THE ROMANCE OF BRITISH RAILROADS

Chronicle (Levin), 31 October 1946, Page 7

THE ROMANCE OF BRITISH RAILROADS

Some of the most romantic chapters in the history of the world's transport 'are those associated with the evolution of the British railroads, which are now focussed in the news spotiight by speculatioii that they may become the subject o'f nationalisation proposals, and by the great efforts which the railroads themselves are making to revive and restore their pre-war standard of service, writes Derek Stiven in Coming Events. Despite the vast strain of the war years, and despite inevitable shortages of labour and materials, the railroads are wofking at full pressure to rheet the new demands of peace, and to be ready for the eventual resumption of large-scale tourism from overseas. British railroads today represent the largest private undertaking in the country, the invested . capital of some £1,300 millions being divided amongst over 8001000 shareholders; the "small investor" is fcherefore vitally concerned in the future of the railroad industry. Today, almost all of the 20,000 or so route miles of British tracks are owned by the "Big Four" companies (L.M.S., L.N.E.R., Great Western and Southern Railways) , the remainder belonging to the London Passenger Transport Board (which operates most of the London "tube" subways) or to a few small local lines. It is therefore of topical interest to recall that it is just one hundred years ago that one of the first big railway "combines," the London and North Western Railway, was formed in Britain, while in that year (1846) no fewer than 560 schemes for new railroads came before the British Parliament! Wagonways and tramroads for the conveyance of ,coal or iron , between local centres of production : lor from mines to the seaports, formed the genesis of the British j railroad system during the late 17th land early 18th centuries; as early jas 1727 a bridge having a masonry arch of over 100 feet span was constructed for one of these wagonways in County- Durham, North-

east England. Most of these lines were laid without Parliamentary sahction, under the authority of "wayleaves" granted by the landowners ; the first public railway for the conveyance of goods to rec^ive an Act of Parliament was the Surrey Iron Railway, 1801. Horses provided the motive power on thdse early railways (although on at least one tramroad, vehicles are reputed to have been driven by sail-power ! ) and tliere are still preserved in England specimens of Jthe "dandycarts" In which the tow-horses rode as passengers when descending inclines. Steam locomotives began to make their appearance, with varying success, early in the 19th century, and many are the anecdotes of primitive engiiies which broke the fllimsy track, knocked their tall smoke-stacks off against the overhanging "branches of trees, or were preceded by a man 011 horseback, waving a red flag as a warning that the new-fangled monster was coming! The persistent determination of pioneers such as George Stephenson overcame all obstacles to the development of the steam locomotive, however; it was used for working freight trafflc on the Stockton and Darlington Railway (1825), and five years later the Liverpool and Manchester Railway employed steam traction exclusively. Advocates of other methods were still to the fore, however, and one some railways winding-cables worked by stationary engines wero used for many years on the steeper sections, while trial was also given to an atmospheric system in which the carriages were connected to pistons working within a sealed atmospheric tube aiong the track. British railroad pioneers met with much obstruction, and many were the weird arguments advanc3d against the coming of the railway, principally from landowners who objected to its intrusion. In many cases the route had to be taken clear of towns, which afterwards regretted their opposition; in others, tunnels had to be specially constructed in order to keep

ithe trains out of sight of the win- | dows of local landowners. One imain line was even diverted from its originally planned course because it • was contended that to pass near a large school would .be harmf ul to the morals of 'the pupils. The cost of land purchase, and iegal expenses, formed therefore a heavy burden on railway promotion. Nevertheless, when the first railIways began to make money and it (beqame apparent that therfe was goid along the iron trail, a boom in ! railway promotion set.. in, aiid speculation on a fantastic scale followed. One hundred years ago in 1846, Britain was in the throes of the "Railway Mania," when millions of pounds were poured into railway projects, good, bad, and wildcat. Of the 560 railway petitions which came before- Parliament in that year — at least one is lalleged to have been taken there'by. j its promoters in a hearse, this being fthe only transport available before jthe lists closed — only 270 passed linto law. In the same year, Parliapiient made its first serious effort to icontrol competition between the different railways advocating the Broad Gauge (7 feet) as against Ithe Narrow .(later the standard) 'gauge of 4 feet 8i inches; the 7 feet gauge did not, however, finally disappear until 1892. The centenary in July of the formation of the London and North Western Railway, by the amalgamation of several important early railways, is a landmark in British railway history; this was one of the first great railway combines, with a ca'pital of over £17 millions. Although this and other great railroads continued thereafter to swallow up their smaller brethren, there were still nearly 350 separate companies ' in the United Kingdom in , the 1860's, and about 275 thirty years later. The biggest consolidation of British railroads followed the passing of the Railways Act of 1921, as a result of which the"present "Big Four" groups were formed out of some 123 separate under- | takings.