BRITISH RAILWAYS AND THE WAR
baggage was definitely limited to 100 lb. per head.
FURTHER BENEFITS OF THE "POOL"
Among the most important economies in handling traffic was, first, the establishment of the common user of railway companies' open goods wagons. Under the old system the wagon received loaded by one company from another had to be promptly returned to the owning line, even though there was no freight for it on its return. Under the common user arrangement it became available for loading in any direction, thus reducing the haulage of empty vehicles to a minimum. This system of pooling luggage cars came into force on January 2, 1917. The pool did not include the very large number of privately owned wagons, estimated from 600,000 to 700,000, which are a distinct feature of British railways; but the benefits of the pool were soon seen to be so real that steps were pushed forward to take over the control of the private wagons also.
A minor economy introduced early in the war was an agreement by the railways to accept each other's "paid" and "to pay" stamps and labels on parcel traffic. This saved very much labour, and it led to a further development in January, 1917, when the Railway Executive Committee announced that from a given date "the carriage charges for all descriptions of traffic for convey-
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