Great enterprise has been displayed by railways the world over in recent times in the development of automatic signalling installations. With the speeding-up of train schedules and the dense traffic handled on main lines, automatic signalling has to-day become a necessity on many routes, and here at Home increasing employment of automatic signalling devices is a feature of railway activity.

By the London, Midland and Scottish line—England's biggest railway undertaking—there has just been installed automatic signalling of a most efficient type on one of the most difficult stretches of track in the London area. This is the Bow Road and Barking route, over which there is conducted a heavy electric passenger service and a heavy steam freight service in connection with the movement of traffic between the London docks and northern centres. The new equipment has rendered possible a saving of six minutes on the passenger train timing between Bow Road and Barking, and the installation includes 43 new signals and 41 fog repeater signals, as well as 74 new track circuits.

Over the tracks in question there are now run forty passenger trains per hour in each direction. To ensure safe working, much shorter spacing between signals has been allowed, this being made possible by the high braking power of the electric trains and by utilising to the fullest degree the gradients existing along the route. Freight train working along the section is conducted principally during the night time, all trains being steam operated. The freight trains have not the braking power of the electrically operated passenger trains, and a system had to be devised allowing a greater distance between the freight train and the next train in advance than was called for under purely passenger train working conditions. To admit of this there has been installed a special instrument providing automatically for the extra distance required, the passage of a freight train automatically restoring the track to its normal working so that no delay is suffered by following electric passenger trains.

Interesting Electrical Problems.

Many interesting problems calling for expert technical investigation to-day face the signal engineer, and there is a big field for the perfection and improvement of existing apparatus, and for the development of new equipment calculated to prove of utility in meeting the exacting demands of modern railway operating. In his recent presidential address to the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, Mr. W. S. Every, Signal Engineer of the London Underground Railways, reviewed thoughtfully the many problems associated with modern train signalling. The rapidly increasing use made of electricity in railway signalling, Mr. Every remarked, undoubtedly tended to make increased demands upon the knowledge and intelligence of all employed in this branch of railway working, and it was essential that the modern railway should run efficient schools for the education of their signalling staffs. The increasing use of costly automatic plant to eliminate the human element in train signalling was most marked, and railways the world over were doing a great deal in this direction.

Regarding the utilisation of electricity in train signalling, the query was raised as to what are the relative advantages of alternating current and direct current for signalling purposes. One easily recognised the advantage of alternating current for the main signal supply, but the question related more particularly to the actual operating circuit. Thanks to the development of rectifiers, it was now simple to obtain a direct current supply from alternating current mains, and where there was no electric traction, direct current apparatus could be used with advantage on account of its simplicity of design and lower cost. With the increased use of light signals, however, alternating current was to be preferred owing to the ease of transforming to the low voltages required for the lamps. A serious attempt, it was rightly stated, should also be made to recommend standard operating voltages for signal apparatus, both alternating current and direct current, and the range of voltages should be reduced to a minimum.

Surmounting Difficulties.

Notwithstanding the very considerable difficulties under which the Home Railways have been working during the past months, the general results of last year's working, as revealed in the recently published annual reports for page 19 1927, were satisfactory to a degree. The London, Midland and Scottish, and London and North Eastern lines both achieved greater financial success in 1927 than in any year since 1923. From the viewpoint of total net income the Great Western showed a better result than at any time since 1922, while the Southern secured the second best total net income of any year since its inception as a group undertaking. In practically every instance the 1927 figures exceeded the average annual total net income of the railways since the introduction of the grouping scheme in 1921.

Engine Cleaners at work at King's Cross Locomotive Depot, London & North Eastern Railway.

One alarming feature alone stands out in the annual reports for 1927. This is the serious fall in passenger business experienced by all the railways at Home. Passenger train mileage in 1927 was 232 millions, as against 219 millions in 1923, yet the number of passengers handled last year was only 795 millions as compared with 875 millions in 1923. On one of the largest of the Home railways—the London and North Eastern—only 189 million passengers were handled in 1927 as against 227 millions in 1923, and this line, like the other big systems, is now making determined efforts to combat the road competition which is chiefly responsible for the fall in passenger business.

The Grouping System.

When the grouping scheme was first promoted, it was claimed that vast financial economies would thereby be effected by the Home railways. In practice it has been found that, while grouping certainly does afford possibilities in this direction, it will be many years before the full fruits of grouping are gathered. A great many schemes have been launched of one kind and another with a view to making financial savings, but as yet few of these plans have reached the actual saving stage.

As was remarked by the Chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, in his annual report for 1927, people are inclined to overlook that in a considerable number of instances grouping economies involve, in the first instance, some little period after amalgamation for combined experience to determine the best things to be undertaken in the new conditions and their order of urgency. Substantial initial capital expenditure is also called for, and an appreciable lapse of time for the execution of the work. Only rarely can one station be made to serve instead of two, or offices combined, or any kind of concentration effected without some expense of adaptation being necessary.

Co-operation.

The Home railways are now making strenuous efforts to secure the whole-hearted cooperation of their employees in every branch of activity. At practically every point of importance local councils of officers and men today meet periodically with the object of pooling their knowledge and developing suggestions calculated to prove of mutual value.

These local conferences between employees and the railway authorities are discussing regularly such topics as how best to meet the competition of the road carrier; how reductions can be effected in the large sums paid out for damage to property and loss of goods through pilferage; the avoidance of personal accidents; fuel economies; and so on. Practical results achieved under this plan include the saving of 30,000 cubic feet of gas at one station on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in nine months; and a reduction in the consumption of oil at another point on the same line amounting to one pint per 100 engine miles. Economies in labour costs have resulted from employees’ suggestions for alterations to works programmes and in the utilisation of unproductive time. Improvements in train working have followed the shifting of the centre from which particular trains work, while station working and wagon movement have been bettered in many instances as a result of sane co-operation between the Home railways and their staffs of every grade.

Suburban and Main Line Electrification.

Suburban electrification is now very much to the fore the world over. In this connection there has just been completed the conversion to electric traction of the Bombay suburban lines of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, and increased progress on the important London suburban electrification plan of the Southern line.

Practically all the big suburban electrification works carried out on the world's railways have been at points where an especially dense passenger business is handled, and at such locations there can be no question as to the superiority of electricity over steam as motive agent. In Britain, the Southern line leads with a huge electric zone in the London area embracing 272 route and 879 track miles. In North London the London, Midland and Scottish line operates an extensive electrified zone, while the Metropolitan also operates electric lines in this district. Outside the metropolis, the dense suburban business at Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is also expeditiously handled by electric service.

Across the Channel both the State and the Paris-Orleans Railways operate important electrified zones in and around Paris. Berlin is another world centre which is being rapidly given wholesale electric traction, while in Holland there has recently been opened up the electrified Rotterdam-Amsterdam route of the State Railways. From South Africa and the United States come similar reports of electricity's progress, and it is fairly safe to prophesy that the day is not so very far distant when electric traction will become universal in the suburban railway field.

Main-line electrification is quite a different problem to the conversion of suburban tracks. Examination of successful schemes for mainline electrification already completed invariably reveals that the ideal conditions for main-line electrification are to hand when heavy gradients exist or numerous tunnels are encountered en

Electric Multiple Unit Train (Formed of steam passenger cars converted for electric service), Southern Railway.

route. In certain instances main-lines where no gradients of any moment are encountered, and where tunnels are practically non-existent, have profitably been electrified, but in these cases there is usually some specially favourable factor operating, generally an abundance of cheap natural water-power resources.

There has been much criticism of the alleged lack of enterprise of the Home railways in embarking upon schemes for main-line electrification. The fact is that there are very few lengths of British main-line which lend themselves to conversion to electricity at the present stage of affairs. On routes of high traffic density surprisingly few steep gradients exist, while no really long tunnels are encountered. Natural water-power is available to only a very limited extent, while the abundance of good quality locomotive coal found adjacent to almost every main-line will prolong for a considerable period the life of the steam locomotive at Home.

Feeder Services.

All the European railways are making rapid strides in the building up of road services as feeders to the rail route. Probably the biggest success met with in this direction lies in the extensive railroad service operated in southern France by the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean line. As far back as 1909, the P.L.M. launched out with an ambitious road motor service in the French Alps, and to-day this railway operates more than 200 luxurious motor coaches in this area, each service being leased to a local road transportation undertaking under the direct control of the railway. Each coach has eleven or fourteen arm-chair seats, arranged page 21 across the vehicle in rows of three. The services include a long-distance run from Nice to Geneva occupying eight days; five local runs operated from Dijon and Avallon with journeys of as long as 103 miles; seven local sight-seeing tours from Vichy; and a cross-country run connecting Vichy with Grenoble, 249 miles distant.

During 1927 the more than 200 road services of the P.L.M. Railway of France covered a total route mileage of 6,338 miles. Something like 210,000 passengers were handled, and the motor coaches covered a total distance of 1,572,663 miles. In many instances the passengers conveyed by the road services were carried by rail in the first instance from Paris and other centres, so that the value of the road services as traffic developers may readily be realised.

The Royal Train.

It was the somewhat perplexing task of the writer the other day to draw up a draft itinerary for a New Zealand railwayman visiting the Homeland and anxious to cover during his stay the principal points of railway interest in the country. After much thought a suitable plan was hit upon, and submitted to the visitor. Entire approval was expressed with the itinerary with one exception; the programme failed to include a visit to the Wolverton carriage works of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, to cover the inspection of the Royal train housed at that point. The Royal train appears to have great fascination for every visitor from overseas, and this train is certainly a wonderful example of the carriage-builder's art, and is well worth inspection.

Central Passenger Station, Amsterdam, Netherlands State Railway.

Twenty coaches are set apart for the Royal train, which usually consists of ten carriages. All the exteriors are painted in carmine red and white, with gold lining, and the total length of the train is approximately 630 feet, and its weight, excluding locomotive and tender about 400 tons. The King's saloon is entered by a pair of polished teak double doors, opening on a square vestibule. Leading out of the vestibule is His Majesty's smoking-room, finished in “fiddle-back” mahogany, and with an arm-chair in each corner covered in apple-green Morocco leather. Next to the smoking room is the day compartment, with furniture trimmed in Jacobean tapestry with quaint figures on a creamy ground, and a beautiful desk for handling affairs of State en route. Adjoining is the King's bedroom, with a silver-plated bed, satinwood dressing table, and a bath-room with marble fittings alongside.

The Queen's saloon is a most attractive carriage, which invariably delights the heart of every female visitor to the works. It is decorated in blue and white, with satinwood furniture, and in the adjoining bedroom the furniture is covered with blue silk brocade. The bath-room has a rose-pink marble wash-stand and a marble bath, and the whole furnishing of the Queen's apartments is in the most exquisite taste.