Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 5 (September 1, 1932)

[section]

“Trade is slowly improving at Home, and with this improvement comes promise of more prosperous times for the railways. Last year—a year of serious trade depression—more than 250,000,000 tons of freight were handled by the four big group railways, and during the present year it is anticipated that this figure will be considerably exceeded,” says our Special London Correspondent in his current review of recent railway developments in Britain and on the Continent.

In order to meet the requirements of traders, the Home railways have built up a comprehensive service of express freight trains, linking up the principal industrial centres. Over two hundred braked freight trains, run at high speeds and hauled by powerful locomotives, operate nightly between London and other cities, giving next day deliveries to places as far distant as Glasgow, Liverpool, Cardiff and Plymouth. No additional charge is made for the conveyance of freight by these fast services, and their dependability is so great that a shipper can calculate, almost to half an hour, the particular time at which his traffic will arrive at destination.

To keep pace with the improvement in train running, terminal operations have been greatly speeded up. Large sums of money are being spent in rebuilding and laying out new goods stations equipped with overhead electric travelling cranes and other appliances to facilitate the handling of merchandise traffic. An interesting feature is the operation by the four Home railways of nearly 1,000 warehouses, situated at key positions, and having accommodation of over 25,000,000 square feet. Under a comprehensive storage and distribution scheme launched by the railways, freight is dispatched in bulk from the factory by fast trains at a reduced rail rate. On arrival at railhead depot the goods are stored, and subsequent delivery to customers in the surrounding area is undertaken by the railways to the order of the sender or his accredited agents. Door-to-door conveyance is assisted by means of containers, which enable freight to be carried from works to destination without intermediate handling. More than 6,000 containers are in use in Britain to-day, and the number is constantly being augmented.