Railways have now been serving mankind for more than a century, and in the period which has elapsed since George Stephenson's “Locomotion No. 1” made its triumphant passage over the Stockton and Darlington line wonderful progress has been made in every branch of the industry. Notwithstanding this progress, there still remains a wide field for developing and improving upon all forms of equipment and selling methods. That the Home railways are fully aware of their responsibilities in this regard is proved by two recent innovations which promise to prove far-reaching in the extreme. These are respectively the introduction of enamelled steel passenger coaches and vestibuled corridor tenders on express passenger locomotives.

In the adaptation of new materials for passenger carriage construction British builders have shown much ingenuity. Now comes an interesting move on the part of the London, Midland and Scottish line, taking the form of the utilisation of enamelled steel for passenger carriage bodies. As an experiment the L.M. and S. Company have acquired some fifty passenger luggage vans, 50 feet in length, with bodies of vitreous enamelled steel. By utilising this material, a great deal of time normally occupied in painting of carriage bodies will be saved, and there will be no necessity for returning the coaches to the shops for repainting at periodical intervals.

Enamelling.

The exterior enamelling of the new coaches is carried out in the standard colours of the L.M. and S. Railway, and includes lettering and numbering. No paint whatever is employed above the underframe, except around the door margins and gangways. For the sides and ends of carriages 14-gauge plates are employed, and 16-gauge plates for the roofs. The underframe is built of rolled steel channels, joists and angles riveted together, the headstocks being reinforced behind buffers to withstand severe buffer shocks. The carriages all are mounted on four-wheeled bogies of British standard pattern, and the body framing is constructed of pressed vertical members and rolled steel longitudinal members, with four steel diaphragm plates suitably spaced to strengthen the roof. An entirely new era in passenger carriage construction is inaugurated by the utilisation of the enamelling process, and it is claimed that the colours will be absolutely permanent, and that there will be no necessity for repainting and revarnishing as in the case of ordinary paint.

Special Tender for Non-Stop Runs.

Exceptionally long non-stop runs, included in the Anglo-Scottish services of the L. and N. E. and L.M. and S. lines, have previously been referred to in these letters as a feature of British summer passenger train operation. By the utilisation of a special vestibuled corridor tender, the L. and N.E. line now are introducing a non-stop run of 392 miles daily in each direction between King's Cross Station, London, and Edinburgh. The new tenders are 25ft. 10in. long, and are carried on eight wheels of 4ft. 2in. diameter. They are attached to the famous “Pacific” type locomotives which perform such wonderful work in the “Flying Scotsman” services. The corridor extends down one side of the tender, and is 5ft. in height and 18in. wide. At the rear of the tender there is provided an automatic coupling and Pullman vestibule of similar type to those employed in corridor carriage construction.

The idea underlying the utilisation of this special tender is to enable the engine crew to be changed while travelling at speed, and this exchange of driver and fireman will be effected after the train has travelled for a distance of approximately 200 miles—roughly halfway between London and Edinburgh. The relieving crew will pass from the leading coach of the train to the footplate through the special corridor in the tender, and having taken over, the original crew will pass back from the footplate to the leading coach and rest in comfort until arrival at destination. The effect of this working will be to give a non-stop run of 392 miles, this ranking as the longest non-stop railway run in the world. That other railways will speedily follow the lead set by the King's Cross authorities appears certain, and the L. and N.E. line—and more especially its mechanical experts at Doncaster—are to be congratulated upon their enterprise in bringing out the first vestibuled corridor tender ever known in railway history.

Reserved Seats.

A great deal is being done by railways the world over to retain passenger business which threatens to pass to the road route in these days of motor development. Any move which tends to make railway travel simpler, speedier page 19 and more enjoyable is worthy of commendation in this regard, and a new form of seat reservation introduced by the L. and N.E. Railway promises to prove of real value in assisting passenger comfort.

The new plan operates on the East Coast trains working between London and Edinburgh. Passengers desiring to reserve accommodation are shown a plan of the carriages and seating accommodation of the train by which they propose to travel, and are able to select any particular seat which may appeal to them. Each carriage is identified by a letter, which is displayed prominently on the carriage exterior, and the seats within each carry a distinctive number. The ticket handed to the passenger shows the carriage letter and seat number, and on the platform a uniformed official is stationed wearing a special cap bearing the legend “Reserved Seats,” and carrying a plan of the train with the seats actually reserved, crossed out. Passengers who have reserved their seats can readily identify them by the use of the carriage letter and seat number, but this official is there to assist them if required, and he is also in a position to indicate to passengers who have not reserved their accommodation whether or not there is accommodation available for them in any particular carriage.

Vestibuled corridor tender specially constructed to enable the change of engine crews (whilst travelling at speed) for long non-stop runs.

Colour Light Signals and Route Indicators.

Colour light signalling now has become firmly established on many of the world's most progressive railways. In New Zealand good work has been accomplished in installing the three-aspect colour light signalling system, and in Europe and America real progress is to be recorded in the employment of colour lights. On the Home railways colour-light signalling has been developed to the greatest degree in connection with suburban electric traction, and in this field the Southern and Metropolitan lines head the bill. A notable instance of its employment with steam working is found at the York Road Terminus, Belfast, of the Irish section of the L.M. and S. Railway. In this instance the installation includes route indications given by colour-light shunting signals, and white lights are employed as well as green and red signals.

Outside Britain, America has done the most striking work in connection with colour-light signalling. There progress has been rapid in the extreme, and something like 8,000 route miles now are so equipped. One factor which has favoured the employment of colour-lighting in the United States is the freedom from interference by this type of signal during severe snowstorms. On the Great Northern Railway of U.S.A.—which serves territory largely snow-bound for several months of the year—more than 1,100 route miles are equipped with colour-light signals, and every American signal engineer reports enthusiastically regarding the merits of this form of equipment.

Italian Railways under Mussolini.

No portion of Europe has in recent times enjoyed such systematic railway development as Northern Italy, where the recent completion of the Nice-Coni railway, connecting the French Riviera with Piedmont, Lombardy and Central Europe, has given a fresh stimulus to Italian trade and agriculture.

The Nice-Coni line was one of the important works included in the rehabilitation plan of Signor Mussolini immediately after the close of the Great War. First place in this plan was given a new direct main-line connecting Naples with Milan, 520 miles distant, with a branch leading from Bologna towards Venice. This work is proceeding rapidly, and included in the construction is the piercing of the Apennine Mountains with a tunnel more than eleven miles in length. It is estimated that the tunnel section will be completed by 1930, and as the first page 20 section of the route—between Naples and Rome—was recently opened to traffic, the benefits of the ambitious rehabilitation plan of the Mussolini Government, so far as they concern the construction of new railway links, are already making themselves apparent.

The Naples-Rome direct railway has a total length of 135 miles, and is remarkable for its freedom from severe curves. Tunnels total a length of about 21 miles, with a 4 3/4 mile tunnel through Mount Orso. There are no level crossing whatever on the route, which is stone ballasted, with 39ft. rails weighing 87 1/2lb. per yard laid on wooden sleepers spaced 2ft. 6in. apart. It is the intention to electrify the whole of the line between Naples and Rome, and already coversion has been completed in the section between Naples and Villa Literno. The new direct route between Naples and the Italian capital reduces the railway distance between the two points by twenty miles, and has enabled a speedier service to be introduced.

Selling Rail Transportation.

Selling rail transportation is quite as much of an art as disposing, say, of a bar of soap or a patent washing machine. The railway advertising expert must to-day work on essentially commercial lines, and there is a big opportunity within the railway service for young men equipped with the selling sense.

A thought-provoking paper on railway salesmanship and advertising was recently read before the Railway Students Association of the London School of Economics, by Mr. W. M. Teasdale, assistant general manager of the L.

Lucerne-Milan Express on the Italian Border.

and N.E. Railway. Pointing out that there were two ways of promoting sales—by personal canvass and by advertising—Mr. Teasdale remarked that advertisements fell under three heads. There was the plain announcement of facts, simple, correct and incapable of misinterpretation. Secondly came the advertisement which helped to make the public desire to see some place or experience some facility. Thirdly there was the advertising which was not issued with the idea of creating a direct sale, but was intended to develop goodwill.

Any form of railway advertising must to-day be on the most intelligent lines. A carelessly planned newspaper or poster announcement is just as useless and harmful as a traffic producer as a carelessly attired and slovenly human canvasser. The live advertiser is constantly varying his publicity plan, but he should not allow himself, as Mr. Teasdale pointed out, to be carried away by erratic and fantastic advertising “brain waves.” The man who said that the advantage of railway advertising could not be proved was out of date. If an advertising man, having been given power to demand the necessary figures from the direct selling departments, could not prove that advertising paid, it was surely time that he was removed, but not time the advertising was stopped.

Scandinavian Railways.

Summer passenger business on almost all the European railways is proving exceptionally heavy. In Scandinavia, in particular, the rush of summer tourists is phenomenal, and in view of the growing rail business in Norway and page 21 Sweden, new railway connections are being installed on a lavish scale. Among these new transportation links are train ferries, connecting Scandinavia with the remainder of the continent, while very shortly it is probable long-distance ocean-going ferries between Sweden and Britain will convey through loads of freight and miscellaneous traffic.

Almost all the railways of Norway and Sweden are government owned and operated. The railway system of Scandinavia is unique in including in its make-up the most northerly railway in the world. This line connects the port-of Narvik, in Norway, with the northern-most extremity of Sweden, where it links up with the main line leading to Stockholm, Finland, Russia and the Far East.

Operating difficulties in plenty face the railwayman in Scandinavia. Tremendous snowfalls are experienced each winter, and miles of snow fences have been constructd along the tracks, as well as innumerable sections of heavily timbered snowsheds. Frequent and heavy grades call for exceptionally powerful locomotives, and a high standard of comfort is provided in passenger carriage construction. The day carriages are divided into a number of small and large compartments, connected by a vestibule; a party of travellers journeying together are thus afforded what practically amounts to private drawing-room accommodation without extra charge.

Railway Progress in Ireland.

Railways in Ireland have for some time been under a cloud, but by degrees improvements are being effected in every branch of the Irish

A Fast Passenger Locomotive of the Swedish State Railways.
This type of locomotive hauled fast passenger trains on the Stockholm-Gothenburg route. It has now been replaced by electric haulage over the throughout 300 miles run.

railway industry, and the setting up of one big railway undertaking serving the whole of the Irish Free State has gone far to simplify many of the problems of transportation which faced the country at the close of the Great War.

In a recent work entitled “A History of Railways in Ireland” (Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., London, 15 shillings net), Mr. J. C. Conroy gives us a most able review of the Irish railways since the days when the first Act was passed giving birth to the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, in 1831. Many of the Irish railways were anything but prosperous concerns in the olden days, and most were the outcome of local interest and initiative. As recently as 1906 there were some 38 railway companies operating in Erin's Isle, with 230 directors. By degrees these small systems have been swallowed up by the larger lines, and it is only by amalgamations such as these that the Irish railways have been able to carry on with any degree of success. Mr. Conroy's work is worthy of a place in every railway library, throwing as it does much light upon railway promotion, construction, and operation in a land whose transportation affairs do not usually come into the limelight.

The Toll of the Road.

The number of persons killed in road accidents in America during 1927 has been estimated at 26,618 by the American Road Builders’ Association. (This is an increase of 1,316 over the figures for 1926). In addition to those killed, no less than 798,700 were seriously injured.