Electrification of important suburban tracks in the London area—notably on Liverpool Street and King's Cross routes of the London and North Eastern line, and the Great Western North Acton-Ruislip section—is likely to be undertaken in the near future. These new works follow the decision of the Government to assist in the improvement of transport facilities in the London district by a guarantee of the necessary loans. The programme involves the electrification of approximately 44 miles of suburban railway, the doubling and electrification of about 12 1/2 miles of further suburban lines, and the building of about 12 miles of new tube railways. The total cost of the works is in the region of £35,000,000, and it is estimated that the improvements will be completed within a period of five years from their commencement.

Electrification of the Liverpool Street and King's Cross suburban routes will come as an immense boon to the traveller. It is proposed to electrify throughout, the Great Eastern suburban line from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, and the Loughton Branch and Fairlop loop. The Central London tube line will be extended from Liverpool Street eastwards to connect with the Loughton Branch and Fairlop loop lines, and through trains will be operated. On the Great Northern section of the L. and N.E. Railway, out of King's Cross Station, it is proposed to electrify the Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace lines, to extend the Highgate tube to make a connection with these electrified suburban lines at East Finchley; and to extend the Northern City tube line, which now terminates at Finsbury Park, to make a connection with the electrified suburban lines near Finsbury Park. Through train services will be operated from all branches to the City, and from the Edgware and High Barnet lines to the Central Area. An interchange station will be provided at Highgate for passengers from the Alexandra Palace Branch to the Central Area. Outside Paddington, the proposal is to construct and electrify two additional tracks from North Acton to Ruislip, on the Great Western Railway. The Central London tube trains, now terminating at Wood Lane, will be extended to operate over this line so as to provide direct services to the Central Area and the City in place of Paddington.

Future of the Steam Locomotive.

Broadly speaking, railway experts in Britain are convinced of the immense utility of electrification for City and suburban movement, but for main-line haulage steam locomotives promise to hold pride of place for many years. The steam-operated main-line services of Britain are second to none in all-round reliability, speed and comfort, and during the summer season an enormous number of fast steam-drawn passenger trains are operated by the four group lines linking up every corner of the country. The summer service of the Great Western system, for example, represented a daily passenger train mileage of 123,877 miles. Summer additions included the running from July to September of new 60 m.p.h. expresses, streamlined railcars, business trains between big cities and

The Southern Railways “Golden Arrow” Express en route between London and Dover.

new cross-country services linking the industrial Midlands and North with the holiday resorts of the West and Southwest by through cars.

The most interesting Great Western innovation during the summer was the re-arrangement of the London-Cornwall services. In place of the “Cornish Riviera Express,” two trains were introduced, named respectively the “Cornish Riviera Limited” and “The Cornishman.” The “Cornish Riviera Limited” carried reserved seat passengers only. On Mondays to Fridays it ran non-stop in each direction between London (Paddington) and Truro (279 1/4 miles), while on Saturdays the train ran non-stop from London to St. Erth (299 1/2 miles). The new train “The Cornishman” catered for intermediate traffic not served by the “Limited.” It ran daily and virtually took the place of the old “Cornish Riviera Express.” Cornwall and Devon are among Britain's most beautiful counties, and holiday traffic thereto reaches, annually, tremendous proportions.

Some Famous British Trains.

The named trains of the Home railways include some of the most renowned of passenger services. To mention but a few of these giants of the “Iron Way,” we have the “Flying Scotsman,” the “Royal Scot,” the page 18 page 19

A typical fast passenger locomotive of the Austrian State Railways outside Vienna West Station.

“Irish Mail,” the “Atlantic Coast Express,” the “Cheltenham Flyer,” and the “Golden Arrow.” What romance is associated with all these outstanding rail links!

One hundred years ago, the horse-drawn mail - coaches used to run between London and Holyhead, with the Irish mail aboard, the journey to Holyhead occupying twenty - seven hours. Add to this a sea crossing to Dublin of about ten hours, and you get a total journey time from London to Dublin of about thirty-seven hours. To-day, just 9 hours 10 minutes are taken on the combined rail and steamer journey to Ireland, thanks to the fast mail service of the L. M. & S. Company.

It was on August 1, 1848, that the first “Irish Mail” train drew out of Euston Station, London. She left at 8.45 p.m. To-day, the “Irish Mail” still leaves London at 8.45 p.m. daily, but the service has been accelerated beyond belief. This famous named train conveys passengers, in addition to mails, and included in its composition are luxurious sleeping and restaurant cars.

The Railways and Catering.

It was the dictum of Napoleon that “an army marches upon its stomach.” To-day, this maxim might very well be changed to read: “A railway passenger travels upon his stomach,” for no surer way exists of attracting passenger business than to make suitable provision for the needs of the inner man along the system lines.

In Europe, the business of railway catering is conducted upon various principles, some of the railways operating their own refreshment departments, and others letting this work out on contract. Most of the railway catering in Britain is cared for by the group lines themselves. The London, Midland and Scottish Company is actually the largest hotel-owner in Europe. Across the Channel, two big establishments are responsible, in the main, for providing the railway traveller with refreshment. These are respectively the International Sleeping Car Company, and the Mitropa Company. The first-named has its headquarters at Brussels, while the Mitropa undertaking is centred on Berlin. Most of the French, Belgian, Spanish, Swiss and Italian restaurant cars are staffed and managed by the International Company, by arrangement with the railway authorities concerned. The Mitropa Company operate restaurant cars on most of the German long-distance trains,

Holiday crowds at King's Cross Station, London, L.N.E.R.

and on certain trains serving other central European lands. The Home railways operate a fleet of nearly 700 restaurant-cars, and provide refreshment rooms at all the principal stations. On the restaurant cars alone, over 8,000,000 meals are served each year.

Rail Travel in Austria.

Continental travel reached tremendous proportions this summer, and a striking feature was the increase in the volume of vacation travel between Britain and Austria. A wonderfully attractive land for the holiday-maker, Austria is served from end to end by an efficient State-owned railway network, having a total length of 3,600 miles. Although State-owned, the Austrian railways are worked on business lines, with their finances entirely separate from those of the State. In consequence of this change of policy, effected in 1923, the name “Austrian State Railways” was altered to the present nomenclature “Austrian Federal Railways.”

Heavy gradients and severe curves abound in Austria. Steam locomotives total 2,041; electric locomotives 215; electric railcars 27; and internal combustion engined railcars 55. Passenger carriages total about 7,850; and goods wagons about 33,600. An outstanding work of recent years has been the electrification of many of the mainlines in Western Austria. To-day, some 571 miles of track are electrified, and further conversion plans are under review.