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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 11 (February 1, 1940)

Our London Letter

page 25

Our London Letter

The Railways And The War.

With calm confidence and cheerfulness, Britain and France continue to march forward hand in hand, backed up by their two far-flung Empires and by decent-thinking people everywhere. The Home railways are exerting themselves as never before, and although more than 30,000 railwaymen have been released for service with His Majesty's Forces, passenger and freight traffic is kept moving smoothly and swiftly. Freight business is of great importance at this juncture, and one can have nothing but praise for the wonderful fashion in which the locomotive and operating staffs are “delivering the goods” despite every obstacle.

The special conditions have created a striking degree of goodwill among railway employees in dealing with the public; passengers, too, are keen to help the railways whenever possible by handling their own luggage, refraining from asking needless questions of station staffs, and falling in readily with such regulations as are necessary in the peculiar circumstances.

Typical of the adaptability of Home railwaymen is the admirable way in which locomotive crews are handling their heavy trains in both daylight and darkness. To-day, the average speed for express passenger trains has been fixed at 50 m.p.h., with a maximum of 60 m.p.h. The utmost use is being made of locomotives by using to the maximum the carrying capacity of trains, and on all the main lines heavy loads are being carried. On the London and North Eastern line, for example, the pre-war passenger train record load was one of 661 tons (tare) attained by a 23-vehicle train hauled by a “Pacific” engine. Not long ago new records were established by trains to and from King's Cross with an empty tare weight exceeding 700 tons. These enormous loads throw increased responsibility upon locomotive crews, but one and all are handling their heavy trains in fine fashion.

By night, engine-drivers have to face the nation-wide “black-out.” It is common knowledge that drivers in normal times are greatly helped in locating their exact position on the track by the various landmarks passed en route. After dark now there are none of the usual town and village lights to be seen, and drivers have to rely mainly on sounds—such as that of passing over a bridge—as an indication of their precise whereabouts. Train signals, of course, are there as usual, but that is all. In a busy city station, it calls for the utmost skill and care to pull up exactly in the right position alongside the platform when everything is in almost total darkness.

Because we have specially mentioned the fine effort of the locomotive men, it does not mean that outstanding work is not being performed by other branches of the railway service. The truth is that every individual grade of employees is working as never before. Many chapters could be devoted to the painstaking activities of the time-table staffs, for example, for they have slaved day and night in the preparation of emergency schedules. That we are proud of those members of the railway service who have joined the Forces goes without saying. We are also proud of the office-boys, and “old boys” of every grade, who worked like trojans filling sand-bags to protect railway property. A bouquet, too, for the female clerks who toil in the headquarters and district control offices, many dragged away from their home surroundings at a moment's notice and billeted in cottage and mansion so as to be near their jobs. Hats off, also, to railwaymen's wives up and down the country, who have cheerfully parted with their breadwinners hastily transferred to far-away stations to meet war-time needs. Incidentally, many of these women-folk have found a solace for their loneliness by helping in the canteens established at various stations for travelling Service men. And so we could go on, extolling the efforts of the Home railway family!

Casualty Evacuation Train showing staff car and stretcher cars.

Casualty Evacuation Train showing staff car and stretcher cars.

Normal Passenger Services.

Passenger train services over the four group railways now under Government control continue to be improved. Every main-line has its quota of fast and stopping trains capable of meeting all needs, this notwithstanding the fact that the “black-out” has necessitated many freight trains normally run at night to be operated to new daylight timings. page 26 page 27 Restaurant and sleeping cars are available on all the important long-distance routes, and normal station amenities, such as refreshment service, are everywhere retained. In spite of Government demands, passengers by train can still obtain cheap day tickets, monthly return and week-end tickets, season tickets, traders' and workmen's tickets. On no route is there any restriction on civilian travel.

Night travel now approaches normal conditions. Black-out problems have one by one been solved, and improved lighting introduced without affecting the black-out efficiency. The new lighting enables passengers to read in comfort, and in general it has been adapted from the original half-light arrangements introduced at the beginning of the war. One circuit is provided with blue lights which are kept on continuously throughout the train, and the other circuit provides suitable shielded shoulder or ceiling lamps with white bulbs. Black metal shades project beyond the shoulder lamps to deflect the light below the window opening, and to prevent any appreciable amount of light falling on to platforms when car doors are open. The edges of each window are darkened with special paint, and blinds are drawn at sunset. On the Southern Railway an innovation on the main-line trains is the employment of a special travelling attendant, whose job it is to see that the lighting restrictions are scrupulously observed, and, in case of an air-raid warning, to switch off all the white lights and switch on the blue ones.

Operation of Freight Trains.

We have mentioned that many freight trains now run in the daylight instead of in their normal night-time paths. In general, the endeavour is to get through the bulk of the activities of the goods stations in daylight or semi-daylight as far as possible, although at this season complete cessation of goods station activities by night cannot be achieved. Where goods stations work by night, there have been introduced special lighting schemes, in which blue lights predominate. Naturally, operations are somewhat slowed up, but thanks to the co-operation of traders in handing over their shipments earlier in the day, and clearly addressing all consignments with white labels employing black lettering, delay is minimised. In the marshalling yards, night work is inevitable, and high-power lights have been replaced by less brilliant illumination, capable of being switched off at a moment's notice, an employee being permanently stationed at the main light switch. The changed conditions have been faced cheerfully and determinedly by the marshalling-yard staffs, and drastic though the lighting restrictions have been, the reduction in efficiency due to black-out conditions is only between fifteen and twenty per cent., and this figure will be gradually reduced as ways and means are found.

Handling of Foodstuffs.

Foodstuff distribution is one of the big tasks of the Home railways, for immense quantities of foodstuffs of all kinds reach Britain every day from overseas, New Zealand imports being, of course, well to the fore. Our Navy, in co-operation with the French, maintains the freedom of the seas, and the elaborate convoy system works most efficiently. To give an idea of the enormous demands made upon the railways in handling foodstuffs, it may be noted that in four days recently, no fewer than twenty-eight vessels in four convoys, loaded with 100,000 tons of foodstuffs, docked at one port, and the bulk of the cargoes was rapidly discharged and distributed by the railways, to make room for further vessels due to berth the day after the fourth convoy docked. Within forty-eight hours of arrival of the 100,000 tons of foodstuffs, some 80,000 tons had been moved by the railways to distributing centres in twelve widely different parts of the country, and this without interfering with passenger and freight services or the movement of war material.

(Rly. Publicity photo.) Modern suburban transport in New Zealand. The popular multiple-unit electric train on the Wellington-Johnsonville line.

(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Modern suburban transport in New Zealand. The popular multiple-unit electric train on the Wellington-Johnsonville line.

Many peculiar problems for the railways arise out of the convoy system. For example, the arrival of large numbers of vessels at one time, with gaps between, instead of on regular berthing dates, gives rise to sudden periods of intense extra pressure. For reasons of safety, cargoes may be diverted from one port to another at a moment's notice, and traffic through a particular port may be trebled. Diversion of thousands of wagons from their usual traffic channels then follows, with altered locomotive workings. However, these difficulties are made light of by the railways, and so day after day the nation is fed. Some day, perhaps, we may find space for a more detailed story of how New Zealand's vital food products are handled here at Home under war-time conditions. Meanwhile, New Zealanders, be assured your contribution of essential foodstuffs is more than appreciated in every home, and hard as you are working, believe me it would seem as nothing if you could see, as I have seen, the joy in many a humble cottage when mother has proudly produced her weekly pat of butter or leg of Canterbury lamb!