OCJO ^iijljjj R.131 RAJIMY HLmLD Limm. , Originaf Articfes And Okiztch(Z.£. RAILWAY HERALD LIBRARY. ORIGINAL ARTICLES AND SKETCHES OX RAILWAY SUBJECTS. PRICE l^IXPEXCE London : The Railway Publishing Co., Limited, 79 & 80, Templb Chambers, Temple Avlkue, E.G. CONTENTS. ShcFuld the Government acquire our Railways f 5 My First Interchange 11 A Chat about Chemistry 15 Some Humours of Railway Correspondence 17 Smartness ... ... ••• ••• 19 Outvritted •• 21 26 Payment of Members ... ... -• 30 The "Working of a Single Line by Staff and Ticket Advice to Young Signalmen 32 Work and Wealth 35 Block Instruments ^ our Friends Save us from ^0 Across Canada ^ Some Curious Traffic on Passenger Trains 45 Substance and Shadow 47 49 The Compensations of Life ... Grumblers Chronic ^4 Our Pension Fund... 57 60 Interchanee Privilege Season Tickets Snagnoletti's Electric Locking w 67 The Evils of Monopoly 70 The Dangers of Defective Eyesight Tasmania Through 7b^^ Starting Poultry Keeping All is not Gold that Glitters ... g Railway Shipners °2 A Popular Holiday Resort oo°^ Ten Terrible Minutes in a Train The Opportunities of Life ^ Select Information 100^ "What's Bred in the Bone" Cantankerous Passengers 1?^ Railway Anecdotes |"9 One Christmaa Dar IlljijT Miss Araminta Brown's First Railway Tnp Our Guards... 11'^ Passenffers Nervous , ii^ ... rif Enffb'sh Railway Travelling compared with American Romethind Stransje 1^ Oiir Fptnne Drivrrs }£h Axles Th«- Fatiene -.f R.-iilway i^J 4 in ihc -Jfiah;: Fog ;^-J How our Forefathers Travelled i^^^-^^ Recollections of a Carriage Searcher 662133 PAOB In Uniform 132 PaSssengers' Lost Property ... 134 Sketches of Railwaj Life: —^The Policeman 135 Smoking Compartments .... 139 Jim Dickson's Enemy — 141 First Aid; or, Jock's -First Patient ^ 143 Original Anecdotes 145 How I became a Signalman • 147 Civility 150 Uncomfortable Locomotives 151 The Eank Clerk's Jo^ney 152 An Awkward Predicament 155 "Our" EaUway 158 Our Ticket Collectors 160 A Tight Fit 163 Some Opinions of Medical Men on Cabin Life ... r.. 165 Two Minutes Before Time ... ... ... ... ... 167 The Yillago Magnate 170 Railways: Their Influence on British Life ... ... ... 172 of Sketches Railway Life : —^The Booking Oerk 174 Doei it Pay to Cultivate Garden Allotments? 177 The Funny Rsrilway Man of the Daily Press 180 R'dilway Stories ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 182 Rimning Wild .„ 184 Some FiXperienees with the Public ... 186 Drifting . ... 188 What is Horse Power? 191 Sketches of Railway Life: —^The Stationmaster 193 T'ne Mashor Guard 196 Curious Deposits in Railway Cloak-rooms ... ... ... 199 Electricitv and Railwav Workshops 202 The Hindoo en tii''. Railway 204 Air Repistance ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 207 The Earliest Railways 209 Amusements at a Coxmtry Station ... ... ... ... 212 Narrow .Escape of the Night Mail ... ... ... ... 215 The Present Gauge of the Permanent Way 216 Curious Scene."? oa the Railway ... ... ... ... 218 A Run for Lifo 220 Datiages for Personal Iniuries ... ... ... ... 221 The Story of a Missincr Box 223 Ts it Riirhl. to Clieat a Railway Company ... .' 226 Carter Paterson and Co.. Carriers 230 ^t the Booking-office Window ... ... ... ... 233 The Story of a TroUy Ride 2^5 ... 239 .\. Good Word for the Railways ... ... ... 2^0 The Wcptinghousc Triple Valve and its Working A Runaway Coiiple 242 Mr=i. Fitchesier's FLt 2^6 248 A LcK.son in Spiritualism The Accelerati.-.n of Passenger Trains 250 " Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted" 252 London and Birmingham Railway 2S4 The Examination of Season Tickets 256 Railway Herald Library. Should the Government Acquire our R^ailways ? By a Clerk, Great Northern Railwaif. the inventive genius, George Stephenson, con- WHENstructed the locomotive engine, and proposed to- set it running on rails, it is a matter of history that when the powers were applied for, and Parliament referred the matter to a Committee, some very silly legislators, both of the Upper arxi Lower Houses,, sought to pooh-pooh the whole idea, but this did not prevent the in of powers being granted ; and spite most strenuous opposition on the part of landowners, town councils, and other parochial authorities, the lines were laid, and traffic com- menced to run upon them; and when their utility was by this means demonstrated there was, as might have been expected, an ugly rush to make new lines, and new companies sprung up like mushrooms. Left to themselves, promoters selected the districts likely to pay best, and hence there are duplicate and tripUcate lines between the same places, while less promising districts were neglected. This happy-go-lucky system has had its continuous opportunity. The initial m-is- take was in disregarding the systematic distribution of rail- ways with reference to the whole country. "The history of " the railway mania of 184:4 and 1845," says Hole, is a melan- choly exhibition of human greed. Those years gave a direc- tion to our railways from which they have suffered until the- present time. In 1844 248 schemes were lodged ^\'ith the Board of Trade; in 1845, 815! The schemes of 1844-45 were mostly planned as speculations, not by men who mean.t to make railways, but to sell their legal power to do so. In 1850 Parliament permitted the speculating promoters to drop- their schemes, but they did not wait for Parliament, and pro- 6 RAILWAY HERALD LIBRARY. posals involving forty millions of capital and 2,000 miles of railroad were abandoned without its consent. It is needless to say that thousands were ruined by these schemes. As if the speculators were not enough to injure the railway system, there was, in addition, the opposition of landlords, who exacted compensation for their land, etc., said to be two or three times its real value. Add to these the Parliamentary expenses of engineers, agents, and coim^sel, estimated at seventy millions, which a return quoted by Mr. S. Laing showed to be upwards of five millions even in the ten years preceding 1886, and which, he says, 'is money wasted, which might have been used in carrying out important improvements.'" These excessive costs and compensations were inciured before a spadeful of earth was removed, or a rail laid, yet they have to be taketn into accoimt for dividend. Not a ton of •goods or a passenger is carried that does not pay a share of this needless expenditure. It is hardly to be wondered at that the smaller companies, under the circumstances men- tioned, found it very diificult to pay a dividend, and so there followed a somewhat extensive amalgamation; and in the main it must be admitted that this amalgamation has turned out well, both for the railways and for the public. Prior to this, it was almost impossible to take a ticket for any dis- : for and the tance changes passengers were frequent ; goods at many of the junctions had to be transhipped, causing great delay and expense. The public viewed with astonish- alarm ment these numerous lines formed into larger systems ; "was expressed at these monopolies becoming more powerful than ever. A Select Committee, in 1846, agreed that there was ground for alarm, but recognised that "it enabled the •companies to conduct their operations with less expense to themselves, and so reduce the chaises to the public, better arrangements could be made, increased accommodation pro- Tided, and life and property would be more safe.'' As a check "upon amalgamation, it was recommended that as a condition, "" the rates and tolls of the amalgamated companies should be subject to revision—i.e., reduction." As the companies dreaded competition, this proposal caused some usefiil schemes of amalgamation to be withdrawn. The advocates of the State control of railways think that if the whole of the lines had amalgamated and been controlled by one management, imder the control of the State, our railways would be of more use to the public than they are now. The public have the same idea about the different rail- RAILWAY HERALD LIBRARY. T way companies now as they had then. There is a delusion that the companies compete with each other. Hole, in his *' " National Railways," says, It may be safely averred that some score of persons control nearly one thousand ^millions of capital and 20,000 miles of the most important commimica- tion of ^the country,'' and it is idle to suppose that these few men will enter into active competition, the one with the other. In the early days competition was, indulged in with ruinous effect to the companies, but they soon came to terms for their mutual interest. The Railway Clearintr House was estab- lished, and by means of its two or three thousand clerks in, London, and its numerous number-takers at the various junctions throughout the country, the differences between the various lines were arranged. A classification of goods and mileage rates which were binding on all companies was early arranged, and in thisj way they all hang together. It is sup- posed that towns which are competing points enjoy greater privil^es than those where no competition exists, but the contrary is njostly the case, owing to Clearing House regula- tions and line is ; where a new brought to a place where one already exisis, the rates are not lowered, as some suppose, but the public have to support, and find interest for two sets of directors and shareholders instead of one. Mr. S. Laing says : " Every pound wasted comes ultimately out of the pockets of the travelling public, and not only is competition no effectual protection for the public, but, on the contrary, it will be found in practice to be about the greatest misfortune that could " befall them." Mr. Grierson says : Comj>etition is utterly im- to would ruin.'' Sir possible ; vigorously compete be simply " G. Findlay says that all companies were banded together to maintain rates, and no company could reduce a rate without the consent of all the others sen'ing in the district.'' In spite of this, a Select Committee reported in 1882 that it was ad- mitted the companies charge as much as could be got without reference to the cost of performing the service.