He had travelled by electric tramway some fifty miles at a cost of about 2s. 1d. (or a halfpenny a mile). He had done a lot of business, and had been absent just twelve hours!
In the bosom of his family he found ample compensation for his exertions. A hearty welcome and a savoury supper, accompanied by something that was not coffee, awaited him, and the following day the firm received him with acclamation. The Teuton was not “in it,” and Ben Short reigned supreme as its chief and highly appreciated traveller.
LONDON UNITED TRAMWAYS COMPANY
Want of space forbids more than the mere mention of the South Metropolitan and the London Southern, the Woolwich and South Eastern, the West Ham, and the Northern Middlesex Tramways. But this chapter would be incomplete without some reference to the useful and popular organisation, the London United Tramways Company, that takes up the running at the London County Council’s boundary.
Forty million passengers were conveyed last year over its original route of twenty-two miles, extending from Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith to Southall, Hounslow, and Twickenham. In one week alone over a million were carried.
Last April an important extension was inaugurated from Twickenham, which brought the trams through Teddington and Hampton Wick right to the gates of
FIG. 17. BOILER-ROOM, LONDON UNITED TRAMWAYS CO.’S POWER HOUSE AT CHISWICK, FITTED WITH VICARS’ AUTOMATIC STOKERS
By permission of T. and T. Vicars, Earlstown, Lancashire