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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 9 (December 1, 1934)

Our London Letter. — (Continued from page 14.)

page 56

Our London Letter.
(Continued from page 14.)

Railroad. The Burlington streamlined train, named the “Zephyr,” has been the sensation of this year's Chicago Exhibition, and it seems likely that America, like Europe, will shortly have many fine streamlined trains engaged in long-distance passenger movement.

Modern Station Equipment.

In drawing the traveller to rail, suitable passenger station amenities play a big part. Train departure and arrival indicators for example, prove helpful in facilitating travel, and very great improvements have recently been recorded in this equipment. At Paddington Station, London, the Great Western Railway has just brought into use a new type of electrical train arrival indicator, the first of its kind in the world. Placed in the main circulating area, the indicator consists of a teak frame, with eight panels facing in the arrival direction. In each of these can be shewn the arrival time of a train, the number of the platform at which it will be received, whether it is running late, and, if so, how late, and the principal stations it has served. On the reverse side is displayed a list of departures.

The setting up of the composition of trains, i.e., the list of the stations served, is performed automatically by a magazine which stores all the necessary information for each train until it is required, it then being only necessary for the control operator to press keys corresponding to the number of the train required to be displayed. The new arrival indicator is saving thousands of verbal enquiries daily.

Some Famous Trains.

Show trains like the “Cornish Riviera Express,” the “Flying Scotsman,” or the “Southern Belle” are household words throughout the five continents. Europe, however, possesses several unique trains not quite so well known as these, not the least important of which is the Royal Train, used by Their Majesties, King George and Queen Mary, and housed in the Wolverton shops of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. This train may be inspected by prior arrangement, and any New Zealand railwayman visiting the Homeland will be welcomed at Wolverton by the L.M. and S. authorities.

Then there is General Foch's private railway car in which the Armistice was signed in 1918, in the Forest of Compiegne. This may be inspected by any visitor to Paris. On the Italian State Railways there are two interesting special trains, that used by His Holiness the Pope, and the new mobile “Palazzo Venezia,” presented to Mussolini by the railway authorities. Composed of six carriages, painted green and devoid of all exterior decorations, the Italian Prime Minister's train is said to be strongly armoured.

Centenary of the German Railways.

When the “Iron Way” was in its infancy, a proposal to construct a railway connecting Berlin, the stately capital of Germany, with Potsdam, was greeted by the then Prussian Minister of Communications with the caustic comment. “A stupid business, indeed! Here I am sending several highway coaches to Potsdam every twenty-four hours which nobody ever uses, yet you want to build a railway in addition.” To-day, the German Railway Company with its 35,000 miles of track, 12,000 passenger and goods stations, and 700,000 employees, ranks as one of the largest transportation undertakings in the world.

In 1935, Germany is to celebrate in appropriate fashion the centenary of her railways. By way of marking this historic event, the very first German train, the Nurnberg-Futher Ludwigsbahn, is to run once again on its original route. An exact model of the pioneer train is being built, and this will be hauled through the streets of Nurnberg by the 10 h.p. locomotive Der Adler (The Eagle) in its original size. As is usual in the case of railway centenaries everywhere, the name of George Stephenson comes to the fore in connection with the German anniversary. The locomotive “Der Adler” was purchased by the German authorities in the first place from George Stephenson, so that in the 1935 centenary pageant at Nurnberg, the memory of the “Father of Railways” will again be honoured far from his native Tyneside.

“Cornish Riviera Express” (London-Penzance) passing Dawlish, Devon.

“Cornish Riviera Express” (London-Penzance) passing Dawlish, Devon.

Railway bridges are among the most important of engineering structures, and Europe can show many especially fine examples of the engineer's art in this direction. In the heart of Africa, however, there is at present being built a much more imposing structure than any European railway can present—the Lower Zambesi bridge, of the Central Africa and Trans-Zambesi Railways. This will be the world's longest railway bridge, spanning the Zambesi River, which is actually 11,000 feet wide when in high flood.

The Zambesi bridge will consist of 2,589 feet of viaduct, 33 main spans and six approach spans, the total overall length being 11,651 feet.

London's latest!—a cigar shop in Piccadilly run by a woman for women! Do women smoke cigars? It's becoming fashionable in u'tra smart society circles at Home. An illustration in a popular London daily shows the interior of the Piccadilly smoke shop with the smiling proprietress giving a light to a society belle who has a small cigar between her dainty lips. But ladies don't smoke in the street—so far—although even that may come! Who knows? Man, poor man!—all his little ways are being copied by the adorable and all-conquering sex! But while ladies (some of them) are taking to cigars men are smoking fewer of them, the masculine preference being more for pipe or cigarette. As for New Zealand “toasted,” i.e., Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead), Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Cavendish, Riverhead Gold and Desert Gold, they are in ever-increasing demand. Smokers know how to appreciate a good thing! And toasting (the manufacturers' own exclusive process), renders this tobacco harmless, and while it eliminates nicotine, it vastly improves flavour and aroma.*