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

Our London Letter

page 25

Our London Letter

“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.

Furniture Removed by Container System.

One new field of utility covered by the container service is that of conveying household furniture. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway is interesting itself in this new field, having recently put a number of special furniture containers into traffic. These are larger containers than any previously employed, the idea being to permit of the loading of tall page 26 page 27 articles such as wardrobes, and the formation of a well-arranged and compact load. Their inside dimensions are as follows, viz:—Length 15ft., width 6ft. 9in., height 7ft. To enable articles of furniture to be firmly lashed so as to obviate possibility of movement in transit, an elaborate system of vertical and horizontal laths is provided on the inside walls.

The special point about this new furniture removal service is that the L.M. and S. Railway give quotations covering all services incidental to the removal, i.e., dismantling and stowing furniture in containers by experienced men; transport by road to the railway station, where the containers are transferred by crane to railway wagon; movement by rail to destination station; transfer to road vehicle; and unpacking and re-housing at consignee's residence.

Rail-Road Co-Ordination Up-To-Date New type of furniture container on the L.M. and S. Railway

Rail-Road Co-Ordination Up-To-Date
New type of furniture container on the L.M. and S. Railway

Amalgamation of Goods Depots.

Last month reference was made in this Letter to the efforts being made to secure increased economy and efficiency through the amalgamation of certain London passenger stations. On the goods side, too, the possibilities attending a move of this nature are being closely watched, and as a first step two of the big London goods depots of the Southern line—the Bricklayers' Arms and the Willow Walk stations—will shortly be amalgamated, to form one big depot.

Under the new arrangement, these two stations of the former South Eastern and Chatham and London, Brighton and South Coast Railways respectively, with their inwards and outwards sheds and marshalling yards, will be combined, so that the original Bricklayers' Arms depot will handle all inward traffic, and the Willow Walk station all outward shipments. This will mean doubling the size of the outward shed, which, on completion, will be the largest goods shed in Britain. Over three hundred wagons will be accommodated in this shed adjacent to the platform. The yard will consist of eight roads, laid in pairs. Four road tracks will be provided, with an approximate width of forty feet each. Provision will be made (by the erection of a covered way spanning two sets of rails) for dealing with yard traffic that requires protection page 28 from bad weather. Bricklayers' Arms is one of the oldest London stations. At one time it handled a considerable passenger business, and it was there that Queen Alexandra arrived, in 1863, for her wedding to King Edward VII., then Prince of Wales. The particular building in which the Queen arrived is now utilised for paper traffic in connection with London's great newspapers.

Lowering Locomotive Expenditure.

Grouping of the Home railways has been the means of saving considerable sums of money in the locomotive department. Each of the Home lines builds and repairs most of its locomotives in its own shops, and the economies effected by the L.M. and S. Railway in locomotive operation may be taken as typical of the achievements of the group lines generally.

A Busy Locomotive Works In Britain A peep at the brass finishing shop in the famous Crewe Workshops

A Busy Locomotive Works In Britain
A peep at the brass finishing shop in the famous Crewe Workshops

The standardisation policy of the L.M. and S. Railway resulted in a lowering in locomotive expenditure in 1931 by £3,250,000, as compared with 1927. Since 1923 the number of different types of locomotives employed has been reduced from 393 to 261. Standardisation of renewal work has contributed materially to the 12 1/2 per cent. reduction which the Euston authorities have made in their locomotive stock, viz., from 10,316 in 1923, to 9,032 at the close of last year. In the meantime, the average tractive effort has risen by 12 per cent. Better organisation, and the fact that the latest engines can run larger mileages per day—as, for example, London to Carlisle, Crewe to Glasgow, or Carlisle to Aberdeen—has released for other duties some 250 locomotives, while a contributing factor to the smaller total number required has been the reduction of locomotives under and awaiting repairs at any one time. This number dropped to 383 in 1931, as against 1,958 in 1923, representing a saving on capital lying idle of many thousands of pounds.

In eight years the number of L.M. and S. engines fitted with superheaters has grown from 18 to 40 per cent. of the total stock. This has made possible the use of only one locomotive on heavy trains which formerly were double-headed. Double-heading, by the way, was at one time a feature of the locomotive practice page 29 on the Midland section of the line. As regards the 1932 renewal programme, it is worthy of note that the average tractive power of locomotives to be built this year will be increased by 30 per cent., while their cost of maintenance and coal consumption will be reduced by something like 24 per cent.

Economy in Signal Operation.

In the realm of railway signalling, too, there is abundant scope for the exercise of economy. On the Home railways the staffing of signal-boxes alone costs the undertakings £5,000,000 per annum in wages. Thanks to the efforts of the signal engineers, steady reductions are being made in this figure, without in any way reducing the efficiency and safety factor. Economy schemes made possible by means of the amalgamation of signal boxes have in most cases given improved working from a traffic point of view while effecting big savings. On the L. and N.E. line a saving of well over £66,000 per annum has been achieved by the closing of signal boxes.

In general, the closing of signal cabins is being made possible by the introduction of modern electro-mechanical installations.

Rail-Road Co-ordination.

Very considerable progress continues to be made by the European railways in the co-ordination and development of rail and road passenger and freight traffic. At Home, the policy of co-operating with existing road transport undertakings and municipalities has been followed, and agreements made by the railways with many of the most important road carrying concerns. The railways have also acquired a financial interest in omnibus companies, but in no case a controlling interest. Joint committees, consisting of an equal number of representatives of the railway and the road company, have been constituted to agree upon measures by which the services of the two modes of transport can best be co-ordinated.

In virtue of the agreements come to and the policy pursued, the Home railways are already in a position to offer better services to the public. Inter-availability of rail and road tickets has been established between some 850 points.

In all, the Home railways are interested in the running of 12,000 passenger buses and 4,900 road vehicles for parcels and freight movement.

Where the Railway Welcomes its Patrons. The recently opened “Welcombe” Hotel of the L.M. and S. Railway at Stratford on Avon.

Where the Railway Welcomes its Patrons.
The recently opened “Welcombe” Hotel of the L.M. and S. Railway at Stratford on Avon.

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“A day of such serene enjoyment spent,Were worth an age of splendid discontent.”—James Montgomery.(Rly. Publicity Photos.) Snaps taken on the occasion of Wellington's second Mystery Train Excursion to Lake Papaitonga, 14th August, 1932.

“A day of such serene enjoyment spent,
Were worth an age of splendid discontent.”—James Montgomery.
(Rly. Publicity Photos.)
Snaps taken on the occasion of Wellington's second Mystery Train Excursion to Lake Papaitonga, 14th August, 1932.