Railway Housing Plans.

Some three years ago there was embarked upon by the Great Western Railway an ambitious housing plan for its employees scattered up and down the system from London to Cornwall, Public Utility Housing Societies-run on co-operative lines-being established at selected centres. In this effort the Great Western line has, to date, erected some 685 houses for its staff, while an additional 134 houses now are in course of erection.

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Eight garden-cities, affording comfortable and healthy homes for Great Western workers, have come into being under the shceme. At Acton, a little to the west of London, 150 employee houses have been erected, and a further 162 homes have been established at Hayes nearby. Other garden settlements are placed at Seven Tunnel Junction, Caerphilly, Swansea, Barry, Plymouth and Truro. Various methods of construction have been adopted, but brick houses have proved most satisfactory from the viewpoint of cost, speed of erection, and general convenience. By Oliver Wendell Holmes it was once remarked that “the world has a million roosts for a man, but only one nest.” It is the desire of the Great Western Company to provide every railwayman with a real nest of his own, as it is recognised how valuable a part a genuinely comfortable home plays in the lives of its employees.