Royal Railways with Uniform Rates / A proposal for amalgamation of Railways with the General Post Office and adoption of uniform fares and rates for any distance

by Whately C. Arnold

Within sight, at the other end of Norfolk Street, is the Temple Station District Railway, and at 6, Catherine Street, about the same distance from the other side of the Strand, is a Labour Exchange.

It is assumed that the rents of shops in the Strand would average about £500 per annum. Under the proposed scheme, the whole of the business transacted at the above eight premises could, with greater convenience, be carried on at the two railway stations, possibly with some extensions, but with a saving not only of rent but also of rates, taxes and other outgoings.

At Bexhill-on-Sea, with a population of only about 15,500, there are two large railway stations, one belonging to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company, the other to the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Company, and situate about a mile apart. Half a mile from each is the Head Post Office, within a few doors from one of the stations is a branch Post Office, and within a small radius are Government offices for Inland Revenue and other purposes.

Letters posted at a pillar box outside the station are collected there, taken to the Head Post Office for sorting, then returned with others to the railway for the Mail train leaving the same station. The majority of the passengers are for London, and go by the two different routes, but the fares are identical, and the time occupied is about the same, no advantage being gained by the public through the so-called competition.

If both stations were amalgamated one staff only would be required, there would be ample room on the premises to accommodate the Head Post Office with sorting rooms, etc. (the branch office now near the station would not be required), and there would be plenty of room also for the Government Offices. In addition to the saving of expense, there would also be the great convenience and saving of time in the transport of, and dealing with, mails, passengers and goods.

These two examples with many others have come under my personal observation, and they may be multiplied ten thousand times throughout the United Kingdom. Where is there a railway station, whether a great London terminus, or small provincial station, where postal facilities are available; while just outside rents are paid, in some cases very heavy ones, for other premises, to and from which the mails have to be conveyed?

Other examples of waste under the present system, although not so apparent to the public, are well-known to the railway expert, and involve much greater expenditure of time and money.

I refer in particular to the waste of rolling stock, especially of goods wagons, occasioned by the multiplicity of goods stations, the transfer of rolling stock to and from the lines of different railway companies, the shunting of trains, and the large number of road vans used by the various companies. In London alone there are 74 goods stations, used for goods only, and 700 goods trains per day travel between these 74 stations, doing nothing but transferring goods from one of these stations to another! Goods consigned to one warehouse in London from places on, say, seven different railway companies’ lines are sent by seven different vans, one belonging to each company. Under my proposed scheme one or two central goods stations of large area would not only suffice, but would provide a far more efficient and speedy transport service, and yet with the nominal rates referred to.

Under the present system goods trains, having been unloaded, must be returned in order to clear the line, so that it is not uncommon to find goods trains belonging to the various companies returning empty for long distances on each line, on the G. W. R. as far as Bristol, on the S. W. R. to Basingstoke, on the G. C. R. to Banbury, and so on. It has been estimated that of the 1,400,000 goods wagons now on the railways of the United Kingdom, no more than 3 per cent. are actually in effective use at one time, the remaining 97 per cent. being either stationary or running empty![3] One reason for this, no doubt, is the use of merely hand labour for loading and unloading.

With a view to avoiding this waste the New Transport Company, Limited was registered in 1908, for the purpose of introducing new and ingenious machinery, invented by Mr. A. W. Gattie and Mr. A. G. Seaman, for handling goods, including the adoption of movable “containers” on trucks and wagons, and a scheme for a “Goods Clearing House” occupying a site of about 30 acres, in Clerkenwell, to be connected by rail with all the lines coming to London.