FEBRUARY 1924

Big railway contracts

LARGE contracts have been, or are being placed, by the various railway companies for rolling stock, locomotives, engineering material etc.

In the case of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, these contracts include 127,000 tons of steel rails,

150 locomotive boilers, 5000 wagons and together represent an amount exceeding £2,000,000.

The London & North Eastern programme will include the construction of over 700 vehicles, involving an expenditure of close upon £1,700,000. The outstanding feature is the provision of four complete diningcar trains for the up and down day trains between London (King’s Cross) and Edinburgh (Waverley). The food on these trains will be cooked entirely by electricity, in view of the successful results which have followed the electric kitchen installations in use on London to Leeds trains.

An amended locomotive programme for the L&NER will cost £1,270,000 and provides for the construction of 273 locomotives as follows: 104 engines to be built in the company’s workshops, with a further 44 engines to be built by contract, namely 20 4-6-2 express passenger engines to be built by the North British Locomotive Company; 12 4-4-0 express passenger engines to be built by Kitson & Co in Leeds and a dozen 4-4-0 express passenger engines to be built by Armstrong, Whitworth in Newcastle.

Additionally, 125 large mineral engines of the Great Central type have been purchased from the Government.

Power Engineers Association, had limited the flow of coal and fuel oil to electricity generating stations that it imposed an embargo on the use of electricity throughout British industry for three days in every week from January 2.

Threat to Brighton Station

LISTED building consent for demolition of Brighton station has been applied for by British Railways, which wishes to redevelop the site to include a conference centre. Proposals are said to include a 14-storey block over the new station. These proposals are vigorously opposed by the Brighton Society. taking a model that had worked for one industry and wrongly applying it to different circumstances,” he said.

Creating a new system for the railways is now a priority for the Conservative policy review committee, which is preparing the party’s manifesto for the next general election.

Reintegration of the trains with the track has not been ruled out –nor has re-nationalisation, which would fly in the face of everything the Conservatives have traditionally stood for.

Clampdown on short-distance Intercity commuting

GNER and Virgin are to review the calling patterns of trains that stop at Peterborough or Milton Keynes.

Both companies are facing problems with large volumes of peak-hour commuters who use long-distance trains from the capital but only go as far as Peterborough or Milton Keynes, often forcing long-distance commuters to stand for the first part of their journeys, but then leaving the trains less than half-full for the remainder of the journey.

Both TOCs have received negative feedback about the situation and now believe the effect is deterring their core market long-distance passengers.

The past few years has witnessed a tremendous growth in so-called ‘supercommuting’, and in GNER’s case this has been extended to Grantham and Newark, where car parks have had to be expanded to cater for demand.