Published by the British Transport Commission, British railways progress

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BRITISH RAILWAYS

progress Published by the British Transport Commission May I 962

contents Foreword Track Signalling and Telecommunications Motive Power-Diesel

Traction

Motive Power-Electric Traction Passenger Train Services Passenger Stations Shipping Services Catering Freight Depots and Marshalling Yards Freight Train Services Maintenance Depots Conclusion

foreword

Last year the first of these booklets reviewed progress made with modernisation. I t was recognised that a turning-point had been reached. The results were becoming more and more familiar in everyday life. After the planning years one could see clearly what was being accomplished. During the past year the process continued, spreading further the already established methods of progress that will help to make the replanned, smaller railway system more efficient, reliable, economic, and speedy. Electrification, already operating between Manchester and Crewe, was extended to Liverpool. Electric trains started running on East Kent lines 1 2 months ahead of schedule. New track, new trains, new freight services to meet the needs of industry-this is the growing shape of a revitalised railway service. The programme has its disappointments. British Railways entered 1961 in the shadow of their greatest setback, the withdrawal of the electric "Blue Trains" which had been so warmly welcomed by suburban travellers in and around Glasgow. Now the service is restored, soon to be extended south of

the Clydr, and the public has shown appreciation in the best possible way-by using it twice as much as the steam service it replaced. Such setbacks only underline the advanced nature of many of the techniques being brought into use throughout the country. There is nothing new about high-voltage electric traction, but its introduction on one of the busiest and most intensive systems in the world threw up ncw problems. Modernisation aims to produce a railway which the nation will be glad to use; new equipment, new plant, new techniques and new ideas on an unparalleled scale. Every sphere of activity is affected. Changes are taking place in the office, in the signalbox, on the track and in the marshalling yard. I t is a formidable task, made even more so by the need to carry on at the same time with the normal railway job of moving 1,000 million passengers and 240 million tons of freight every year. The full benefits will not be felt until the programme is complete, but more and more railway users are now sampling the advantages of an up-todate system. In creating a new railway system to suit an age in which the private car and motorcycle, the goods lorry and aircraft have emerged as formidable competitors, some pruning is inevitable. The process is not simply one of retrenchment. The new railway must be the right size and shape to meet the challenge and to meet the new demands of industry. This booklet outlines some of the work accomplished since spring 1961. I t is not just a recital of facts. Behind it is a record of enterprise and endeavour.

#

track

ern, Western and North Eastern Regions. Mechanised relaying by conventional methods occupies two lines and may entail diversion of traffic or providing alternative services. These new machines can operate without occupation of an adjoining line, and lessen interference with traffic. Track renewals alone do not bring smooth fast traffic flows. Work on widening and flyovers to remove bottlenecks went on in several parts of the country. New junctions, to enable trains to use quicker alternative routes, were put in. Extensive track alterations were made, for example, at Ashford (Kent), where five routes meet, in preparation for intensive electric services. A I ,200-yard-long "dive-under" line, passing beneath the London-Norwich main line, was brought into use at Colchester to carry Clacton-bound trains. Delays a t Bletchley have been reduced by a new flyover, 700 yards long and carrying two tracks, which came into use during 196I. At Bishton, near Newport, the completed new flyover marked the first stage of a scheme to increase flexibility for a greater number of train movements in the whole of the Newport area of South Wales.

signalling and telecommunications

PUSH-BUTTON SIGNALLING

Glasgow Central signalbox replaces four boxes, controls I I miles of track and a uital bridge over the Clyde

COLOUR-CONSCIOUS

~olour-lightsienals lakc Overmoreond miles of track350 miles in rg6r

Modern signalling is steadily spreading. New signalboxes, covering longer stretches of line, are replacing the old. The advantages of increased line capacity, more trains per hour, faster trains and reduced operating costs, have been won over larger areas. One new power-operated box at Tollerton, near York, controls 1 2 miles of line. Another, at Norton Bridge Junction, between Crewe and Stafford, controls 15 miles of quadruple track and replaces six mechanical boxes. Two others, at Edge Hill and Weaver Junction on the newly-electrified Liverpool-Crewe line, between them give push-button control over an area previously controlled by eight manual boxes. In Scotland, signalling on the Cathcart Circle, Neilston High and Kirkhill lines has been completely modernised, and the first stage of resignalliig operations in the Perth district completed with the opening of a new box at Stanley Junction. In the south, where resignalling between Hither Green and Dover is going ahead rapidly as part of the Kent Coast electrification scheme, constructional work on I o boxes and 27 relay rooms was completed. On more and more routes colour-light signals have replaced semaphore signals, their powerful electric beams visible through fog and falling snow. During I 96 I they were installed on more than 350 track miles together with continuous track circuiting and remote control equipment. This included several sections of line in South Wales. On the Eastern Region, the new system extended to the lines between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness (including the Tilbury Loop) and Chelrnsford and Colchester. A new installation at Henley-on-Thames is the first to use electronic equipment for interlocking points and signals. A plastic relay room, the first of ikkind in the country. ,- was erected at Stanford-le-Hope. It houses the electrical relays for the nearby signafboxes. Big as the average sitting room, it needs little maintenance

and by prefabrication took only a few hours to erect. Closed-circuit television speeded up internal communications in a number of principal signalboxes last year. At Paddington, a 17-inch set in the arrival box receives minute-by-minute information about incoming trains from the Divisional Control Office. Continuous track-circuiting, which governs the colour-light signalling system and shows the position of trains on illuminated diagrams in the signalboxes, also controls some new automatic level-crossing barriers. Barriers of this kind, equipped with flashing red lights and two-tone gongs, came into use on the London Midland Region at Spath, near Uttoxeter, and at Marston. Wasteful manning of crossings is avoided and delays for road traffic are shorter. The Automatic Warning System, which gives the

TALKING POINTS

Cordless switchboard at Marylebone. Meter shows number of calls waiting to be answered

train driver audible and visual warning of signal indications, continues to spread over the main lines. To date a thousand route-miles have been equipped. Widespread improvements to telecommunications are also being made. Work has begun on a microwave radio telephone system which, with a new automatic telephone exchange, will give subscriber trunk dialling between York, Darlington and Newcastle. A new 200line telephone exchange came into use at Coventry in September. Another, at Broad Street, has 300 lines. The quality of telecommunications is improving too, as overhead lines are replaced by lineside cable, buried or cased in concrete troughing at ground level. Between Cardiff and Swansea, Exeter and Newton Abbot many telephone circuits have now 'gone underground.'

AUTOMATIC WARNING

Inside the cab thc driver receives audible and visual warning of signal indications

The switch from steam to diesel traction is more advanced, more generally obvious than any other part of the programme. It is being accomplished right up to schedule to gain maximum financial rewards for the outlay involved, and rightly so for it brings big rewards. Diesels are economical to operate, fast and clean. In six years the fleet of steam locomotives has been reduced from 18,420 to I 1,690 as more and more services have been taken over by diesel locomotives and multiple-unit trains. On the main linesmore than 1,285diesel locomotives are in use-443 up on last year. They haul many of the crack freight and passenger expresses: the Royal Scot and Cornish Riuiera expresses and the Condor container trains are diesel-hauled, and so are a growing number of the fast freight-train services. On branch, feeder, cross-country and inter-city routes all over the country about 4,000 diesel multipleunit vehicles, nearly the whole of the planned fleet, have taken over passenger services. Multiple-units now operate all local passenger services of the North Eastern Region, and nearly half the passenger services of the London Midland Region. In the past year more have been introduced to Marylebone commuter services, and routes radiating from Chester to Manchester, Birkenhead and Liverpool. On many routes the increased custom that nearly always follows has come well above expectations. In the goods depots and marshalling yards, more than I ,goo diesel shunting locomotives (an increase of nearly zoo), about go per cent of ultimate requirements, have helped to speed the flow of traffic. During 1961 the arrival of the first batch of 3,300 hp Deltics, among the most powerful single-unit diesel locomotives in the world, enabled the timings of six expresses between King's Cross and the North to be cut by between 40 and 60 minutes. One, The

West Riding, is Britain's fastest train, covering 186 miles from Leeds to London in exactly three hours. On the down run, between stops at Hitchin and Retford, it averages nearly 72 mph over 106 milesthe fastest start-to-stop run on British Railways. British Railways have ordered 22 Deltics: eight each for the Eastern and Scottish Regions, and six for the North Eastern Region. The entire fleet should be operating by the summer of this year, and will cope with the work formerly done by 55 steam locomotives on the East Coast main line. Other locomotives delivered include a new design, a 2,700 hp Type 4 diesel-hydraulic unit for the Western Region. Ninety-five are on order. They are being built at British Railways' Swindon and Crewe works and will be known as the Western class. Operating express passenger and freight traffic on main lines, they will help to replace eventually all steam traction around Bristol, the West of England and South Wales.

yl1lCKF.R TRAVEL

I.nur thousand diesel

wrlliplc-units now tptralc local services ~ ~ ~ ~ n r i ~the l r ocountry ut

Electrification brings economic operation to the demands of mass travel, but schemes are complicated and costly. They are best suited to high-density traffic and are therefore reserved for the busiest lines, so that they may repay their cost more quickly. With a.c. electric services between Manchester and Crewe well established after more than a year's operation and attracting twice as many passengers as the old steam services, the second stage of the project to electrify the country's rail "backbone" to Euston was opened in January this year. Electric power at 25,000 volts was switched on along the 354 route-miles between Liverpool Lime Street and Crewe. Along with the electrification went large-scale engineering works. Track had to be strengthened and drainage modernised. Sixty overbridges and eleven underbridges were altered or reconstructed, eight stations rebuilt and track layout altered at most others along the line. The track had to be lowered in tunnels at Lime Street and Crewe. Running lines between Edge Hill and Lime Street were transposed to improve train working by reducing crossing movements. A new signalling system was installed, with four power signalboxes and I 3 electro-mechanical boxes to control it. Steel structures were put up to support the I 70 miles of overhead equipment needed. Experience on other parts of the system enabled the design of this new equipment to be simplified, with the result that it has a more streamlined look. Telecommunications were modernised. A feeder station at Crewe, already supplying electricity from the national grid to part of the Manchester-Crewe line, now supplies the new section as far as Weaver Junction, nearly half-way to Liverpool. The rest of the main line, as well as an intricate sidings area at Speke and Edge Hill, gets its current from a new feeder station at Speke.

ON CALL

Paddock Wood's electricip control room supplks power on demandfor East Kent electrijed lines

Another structure built specially for the new system is the combined diesel and electric repair and maintenance depot at Allerton. Work on the next stage of the scheme, south of Crewe, is already far advanced. The first trial runs over the section from Crewe to Norton Bridge, north of Stafford, are planned for this year in preparation for an extension of the service to Stafford, probably in the spring of I 963. October I 961 saw the successful resumption of highvoltage a.c. electric services on 52 route-miles of line in the Glasgow suburban area north of the Clyde. The distinctive "Blue Trains" were originally introduced in November the previous year but were

I h d o n Midland Region is now clectrijed between Crrrcle and Li~lerpool

withdrawn soon afterwards because of failures in the electrical equipment. These have now been rectified, and the travelling public were quick to support the restored services. The first month of re-introduction showed an increase of 146 per cent in passenger receipts compared with the same period when steam services were operating in 1960. A report covering the first two months of resumed running showed that 92 out of every loo trains arrived on time. Work on the electrification of Glasgow's suburban .servicessouth of the Clyde has reached its final stages. O n the Eastern Region, the manufacturers are carrying out further modifications to electric traction

equipment supplied for North-East London lines and it is still not possible to run full electric services, but the work on "closing the gap" between Chelmsford and Colchester on the main line went further ahead. Trial running on parts of the line began early this year. When the scheme is completed through electric trains will run between Liverpool Street, Clacton and Walton-on-Naze. The scheme to electrify the London, Tilbury and Southend lines was taken further in November when electric trains with steam timings were introduced during off-peak periods between Fenchurch Street, Upminster and Shoeburyness. I t is hoped to begin full working during 1962. In Kent, the scheme to provide third-rail electric services over the greater part of the county neared completion. Electric trains took over on the main London to Dover line in June-12 months ahead of schedule. The steam timetable has been retained because of engineering and resignalling work still to be done before the line can accept the extra, faster trains, but full electric services will be introduced this summer. The first part of the scheme, between Faversham, Ramsgate and Dover and on the Sheernesson-Sea line, was completed in 1959. The second part has involved the conversion of I 32 route-miles; including the line between Dover, Minster (Thanet) and Ramsgate, where electric passenger services began in January I 96 I . Another noteworthy development during the year was the completion of Britain's first electro-diesel locomotive-one of six authorised for experimental operation on the Southern Region. Specially designed to suit conditions on the Region, it can either use third-rail traction current or run under its own dieselelectric power. It is intended for general freight and relatively light passenger duties.

! I

CAR-CARRIER

New double-deck car-carrierfor the popular overnight Kin,q's Cross to Scotland service tnrrrnrrr train capacifv

The better designed, well-furnished carriages of today's trains run over track steadily being strengthened and improved by firm ballast and long-welded rails. The combined result is a quieter, smoother, more pleasing as well as quicker ride, virtues the public has been quick to favour. Ways of increasing the comfort of passengers are constantly being developed. The express coaches brought into service last summer for the opening of the Southern Region's newest stretch of electrification, between London and Dover, contain several improvements on similar stock introduced in the Region two years earlier. For instance, there are individual

switches to control the heating in compartment-type coaches. First-class compartments have pull-out seats and adjustable headrests. The diesel Pullman expresses continued to hold first place in public esteem for greatest comfort. Air conditioning, adjustable seats, double-glazed windows with adjustable venetian blinds-these and other innovations, coupled with service at all seats, put these distinctive blue-and-white liveried trains in a class apart. Their use is extending; in 1961 a service between Swansea and Paddington was added, and the Midland Pullman began to make an extra daily return journey-between St Pancras, Leicester and Nottingham. Improvements to conventional Pullman services were also made. New cars, for example, were introduced on the Queen of Scots, the Tees- Tyne Pullman, the Yorkshire Pullman and the Master Cutler. There was further expansion of car-by-rail services, many of them night-sleeper trains. They enable holidaymakers and others to arrive fresh and rested at their destinations. The first of 14 double-deck 6 6 covered wagons", designed to increase car-carrying capacity, was delivered for the overnight service between King's Cross and Perth which together with a service to Edinburgh has conveyed well over 50,000 cars with drivers and passengers since 1955. The new ' vehicle, first of its kind on British Railways, can carry up to five normal-size cars (seven small ones) compared with three in the existing vehicles.

1;I.ASS

FOR STATION

St Helens Shaw Street !tation makes bold use rfglass, the major l o r d product, ar building material

OFFICE DEVELOPMENT

Simple Zinc and fhnctional design are rvident in this nnu ofice at Slough

Modern railway designers appreciate that railway stations are not merely terminals; that to the passenger they are part of the journey, demanding an equally high standard of amenity. As they grow old many stations become a source of justifiable criticism. But the field for criticism is narrowing. Many have been completely rebuilt; others have been given a new look. Barking's new station, used by about 50,000 people each day, is one of the latest examples of a fresh architectural approach. It has simple, congestion-free access, a clear, symmetrical design, expanses of plate glass. The lofty concourse spans nine tracks and a system of "flyovers" and a "dive-under" provides simple cross-platform connections between London Transport and British Railways services. The sevenwindow booking-office has power-operated ticket machines and other time-saving equipment. A trainactuated system can broadcast arrival announcements, pre-recorded under studio conditions to ensure clear reproduction. The result is smoother passenger movement in more attractive surroundings. An extensive "face-lift" has given similarly bright, spacious buildings to the I 17-year-old Vauxhall station at Yarmouth, where high-level glazing on the east and west sides of the concourse, and what amounts to almost a wall of glass on the south aspect, take full advantage of natural light. Folkestone station has been rebuilt as part of the Kent electrification scheme and similar work is well in hand at Ashford. Other stations, at Paignton (Devon) and at Carntyne and Garrowhill in Scotland, have been modernised. The modern look also came to Paddington with the opening of new enquiry, ticket and reservation offices on the station. In Lancashire, at St Helens Shaw Street, a new station, whose construction was referred to in this booklet last year, is now in use. By making extensive use of glass it pays tribute to a major local product.

FACE-LIFT

Station improvements can be slight or large-scale. Colchestcr is one of many stations beneJitingfrom a 'tface-lifi"

New buildings, too, at eight stations on the newly electrified Liverpool-Crewe line. A prominent feature is the large use of aluminium and outside walls of vitreous enamelled steel, to reduce maintenance and repainting costs. Coventry's new station, to be opened this year, has a two-storey car park to hold 200 cars, and a covered way between trains and buses, as part of the concept to plan new stations as complete transport centres.

Further improvements to railway shipping services during 1961 reflect the growing popularity of car ferries. On the Southern Region's Portsmouth-Fishbourne route, two new ships replaced three older and

DESIGN FOR DINING

Elegance and

$'~~f"'~~$ vessd "Sarnia"

slipways and car parks were built at Portsmouth and Fishbourne. The new ships, Fishbourne and Camber Queen, have cut the journey time from an hour to 35 minutes. Each has two comfortable lounges as well as a bar and buffet for snacks, and can take 34 averagesize cars, twice as many as any of the old vessels, and I 65 passengers. Hinged ramps at bow and stern enable motorists to drive straight on or off either end. The ships carry many different kinds of vehicles to and from the island: lorries, caravans, motor-cycles, road

tankers, agricultural machinery and even complete fairs and circuses. Their introduction completes the modernisation of the car-ferry fleet on both Isle of Wight routes. A similar new ferry, Freshwater, has been operating on the Lymington-Yarmouth route since September I 959. The Southern Region's Channel Islands service attracted a record number of customers during the summer, following improvements started during the previous year. A new vessel, Sarnia, joined her sister ship Caesarea. Each conveys 1,400 passengers, in one class only. Stabilisers add to passenger comfort. A third ship, St Patrick, followed quickly. She is a postwar vessel completely modernised to the standards of the new vessels. Caledonian Princess, launched in the spring of I 96 I , fitted during summer, and in service by winter, is a splendid addition to Scottish Region shipping services. With many who choose the shortest sea-route to Ireland, the Stranraer-Larne service, she is already deservedly popular. The new ship carries passengers, vehicles and cargo. Up to I ,400 passengers can enjoy the lounges, smokerooms, bars, restaurant and cafeteria, as well as first and second-class cabin accommodation. She carries, in addition to general cargo, over IOO motor vehicles and 40 motor-cycles. The Caledonian Princess is fitted with the latest type of stabilisers and has one other special feature, a "lateral thrust unit", a propeller in the bow to help her to manoeuvre into and out of port.

A new-style restaurant at Bradford's Forster Square station typifies the rapid trend towards brighter refreshment rooms and more varied menus. Named "West Riding Grill and Bar" it replaces the former refreshment room. The main area is given over to the dining-room, which seats 38 people, and at one end is the bar and the Chef's Grill. The restaurant specialises in grills and light meals. Keeping up the pace in modernisation noticed a year ago, accommodation at six other stations, Brighton, Carlisle, Wakefield Westgate, Wrexham General, Bedford Midland Road and Chatham, was completely reconstructed during 1961. Other alterations and improvements were carried out at 19 refreshment rooms. Quickly-cooked hot dishes, egg and bacon or steak sandwiches are a popular feature at a growing number of rooms. Elsewhere automation is providing prompt service for hungry travellers. At Blackpool Central Station 13vending machines now provide a complete catering service with a choice of tea, coffee, soup, milk, fruit squash, ice cream, soft drinks, snacks and packed meals, as well as confectionery and cigarettes. A battery of 14 machines in the Long Bar at Waterloo, offering a range of 74 commodities, is probably the largest installation of its kind in the country. Restaurant cars, which provide "meals on wheels" on more than 700 daily train services during the busiest season, have shared in the generally higher standards. During the year another hundred cars were delivered bringing the total to 315 in the last few years. Distinctively designed and colourfully decorated, with improved cooking apparatus and refrigeration, they have been popularly received wherever they have been introduced. Their composition reflects a growing preference among rail travellers for snacks or buffet service instead of full-course meals. Eleven of them are

hfEALS ON W H E E L S

Six&jour new miniature buffet cars joined the fleet last year

griddle cars, specialising in "while you wait" grills, and 64 are miniature buffet cars. Both types are particularly useful on regular services or excursion trains where there is no demand for elaborate facilities, or to augment a full restaurant car service. Changes have not been limited to buildings, vehicles and equipment. More and more restaurant-car attendants now wear the new uniform with white tunic-type jacket, and a new overall has been specially designed and issued for London area refreshment room staff.

freight depots and marshalling yards

CONCENTRATlNO FOR SPEED

Stoke-an-Trent sundries concentralion &t collects and &livers throughout the Potteries, gives full-wagon loading for small consignmmts

FASTER FREIGHT IIANDLING

conceyor speeds unloading and sorting w i d e Ihe Stoke +t

Slat

Progress made with many freight depots typifies the all-out effort made to win more traffic: it underlines the fact that freight traffic is the root of railway business. In many parts of the country goods depots have been replaced or brought up to date in recent years and 1961 was no exception. A new depot at Stoke-on-Trent, covering I 74 acres, employs mechanical handling equipment and conveyor-belt techniques to clear traffic in continuous operations. Backed by a fleet of IOO road delivery vehicles, many of them fitted with two-way radio, it handles the sundries traffic formerly dealt with at nine goods stations. By concentrating freight sundries traffic for collection and delivery in and around the Potteries, the Stoke depot brings the advantages of full-load transits on express trains to an industry as well as an area. Sundries concentration is now speeding transits at Hull and Derby St Mary's. At Leeds Wellington Street a new depot for outgoing sundries traffic came into operation last May. It combines the forwardings of two depots and eliminates duplicate collection services. Sundries depots are also being built at Gateshead, Glasgow Sighthill, Watford, Leicester and other towns. At Enfield Chase progress was made in establishing a coal concentration depot. Sub-depots will be supplied by railway cartage. A comprehensive waterside scheme involving the replacement of cranes and improved track layout was completed at Canning Town. Thus, at a variety of depots, in a wide range of new handling aids, more and more freight depots are getting the modern look. Freight services are often hampered by many old marshalling yards, small by today's standards and wrongly sited. The extra work they involve in the transfer of wagons is expensive both in time and money. To cut out delays and wastage, clusters of

PUSH-RUTTON SORTING

The "bridge" of a modern marshalling yard. " Tees" yard near Middlesbrough

small badly-sited yards are being replaced by single large ones, sited and equipped to meet the transport needs of the country as a whole. A number of these large new yards, equipped with radar, closed-circuit television and push-button controls, are already in operation. Work on others went ahead during 1961. The London Midland Region's yard at Carlisle, to be completed later this year, will be one of the largest and most up-to-date in the country, and indeed in Europe. Two-and-a-half miles long and a quarterof-a-mile wide, it has about 70 miles of track. It will take over the work of nine existing yards and deal with up to 5,200 wagons daily, equivalent to more than 250

trains. Electronic aids will control the speeds of wagons gravitating down from the shunting hump, and even the points which control their entry into the sorting sidings will be changed automatically. It will be possible to sort a train of 50 wagons in seven minutes. By pressing a button in a control tower, an operator will be able to set up controls for a whole train before shunting begins. Other aids to speed and efficiency will be colour-light signalling and modern lighting and communications, the latter ranging from teleprinters and inter-corn telephone systems to radio telephone communication between shunting engine and control tower

TAPING NUMBERS

Miniature tape recorders speed number-taking at Tmple Mills pard

Work on another new marshalling yard, this time at Sheffield, on the Eastern Region, began during the year. It is a Lg-million scheme incorporating a new diesel depot at Tinsley and a freight depot at Grimesthorpe. This comprehensive scheme is expected to be completed by the end of 1965. New yards came into partial operation at Newport ("Tees" yard near Middlesbrough) and Perth. Work continued on others at Millerhill (Edinburgh), the "Tyne" yard at Lamesley (near Newcastle), Healey Mills (Wakefield) and Stourton (near Leeds). Basford Hall yard (near Crewe) was remodelled, and modernisation schemes went ahead at yards at Ashford (Kent) and Bescot (StafEs.). The Eastern Region now makes use of miniature tape recorders at WhCtemoor and Temple Mills marshalling yards for recording express freight train operations. Full details of each wagon, such as its source, destination and contents, are read into the machines on the spot by the men making up the trains. The information has been used in the advance planning of marshalling yard work, in current traffic supervision, in tracing particular consignments and in planning future freight train services. A new yard brought into use at Ripple Lane, near Barking, is the first to use electronic static switching to control siding points. Both primary and secondary retarders are fully automated in this yard. This was a major project costing nearly LQmillion.

PALLET-VAN SYSTEM

Special pallet vans fm a customer complete the link from f a m y line to consumer

High-powered diesel-hauled freight expresses, running between Britain's main industrial centres, are the main force in the drive to speed up and extend doorto-door services to trade and industry. There are more than a thousand. Many of them are named, like the Lea Valley Enterprise which serves the Midlands and the North from North-East London; the Tea-Tyne Freighter, running from King's Cross to Newcastle; the Condor, which covers the 400 miles between London and Glasgow in less than 10 hours. Among the improvements made in 1961 was the introduction of an "assured arrival" service between King's Cross and Hull, and a similar service linking North-Eastern England, York, Scarborough, Middlesbrough and other towns with Edinburgh and district. Early this year, three new express trains began

operating "Night Importer" services. Traffic from the Port of London receives next-day delivery in the Midlands and Scotland. Faster transits also resulted from the introduction of overnight through expresses from Edinburgh to Bristol and from Law Junction (Lanarkshire) to Cardiff. The trains give a direct service between the "collecting" marshalling yards in Scotland and "distributing" yards outside Bristol and Cardiff, thus avoiding re-marshalling delays en route. Block trainloads of cement in bulk wagons now run from Cliffe in Kent to Uddingston near Glasgow. Thirty wagons make up the train and payload is about 800 tons. Empty wagons are worked straight back to Cliffe. The round trip of goo miles takes only 4 hours. Services like these are being increasingly backed up by wagon development. For example, British Railways provided a fleet of 250 specially-designed pallet vans to operate from a chemical factory near Sheffield. They have many new features aimed at ensuring safe carriage and a speeding up of loading and unloading times, essential if transit-time gains are not to be frittered away at terminals. Progress with rolling stock is continual. As traffics change to meet the advances of industrial technology, new materials may be carried or old ones take a new guise. Advances in methods of materials handling also call for change on the part of the railways. Last year this report covered experiments with the Road-railer. Fifty of these are now on order for extended trials. During 1961 great progress was made with the Prestwin, a no-ton capacity bulk-haulage wagon fitted for air-pressure discharge of powders, a natural followup to the Presflo wagons already in service. About a hundred have been delivered.

maintenance denots

SERVICE DEPOT

A quick turnround of valuable equipment. New maintenance and repair depots, like this one at Cricklemd, are frequently brought into o$e&tion promine numbers of new vehicles

keep pace with

Diesel and electric locomotives are expensive. To get the best return on capital they should be heavily used. They are-sometimes for as much as 20 hours out of 24. Similarly, when a multiple-unit set is being maintained a whole train is immobilised. Therefore, when any of these need maintenance, it must be rapid as well as thorough. New depots, fitted with the latest equipment, are planned to give a quick turnround, helping to get the best from the modern equipment they serve. The pace of modernising maintenance depots must keep up with changes in traction. For the switch from steam to diesel on the London Midland Region's suburban services to and from Marylebone, a new depot has been opened there for day-to-day and heavy maintenance of I 40 vehicles. Cricklewood's multipleunit depot, brought into use in 1960, has been enlarged to deal with I 50 main-line and shunting diesel locomotives as well. Nine similar depots are in operation elsewhere in the Region and many others are planned. With local passenger services in the West Riding of Yorkshire operated by diesel units, Bradford's Hammerton Street depot, now fully modernised, caters for 137 diesel cars and 2 0 diesel shunters. Equipment there includes a carriage washing machine operated by push-button control. Developments of the same kind are taking place in other parts of the country. A servicing depot for main-line diesel locomotives at Colchester was completed during the summer, and a new depot for inspecting and repairing multiple-unit electric and diesel stock has been built at Ashford (Kent). At Plymouth, alterations to the diesel multiple-unit maintenance depot at Laira now enable it to accommodate main-line diesels. There are new depots, too, at Newton Abbot and at Landore, near Swansea.

conclusion

New marshalling yards, goods depots, and locomotives; improved track and signalling; further electrification-these are bringing better freight services to industry, or faster trains to the travelling public. They are among the more obvious changes made during the past year, but behind them lie other, often unobserved, achievements. The growing use of electronic computers and allied equipment is saving time and manpower in accounting offices and relieving clerks of many laborious tasks&Mechanisation of the works accountant's office at Derby, for example, is saving the London Midland Region about ~ 6 0 , 0 0 0 a year. The installation, comprising five computers and nearly 80 ancillary machines, is one of the largest of its kind in commercial use in Britain. Research goes on continually, as workers grapple with problems relating to corrosion, the supply and circulation of wagons, the performance of brakes, the life of sleepers, noise, ventilation, the correct design of seats for full passenger comfort, and a host of other subjects. ManagemeZlt structure has become still more flexible, making more effective the personal contacts

of local officers with passenger and freight customers. Staff consultation, and indeed all the measures of internal relations appropriate to an industry of this size, are playing their part in maintaining individual pride hihenotion of railways as a service. But in this new era 'railwaymen realise that the service they represent has an economic value which management must exact. The re-equipped railways are ready -to challenge competitors for the right to supply the transport needs of industry and the public. A modern outlook goes with re-equipment; it holds that railways should be free of shackles that compel them to render services that cannot earn their economic value. The move to acquire freedom to compete on level terms has also been part of the year's progress.

Printed in Great Britain by Clarke d Shcrwcll Ltd, Northampton

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