British Railways and the Great War

BRITISH RAILWAYS AND THE GREAT WAR Organisation, Efforts, Difficulties and Achievements BY EDWIN A. PRATT Author of "The Rise of Rail-Power in War and Conquest, 1833- 191 4," "A History of Inland Transport and Communication," "Railways and their Rates," "American Railways," etc. Vol. I LONDON SELWYN AND BLOUNT, LTD. 21 YORK BUILDINGS, ADELPHI, W.C.z 1921 fi /\773^^ t — PREFACE. When, shortly after the outbreak of war and the successful dispatch of the Expeditionary Force to France, it became evident that railways were to play a part of primary importance in the development of the conflict " that the war, in fact, was to be a " Railway War —the Author had the idea of following up his earlier works on triansport questions by eventually giving to the world the story of what the British railways had accomplished as the result of activities obviously destined to tax their energies and their resources to the utmost extent and to exercise a considerable influence on the movements and achievements of the British Forces, if not on the actual course of the war itself. At this time, however, it was much too early to start on such an undertaking, and although the Railway Executive Committee, to whom the idea was mooted, were not averse thereto, when the proper time should arrive for carrying it into effect, it was evident that, under the prevailing conditions, any would-be historian seeking to learn aU that was then going on might find that he was only asking for trouble. It thus occurred to the Author that, as a safer, though still useful, introduc- tion to his proposed task, he might prepare a work which would trace the part that railways in general had played in warfare from the earliest days of their employment in this direction dowfi to the outbreak of the latest war of all, in August, 1914. Hence the publication, in December, 1915, of his work on " The Rise of Rail-Power in War and Conquest, 1833-1914," a book of 400 pp., demy octavo, now out of print. On the announcement being made in the House of Cominons in July, 1916, that the Goveirnment had arranged for the writing of an official history of the war, the Author revived the question as to a history of the part that British Railways were taking in the war, and facilities were then afforded to him for the making of the necessary researches and for the collection of the essential information, a certain amount of which, however, as regarded the earlier preparations of the British railways for war, in accordance with the dictates of ordinary State pohcy, had already been given by him in " The Rise of Rail-Power." A considerable proportion of the material thus eventually collected, and now included in the present work, was gathered from official minutes, reports, correspondence, memoranda, etc., to which the Author was given access ; but still more, perhaps, was obtained as the result of interviews with railway or State officials and others in various parts of the country who were able from personal knowledge to give details which had not vi PREFACE. one found previously been placed on record at all ; yet even here that there was a great deal which, though falling within the region of romance, had been done by railwaymen as a matter of duty under conditions of great stress and strain, had failed to strike them as having any romance whatever, and had already been either forgotten by them or not sufficiently remembered to be capable of complete recall. Happily, it was still possible to rescue from oblivion much that would otherwise have been lost. It should be said, too, that, although affording to the Author every opportunity to obtain the data, the details and the general information thus brought together, neither the Railway Executive Committee nor the individual companies sought in any way to influence his choice of subjects, his selection of material, or his methods of treatment, perfect freedom of action and of discretion being allowed to him in all these respects. On the other hand, they readily afforded him assistance in the revision of proofs with a view both to ensuring accuracy in matters of fact and to offering suggestions where, as occurred from time to time, questions of railway policy called for special consideration. Steps were taken by the Author in other directions, also, to secure a revision of Chapters or sections in which questions of State policy were concerned, various excisions being made as might be found expedient. While gratefully acknowledging the confidence shown in him by the railway managers and the invaluable help given to him aHke by them, by the companies, by individual railwaymen, by State officials either still in active service or demobilised, and by various local authorities, the Author takes upon himself the full responsibility for any faults of commission or omission in a work which is to be regarded in the light, not of an " official publication," but of a one-man effort designed solely as an historical record, with no aim either to serve the purposes of propaganda or to enter upon a discussion of post-war problems. In the contents of these two volumes the average reader wiU find much that is entirely new to him. He will remember with what perfect smoothness the initial dispatch of British Troops overseas was conducted, the impression then given being that the railways were just about the only one of our national organisations which was thoroughly prepared for war. If, however, this was the case, it was because, as a matter of foresight and poHcy in regard to questions of national defence, the companies had been more or less actively engaged on the preparation and revision of mobihsation time-tables and other details concerning the working of emergency troop traffic since the year j866, when the first of their series of the said time- tables was compiled for the War Office, following on the creation, in 1865, of the Engineer and Railway Volunteer Staff Corps—now the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps (T.F.)—originally projected in i860 as an addition to the Volunteer Movement following on the anticipations of a French invasion in 1859. In 1896 came the formation of the War Railway Council with its railway representatives who, among other. PREFACE. vii obligations' undertaken, carried the preparation of mobilisation time- tables much further than had been done before, while in 1905 the War Office was discussing with the railway companies the formation of a special railway reserve for service overseas and the terms on which they " would ensure the use of engines and roUing-stock for any " httle wars in which we might be concerned. The reader will learn, however, that tlie real period of preparation for a war with a Continental Power was due to the political troubles of 1913, and that the creation of the Railway Executive Committee in November, 1912, followed by that of a Communications Board in January, 1915, together with the decision of the Government in, or not long before, August, 1914, to take possession of the railways under the Act of 1871 instead of under an Act of 1888 expressly designed by the Government of the day to supersede it, were developments in State policy all based on recommendations made in 1911 by the railway managers themselves. Taking these things into account, together with the evidence afforded as to the activities of the Railway Executive Committee between the date of their appointment and the outbreak of war, there will be less reason for surprise at the state of readiness on the part of the railways for the dispatch of an army overseas at a few hours', or, at least, at a few days' notice when the occasion for so doing arose. Much that is unknown to the average person—^if not, indeed, also to the average railwayman—concerning the controlled Hues and their cross-country or their across and around London connections is given, showing how readily the 130 separately-owned railways taken over by the Government for the purposes of the war could be at once operated as a unified system. Then the Chapter on the methods of working of the Railway Executive Committee should be read with special interest by those who may marvel how it was that a small body of twelve General Managers and a staff of comparatively insignificant proportions carried out the task of controlling practically the entire group of railways in Great Britain and making provision for the almost overwhelming transport and other requirements devolving upon those railways under war-time •conditions. Details concerning the financial arrangements between the Government and the railways will also be found. The arrangements under which mobilisation and the actual dispatch of the Expeditionary Force were effected, together with the nature of .the organisation on which subsequent movements of troops—including their eventual demobilisation—^were based, are detailed, and some striking facts and figures are offered as to the extent of the free or reduced-fare travel carried by the railways either directly or indirectly on Government account. The various restrictions imposed from time to time on the movement by rail of the civilian population are narrated, and these are followed by the story as to the provision of ambulance trains in which the sick and wounded arriving from overseas were distributed among hospitals and convalescent homes all over Great Britain. The Chapter dealing with the considerable movement of Belgian refugees viii PREFACE. recalls some of the most stirring incidents of the early days of the war.

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