London's Busy Stations.

London is, of course, the greatest traffic centre of the Home railways, and recently one of the principal termini of the metropolis celebrated its fifty-eighth anniversary. This is the Liverpool Street station of the L. and N.E. line, formerly the headquarters of the Great Eastern system. At the time of its opening, doubt was expressed as to whether full use would ever be made of such commodious accommodation. So rapidly, however, did traffic expand, that in 1894 an extension, known as the East Side, was constructed, and to-day Liverpool Street station is actually the busiest station in the whole world, with the solitary exception of Flinders Street, Melbourne.

Of all the main-line termini in London, Liverpool Street is the largest. The station is used by more than 230,000 passengers every day, and there are upwards of 1,200 trains in and out every twenty-four hours. The second busiest station in London is the Southern Company's London Bridge station, with 149,000 passengers daily. Then comes Waterloo, with 130,000 passengers daily; Broad Street, 120,000; Victoria, 111,600; King's Cross, 60,000; Euston, 60,000; and Paddington, 55,000. More than 9,000 trains are handled daily at the sixteen principal London stations.

While Liverpool Street handles such an enormous passenger business, it is not an electrified terminal. All operations are conducted by steam power, although plans have for long been prepared for the ultimate electrification of the station and the adjoining suburban tracks. The intensive steam operation favoured was originally introduced by the Great Eastern General Manager, Henry Thornton (now Sir Henry page 21 Thornton). The special features are the unique equipment employed for the speediest possible turn-round of trains, these including a well-designed locomotive dock facing each platform road, entrance to and departure from which is possible without interference with trains on other roads; derailers replacing catch-points and giving an additional 10ft clearance for the driver to bring his locomotive to rest; and water-columns for feeding locomotives while passengers are detraining and entraining.