At Home, the railways themselves have, to a considerable degree, overcome the competition of the road carrier, by acquiring, wholly or in part, interests in the leading road-carrying undertakings. However, the problem of loss of passenger business arising through the growth of private motor car ownership, still remains a difficult one.

Broadly speaking, there are three main ways by which railway travel may be popularised. It may be bettered, it may be cheapened, and it may be more widely advertised. In each of these directions much is being performed by the Home railways at the present juncture. The betterment of the Home railway services takes the form of speeding up the main-line working, introducing new services where these are likely to attract business, brightening up railway premises generally, and giving the traveller increased comfort and courtesy. In the long distance runs, innovations such as wireless broadcasts, cinema performances, and impromptu dances, are being given a trial, while improvements also are being introduced in the catering branch. The cheapening of railway travel mainly takes the form at Home of affording specially cheap facilities for the day excursionist and the week-ender, and there are now an abundance of cheap travel facilities provided for all classes. As regards advertising, ambitious publicity campaigns are being conducted at Home and abroad by each of the four big group railways, and, as a result, increased bookings are likely this season to all the tourist haunts of the Homeland.

London's Traffic Problems.

London is essentially the great railway centre of Great Britain, and the traffic problem in this great modern Babylon has now reached an acute stage. It is not the main line traffic of the metropolis which occasions cause for concern, but rather movement within the city itself, and between the city and the surrounding suburbs, many of which have grown with tremendous rapidity since the Great War. London's principal transportation services are those of the main line railways, the tube and underground undertakings, the various motor omnibus carriers, and the street electric tramway services. To meet better the needs of London traffic, a proposal is now under review providing for the unification of transportation agencies within the metropolitan area, and the setting up of a single authority charged with the administration and operation of all the London railway, omnibus and tramway systems.

The four main line railways running into London are concerned with this scheme only so far as it affects their heavy suburban business. The attention which is now being devoted to this phase of railway working may quite well result in the early electrification of suburban routes in the London area. One of the electrification works likely to be commenced at an early date is the conversion to electricity of page 21 the steam-operated tracks of the L. and N.E. system out of the King's Cross terminal. The Liverpool Street suburban lines of the same railway may also be electrified in the course of the next few years. Another development that may be looked for is the extension further afield of the London electric underground and tube railways, and the construction of further underground routes in areas not already served by this form of traction.

Extension of the Container System of Freight Handling.

Not only on the passenger side is coordination between rail and road taking place at Home. In the movement of freight traffic a great deal is also being done by rail and road in combination. In this connection particular interest is attached to the container system of freight handling, which is being developed on extensive lines by the four group railways of Britain. For some years containers have been employed to a limited degree for the movement of small merchandise at Home. Now large fleets of containers are being brought into use for the expeditious and safe handling of miscellaneous freight of every kind.

Modern Freight Handling.
A typical container as employed on the Home Railways.

The L.M. and S. Railway has just acquired a number of insulated containers for the movement of meat, fruit, vegetables, and other perishables. These containers, which are built of wood, and insulated by means of cork slabs, are 12ft. long, 6ft. 2in. wide, and 6ft. 4in. high. A load of four tons is carried, and the tare weight of the container is 35cwts. By the L. and N.E. Railway, some 200 steel containers, with a tare weight of only one ton, have recently been put into traffic. These carry a load of four tons, and their internal dimensions are as follows, viz: length 13ft. 10in., width 6ft. 6in., height 6ft. 8in. Following the lead set by the British railways, it may be noted that America is now interesting herself in container transport. The Baltimore and Ohio system is the pioneer of the container in the United States, and very shortly all the American railways will probably become converts to this convenient system of freight handling.

Britain's Surprise Locomotive.

Locomotive development has now reached an exceptionally interesting stage, and it is not surprising that, in view of the ever-growing demand for increased power and speed, many novel types of experimental engines should now be finding their way into traffic. One of the most interesting steam locomotives to be built is the new high-pressure engine not long completed for service on the express passenger runs of the L. and N.E. system between London and Scotland.

This new L. and N. E. R. locomotive has a water - tube boiler with the unusually high pressure of 450lbs. per sq. in. It is a 4-cylinder compound engine of the “Baltic” 4-6-4 wheel arrangement, the six coupled driving wheels being 6ft. 8in. diameter. In outward appearance the engine is an entire departure from previous practice. The boiler has been constructed to the extreme limits of the gauge, and there is no room for a chimney to project above the boiler. The chimney, therefore, is sunk within casing plates. The whole of the air supplied to the firegrate is pre-heated, the supply being taken from the front of the smoke-box, passing down a space between the boiler and the casings. The two cast steel high pressure cylinders are of 12in. diameter and 26in. stroke, driving on to the leading coupled wheels. The two low pressure cylinders have a diameter of 20in. and a stroke of 26in., and drive the intermediate pair of coupled wheels. The engine, with its tender of the well-known “Flying Scotsman” corridor type, weighs nearly 170 tons, and is the longest and heaviest passenger locomotive in Great Britain.

Economy in Light Power Units.

It is a trifle curious that at a time when railways the world over are seeking to turn out bigger and more powerful locomotives for main line working, there should also be proceeding a very serious search for an efficient light haulage unit for branch line operation. Light page 22 power units such as steam rail-cars offer great prospects for efficient and economical operation on lines of low traffic density, and as time goes by, light rail-cars will be increasingly employed by railways everywhere.

The Home Railways employ considerable numbers of rail-cars. The L. and N.E. system has in service 44 Sentinel-Canmell steam rail-cars, 11 Clayton steam rail-cars, and one petrol rail-car. Steam rail-cars on this system are worked by a driver and fireman, no guard being carried. They attain a maximum speed of 40 miles an hour, and their average fuel consumption works out at between 12lbs. and 13lbs.

Britain'S Biggest Passenger Locomotive.
The powerful new 4-6-4 type of Express locomotive (described in the letterpress) of the London and North Eastern Railway.

per mile. The L.M. and S. Railway has 13 Sentinel-Cammell steam rail-cars in branch line working. On the Great Western system there are 39 steam rail-cars in regular employment, and, in addition, 75 steam auto-trains are run. These auto-trains consist of a small tank locomotive, with one or more passenger carriages attached at either end, the arrangement being such that, without turning, the train may be driven in either direction.