Amerry Christmas to everyone! Thanks largely to wise management, and to the energy and enthusiasm of the individual employee, the close of the year finds the Home railways—like the New Zealand Government lines—enjoying marked prosperity. Given a continuance of settled trading conditions, and the wholehearted teamwork of one and all concerned in transportation's conduct, there appears every reason to believe that this happy state of affairs will continue throughout the New Year.

Luggage Room Knocke-Surmer, Belgian State Railways.

What a wonderful time for the Home railways has been this Jubilee Year of 1935! Outstanding among all events, of course, were the Jubilee celebrations that brought tens of thousands of sightseers to the Empire's capital. “Gentlemen, The King!” The railwayman ranks among the most loyal of subjects, and our Royal Family actually are very good friends of the railwayman. For shortdistance travel, our Royal House naturally makes extensive use of motorcars. When it comes to long-distance movement, however, the Royal Family almost invariably give preference to the railway. Very striking, too, is the interest always displayed in the practical side of railway working by both King. George and Queen Mary. On more than one occasion, the King has boarded the footplate of the engine of the Royal Train, in his search for railway knowledge; while on almost every trip His Majesty makes a special point of engaging in conversation with the train crew and other railwaymen with whom he comes in contact, largely with the idea of becoming better acquainted with the railwayman and his job.

Most of the King and Queen's longdistance journeys are made in the Royal Train which is housed at the Wolverton Shops of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. There are twenty vehicles available for forming the train, but, as a rule, only ten of these are actually brought into use at one time. These ten carriages weigh approximately 370 tons. Two are special saloons for the personal use of Their Majesties. In the King's Saloon, a square vestibule gives access to a smoking-room, finished in fiddle-back mahogany. Adjoining is the day compartment, with a special desk for His Majesty, while connecting with this compartment is the King's bedroom, furnished with a silver-plated bed and satinwood dressing-table. A bathroom and a compartment for the sergeant footman complete the coach. The Queen's saloon is on somewhat similar lines, but furnished in rather more dainty fashion, with blue as the colour scheme—the Queen's favourite colour.

A Centenary Year.

Railway centenaries have been coming thick and fast of late. This year Germany and Belgium have celebrated the one-hundredth birthday of their railways, while at Home the Great Western Railway has just knocked up a century of public service. Another interesting event is the hundredth anniversary of the passing of legislation giving powers for the establishment of Euston passenger station, London.

The present Euston Station is one of the largest city terminals. It is the headquarters of the L. M. & S. Railway, and from and to this great depot there are operated hundreds of long-distance trains, of which the “Royal Scot” is probably the best known. Originally named “Euston Square,” the station was planned as the London terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway. Because of the steep grade between Euston and Camden Town—one mile outside the terminus—trains were for some years drawn between these two points by rope haulage. To-day powerful locomotives, such as the “Royal Scot,” haul 500 ton trains unaided up the Euston Bank from a standing start. Euston Station, incidentally, handles the heaviest postal mail business of

The Queen's Day Saloon, Royal Train, L.M.S. Railway.

page 58 page 59 any Home depot. A leading mail train is the “West Coast Postal,” from Euston to Scotland, which has operated daily for fifty years, including Sundays. Leaving Euston at 8.30 p.m., the train consists of twelve postal cars, including five letter-sorting cars. It carries mail for all parts of Scotland, the north of England and the Midlands.

Dymchurch Station, Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, with miniature “Pacific” locomotive, “Southern Maid.”

Suburban Electrification.

One of the earliest electrification works on the Home railways was the conversion of the North Tyne-side tracks of the L. & N. E. Railway from steam to electric traction. This electrification—covering the Newcastle to North Shields double-track route—dates back to pre-war days. With the growth of suburban passenger business on Tyne-side, the L. & N. E. Company is now putting in hand the electrification of further routes in this important area, notably the eleven mile section between Newcastle and South Shields. This line carries five million passengers a year, and the existing steam service gives one train in each direction every twenty minutes, with an overall journey time of 33 or 34 minutes. Under electric working, the train service will be augmented, and the journey time cut to 27 minutes. To secure all the advantages of interchangeability of rolling-stock with the electric lines on the north bank of the Tyne, the third-rail system of electrification is being adopted, with a voltage of 660 at sub-stations.

The scheme as a whole involves the placing of contracts for 64 articulated two-coach motor-trailer units, two double bogie motor coaches, and one double bogie motor van, or 131 vehicles in all. At the same time, 36 existing vehicles are being re-equipped electrically, and 90 coaches constructed between 1903 and 1915 are being scrapped. The new cars will be of steel construction, of the saloon pattern, with sliding doors at each end and bucket seats. The whole scheme, including modernisation of the North Tyne-side, lines rolling-stock, is estimated to cost approximately £00,000.

The Smallest Station in Britain.

Railway stations vary greatly in design and construction throughout Europe. One of the largest passenger terminals is the Milan depot of the Italian State Railways, with its 26 vast platform lines, and a total area under cover of 73,000 square yards. Compare this with the diminutive stations on, say, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch system, of which the almost match-box like depot at Dymchurch is a typical example! Dymchurch, however, is not actually the smallest Home station. This honour falls to Blackwall depot, in Derbyshire. There the platforms are of just one carriage length, and the passenger service consists of one train per week.

In London, Waterloo is a giant among passenger termini. Waterloo has 21 platforms, covers 24 1/2 acres of ground, and handles approximately 1,550 trains and 120,000 passengers every day. Now travel in imagination down to picturesque Devonshire, and there you find a tiny depot built exclusively to serve a Government prison. This by way of contrast. In connection with big events, such as agricultural shows, flower-shows, and the like, the Home railways often construct temporary passenger stations in their entirety. These are usually of wood, and are erected in a couple of days or so, and dismantled with just as much ease.

Study Courses for Railwaymen.

Educational programmes on a really ambitious scale have, this winter, been developed for the benefit of the Home railwayman. The four consolidated systems give employment to approximately 68,000 clerical workers, 32,000 locomotive men, 52,000 permanent-way employees, 24,000 signalmen, and 110,-000 shopmen, in addition to thousands of workers of miscellaneous grades. For all these employees there are special educational helps. Some of the courses—as, for example, those for the clerical workers—are conducted in association with the leading universities. In the case of the technical staffs, the lectures usually are delivered by experts in their own lines. Normally, no charge is made to employees attending the study courses. At the close of the session, examinations are held frequently, and certificates awarded successful entrants. In considering promotion, due regard is paid by the management to any such certificates that may have been won by an aspirant for advancement.

Self-improvement is a sure road to success in the railway world, as in every walk in life.

“Pick-up” Goods Train, London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

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Pyke Hut, on the old packing route from Martin's Bay to Lake Howden, South Island, New Zealand.