rafc ^' NQTJSS ''SUPEB/. CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Cornell University Library HE3018.2.N37 A3 Railway reminiscences. 3 1924 030 116 960 olin RAILWAY REMINISCENCES. All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE ' RAILWAY REMINISCENCES BY GEORGE P. NEELE, LATE SUTERINTENDENT OF THE LINE OF THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY. NOTES AND REMINISCENCES OF HALF A century's PROGRESS IN RAILWAY WORKING, AND OF A RAILWAY SUPERINTENDENT'S LIFE, PRINCIPALLY ON THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY, WITH SOME SUPPLEMENTARY MEMORANDA AS TO THE RAILWAY JOURNEYS TO AND FROM SCOTLAND MADE BY HER LATE MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA. XonDon: M'^CORQUODALE & CO., LIMITED, PRINTERS, CARDINGTON STREET. 1904. ^7 A77373S" PREFACE. Owing to suggestions made from time to time by old comrades in railway life, I have been induced to put together some record of the part I have taken in connection with the inner working of Railways; going back to very early experiences, and through gradual developments extending over a long series of years, to the time when it became advisable for me to retire from the daily pressure of the work. A railway service commencing in 1847, carries one back a long way towards association with those who were the actual pioneers of our railway system ; from whom we learnt our first lessons, by whose successes we have profited, by whose failures we have acquired knowledge ; and on whose foundation we have endeavoured to raise a superstructure of so sub- stantial a character, that those who follow in our steps will have no reason to be ashamed of their predecessors. I have always been an advocate for uniformity in system : when engaged in my early days, on a short independent line of railway with important systems on either side, the divergence of regulations and practice pressed heavily on me ; and my endeavour at Railway Conferences has ever been, by some " give and take," to effect a reasonable compromise relying on the certain outcome of "the survival of the fittest.'' I have attempted in these ^ages to give a record not only of the changes that have taken place from time to time among my fellow officers on the London and North-Western Railway, a Company in whose service it has been my privilege to have been engaged for nearly thirty-five years, but also of the larger sphere of railway life, in which I have had an unbroken association of forty-eight years through the Railway Clearing House and among the Superintendents of other lines in the United Kingdom. The notices of Clearing House Meetings, and of changes in position of the officers attending those gatherings shewn in these pages, are almost entirely restricted to the Passenger Superintendents of the Lines; the Upper Chamber of the General Managers has been largely recruited from these officers, but my notes only occasionally deal with the other conferences. VI PREFACE. In connection with my service on the North-Western Railway, I have endeavoured to tell the story of the progress of interlocking, the battle of the brakes, the steps taken to insure safe working, and to record in proper sequence the chief occasions of train accelerations for Ireland, Scotland and elsewhere with notes of the introduction of any leading changes in travelling accommodation, and of the extension of facilities by doubling single lines, quadrupling others, and re-arranging and amplifying stations—facts connected with the London and North-Western Company's progress which do not exist in any collected form. There appear to be unmistakable indications of radical changes " affecting railway working in the near future : the electrifying " of the lines superseding the use of steam, the adoption of pneumatic action for working point rods, of electricity not only for actuating points but for automatic signalling, will all bring about marvellous modifications in modes of working, and in the class of knowledge needed by the working staff; it will be for other Superintendents to tell the story of their being brought into uniformity. The supplemental chapters of these Notes refer to the railway journeys made by Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria principally over the London and North-Western Line : to glean the facts connected with them commencing as far back as 1843, when the Queen first travelled by the London and Birmingham Railway, has entailed considerable research, not unattended with personal interest, for it has fallen to my lot for many recent years to have had the honour of being in charge of Her Majesty's train to an extent unequalled by any of the Railway officers, whose names are recorded from time to time as having been responsible for the safe conduct of the Queen. My record of these journeys closes in 1895, terminating on my last one in a most kind and thoughtful acknowledgment of these services by Her Majesty presenting me at our parting interview with a framed engraving of Tuxon's Jubilee Painting of "The Royal Family at Windsor, 1887," saying that as I had so frequently had the members of her family in my charge she wished me to have that representation of them as a memento. GEO. P. NEELE, Late Superintendent of the Line, 77/1? Lawn, London and North-Western Railway, Watford, Herts. Euston Station, London. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. TO FACE PACE. Portrait of the Author, 1870— 1890 I Officers at Euston, 1862. Mr. C. E. Stewart 65 Mr. H. p. Bruyeres 65 Mr. W. Baker 65 Mr. Charles Mason 65 Four General Managers. Capt. Huish Mr. W. Cawkwell Sir G. Findlay Sir Frederick Harrison Clearing House Secretary. Mr. p. W. Dawson 268 Railway Superintendents, Mr. H. Ward 268 Mr. a. Christison 268 Mr. E. M. Nebdham 268 Mr. Irvine Kempt 268 Mr. Cockshott ... 337 Mr. Tyrrell 337 Mr. James Shaw ... 337 Locomotive Superintendents. Mr. Ramsbottom 337 Mr. F. W. Webb 337 Members of Her Majesty's Household. Lord Charles Fitzroy (Duke of Grafton) 512 General Ponsonby 512 Sir Fleetwood Edwards 5'2 Sir James Reid 512 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030116960 — RAILWAY REMINISCENCES. CHAPTER I. 1847— 1849. Railway Life commenced on Eastern Counties Railway, Ely Station—Opening of Syston and Peterboro' Line — " Bradshaw's Guide," 1847 —Railway Officials of 1847—Limited Extent of Lines then open for traffic—Bishopsgate Station— Fellow Clerks in Mr. Robert IMoseley's office—Norfolk Railway Removal to Norwich under Mr. William Newall—Electric Telegraph Train System—Removal from Norwich— Fatal Accident to Mr. Newall. /% BANDONING a favourable opportunity of being articled to a solicitor, /—% an uncle of mine, and resigning the position I had held for two or three years in the office of another relative, a nobleman's con- fidential agent and estate manager, I decided to cast my future lot into the rapidly developing system of railway enterprise, and, in the Autumn of 1847, through the influence of a family connection, Mr. William Newall, then one of the District Officers of the Eastern Counties Railway, resident at Ely, I obtained an introduction to Mr. Robert Moseley, the manager of the line in London; but, prior to my finally going up to London for appointment, by Mr. NewalPs desire, my attention was paid to the work of both the Passenger and the Goods Department at Ely under his superintendence. My first experience of railway work commenced in the booking office at Ely Station, and my first attempt at issuing tickets without supervision was made in the absence of the upper clerk who was Booking Office training me. He was late coming on duty, and in order Lessons. ^^ advance matters I booked the passengers who were waiting for the train. Unfortunately, I issued "penny per mile" tickets instead of the " 3rd class," which in those days were, on some lines, obtainable by trains not appointed to call at every station. My instructor came in at the last moment, and, discovering the mistake, at once rushed to the platform and obtained, fortunately for me and for himself, the difference in cash from the passengers, and exchanged the erroneous tickets for correct ones. Even as' far back as 1847 it had been found that some more freedom for traffic was required in the direction of 3rd class than that secured by the " ParUamentary " requirement of one train per day Parliamentary n- ^ ^ ,. u. r r -i „ . calnng at every . station at fares of one penny per mile, and achieving a speed of not less than 16 miles per hour, but I observe from a "Bradshaw" of September, 1847, which — 2 RAILWAY RKMINISCKNCES. I have kept as a memento, that on the Great Western Line only two 3rd class trains left Paddington in the day, viz., at 7.15 a.m. and 1.30 p.m., the former arriving at Bristol at 2.50, the latter at 6.40; all the others are marked i & 2, Express, Mail. On the London and North-Western I find only one 3rd class train. It started from Euston at 7.0 a.m., reached Birmingham at 2.50 ; thence it started northwards at 3.30 (marked 3^ in the time book), and reached Liverpool at 10.30 p.m. During the time I was at Ely the line from Peterborough to Stamford —a sectional portion of the Midland Railway, ultimately becoming their through line from Leicester, via Syston and Melton ®*^™^°^'* Mowbray, to Peterborough—had its working transferred from the London and North-Western to the Eastern Counties, and under the tutelage of Mr.