Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 5 (August 2, 1937)

Our London Letter — Light-Weight Excursion Trains

page 25

Our London Letter
Light-Weight Excursion Trains
.

Passenger traffic now reaches peak point on the Home railways. August is the most popular holiday period of the whole year, and during the Bank Holiday millions of vacationists travel by rail between London and the other principal cities and the long chain of seaside resorts scattered among the four group systems. This year it was anticipated that, because of the tremendous rush to London for the Coronation, the seaside Bank Holiday bookings would be somewhat adversely affected. So far as advance bookings show, however, there will this summer again be witnessed an enormous Bank Holiday exodus, which will make tremendous demands upon the operating department.

Excursion travel is a feature at this season. While specially low fares are quoted for this class of transport, the carriage stock generally employed affords a very high standard of comfort, and the Home railways are constantly adding to the already very large stock of excursion train vehicles. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway has recently put into traffic eleven new light-weight excursion trains, in which the use of high-tensile steel, welding, and articulated bogies has effected a reduction of 55 tons in weight as compared with a standard ten-car train. Seating eighteen first-class and 511 third-class passengers, the new trains, also, are forty feet shorter overall than their predecessors. Each ten-car train is formed of five two-car units. By joining each pair of carriages together by means of a single four-wheel bogie, on which the ends of both carriages are mounted, there is a saving of five bogies, or twenty wheels per train. The body of each coach is built integral with the underframe, forming one structure. The complete train of ten carriages weighs only 245 tons, and this saving in weight naturally results in valuable operating economies. The saving of forty feet in length is of great advantage at busy periods, being of assistance in station working and in storage siding operation.

Comfortable Third-Class Travel.

It is significant that in these new Home railway excursion trains only eighteen seats are provided for first-class travel, as against 511 third-class. Broadly speaking, first-class travel is dying out. There are several reasons for this. One is the competition of the private motor car, and another that third-class travel now is as comfortable as anyone could wish for. First-class is a relic of the “good old days” of the stage coach, and it will probably disappear altogether as time goes on, just as the old second-class has been abandoned on most routes.

On the continent of Europe, first and second-class travel still flourishes in many lands, and third-class is often a very uncomfortable business, spelling wooden seats and similar hardships. In one or two European countries, however, third-class is almost universal, as in Britain. Sweden and Denmark are two cases in point. There is one snag associated with third-class travel in Denmark, a country formed of a number of islands, and employing train ferries for inter-communication. First and second-class carriages are usually run direct on to the ferry-boats, but third-class passengers generally have to alight from their carriages on one side of the water, and entrain again on the other side. Russia has replaced her first and third-class by a “soft” and “hard” classification. France has some very comfortable third-class stock, notably on the Northern and P.L.M. lines. Italy, in her desire to attract the foreign tourist, has made drastic cuts in first and second-class fares, so that the average traveller there will have no need to resort to third-class.

(Photo., French Railway Collection.) A typical electric passenger train, Orleans-Midi Railways, France.

(Photo., French Railway Collection.)
A typical electric passenger train, Orleans-Midi Railways, France.

New Railcars in Italy.

Like most European countries, Italy has recently put large numbers of new railcars on the road. The latest units consist of novel streamlined three coach Diesels known as Fiat motor trains. The train is made up of three articulated coaches, carried on four bogies. Total length works out at page 26

page 27

about 197 feet. Two Fiat twelve-cylinder Diesel engines, developing 400 h.p. at 1,500 r.p.m., drive the train, power being transmitted to the wheels through a four-speed gear-box, a free-wheel device, a reversing pinion and reduction gear. The first car comprises a driving compartment, mail section, luggage compartment, kitchen and lavatory. The centre car seats thirty-six passengers, and the third car forty-two passengers. A restaurant section is included in the centre vehicle, and the third car embraces a rear driving compartment. Maximum speed of this new light-weight train is 100 m.p.h. At the outset, operation is being confined to the Turin-Milan-Venice section. From Turin to Venice is a distance of 260 miles. This is covered in 258 minutes, including a seven minutes' stop at Milan. The highest average speed is attained between Milan and Venice— 167 miles in 160 minutes.

Railway Operated Air Services.

Air services operated by the Home railways provide rapid communication between north and south, and between South Wales and western points. The services on the north to south route operate between Liverpool and Brighton, via Birmingham, Bristol, Southampton, and Ryde (Isle of Wight). The other route links Bristol and Plymouth, with intermediate stops at Cardiff and Exeter. Three planes are used to maintain the services, these covering 1,386 miles daily. The planes are the latest type multi-engined airliners, named after the Cities of Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. Each plane seats eight passengers in a well-ventilated cabin. Speeds of between 110 and 130 m. p. h. are maintained. Each passenger is allowed up to 35 lbs. of hand-luggage free, and heavier luggage is collected, conveyed by rail, and delivered to destination, under the “Luggage in Advance” system, available for rail passengers. The planes also provide traders and others with an express service for the conveyance of perishable or urgent goods.

Travel to Ireland Increasing.

Travel between England and Ireland has increased considerably of late, and both the L.M. & S. and G.W. Railways report good business in this connection. One popular route to Erin's Isle is that operated by the G.W. Company, between Fishguard, in South Wales, and Rosslare, Ireland. This is a daily service, on which the G.W. Railway employ fine turbine steamers, with restaurant and sleeping-car trains running in connection. Leaving Paddington Station, London, at 7.55 p. m. each week-day, an arrival is given at Rosslare at 5.25 a. m. From Rosslare, the Great Southern Railway of Ireland operates breakfast-car trains to Wexford, Wicklow, Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Killarney. Especially useful is the Fishguard-Rosslare route for visitors to Southern Ireland, and particularly the beautiful Killarney lake country. The whole of this delectable slice of territory is served by the Great Southern Railway, the big transportation concern having its headquarters in Dublin.

Railway Commercial Methods.

In England, regulation of road transport by degrees has been installed, while the railroads themselves are engaging in this form of movement. One striking result of the changed conditions brought about by the development of the road motor is the modification which has been necessary in railway commercial practice. As is pointed out in a report prepared by Mr. Ashton Davies, chief commercial manager of the L.M. & S. Railway, for submission to the International Railway Congress in Paris, it is recognised that railways must maintain the closest possible contact with traders and potential passengers to ascertain, and be in a position to meet, as far as practicable, all their transport needs. To assist in achieving this objective, many railways have strengthened their commercial sections. On the L.M. & S., the chief commercial manager is responsible for the sales effort and results accruing therefrom for all descriptions of transport. He is, therefore, in effect, the company's public relations officer in a wide conception of the term, and holds the responsibility for ascertaining the requirements of the public and of traders, and of meeting such ascertained requirements in every possible way. Thus, the chief commercial manager decides what is necessary to secure the business, and the operating and technical officers cooperate with him in carrying the arrangements into effect.

S.S. “St. Patrick,” in G.W.R. Fishguard-Rosslare Service.

S.S. “St. Patrick,” in G.W.R. Fishguard-Rosslare Service.

Important Electrification Works in France.

French railway receipts continue to show a steady improvement, and a noteworthy feature of French railway activity is main-line electrification. Two of the principal routes being converted from steam to electric traction are those between Paris and Le Mans, and Tours and Bordeaux. It is expected that the first-named work will be completed this year, while the Tours-Bordeaux project is due for completion next year. The Tours-Bordeaux electrification will enable through electric services to be run between Paris and the Spanish frontier at Irun, and so will play an important part in bettering international communications. The cost of the work is in the neighbourhood of £5,000,000, for in addition to the electrification equipment, it involves considerable track changes and new construction. Fourteen sub-stations are being installed, ten of the rotary converter type, similar to those already utilised on the Orleans-Tours electrified route; and four with rectifiers of similar design to those on the Montauban-Cette line. Through the recent amalgamation of the Orleans and Midi Railways, the common use of each of these system's electric power sources has become possible, thereby effecting marked savings.

page 28