In his contribution this month our Special London Correspondent reviews current railway developments. He deals particularly with the latest locomotives introduced on the British and German railway systems and with the Post Office tube railway built to expedite the handling of the postal business of London.

New Locomotive Types.

A Wonderful monument to engineering genius is the modern express locomotive. By the Home railways and the great overseas transportation undertakings steady progress is being made in the construction of larger and more powerful steam engines, and notwithstanding electrification's progress it is safe to assert that a long and useful life still lies ahead for the steam-propelled “Iron Horse.”

This year sees some remarkably fine types of express passenger locomotives employed on the group railways of Britain. There is the wonderfully powerful “King George V.” class of engines utilised on the Great Western main line out of Paddington Station, London. These 4-6-0 locomotives have four cylinders, a boiler pressure of 250lb per sq. in., a total heating surface of 2,514 sq. ft., a grate area of 34.3 sq. ft., a tractive effort of 40,300lb., and weigh, with tender, 135 tons 14cwt. Out of King's Cross Station, London, we have enormously heavy trains hauled by the new Doncaster-built “Enterprise” engines. These are 4-6-2 locomotives with three cylinders. They have a boiler pressure of 220lb. per sq. in., a total heating surface of 3,442 sq. ft., a grate area of 41.25 sq. ft., a tractive effort of 36.465lb, and a total weight with tender. 152 tons 11cwt. Then the London, Midland and Scottish Railway gives us a fine example of modern passenger engine design in its “Royal Scot” class of 4-6-0 machines, with three cylinders, a boiler pressure of 250lb per sq. in., a total heating surface of 2,526 sq. ft., a grate area of 31.2 sq. ft., a tractive effort of 33,150lb, and weighing with tender, 127 tons 12cwt. Last, but by no means least, comes the splendid “Lord Nelson” machine of the Southern line, a 4-6-0 engine with four cylinders, boiler pressure 220lb per sq. in., total heating surface 2,365 sq. ft., grate area 33 sq. ft., tractive effort 33,500lb, and total weight, with tender, 140 tons 4cwt.

These outstanding locomotives represent Home railway locomotive design at its best. All have a great deal in common, but differences exist here and there in their design, among which the following may be noted. The Great Western engine has four cylinders with cranks at 180 degrees, giving four exhaust beats per revolution, and is equipped with a high-pressure boiler with narrow firebox. To the “Lord Nelson” of the Southern are fitted four cylinders with cranks at 135 degrees, giving eight exhaust beats per revolution, and here again we have a narrow firebox. The other two engines each have three cylinders with cranks at 120 degrees, giving six exhaust beats per revolution. In the L.M. and S. Locomotive we find a narrow firebox favoured, while the L. and N.E. engine has a larger boiler having a wide firebox. All the machines named are equipped with super-heaters.

Across the Channel, the German railways have always been famed among European lines for employing interesting and powerful locomotive types. Recently the German railways have always have introduced two new classes of locomotives of noteworthy design. One of these is a two-cylinder “Pacific” passenger engine, and the other a two-cylinder “Decapod” freight locomotive.

The “Pacific” passenger engine has an axle load of 20 tons, and the leading dimensions are as follows:—Cylinder diameter 25 5/8 in., piston stroke 26in., diameter of driving wheels 6ft. 6 3/4in., total wheelbase 40ft. 8 1/4in., grate area 48.4 sq. ft., working pressure 200lb., tractive power 16 1/2 tons, weight in working order 107 1/2 tons. This engine is to be employed on the trans-continental passenger services centred on Berlin. The “Decapod” freight locomotive has been developed as standard for long-distance freight haulage. It has a cylinder diameter of 23 1/2in., piston stroke 26in., diameter of driving wheels 4ft. 7in., wheel base 31ft. 8in., working pressure 200lb., weight in working order 109 1/2 tons, and tractive power 25 1/2 tons. Constructed by the Berliner Maschinenbau A.G., the locomotives named represent the very latest types of high power engines to be employed on the German railways, and come as a noteworthy addition to the long list of efficient haulage machines employed by the European lines in recent years.

The Grain Lands Of South Australia.
The West-East Express running into Farrell's Flat Station, South Australia. (Engine, Class “S,” 6ft 6in wheel.)

Pullmans in Germany.

In introducing the summer time-table for 1928, the German railways state, that the working of the railways of the land has at last reached the same degree of organisation as in pre-war days. The condition of track, locomotives and other rolling-stock is now again normal, and to meet the need of the traveller it is the policy of the German lines to put into traffic many new trains running at high speed. At present Germany's fastest trains are the Berlin-Hamburg expresses, which are booked for an average speed of 53.5 miles an hour. Then come the Berlin-Holland express, the Cologne-Berlin express, and the Berlin-Frankfort express, all of which have average speeds of a fraction over 48 miles per hour.

An innovation in German travel this year is the introduction of Pullman cars for the first time in the history of railway working in that country. The most important Pullman to be tried out is a new train named the “Rheingold Express,” a daily train in each direction between Hook of Holland and Basle, on the German Swiss frontier, running by way of the picturesque Rhine Valley. This train gives a twenty-four hour running between Liverpool Street station, London, and Lucerne, 12 1/2 hours being occupied on the Hook of Holland-Lucerne section. The coaches employed in the “Rheingold Express” are managed and staffed by the Mitropa Company, of Berlin. They are 77 feet in length overall, and are actually the largest passenger vehicles employed in Germany.

Rail, Road and Airways.

On the Home railways, Pullman travel has been exploited to a considerable degree, notably by the London and North-Eastern line. On this railway Pullman connection between London and the North has for long been a popular feature of the passenger time-table, and this year additional convenience has been afforded travellers by the running of Pullman trains to and from the North to synchronise with the Southern Company's Pullman boat train services between London and the cross-Channel ports, connection by luxurious motor cars being given between King's Cross terminal and the Southern Company's London stations. Recently twenty-nine new all-steel Pullmans have been acquired by the L. and N. E. Railway for service in the “Queen of Scots” daily trains between London and Edinburgh. These cars are 65 1/2 feet long overall and represent the last word in travel comfort.

The announcement of the introduction of a combined rail and air service across the United States for passenger conveyance marks a new era in the history of travel, and is of real significance as being the first genuine attempt at rail-air co-ordination on a big scale. The new joint service operates between New York and Los Angeles, and the railways interested are the Pennsylvania system and the Santa Fe. The idea is for passengers to make the daylight portion of the journey by air, and the night portion by rail, and altogether the arrangement should be of real worth alike to the public and the carriers.

In Europe the Scandinavian railways have for some time advertised through bookings for both passengers and merchandise by rail-air route, and recently the Swiss Government railways have concluded and agreement with a leading firm of air carriers providing for the through movement of freight by rail and air on a single bill of lading. At the outset the arrangement applies to merchandise despatched from Swiss stations and addressed to foreign air-ports, or vice-versa, and to goods passing through Switzerland in transit. Traffic sent to or from the foreign air-ports is conveyed by rail from or to the Swiss air-ports at Basle, Geneva and Zurich, and it is probable that this latest plan of the Swiss Government Railways will from the embroyo out of which will spring an all-embracing system of international rail air services covering the whole of Europe.

British Railways and Road Transport.

Road transport activities on a big scale shortly will be undertaken by the group railways of Britain, who have just been given Government authority to engage freely in the transport of both passengers and freight by road. The only restriction of note placed upon the railways in this connection is that they are not to engage in road transport activities in the London area, which is already well-served by the existing road carriers. All through Europe a feature of the present-day activities of the railways is the manner in which co-ordination is being effected with the road carriers. Germany is a leader in this field, the German

In Service On The German Railways.
Standard two-cylinder “Pacific” Type Passenger Locomotive of the German Railways. Particulars of the Locomotive are given in the accompanying article.

railways having secured a large controlling interest in the operation of two of the biggest road carrying undertakings in the country. In Germany the railways are themselves instituting parallel and cross-country road services in areas already served by railways, but the general idea seems to be to furnish road connection between points not at present served by rail, and for road transport to replace rail movement altogether in cases where this change appears desirable. In Ireland, also, steady progress is being made with rail-road co-ordination. The Great Southern Railway now operates over seventy services, radiating in all directions from Dublin, Cork, Limerick and other centres, and for passenger travel the fare charged is something in the neighbourhood of three-halfpence per mile. For linking up distant farms with the railhead, and expediting the transit of perishable traffic to market, Ireland is finding the new road-rail co-ordination plan of rare value.

London's Post Office Tube Line.

Fourteen years ago there was begun the construction of what is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable railways in the world. This is the Post Office tube line, which has been opened this year beneath the City of London, and which cost nearly a million and a half pounds sterling to build. Six and half miles in length, the railway runs right across the metropolis from east to west, linking up the Liverpool Street terminal of the L. and N.E. Railway with the G. W. Company's Paddington page 21 Station, and serving many post offices and sorting centres en route.

Between stations the tube is 9ft. in diameter, and it runs about 75 feet beneath the ground. It carries two tracks, each of 2ft gauge, and the stations consist of an island platform in two sections, between which are the control cabin and the lifts and conveying machinery for handling postal matter between the stations and the post offices above. The rolling stock consists of steel motor cars with an overall length of 4ft 11 1/4in, energised from a conductor rail. The cars may be operated singly or in trains of three cars. As a train leaves a station the section in the rear automatically becomes “dead,” and is made “alive” again on the train entering the next section but one in advance. In other words, there is always a “dead” section between successive trains. Illuminated diagrams in the control cabins reproduce the movements of trains on the tracks, and train speeds of up to 35 miles an hour are attained by these unique crewless trains of the new line.

New Depot in Paris.

Europe possesses may fine railway terminals. To the number of European railway stations of outstanding merit there will shortly be added another new terminal by the construction of a fine depot in Paris by the Eastern Railway.

Seventy-Five Feet Beneath The Roar Of London.
Three-car Crewless Train on the London Postal Tube Railway.

This giant station will have a frontage of 590 feet, and will have thirty platforms under cover, varying from 900 to 1,000 feet in length. At the new terminal there will be handled annually something like 26,000,000 passengers, and the station will rank as one of the largest passenger depots in the world. The original Eastern terminal in Paris was opened in 1855. It was a diminutive depot with just two platforms. To-day eighteen platforms are provided, and this number will be increased to thirty on the completion of the re-building. One interesting result of the re-building scheme will be that Leipzig station, on the German railways, will no longer rank as Europe's biggest passenger depot. Even this notable terminal, which has aroused the admiration of railwaymen from every land, will have to take second place to the wonderful new structure now being erected by the Eastern Railway in the cosmopolitian French capital.

Through The Pyrenees.

An electric railroad, piercing the heart of the Pyrenees Mountains has lately been put into operation between France and Spain. Easy and quick communication by rail between the two countries has thus been effected for the first time.