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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 5 (August 1, 1939)

Our London Letter

page 25

Our London Letter

Report of Transport Advisory Council.

August Bank Holiday sees passenger movement on the Home railways at its height. For some weeks past, business has been much brisker on both the passenger and freight sides, and one and all are now looking forward to a return of the old-time prosperity. This optimistic outlook is given further strength thanks to the recent favourable report of the ‘Transport Advisory Council on the railways’ claim for a “square deal.”

It is the view of the Council that a material relaxation of the present statutory control is necessary to assist the railways in overcoming their difficulties. The main concession recommended is that, subject to certain safe-guards, the railways shall be entitled to make such reasonable conveyance rates as they think fit. The existing cumbersome rating system is to be discarded, and a much more elastic and business-like arrangement instituted in its place. It is understood that the Government accept in principle the Council's recommendations, and specific changes in the law involved having received due consideration, suitable legislation will be introduced as soon as possible. The new arrangements will probably be of a temporary character, to cover a transitional period of not more than five years, or such shorter period as may be necessary to establish a degree of co-ordination which will avoid over-lapping of services and uneconomic competition.

London's Passenger Stations.

Gay scenes, indeed, are presented at the big London passenger stations these days, as train load after train load of eager holiday-makers leave for the coast. The metropolis possesses many fine passenger termini, set in a ring around the city proper, and most of these stations are household words throughout the five continents. Who has not heard of King's Cross, Euston, Waterloo or Paddington? Actually, scores of remote stations in all corners of the globe have been named after these “old-timers”; and from China to Peru, King's Cross always is associated with Scottish Expresses, Euston with Irish Mails, Waterloo with Atlantic Coast Expresses, and Paddington with West Country Flyers! Just now, Euston terminus of the L. M. & S. Company, is undergoing remodelling, and the problem of the hour is what shall be done with Hardwick's famous Doric Arch that stands sentinel-like outside the station. The remodelling plans do not allow of the retention of this historic landmark, but it is hoped to transfer the arch to some other suitable site, where it may remain for all time a tribute to our transportation pioneers.

According to Professor Richardson, of London University, the finest London station is the King's Cross terminus of the L. & N. E. Company. At this station—the headquarters of our second largest group system—large schemes of alterations and improvements have recently reached fruition. Platforms have been widened, lighting and trainindicating arrangements improved, new telegraph and inquiry offices installed, and a fine new Georgian restaurant opened for the benefit of travellers.

Summer Excursion Arrangements.

Statistics show that quite fifty per cent, of passenger journeys in Britain
“Flying Scotsman” at Main Departure Platform, King's Cross.

“Flying Scotsman” at Main Departure Platform, King's Cross.

are made under cheap day, half-day and evening excursion arrangements. Last summer 164,000,000 train journeys were made by passengers holding tickets at fares costing less than one penny per mile, and in the four months June-September inclusive this year the group lines are planning to run no less than 17,500 half-day and evening excursions, carrying something like 8,000,000 passengers. To convey sightseers to that ever-popular spectacle, the Searchlight Military Tattoo at Aldershot, in June, there were operated some hundreds of long-distance trains. Another outstand-ing movement is in connection with the Navy Week Displays at Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport, between 30th July and 6th August. The co-ordination of rail and road service is enabling new types of excursions to be run, and by arrangements with steamer proprietors, combined rail, road and steamer trips—both for independent travellers and conducted parties—are being extended. The arrangements for the interavailability of tickets between rail and road services now cover 2,300 places on the main-line railway systems, and over a million passengers annually are transferred from rail to road and vice versa.
page 26

page 27
G.W.R. Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, near Plymouth.

G.W.R. Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, near Plymouth.

A Famous Railway Bridge.

Eighty years ago a new link between the counties of Devon and Cornwall was effected by the opening of the Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, carrying the Great Western Railway over the estuary of the River Tamar. The Saltash Bridge is one of the most remarkable engineering structures on the Home lines, and it was designed by the G. W. Company's famous first engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The bridge is 2,220 feet in length, and in addition to the two main spans of 455 feet each, there are seventeen land spans varying from 70 to 90 feet each which, on the Cornish side, are on a sharp curve. The height of the central pier is 240 feet from the foundation, and the railway is 110 feet above high-water level. Brunel's original scheme provided for a structure with a main span of 255 feet and six others each of 105 feet. Unfortunately, however, the Admiralty stepped in, and insisted on a headway of 100 feet above high water. After toying with a novel plan for a bridge with a single main span of 850 feet, Brunel at last evolved the design of the bridge as we know it today. Because of a thick bed of mud beneath 70 ft. of water in the centre of the river, it took two years to construct the central pier. The two main trusses were built up on the Devonshire shore, and erected in position in 1857 and 1858. Each truss consists of an arch-shaped wroughtiron tube, of oval section, 16 ft. 9 in. wide and 12 ft. 3 in. high, the ends being connected by a suspension chain of link plates. The arch and chain are connected at eleven points in the truss by verticals, themselves braced together by means of diagonal bars. From these verticals there hang girders supporting the roadway. Each truss is 56 ft. high at centre, and weighs 1,060 tons. Comparatively little alteration or strengthening of the Saltash Bridge has been called for throughout its eighty years of service, and it is fitting that the genius of its designer should be marked by an inscription in raised letters on the landspan archways: “I. K. Brunel, Engineer, 1859,” this latter being the year of his death.

School for Road Motor Drivers.

Devon and Cornwall are two of our most beautiful counties, and during the summer months the Great Western reap a rich harvest from holiday traffic in this area. Incidentally, it was in Cornwall that the Paddington authorities, many years ago, instituted the first road motor service to be operated by a British railway. Today, the G. W., like the other group systems, operates large fleets of motor vehicles for the collection and delivery of goods, and also has financial interests in many pass
Photo, courtesy French Railway Collection Central Signal-box, Nord Station, Paris.

Photo, courtesy French Railway Collection
Central Signal-box, Nord Station, Paris.

enger carrying road organisations. The latest development in the road transport department of the G.W. is the opening of a school for road motor drivers at Taplow, on the London-Reading main-line. The school consists of a classroom for instructional purposes, messroom, garage, and a system of roadways. This includes a specially-prepared skidding patch, various types of road junctions for turning and reversing, portable traffic signals, and road signs. A permanent instructor is in charge, and students are instructed in the handling of three principal types of vehicles—light, heavy, and articulated. The complete training course occupies two weeks, and about 200 drivers will pass through the school annually.

Spanish Railway Communications.

The Spanish railway authorities, who in normal times work in close association with the French authorities in the through services between Madrid and Paris, and other points, are now making a determined attempt to set their house in order. Damage to way and works is being made good, and the four big frontier exchanges are being resumed. These are respectively the Hendaye-Irun exchange, in the west; the Perpignan-Portbou exchange, in the east; and the two intermediate exchanges, Forges d'Abel-Canfranc and La Tour de Carol-Puigcarda. Spanish railway workers, like those of Germany —where the events of the past months have seriously hampered repairs and renewals and thrown tremendous burdens on one and all—eagerly look forward to a long period of peace, and it is sincerely to be hoped that in this wish, shared by railwaymen the world over, they may not be disappointed.