The Railway Electrification Era.

The London local railways were the world's pioneers of electric haulage. As long ago as 1890 the first section of the City and South London Electric Railway was opened, and since that time the electric railways of the metropolis have grown into an intricate network of tracks serving all parts of the Empire's capital.

Apart from the London local lines, the mileage of the electric railways operated by the four big Home trunk systems is as follows:-Southern, 745 miles; L.M. and S., 114 miles; L. and N.E., 40 miles; Great Western, 11 miles. The Southern Railway, it will be seen, is easily the biggest owner of electrified track in Britain. As a matter of fact, the London suburban electric system of the Southern is the largest individual suburban electrification in the whole world. The Southern electric lines extend fan-wise from six principal London termini—Victoria, Waterloo, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Holborn Viaduct and London Bridge, to Guildford, Hounslow, the Thames Valley, Orpington and Dartford. Electrification on the 1,500 volts, D.C., third-rail arrangement, with trains operated on the multiple-unit system, and formed of motor and trailer cars, has enabled train services throughout the wide area south and south-west of the metropolis to be entirely remodelled and augmented.

The biggest electrification scheme now in hand is the electrification of the London-Brighton main line (51 route miles), with the branches Brighton to Worthing (11 miles), and Redhill to Guildford (20 miles). Trains on this route will be worked on the multiple-unit system, in preference to employing electric locomotives. Steam train mileage amounting to 1,927,000 miles per annum will be discontinued, and an electric train service substituted with a train mileage of about 4,921,000, thereby providing an increase in train service of 150 per cent. Between London and Brighton, passenger business is exceptionally heavy. Annually, about a million and three-quarter passengers are conveyed by rail between the two points named, and, in addition, there are about 3,000 season ticket holders.

The 114 route miles of electric railway operated by the L. M. and S. line comprise 46 miles of track in the London area and page 18 68 miles in Lancashire. In the London zone the lines involved are those between Campbell Road and Barking; Willesden and Earl's Court; Broad Street and Richmond; Broad Street and Watford Junction; Euston and Watford Junction; and Watford Junction and Croxley Green. The equivalent of these routes in single track is 101 miles. On these routes, and on the electrified tracks in Lancashire,

A Fine European Passenger Station
The St. Gallen passenger station, on the Swiss Government Railways.

the multiple-unit system is favoured, with trains formed of motor and trailer cars, and ground conductor rail. The Lancashire electrified tracks of the L.M. and S. Railway include the Manchester and Bury route (14 route track miles); Liverpool and Southport (43 route track miles); and Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham (11 route track miles).

In the north-east of England, the L. and N.E. Railway operates an important suburban electric system centred on New-castle-upon-Tyne, while a little further south the same railway works the Shil-don-Newport mineral line with electric locomotives. Jointly with the L.M. and S. Railway, the L. and N.E. Company is also interested in the electrification of the Manchester (London Road Station) and Altrincham route, in Lancashire. Proposals to electrify the King's Cross-London suburban tracks are under review. At the present time the Government power scheme plans to set up, by the year 1941, some 108 super-power stations with an output in excess of 25,000,000,000 units, capable of meeting every power need of the railways and industry generally. This should materially hasten mainline electrification in all parts of Britain.