Companion to A Century of Change

Proceed to Centenary Book Home Page
Proceed to 1928 French Visit
Proceed to Biographies of RSA Presidents since 1909

This webpage includes a number of photographs which support the text in A Century of Change - The RSA 1909 -2009. For larger image, click on the photograph.
When the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway's South London Line was electrified in 1909 special instructions had to be issued to the staff in relation to the electrification equipment on the trains and the lineside power supply. The term Motorman had also to be introduced. The photograph is of the first LBSCR electric train at Brixton in 1909, the year the RSA was formed. The map shows the original overhead electrified section (London Bridge to Victoria) and the planned extensions.
On left, example of ticket nips marked or impressed on tickets whenever inspected. To its right are two tickets from the period, an ordinary third class single at top and beneath it a first class return, the right hand end being collected on outward journey - each was 2¼ inches wide.
In 1909 virtually all communication was transmitted in writing or, if more urgent, by means of the electric telegraph, usually in Morse code (the telegraph needle would be rotated in one direction to represent a 'dot' and the other to represent a 'dash'. A code book offered lots of short codes to represent longer phrases and save time and reduce ambiguity. This is a page from London & North Western Railway instructions and includes the mechanism for sending the daily time signal (against which all watches and clocks were to be set). The centre image is of a typical 'speaking' telegraph instrument (one key for left deflection and one for right). The right hand image is of part of the Paddington telegraph office. The station departments and head office sent and received railway telegrams for via a pneumatic tube system to and from the telegraph office.
Houses were frequently provided for railway workmen who needed to be local for their work, and Station Masters were often provided with one of the larger properties, befitting their status. This Edwardian design is plentifully supplied with bedrooms, and whilst having an indoor lavatory it still lacks a separate bathroom. At Crewe the company provided a large park for the staff to enjoy, and a cottage hospital (within the works) available to staff at no cost.
Pictures of various grades of LNWR staff around 1909. The station master (for Euston) would seem to be a man to be reckoned with.
The left hand picture is of the locomotive machine shop at Horwich Works (Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway), and is offered in order to show the vast size of the place. Several other shops at the works were also vast, and the erecting shop is shown on the right.
Rolling stock in 1909. On left is inside of single berth sleeper. To right are designs for a composite (first and third) corridor brake coach. Seating space was generous with four to a first class compartment and six to a third (in later years this was more usually six and eight respectively). The right hand design is for a composite dining and kitchen car. Composite carriages were necessary to allow short, through portions of trains to carry both classes of accommodation.
Feeding passengers has always been a challenge. Widespread dining accommodation on trains was a fairly new feature in 1909 and high standards were sought. The luncheon basket and platform trolley were valuable contributions to the sale of food too. The hotel views were of the up-market Midland Hotel at Manchester, which the Midland thought had generated additional business trips to the town (by rail) as well as meeting local needs. The hotel boasted German and American themes, a Turkish bath and what was said to be the only sub-post office in a British hotel.
Milk and fish traffic had been developed by conveyance on or attached to passenger trains (which ensured fast passage) and had consequently been dealt with at passenger stations, with mounting inconvenience. Where traffic was substantial separate stations were built, to which the relevant vans could be shunted for attention. The left hand picture is of St Pancras Milk station; most London termini had similar facilities.
Road transport was considered a vital accompaniment to the rail journey itself. The left hand image shows a GWR motor bus (lower) with a motor charabanc used for parties. Next right are examples of typical loads of cartage and delivery traffic, mostly horse-drawn in 1909. To its right are examples (upper) of horses deployed for shunting work, (middle) an exceptionally large item requiring special treatment both for the rail journey and its delivery, and (bottom) one of a variety of powered delivery vehicle which were being tried out, steam powered in this case.
The left hand image shows how timetable changes were implemented, basically marking up copies of existing working timetables with the changes required. Space was left in the printed copies to facilitate this, but it was a very fiddly process requiring a lot of the printers who had to alter the typesetting. The 'graph' to the right shows how train planning was achieved so as to avoid clashes. The LNWR worked to a system where the various sections of railway were shown graphically on a huge board. Trains were shown at timing points by means of a pin, and the path of each train by a coloured thread running between pins such that the location and time of every train was indicated throughout the journey. Threads (different colours for different types of train) could only cross over each other at certain places. Clashes of threads required retiming (moving pins around); only when all were satisfied the timetable was deliverable were the times committed to the tabular format. On the right is a GWR public timetable for the period.
A railway shop, in this case serving the North Eastern Railway, though many railways had shops or bureaux in the larger towns. They not only sold ordinary tickets but could book UK and foreign travel and organize consignments of goods and so on.
Railways were very keen to generate traffic from those contemplating holidays. This pre-WW1 poster is interesting partly because it is promoting through journeys across at least two other companies' metals and partly because it is advocating getting away from the 'nasty north' to the sunny south, even though the Lancashire and Yorkshire had a number of seaside resorts in its own area. The Caledonian and North British Railway posters are typical of the period. The PLM poster (Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée) is typical of foreign railway posters also on display in Britain. Some foreign railways had their own booking offices, SNCF at Victoria and PLM at 179 Piccadilly. The latter remained there (branded SNCF after 1937) until they moved out in 2002, after taking over British Rail International on BR privatization).
The largest electrification scheme in the period 1915 to 1923 was of the London & South Western's London suburban services. The LSWR built their own power station at Wimbledon, visible in the left hand photo which also serves Wimbledon Park depot. Power was distributed at 11 kV to nine substations and thence to a third rail charged at 600 Volts dc. The right hand photo (Hampton Court) shows the track arrangement and one of the new electric trains. Initially, existing signalling was retained throughout.
A Watford-Euston electric set of 1927-32 vintage. The earlier sets were open saloon carriages but passengers liked their compartments and the company liked maximizing seating capacity, and the multiple doorways made loading and unloading very fast.
The images below relate to various types of traffic carried by rail. On the left is an ordinary parcels label indicating the exchange point between two railways. To its right is a railway letter stamp. The Post Office jealously guarded its letter monopoly but after the railways began wrapping letters with string (carrying them as parcels) the Post Office relented and railways created an express letter service using their own stamps, carried on by British Rail until the 1970s. On the right are examples of parcels and newspaper prepaid stamps (these being outside the post office monopoly). The Underground carried newspapers until the 1970s, and BR much later.
Example of a leaflet advertising excursion trains for the LNER during May 1939. It was a feature of many excursions that special buses (from railway-owned companies) were run in connection with the trains, since many attractive locations for days out would not necessarily be located within walking distance of a station. Lack of such connectivity today doesn't help sell discretionary travel.
Example of some of the considerable volume of publicity material put out by the LMSR to promote additional traffic. This booklet sets out a variety of walks, either circular or between two stations through attractive countryside (or at least it was then). The images to the right are from Metropolitan Railway publicity ecouraging visits to the country.
The LMS, LNER and Southern were all keen to promote continental travel and regularly met the European railway managers to agree through fares and connections. Their brochures emphasized the foreign destinations it was possible to reach, with train times and connections shown (including ferries and buses) and the through fares applicable, tickets available from many railway outlets. The LMS (brochure on left) promoted the continental links from St Pancras (long before Eurostar got there) and Tilbury, while the LNER operated via Harwich, Hull, Grimsby and Newcastle. It must be said that compared with through journeys from UK rail stations to continental rail stations today, the system existing from pre-nationalization days until at least the 1970s was far more user-friendly, clear and certain. The left hand images are from an LMS brochure, and right hand images from the LNER's.
Diagram presented at an RSA meeting in 1932 showing reorganized arrangements for collection and delivery of wagons on the daily pick up freight trains in the GWR Bristol district. This kind of arrangement endured until the 1960s. On the right is a 'modern' goods shed laid out to permit use of mechanical handling equipment. On the right is a train graph, used to help draft or alter train pathing. This on (all paper, unlike the earlier train board using cotton) used different coloured ink to differentiate between trains (RED for postal or fast passenger trains, PURPLE for passenger trains on slow lines, GREEN for goods on fast lines and ORANGE for goods on slow lines). Some graphs were drafted showing trains in other direction as well (lines going from top right to bottom left).
The Coronation was a huge success for the LNER, and this brochure shows how special was the service, pretty much as good as anything the airlines were doing then. The journey took 6 hours and it was possible to post letters and send telegrams (the 1930s equivalent of on train email).
One of the leaflets produced as part of the Square Deal campaign, probably 1938. The style is one of consummate reasonableness in demands that draw attention to a situation which had become manifestly unfair. The law had failed to notice that competition was no longer internal within rail, but was now with road transport. The road lobby inevitably rubbished the campaign, but government was inclined to act, though the war forestalled action.
In 1946 the LNER published a £50 million programme of refurbishment and development, like other main lines it carried on in the face of inevitable nationalization. It was anxious to continue with its two major electrification schemes, the loco here (delivered in 1941) was the first of 85 for the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath scheme and was about to be exhaustively tested in service in Norway. Far right is a scheme for reconstructing Kings Cross (not pursued under BR, and perhaps unaffordable for the LNER).
Wartime restrictions designed to give priority to war-related traffic resulted in considerable publicity designed to discourage travel. Railways received commissions for poster artwork that were displayed by all the railways, and the LNER magazine included examples of its own work. The painting is of Hampden bombers being repaired at the LMS's Derby Works, a huge diversion from essential railway work. The right hand picture is a typical outcome of Battle of Britain bombing, in this case very inconvenient bomb damage to the railway bridge across Southwark Street, near Blackfriars, shutting off a vital cross London link and a major goods yard.
Transport Bill 1946 that nationalized inland transport and established British Railways
After the war, the railways were keen to improve the image of rail travel and introduced new named express trains together with bespoke promotional material. The Master Cutler name came into being in 1947 (though the service was not itself new). The name was commandeered in 1958 for a Kings Cross Pullman service to Sheffield.
The Golden Arrow London-Paris service remained one of the railway network's more glamorous propositions during the 1950s.
The 17-day national rail strike of 1955 was regarded by the government (unwillingly involved) as a huge threat to the nation and had damaging repercussions for the railway including acceleration of the motorways programme. As in indication of how serious matters were viewed secret contingency plans were drawn up in May, and after the dispute a booklet was produced reviewing how the emergency had been handled as a guide for those involved in any future civil emergency.
These graphs show all too well the difficulties facing British Railways at the time of the modernization plan. Traffic in each case is static but competition is rising rapidly, demonstrating loss of market share.
The left hand leaflet of 1957 is proudly introducing one of the earlier generations of Diesel Multiple Units, in this case in the Scottish Region. The other images is of the later introduction of diesel units on the Oxford-Bletchley route; this was less successful and the line later closed (there are currently attempts to reopen the route)
Computers were thrust upon the staff gently and this booklet from 1960 explains is very simple terms how they work. The photo is of the Derby research computer, then the only one in the world devoted to railway research. Reference is made to a wagon control computer experiments (though many years later BR bought a bespoke system).
Under the direction of BTC Hotels station catering was with some difficulty brought up to date and at some locations the eating and drinking facilities bordered on fashionable (note waiter with bow tie). This is the 'Shires Bar' (now the Betjeman Arms) at St Pancras in 1961; it was a tough image to keep up and the place became increasingly seedy, during the 1980s.
The British Rail Motorail network in 1965. The following year the new terminal at Kensington Olympia was opened, described as the first of its kind in the world. Motorail trains carried passenger accommodation and separate car vehicles (end-loading double-deck car vehicles are shown at right).
Map showing British Rail Sleeper services in 1965. To the right is a mock up design for the next generation of sleepers where the top bunk could be folded away for use as a First Class berth.
British Rail Pullman Services 1965. The map shows what was still a comprehensive service. The middle photo shows the all-Pullman diesel units introduced on Midland and Great western main line services (which had a power car at each end). The right hand photo is one of the Pullman Cars used on the West Coast main line electric services, either in all-Pullman formation or as part of ordinary trains.
As part of the overall modernization process it was felt necessary to introduce entirely new uniforms for the staff to be consistent with the new image. Detail changes over subsequent years were numerous, but the general style endured until privatization after which the new owners were extremely keen to replace with their own very different styles, often influenced by airline practice.
BR was always quite keen on producing mock ups and experimental vehicles. On the left is a 1963 mock up of an entirely new coach design with wider wrap around doors at coach ends, wider windows and modern finishes. This was carried forward to an eight-coach experimental train (the XP64) to gauge passenger reaction, and out of this finally emerged the Mark II carriage fleet (with basic principles continued through Mk III and Mk IV designs); design was strongly influenced by the Design Panel (dating back to 1956) which sought to improve the fitness for purpose of railway design. Less successful is the other image. This 1968 experimental Inter-City catering vehicle was (perhaps for the better) not pursued.
The new British Railways Board was desperate to project a modern image onto a network that was modernizing, though painfully slowly, and to consign its slow and out of date image to history. The new graphics, with its simple but powerful logo and associated alphabet, was certainly called for. The logo is more complicated than it looks, as the grid shows. The angled lines are thinner than the horizontal lines, and the top and bottom lines are not parallel. This makes it work optically, and attempts to draw the device geometrically (as sometimes happens today) always look awful.
Model of the Advanced Passenger Train as envisaged very early in the programme in 1968. The influence of the airline industry is fairly apparent. The right hand picture is the prototype train launched in 1978. It first carried fare paying passengers in 1981, but only sporadically, prior to project abandonment.
The new British Rail (from the 1970s) finally stepped up the effort required to try and allocate costs effectively across specific groups of services with the goal of improving management information and business profitability. This task was excruciatingly difficult to do meaningfully, or accurately, and required an entirely new management focus. This internal booklet was produced in 1978 and gives a good overview of all the issues, easier to tackle with more powerful computers and better information collection. Most of the (short) book is of dull and technical material, but a few cartoons at the end push the main points home.
Shipping services under British Rail continued to develop what had become a substantial and well-respected business. BR pioneered the use of cellular construction for container ships and put the first of these (Sea Freightliner 1) i) into service in 1968, the service being inaugurated by HRH Princess Alexandra. In the same year British Rail's cross channel hovercraft began operation, drastically reducing crossing times. Also in 1968 British Rail put into service the St George, on the Harwich-Hook route; this ship was largest yet built by British Rail and could carry 220 cars as well as foot passengers. A joint arrangement with the Zeeland Steamship Company's Koningen Juliana (a similar sized vessel) allowed the service to be operated jointly.
Ideas of fully 'integrating' transport collapsed completely after the BTC was abolished, each transport mode 'doing its own thing'. Professionals soon realized that this was not benefiting the passenger, who often needed to use more than one transport mode to make a complete journey. Issues of co-ordination foundered in being unable to measure benefits financially or to agree sources of funding, in an atmosphere of decline. The Central Transport Consultative Committee (then the passengers' champion) produced a report as far back as 1980 highlighting the issues, though drawing attention to good practice where it existed. The observations made are simple and straightforward (and were made repeatedly by others over the next thirty years), but have not engaged the political or managerial minds to a satisfactory degree, though Chris Green's recent Stations Report offers scope for optimism.
From the late 1960s freight operators were encouraged by British Rail, government freight grants, and finance facilities, to construct their own dedicated vehicles. Towards the end of BR a substantial proportion of the freight network was operated by private owner vehicles, usually in block trains. This was a complete reversal of the 1948 position where centralized ownership was felt best.
An RSA lapel badge thought to have been in use during the 1920s
During theDuring the American convention (in 2002) Council Member Dennis Ciborowski took this photograph on display at the Hotel Florence in Chicago showing a team of railroad men on the front steps. He was careful to photograph the convention from the same viewpoint.
Proceed to Centenary Book Home Page Proceed to 1928 French Visit Proceed to Biographies of RSA Presidents since 1909