world's first passenger train over the Stockton and Darlington Railway one hundred and two years ago. It is depicted resting on the rails used on the pioneer railway.
Photograph by courtesy of the Science Museum, London.

page 16 smaller roadside stations are also losing much of their former individuality under grouping, but, sentiment apart, the general move towards standardisation is all to the good.

There is one factor, which, more than any other, is to-day influencing the railway situation in Britain and Europe generally. This is the phenomenal growth of road transport for both passengers and freight.

The British road carriers up to the present have enjoyed subsidies from the government which operate very harshly against the railways, but it is anticipated that very shortly the whole business of road transport will be put on a proper footing. It is now possible to “ride on rubber,” in vehicles plying for public hire, from Land's End to John o’ Groats. There are 350,000 commercial road motors in operation in Britain, while last year public omnibuses carried 1,600,000,000 passengers within a radius of ten miles of the centre of London.

That big losses in both railway passenger and freight receipts are suffered through road competition goes without saying, but the Home railways are tackling the problem in characteristically energetic fashion. The railways are themselves operating motor vehicles where this is permissible under government regulation; electrification is being resorted to in suburban areas; and light steam and petrol-driven trains are being substituted for heavy steam services for branch line working.

Endeavour is being made to secure the co-ordination of rail and road services in Britain, on much the same line as has been accomplished in Germany. There the German Railways and the association of road carriers known as the German Automobile Services have merged to eliminate unnecessary competition and to provide improved public services. The road carriers cover short hauls and city delivery services, and the railways care primarily for fast, bulky and long-distance business.

Next to grouping and road competition, the most interesting news of the Home railways is that relating to electrification. Valuable work has been performed by an expert commission appointed by the government in the laying down of definite standards for equipment and operating methods, and a vast amount of useful data got together. As standard, the direct current system at 1,500 volts has been adopted, with rail conductor or overhead trolley transmission, and train haulage performed either by electric locomotive or motor cars worked on the familiar multiple-unit arrangement.

While main-line electrification remains for the moment in abeyance, in the London and Manchester areas good progress has been made in suburban electrification. Especially noteworthy is the effort of the Southern Railway in electrifying its South London suburban tracks. More than seven hundred and fifty miles of electric railway are now operated by this line on the former Brighton, South Eastern and Chatham, and South Western systems, and eventually there is contemplated the throughout electrification of the Southern lines from London to the South coast towns.

Generally speaking, train speeds and frequency of services on the Home railways to-day compare very favourably with pre-war records. All the old familiar daily runs, such as those of the “Flying Scotsman,” between King's Cross Station, London, and Edinburgh; and the Great Western “Cornish Riviera” service, between London and Plymouth, are with us again. Very interesting is the marked increase effected in passenger comfort by the introduction of “all Pullman” trains. Foremost in this activity is the London and North Eastern Railway. London is now linked by daily “all-Pullman” services with Leeds, Harrogate, New-castle-on-Tyne, Edinburgh, and other points, and thus the fame of the well-known “Southern Belle” train of the Southern system has been quite eclipsed.

Locomotive development has proceeded steadily in Britain in recent years. Three and four cylinder engines represent the highest type of the high-powered steam locomotive now employed, and each railway group is developing standard types of machines for passenger and freight haulage. The Southern Railway leads, with its “Lord Nelson” design of locomotive, a 4–6–0 four cylinder engine which ranks as the most powerful locomotive in the country.

On the London, Midland and Scottish—Britain's biggest railway—three-cylinder compound 4–4–0 locomotives are standard for fast passenger train haulage, and 4–6–0 four-cylinder machines in the Anglo-Scottish passenger services, For fast freight train working a new standard type of 2–6–0 superheater engine has just been introduced.

On the London and North Eastern, the “Pacific” and “Director” (4–4–0) type locomotives are favoured for passenger working, and “Mikado” (2–8–2) engines for the heavy coal business handled. The Great Western loyally adheres to its four-cylinder 4–6–0 “Castle” type locomotives for fast passenger movement. These machines have a total length page 17 over buffers of 65 ft. 1 3/4 in., and a total wheelbase of 54 ft. 6 1/4 in. The four cylinders are of 16 in. diameter by 26 in. stroke; bogie wheels 3 ft. 2 in. diameter; coupled wheels 6 ft. 8 1/2 in. diameter; boiler barrel 14ft. 10 in. long, and 5 ft. 9 in. and 5 ft. 1 15–16 in. diameter; heating surface 2,312 sq. ft.; grate area 30.28 sq. ft.; boiler pressure 225 Ibs. per sq. in.; tractive effort 31,625 Ibs.; and weight of locomotive without tender 79 tons 17 cwt.

Among recent operating improvements in the Home railway world, few are more important than those associated with the expansion of the train control system of train supervision. The former Midland Company was the great pioneer of train control, and to-day the utilisation of this method of working is becoming universal. The York control of the London and North Eastern Company is the most up-to-date office of its kind. Here an electrically-operated control board enables the control staff to see at a glance the position of every train on the East Coast main-line between Doneaster and Newcastle-on-Tyne. Instead of the train indicators being moved by hand, in accordance with the telephonic and telegraphic advices from the outside reporting points, the indicators move on endless cords geared to travel at a speed corresponding to the progress of the respective trains. This form of supervision is now being extended to cover the London-Peterborough trunk route.

Britain'S Latest Locomotive Giant.
The 4–6–0 four-cylinder simple super-heater engine “Lord Nelson” built by the Southern Railway in the Eastleigh Shops, is the most powerful of British locomotives. Weighing 140 tons with tender, the “Lord Nelson” hauls 500-ton trains with case at 60 miles an hour, and is the first of a new type of engine employed in the long distance passenger services out of Waterloo Station, London.

Recent big railway developments on the mainland of Europe include the setting up of the huge German Railways Company under the Dawes plan; electrification works of immense magnitude in France and Switzerland; and the general improvement of trans-continental train services. These features will be referred to at greater length in subsequent letters.

Meanwhile, it may be said that, wherever one may journey in Europe, there is to-day abundant evidence of the alert fashion in which the railways have tackled the problem of transportation in the new era which was entered upon with the conclusion of the world war. In Britain there are now distinct signs of an all-round improvement in trade; railway workers of every grade are becoming aecustemed to the changed conditions resulting from grouping; and with one and all pulling in the common cause, the outlook is encouraging in the extreme.