line, G.W.R.; May 1 1912, Goole and Selby line, N.E.R.; June 3
1912, Dearne Valley railway (worked by L. & Y.R.); June 16 1913,
Mansfield railway opened for goods traffic, and on April 2 1917 for
passenger traffic (worked by G.C.R.); and July 1 1913, Kirkstead
and Little Steeping Line, G.N.R. On July 1 1912 the London &
North-Western railway brought into use a part of the “Watford
new lines,” and the branch to Croxley Green, the remainder being
opened on Feb. 17 1913. On June 2 1913 the Great Western railway
opened part of the remarkable series of lines designed to improve
railway communication in South Wales and referred to generally as
the Swansea District lines. Other sections were added at various
later dates. On Sept. 26 1915 the North British railway brought
into use a series of new lines in the Edinburgh district, designed
mainly to facilitate mineral traffic working, known as the New
Lothian lines. On May 22 1916 the Great Central railway opened
the Keadby deviation line, including a new bridge over the Trent
with a Scherzer rolling-lift bridge of 200 ft. span, in July 1915 a
section of the old Ravenglass and Eskdale railway in Cumberland
was reopened on the 15-inch gauge, using locomotives of model or
“exhibition” types, but catering to public passenger and goods
traffic. Extensive reconstruction works at Waterloo, L. & S.W.R.,
were nearing completion in 1921.
Electric Railway Extensions and New Lines.—On July 27 1912 the Central London railway was extended to Liverpool Street. On December 1 1913 the “Bakerloo” section of the London Electric railway was extended to Paddington, and on February 11 1915 to Queen's Park, there connecting with the L. & N.W.R. On April 6 1914 the loop under the river at Charing Cross on the “Hampstead” section of the London Electric railway was brought into use. On May 31 1915 the four-track section, from Finchley Road to Harrow, of the Metropolitan railway was completed over Kilburn Viaduct. On Aug. 3 1920 the Ealing and Shepherd's Bush railway, connecting the Central London railway at Wood Lane with the G.W.R. at Ealing Broadway, was completed and opened for traffic.
Railway Electrification (see also Electrical Engineering).—Equipment of existing railways for electric working has been considerably extended. On May 12 1911 the L.B. & S.C.R. commenced to work electric trains between Victoria and the Crystal Palace. On March 1 1912 the London Bridge routes via Tulse Hill were added, the complete electric service becoming operative on June 1 1912. Since that date equipment of various other routes has been in hand but owing to interruption of the war no further sections are yet electrically operated. On the London & South-Western railway electric traction was inaugurated between Waterloo and Wimbledon, via East Putney, on Oct. 25 1915; on the Kingston “Roundabout” route Jan. 30 1916; on the Hounslow loop March 12 1916; to Hampton Court June 15 1916; and to Claygate Nov. 20 1916. Electric working on the North London and L. & N.W. railways was commenced between Willesden Junction and Earl's Court on May 1 1914, and between Broad Street and Richmond and Kew Bridge on Oct. 1 1916. On May 10 1915 the London Electric railway commenced to work through to Willesden Junction via Queen's Park, and from April 18 1917 this service was continued to Watford over the “Watford New Lines,” though it was not until 1920 that the L. & N.W.R. was able to take its share in the working of this service, as the specially constructed joint rolling stock began to be delivered after the war from the makers. During 1919 L. & N.W.R. electric trains began to work from Broad Street to Watford via Hampstead Heath. Work was in 1921 well advanced upon the new “tube” tunnel under Primrose Hill and the entire reconstruction of L. & N.W.R. lines at Chalk Farm to enable “flying” or “burrowing” connexions to be made between the Eustpn and Broad Street routes and between the three sets of running lines, but electric operation could not be inaugurated via Chalk Farm and from Euston until this was sufficiently completed. On March 31 1912 Metropolitan railway electric trains commenced to work over the East London railway between Shoreditch and the two New Cross stations, with through trains, via Aldgate East, to and from Hammersmith. Principal developments in regard to electric traction in the provinces are the electrification in 1916 of the Newport-Shildon section of the North-Eastern railway to enable heavy mineral traffic to be operated by electric instead of steam locomotives, and of the L. & Y.R. route from Manchester (Victoria) to Bury, via Prestwich, in Feb. 1916, following the experimental high-tension electrification between Bury and Holcombe Brook which had been used from July 1913.
Mention may also be made of the installation in 1911 of escalators at Earl's Court, connecting the “Piccadilly” section of the London Electric railway with the Metropolitan District station above. Escalators were also provided at Liverpool Street on the opening of the Central London railway extension in July 1912, since which date these have been systematically adopted at all new tube railway stations. They have also been introduced at several existing stations, as at Oxford Circus, London Electric railway, and on the L. & S.W.R. at Waterloo to connect the Waterloo and City station with the terminus above.
Dock Improvements.—Principal developments in regard to dock and similar facilities affecting railways are the opening of Immingham Dock, G.C.R. (by the King and Queen) on July 22 1912; of the new Methil Docks, N.B.R., on Jan. 22 1913; of the King George Dock at Hull, H. & B. and N.E. railways (by the King and Queen) on June 26 1914; and the opening of a new lock entrance, designed to enable the largest vessels to enter at all states of the tide, at Newport, Alexandra Docks & Railway, on July 14 1914.
New Locomotive Works.—During 1910 and 1911 the new locomotive works at Eastleigh of the L. & S.W.R. were brought into use, and the old works at Nine Elms dismantled and the area thus cleared handed over to the Goods Department. The Great Eastern railway added several new workshops to the rolling-stock plant at Stratford in 1914-6.
Signalling.—Automatic and power signalling had already become well established in 1910, but only a limited amount of further development can be recorded. In Jan. 1911 two-position upper-quadrant electric signals were introduced on the Metropolitan railway, and have since been adopted where semaphores are retained on the “Underground” sections. On the Keadby deviation line of the G.C.R., already mentioned, three-position upper-quadrant signals have been in use since May 1916, while the Ealing & Shepherd's Bush railway is the first line in the United Kingdom to be opened with all signals of this type. In Jan. 1920 a complete power signalling installation on three-position upper-quadrant principles was brought into use at Victoria, S.E. & C.R.
Express-Train Running.—During the years 19104 express passenger-train facilities reached their highest level, and the timetables arranged for the summer of 1914 showed the following numbers of non-stop runs of 100 m. or more: Caledonian railway 10 runs, the three longest being between Carlisle and Perth, 150¾ m.; Great Eastern railway 7 runs, the two longest being of 131 m. between Liverpool Street and North Walsham; Great Northern railway 29 runs, the longest being from Wakefield to King's Cross, 175¾ m.; Great Central railway 6 runs, the longest being from London to Sheffield, 164¾ m.; Great Western railway 40 runs, the longest from Paddington to Plymouth (North Road), 225¾ m.; London & South-Western railway 4 runs, three of which were operated between Waterloo and Bournemouth (Central), 108 m.; London & North-Western railway 74 runs, the longest being between Euston and Rhyl, 209¼ m.; Midland railway 25 runs, the longest from St. Pancras to Shipley (a stop to change engines only, not advertised) 206 m.; North-Eastern railway 14 runs, all between Newcastle and Edinburgh, working through over N.B.R. north of Berwick, 124½ m. Average speeds for the best of these runs were respectively: C.R. 49.7; G.E.R. 49.7; G.N.R. 57; G.C.R. 55.85; G.W.R. 54.8; L. & S.W.R. 54; L. & N.W.R. 52.7; M.R. 50.86; and N.E.R. 54.1 m.p.h. On several of these lines, however, trains making somewhat shorter runs provided even higher averages. The following non-stop runs exceeding 55 m.p.h. may be noted:—
| Miles | Minutes | Average | ||
| N.E.R. | Darlington to York | 44½ | 43 | 61.7 |
| G.C.R. | Leicester to Arkwright St., Nottingham | 22½ | 22 | 61.3 |
| L. & S.W.R. | Dorchester to Wareham | 15 | 15 | 60 |
| G.W.R. | Paddington to Bristol | 118½ | 120 | 59.2 |
| L. & N.W.R. | Willesden to Coventry | 88½ | 92 | 57.7 |
| G.N.R. | Grantham to King's Cross | 105½ | 110 | 57.5 |
| C.R. | Forfar to Perth | 32½ | 34 | 57.2 |
| M.R. | St. Pancras to Kettering | 72 | 76 | 56.8 |
| G.E.R. | Halesworth to Woodbridge | 21¾ | 23 | 56.6 |
| C.L.C. | Manchester to West Derby | 31¼ | 34 | 55.1 |
It may be remarked that the short L. & S.W.R. run mentioned was due to an error in time-table compilation, but was worked to for some time. The S.E. & C.R., L. & Y.R., and G. & S.W.R. had runs exceeding 54 m.p.h., while the Great Southern & Western and the Great Northern railways in Ireland, the L.B. & S.C.R., the London, Tilbury & Southend section of the Midland railway, and the Hull & Barnsley railway also had runs averaging 50 m.p.h. or over.
Many of the runs mentioned had been operated for several years before the outbreak of war in 1914, but in two cases at least, the highest level was reached between 1910 and 1914. Thus, on the Great Western railway, the opening of the Ashenden-Aynho line, shortening the distance between London and Birmingham to 110½ m., provided four down non-stop trains in the even two hours. These conveyed from one to three slip coaches, detached at Banbury, Leamington or Knowle, but the over-all time of two hours was also given to several up trains, though these had to include stops at Leamington or Banbury or both. On the London & North-Western railway a number of London-Birmingham trains were similarly accelerated to 120 minutes for the distance of 113 miles. On the London & South-Western railway two hours became the standard for Waterloo-Bournemouth non-stop trains as from July 3 1911.
Train Service Developments.—The following developments in train service facilities may be noted. On Feb. 1 1910 the L. & N.W.R. introduced “city-to-city” expresses between Wolverhampton and Birmingham and Broad Street. A novelty on these trains was the provision of a typewriting compartment, in charge of a qualified stenographer. In the following May similar arrangements were
