Advantages of the Grouping System.

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which includes in its system the Liverpool and Manchester line of 1830, is the largest of the Home railway groups. It owns some 19,700 passenger carriages and 300,000 goods wagons, and serves a very large area of England, Scotland and Wales. The L.M. and S. Railway has effected considerable economies through grouping, notably in locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repairing. Through the introduction of better machinery and more scientific working methods, as well as through standardisa- page 22 tion, shop costs have been cut considerably.

Prior to grouping, each of the hundred odd railways of Britain maintained locomotive and carriage and wagon shops of their own, in which they performed all necessary repairs and renewals, as well as much new construction. The methods of operation differed greatly in the different shops, and hundreds of varying types of locomotives, carriages and wagons were favoured by the different systems. Today, many of the smaller shops have been closed down, and the four group lines have centred their shop activities in a relatively small number of works situated at suitable points. Locomotive types have been cut to a minimum, and through standardisation and labour-saving methods valuable economies in time and money have been effected.