William James Cunningham

“ About 1906 a downward tendency began to be apparent in the rate of return on railway investment. This change restricted the flow of new capital into railway development new lines and improvements of existing lines. The traditional policy of American railways had been to keep their facilities well ahead of the demands of growing traffic. In view of the fact that the volume of freight traffic doubles about every 12 years, and that the numbers of passengers carried one mile doubles about every 15 years, the need of such a policy is apparent. ”

“ Employment of Women.—Comparatively early in the war women were introduced into many ranks of the railway service, and in due course they were seen on a wide variety of work at passenger and goods stations and depots, in engine sheds, on electric trains as “gatemen” and in a few instances as guards, on cartage and delivery vans, and in the railway workshops, in addition to more obvious employment as clerks, waitresses and in booking-offices. ”

“ No relief is provided for the railways which earn less than 6%, but when more than 6% is earned by a railway, the excess is to be evenly divided with the Government. The railway is to hold its proportion of such excess in a reserve fund and the one-half which goes to the Government is to be held by it as a general railroad contingent fund to be administered by the Commission in assisting the weak roads by loans. ”

“ The railway companies on the other hand insisted that if in the test period 100 man-hours cost $30 and produced 10 units of work, and if during the year 1919 the same number of man-hours cost $60 but produced, say, 8 units of work instead of 10, the spirit of the Act is not followed unless the director-general spent enough in excess of $60 to produce 10 units of work. ”

“ Beside the actual working of the railways, the use of railway steamers, docks, canals, etc., represented a value estimated at from £10,000,000 to £15,000,000, while munition and similar work done (to the value of about £17,000,000) in railway workshops at cost price and therefore without profit to the companies, also the provision of locomotives, rolling stock, permanent way, etc., for use overseas, indicate the complexities of the arrangements ultimately entailed and the tremendous scope the utilization of the home railways for war purposes eventually attained. ”

“ The period was one of abnormally high operating expenses and of greatly diminished net income, notwithstanding the large operating revenues. Obviously a continuation of the low income of 1919 and 1920 would cause universal railway bankruptcy. The aim of the Transportation Act of 1920 was to restore the pre-war earning power, to enable the railways to give better service, and to provide revenues which with reestablished credit would permit expansion and improvements in facilities and equipment. ”

“ With declining net returns, and a general lack of confidence on the part of the public toward railways, railway securities lost their attraction, and investors sought other fields. The railways experienced much difficulty in obtaining new capital for the additional facilities required to keep their plants in step with traffic growth, and many of the weak lines reached such financial straits that they could not maintain their solvency. ”

“ In practice the regulating authorities have been forced to adopt a middle ground with, perhaps, a tendency to lean more toward preventing an unreasonably high return to the strong than an unreasonably low return to the weak. An attempt has been made to meet this problem in the Transportation Act which provides for the ultimate elimination of the weak railways by consolidation with the strong. The Commission is ordered to prepare and adopt a plan for the consolidation of railway properties into a limited number of systems. ”

“ Large numbers of men, apart from Reservists and Territorials, had, of course, joined voluntarily quite early in the war, but the general enlistment of railwaymen was not favoured until 1916, by which time a definite scheme of release had been adopted on a system which reduced inconvenience to the railway companies to a minimum and yet enabled reasonable proportions of men to be supplied. ”

“ Whatever may be the degree of under-maintenance it should be remembered that it was impracticable during the greater part of the period of Federal control to obtain the necessary amount of materials and full forces of men. These difficulties were partly removed in 1919, but in that year the serious decline in traffic and in earnings made it inexpedient, in the judgment of the director-general, to attempt to make up the deficiences. ”

“ This method of comparison, however, takes no account of the important factor of relative efficiency of labour. During 1918, when so many railway men were drafted or had volunteered for military service, the percentage of inexperienced employees was abnormally large, and during 1919 the general lowering of the morale and the frequent strikes of men engaged in maintenance work led to a much lower degree of efficiency. ”

“ The use of steel passenger cars calls for larger locomotives in that class of service, and the American policy, consistently followed for years, of increasing the freight-train load, required the use of more powerful locomotives in freight service. The average freight-train load, in tons of freight, grew from less than 400 tons in 1910 to more than 700 tons in 1920. Not all of this increase is to be attributed to the heavier locomotive. Reductions in grades and curvature have made heavier trains possible. ”

“ On some lines, indeed, pre-war schedules were definitely reinstated, and in certain instances facilities were even better than before the war. The suburban traffic problem was, however, still serious. On the “Underground” lines new rolling stock, when delivered, materially eased the inevitable congestion. An arrangement had been made during the war whereby the associated “Underground” railways, of which the Metropolitan District only was controlled and subject to Government guarantee, should pool their receipts, including also the London General Omnibus Company. ”

“ Mobilization Traffic.—Very complete plans for mobilization had been prepared by the Railway Executive Committee long before there was any probability of war, and continually revised and brought up to date, so that everything was ready for the wonderful transportation achievements which followed the declaration of war. ”

“ Troop Movement and other Military Traffic.—The numbers of special trains given above will indicate the enormous dimensions which the traffic entailed by troop movement involved. At suitable places large numbers of both passenger and goods vehicles had to be kept in reserve to provide for movements of troops at short notice, and many of the cross-country or connecting lines proved of special value in enabling through journeys to be made from one system to another and by providing alternative routes to avoid congestion. ”

“ The Act was intended to strengthen the so-called Anti-Trust Act and to prevent collusion between directors and officers of railways and directors and officers of manufacturing and other concerns dealing in railway equipment, coal and other supplies. It requires that contracts for supplies which will cost more than $50,000 must be open to competitive bids invited by advertisements. A railway company is prohibited from having dealings in excess of $50,000 per year with a concern having a director, officer or agent who is also a director, officer or agent of the railway. ”

“ The records show conclusively that the normal rate of renewals of rails, ties and ballast was not kept up during Federal control, and the universal complaint of the railway executives that freight cars were not maintained at normal standards is supported by the opinions of experts. On the whole, the conditions of locomotives did not suffer, but less than the normal amount of work was done on passenger cars. Bridges and buildings suffered because of neglect in painting, but on the other hand many improvements were made in shops and in engine-house facilities. ”

“ While not so marked as in the case of the locomotive, there has been a steady increase in the weight and capacity of freight cars, particularly in those designed to carry coal, ore, or steel or iron products. The standard coal car of 1921 had a capacity of 100,000 lb., and in some cases cars of double that capacity were used locally on the owning road in coal or ore traffic. There was no appreciable increase in the capacity of box cars as the commercial standards do not call for larger units than 60,000 to 80,000 lb. ”

“ During 1916 further regulations came into force for passenger travel, following a process of deceleration of express trains, partly due to the insertion of stops to enable them to serve the purpose of trains which were withdrawn in order to free the lines for Government traffic, and partly in view of the exceptional loading which became general, and to ease the strain on permanent way, bridges, etc., which could not be maintained to usual standards. ”

“ But the effect of public pressure caused great irregularity, and, as a result, the railways had to deal with much of this traffic—which also included the dispersal journeys of men from the demobilization centres—as best they could. One dispersal depot alone thus dealt with over 1,000,000 men. Horses had also to be conveyed in large numbers, many being brought back in through trucks via the Channel train-ferries. ”

“ Besides the standard-gauge rolling stock, large numbers of steam, petrol, and petrol-electric locomotives of small types, and wagons of various designs, for use on the light railways in France, were built by various firms, though not much of this work was done by the railway companies beyond the equipment of Ford cars as rail tractors at Crewe Works. A considerable amount of permanent way was, however, sent overseas by the home railway companies, partly by taking up certain light-traffic branch lines or by converting double lines to single track, and also to a considerable extent from stock. ”

“ On the North-Eastern railway the tonnage of goods conveyed on Government account amounted to 5,500,000, and of Admiralty coal nearly 12,000,000 tons, while to serve the numerous munition centres in the north-eastern area involved the conveyance of some 84,000,000 workpeople. On the Great Western railway at one time no fewer than 360 additional trains had to be run daily, solely for the conveyance of workers to the various war factories. ”

“ Relatively little serious damage was done, but the fact that traffic had often to be or worked under difficulties, the reduced lighting generally maintained throughout the more vulnerable parts of the country, and the congestion which followed each cessation of traffic constituted serious hindrances to railway working. ”

“ The Government could advance the funds required to provide the additional facilities urgently needed for war purposes; by paying a rental equivalent to pre-war net operating income it could prevent further bankruptcy of railway companies; by paying higher wages than the railway companies were able to pay, it could remove the cause of unrest among em- employees; by making the railways a branch of the Government it could more effectively coördinate transportation with other Government activities ”

“ Mr. J. G. Robinson, of course, uses the “Robinson” pattern on the Great Central railway and his designs are largely used also on other railways. High-degree superheating is now invariably employed.
Feedwater heating is used to a limited extent on certain lines, and the Weir apparatus has been experimentally installed on several others, but the practice is still far from general. The use of oil for fuel continues to be the subject of experiment, but is still exceptional, though during the 1921 coal strike engines were adapted on many lines. ”

“ Locomotive Development.—Superheating was already recognized as a desirable feature of locomotive practice in 1910, and has since become firmly established as an essential part of almost every locomotive design, including tank and shunting as well as main-line passenger and goods classes. ”

“ To some extent these measures were rendered practicable by the discontinuance of the more complicated travel facilities, the reduction of record-keeping to a minimum, the abolition of detailed statements between railway companies and Railway Clearing House work; but to a great extent women were employed in direct replacement of men who had been released with but little adjustment of their duties. A total of 55,000 women were thus employed in railway working, and about 6,000 on munition work in railway shops. ”

“ Munition Traffic.—Widespread munition manufacture necessarily occasioned a great deal of civilian traffic directly and indirectly in national interests, while in a number of places ordinarily quiet stations or branches became very busy owing to the erection of army camps or of munition works. ”

“ These laws govern certain features of design and maintenance of locomotives and cars and of operating methods in train service. For example, the use of high-power headlights has been made compulsory, and the requirements as to boiler inspection and the general condition of locomotives have been made more rigid. ”

“ Military and Naval Special Trains.—Between the declaration of war and the date of the Armistice all the larger railways were called upon to run special trains conveying officers and men, frequently with guns, ammunition, horses and equipment, when passing to a port for embarkation to France or other theatres of war. ”